This is as a result of my observation and experience after buying and using four (4) different premium themes from Themeforest.

Themeforest is the haven of all Wordpress novice. I used to love it greatly way back until I became knowledgeable on web development.

For starters, Themeforest is a massive marketplace for all types of designs for websites, including static HTML/CSS templates and themes for the major content management systems (CMS). With the immense popularity of WordPress, the WordPress section of Themeforest is understandably the most popular in the world (perhaps I am exaggerating).

So below are my reasons why I strongly guide against using themes from Themeforest for your website.

1. Sadly, majority, if not all themes on the marketplace are bloated with unnecessary codes, making such themes larger than necessary when simple line of codes would have done the trick. Bloated themes mean bigger files and larger database to accommodate them.

2. Most themes from Themeforest are poorly coded. I recall a full week back and forth with the support staff of Amy Movies over some modifications I wanted which they couldn't find a way around. It was so bad I had to push the site into construction mode as the landing page was horribly messed up.

Below is a comment from a website;

Take the Genesis Framework for example: Genesis is probably the most flexible theme you’ll find on the market thanks to all of its available hooks. Those comfortable enough with code can control every area of their site with true flexibility. Not a single theme on Themeforest offers this type of flexibility. This means that you will need to hack the theme’s files and attempt to navigate the shitty code to make changes that would be very simple with Genesis.

3. Impact on site performance (speed): Every visitor loves it when they visit a site and it loads instantly. Before ditching my Themeforest themes, my site speed was so bad that it was still loading God-knows-what at 6-7 seconds. Of course it affected my site ranking and the bounce rate was way off. Quite frustrating, particularly during my site auditing on SEOPTIMER and PINGDOM.

4. Theme Lock: I got to know about theme lock while deactivating/uninstalling themes purchased on Themeforest for some alternatives. What is theme lock, really? Theme lock occurs when a WordPress user cannot change his or her theme without gutting most of the site’s functionality. Once the theme is deactivated, it deactivates things like shortcodes and custom post types that were registered by the theme. Without these features that the user has heavily incorporated into the site, things fall apart. Page/post content will display the literal text for theme-dependent shortcodes and custom content will disappear. In a nutshell, this makes the entire site a huge mess and a major pain in the ass to clean up. Any code that creates functionality belongs in a plugin, not a theme. Themes are for display ONLY.

It doesn't make any sense buying a premium that won't offer flexibility as one would expect. Themeforest themes are great, classy and stylish, no doubt. But they are disasters when long term goals are consider and would help destroy your site's reputation.

Some of the reasons why a plugin doesn't function after you deactivate a theme is because those plugins are custom plugins that are created along side the theme. If you blame it on themeforest then you are probably blaming it on wordpress as a whole. Now if you claim the codes are heavy and all that, that's because you are using the theme's data. You have the option of buying a theme, install and start designing from scratch without using it's data. Lastly as a developer you know wordpress is an open-source platform so you can create your own themes. Stop trying to bash themeforest. They are not theme creators, they are just a marketplace.

webapi:
Some of the reasons why a plugin doesn't function after you deactivate a theme is because those plugins are custom plugins that are created along side the theme. If you blame it on themeforest then you are probably blaming it on wordpress as a whole. Now if you claim the codes are heavy and all that, that's because you are using the theme's data. You have the option of buying a theme, install and start designing from scratch without using it's data. Lastly as a developer you know wordpress is an open-source platform so you can create your own themes. Stop trying to bash themeforest. They are not theme creators, they are just a marketplace.

I don't know how knowledgeable you are with web development but with the above, I guess it would be fair to say you little or nothing about it. Perhaps you were in a hurry, which is a forgivable error. I mentioned this in my second point, I believe. Majority of themes being sold on Themeforest are poorly coded and 'touching' the codes have a way of putting you into some next level misery.

Where's the wisdom in buying a theme for about $105 and start working on it afresh instead of building something similar from the scratch without having to buy?

See it this way, Themeforest connect theme creators/designers with willing buyers (who are mostly novice) and these theme designers (not sure I'd want to call them developers) understand that bloathing their themes with fanciful touches which clog and impact website performances would only yield returns. Safe to say you can majorly find them on Themeforest.

Of all the plugins that have come with my themes, I have never seen a special or exclusive plugin come with them. Plugin such as visual editor (premium) is just about the only one that comes with them. And last I checked, it is available to everyone.

Theme lock has been pinned to a handful of themes on Themeforest. Again, read up on my introduction of Themeforest, perhaps you wouldn't have being on the defensive like you did.

Sanchez01:

I don't know how knowledgeable you are with web development but with the above, I guess it would be fair to say you little or nothing about it. Perhaps you were in a hurry, which is a forgivable error. I mentioned this in my second point, I believe. Majority of themes being sold on Themeforest are poorly coded and 'touching' the codes have a way of putting you into some next level misery.

Where's the wisdom in buying a theme for about $105 and start working on it afresh instead of building something similar from the scratch without having to buy?

See it this way, Themeforest connect theme creators/designers with willing buyers (who are mostly novice) and these theme designers (not sure I'd want to call them developers) understand that bloathing their themes with fanciful touches which clog and impact website performances would only yield returns. Safe to say you can majorly find them on Themeforest.

Of all the plugins that have come with my themes, I have never seen a special or exclusive plugin come with them. Plugin such as visual editor (premium) is just about the only one that comes with them. And last I checked, it is available to everyone.

Theme lock has been pinned to a handful of themes on Themeforest. Again, read up on my introduction of Themeforest, perhaps you wouldn't have being on the defensive like you did.

Now i know why you sound this way. You are a newbie. There are so many themes that come with custom plugins. You can't use that plugin on another theme. It will tell you it requires that particular theme to function. Visual editor is a general plugin and not a custom plugin.Theme developers attach this plugin just to save buyers cost. But let's leave that. If a tech company like www.clickbank.com uses wordpress theme purchased from themeforest to develop such huge web app then you should be ashamed of yourself to come here and rant over rubbish. You call those developers designers. Lol you really poor in web development if not you will know coding a theme from scratch in a wordpress environment using wordpress functions and hooks is more difficult than developing a website with just html, css, php... Wordpress maybe a php backend but it's rules are quite different. Those developers you call designers also create themes for static php users. It is your type that will buy theme and just install without modifying. If you have a theme you want to retouch kindky contact me and i will help you with it and stop crying over "Theme lock". Lastly themeforest wordpress themes are open source with GPL Licence, you can modify them the way you like if you understand it's functions.