Free WordPress theme
v2.0.0 released Oct 1, 2026
Fast, private, and yours to build.
A lightweight WordPress theme with a drag-and-drop header and footer builder, a local pattern library and 30+ blocks. No tracking, no licensing servers.
privacy-first · free forever · updates for life
What you actually get
- Price
- €0, no tiers
- Sites
- unlimited
- Updates
- included, forever
- Account needed
- none
No upsell tier, no licence server, no account. Fonts and Gravatars are served from your own site, so the theme never turns your visitors into someone else's traffic.
free
Forever. No upsell tier.
lifetime
Updates included.
zero
Tracking. Only the update check calls home.
local
Fonts and avatars stay on your server.
What Signocore Slate does.
Signocore Slate is a lightweight WordPress theme you build visually. Drag rows, columns and elements (navigation, search, cart, social, buttons) into a header or footer, with a separate mobile header and sticky or transparent variants. A library of 30+ blocks covers posts, post grids, testimonials, accordions, tabs, sliders, countdowns, forms and info boxes, all styled from your global typography and colour settings.
At a glance
- Version
- 2.0.0
- Blocks
- 30+
- Sites per licence
- unlimited
- Licence
- free, lifetime updates
- Requires
- WordPress 6.9+, PHP 8.1+
Privacy by design
Privacy is a design decision, not a setting. Google Fonts are hosted locally by default, Gravatars are served from your own site, and there is no tracking of any kind. The only call about you is a version check for updates. Pattern Hub preview media loads from our CDN while you browse the library in the editor, and is imported into your own media library on save, so published pages are fully self-hosted.
Styled for your plugins
It ships with native styling for WooCommerce, LearnDash, LifterLMS, Tutor LMS, bbPress and The Events Calendar, and both form blocks include a built-in honeypot, so spam is filtered before you need a captcha. Free forever, with no licence server to phone home to.
Built visually. No code required.
Design your header and footer by dragging elements into place. Drop in sections from the local pattern library. Tune typography and colour globally, and watch it apply everywhere.
Free. No catch.
No account, no email gate, no upsell tier. Download the ZIP and start building.
Signocore Slate
€0 forever
The builder, the pattern library and every block, on every site you own. Updates included, for as long as you run it.
Download Signocore Slatedirect download, no account
- Direct download, no email asked
- No account to create
- Updates included for as long as you run it
- Questions go to the developer, replies usually within a day
Everything to build. Nothing to leak.
Header and footer builder
Drag rows, columns, and elements - navigation, search, cart, social, buttons - into place. Separate mobile header, plus sticky and transparent headers.
Local pattern library
A Pattern Hub of ready-made sections, plus your own saved patterns. Pattern markup is served from disk; example images and videos load from our CDN while you browse, and are imported into your own media library when you save, so published pages are fully self-hosted.
30+ block library
Posts, post grids, testimonials, accordions, tabs, sliders, countdowns, forms, info boxes, and more, all styled to match your global settings. Both form blocks ship with a built-in honeypot, so spam is filtered before you ever need a captcha.
Global typography and colour
Intelligent global controls for fonts, sizes, and colour. Google Fonts are hosted locally by default, switchable to remote loading per site.
Privacy-first by default
No tracking. Fonts and Gravatars are served locally. The only call about you is a version check for updates; Pattern Hub preview media loads from our CDN in the editor and is imported on save.
Plays well with plugins
Built-in styling for WooCommerce, LearnDash, LifterLMS, Tutor LMS, bbPress, and The Events Calendar.
A hook at every point you'd want one.
More than 450 documented actions and filters, so a child theme can add markup, move a layout or swap a template path without touching the parent. The builder covers the visual work; these cover the rest.
// Drop a notice above the main content, site-wide
add_action('signocore_slate_before_main_content', function (): void {
get_template_part('template-parts/shipping-notice');
});
// Force the full-width layout on one post type
add_filter('signocore_slate_post_layout', function (string $layout): string {
return is_singular('course') ? 'fullwidth' : $layout;
});
// Add your own byline under the entry title
add_action('signocore_slate_single_after_entry_title', 'my_byline');
// Point a template part somewhere else
add_filter('signocore_slate_title_elements_template_path', fn (string $path): string =>
get_stylesheet_directory() . '/parts/title.php');Who actually uses Signocore Slate.
Bloggers and publishers
Clean typography, fast pages, and accessible markup for content-driven sites.
Developers and agencies
A builder, custom elements, and customizer export and import to ship client work fast, with no cloud lock-in.
WooCommerce stores
Product blocks, a header cart, and shop styling that matches the rest of the site.
Course creators
Native styling for LearnDash, LifterLMS, and Tutor LMS course and lesson pages.
From download to building in under seven minutes.
Download the ZIP
Hit the download button. Single ZIP file, ready for WordPress.
~30 sec
Upload in WP admin
Appearance, Themes, Add New, Upload Theme, activate.
~1 min
Import or start building
Import your content and customizer settings, insert patterns from the library, or jump straight into the header and footer builder.
~5 min
Works with what you already use.
Requires PHP 8.1 or higher and WordPress 6.9 or higher. Our Platform Support Policy explains how these requirements change over time.
Using something not listed here? Let us know and we'll test it.
Common questions about Signocore Slate.
Is Signocore Slate a block theme?
It is a hybrid. You get a block-driven editor with a 30+ block library and a local pattern library that plug into Gutenberg, plus a visual drag-and-drop header and footer builder rather than Full Site Editing. It needs WordPress 6.9 or newer.
Does the theme track users or phone home?
No tracking and no licensing servers - the theme does not phone home about you or your visitors. Google Fonts and Gravatars are served locally, so visitor data stays on your server. The only call about you is a periodic version check against update.signocore.com. While you browse the Pattern Hub the editor also loads example preview media from our CDN (cdn.signocore.com); that media is imported into your media library on save, so published pages make no calls to us. Optional features you turn on - a form that sends to MailerLite, a captcha, or an embedded video - call those services by design, only when you enable them.
Will it work with WooCommerce and my LMS?
Yes. Slate ships built-in integrations for WooCommerce, LearnDash, LifterLMS, Tutor LMS, bbPress, and The Events Calendar, so shop, course, and community pages inherit the theme styling automatically.
Can I import a ready-made design?
Yes, in two ways. Insert ready-made sections and pages from the local pattern library, or bring over a site you built elsewhere: the Slate import screen takes a WordPress content export, your customizer settings and your widgets. You can also export your customizer settings to move a look between sites.
What are the requirements?
WordPress 6.9 or newer and PHP 8.1 or newer. Slate is accessibility-conscious (WCAG 2.2 AA), translation-ready, and RTL-ready. Minimums follow the versions WordPress recommends and usually rise with a major release. Affected sites get a dashboard notice ahead of time whenever we can - see the platform support policy.
Is it really free?
Yes. Free forever under GPL v3, updates included, no upsell tier and no licensing servers.
What's new in the latest release.
v2.0.0 · Last updated Oct 1, 2026 · Tested up to WordPress 7.1.2 · Requires PHP 8.1+
Changes in version 2.0.0:
- Added: You can use a header built with the Header (Adv) block as your site header. Turn it on with Enable Block Header in the Customizer.
- Added: Buttons (Adv) blocks can use the Theme Secondary style, which follows your secondary button settings in the Customizer.
- Added: Site Health shows where your breadcrumbs come from.
- Improved: The Signocore Slate screens have a new look that matches the other Signocore products, with tabs to move between Settings, Block Visibility and Import, and between the Pattern Library and its settings.
- Improved: Block Visibility shows every block as an on/off switch, grouped by type, with a count of active blocks in each group.
- Improved: The Import screen shows the name of the file you chose before you import it.
- Improved: Signocore Slate notices look like the notices from other Signocore products.
- Improved: The code hooks that child themes and custom plugins use to change Slate now follow one naming pattern and are listed in the Signocore Slate documentation. The old names stop working in this version, so if you or your developer changed Slate with code, switch that code to the new names when you update.
- Improved: Signocore Slate now requires PHP 8.1 and WordPress 6.9 or newer. Sites that do not meet this are not offered the update and keep working on their current version.
- Improved: Below PHP 8.2, a notice tells you in good time that the next major version, planned for February 1, 2027, will need PHP 8.2.
- Improved: When Signocore SEO is active, the theme's breadcrumbs come from it automatically, so the trail visitors see matches the one search engines see. You can choose the theme's own breadcrumbs in the Customizer, and the breadcrumbs shortcode follows the same choice.
- Improved: Background videos in patterns are copied to your Media Library when you save the page, like pattern images, instead of loading from the pattern server.
- Improved: Local fonts are stored in their own folder, so flushing them leaves fonts from WordPress and other plugins in place.
- Improved: Google Fonts are saved to your site as soon as you publish Customizer changes, so the first visitor does not wait for them.
- Improved: The Design Library only shows tools that work in Slate, with no searches sent to outside services, and its Pages tab no longer lists your own patterns as empty pages.
- Improved: The Signocore Slate settings page is fully in English and shows the theme version, and labels in the Customizer and on the Block Visibility screen match the block names.
- Improved: If your server falls below the required PHP or WordPress version, your site stays online with a simplified layout and you get a notice in the dashboard, instead of the site breaking.
- Improved: The theme download is now about 25% smaller, so it installs and updates faster with no visible change in image quality.
- Fixed: The WooCommerce off-canvas shop filter, the shop top row and infinite scroll on archives and products work when turned on.
- Fixed: Blocks you turn off on the Block Visibility page are hidden in the editor, and block settings, Save as default, the block color palette and the Optimizer switch keep your changes.
- Fixed: Dark mode switches to a dark palette by default, the dark mode shortcode works and can show icons only, and the switch's tooltip appears.
- Fixed: On child themes, the category color picker and the Design Library previews work, blocks and patterns load even when the child theme has its own blocks or patterns folder, and a Customizer export from the parent theme can be imported.
- Fixed: Customizer and widget imports tell you when a file cannot be imported, and command line exports include your color palette.
- Fixed: The Countdown block's hide on desktop, tablet and mobile settings work.
- Fixed: Color palettes saved in older versions include the six newer colors, so blocks that use them show the right color.
- Fixed: Pages keep their fonts if a Google Fonts download fails, loading them from Google until the local copy is ready, and avatars do the same with Gravatar.
- Fixed: Posts and pages with the title above the content keep the normal space at the top of the content box.
- Fixed: Table of contents links scroll once, straight to the right heading.
- Fixed: The User Info block shows its own name in the block inserter.
- Fixed: The Duplicate action for Headers, Navigation and Forms works, for everyone who can edit them.
- Fixed: Forms that send signups to MailerLite no longer fail with an error when MailerLite rejects a signup.
- Fixed: Connected pattern libraries refresh without an error when their cache expires.
- Fixed: With the Optimizer turned on, pages that load Google Fonts from your own site no longer connect to Google's font servers.
Related reading
Guides from the blog on theme weight, page speed, and accessible WordPress sites.
How to Choose a Lightweight WordPress Theme (and Why It Matters)
Most slow WordPress sites are slow because of the theme. Here is how to judge a lightweight WordPress theme on measured weight, privacy, and features.
Read the article →WordPress Performance Optimization: From 4 Seconds to Under 1
Caching plugins alone won't fix a slow WordPress site. Here's the full optimization sequence — server, database, assets, and delivery — that actually works.
Read the article →Page Speed Matters: How Core Web Vitals Affect Your Conversion Rate
You're burning ad budget on traffic that bounces before it converts. Here's how Core Web Vitals silently kill revenue - and what to fix first on WordPress.
Read the article →Free. Forever.
No account, no upsell tier, no subscription of any kind.
Questions? Get in touch. Answered by the developer who wrote the theme, usually within a day.