Twenty Fourteen Theme: Features and Is It Still Good? (2026)

The Twenty Fourteen theme was WordPress’s default theme for 2014, shipped with WordPress 3.8 in December 2013. We previewed it in November 2013 and loved its magazine-style featured content grid. More than a decade later it’s still maintained and used on tens of thousands of sites. Here’s what Twenty Fourteen offers, whether you should still use it and how it compares with newer default themes.

Quick answer: Twenty Fourteen is a free, classic (non-block) WordPress theme with a featured-content grid or slider, a dark sidebar and full-width layouts. It’s still updated (version 4.6, August 2026) and has 50,000+ active installs, so it’s safe to keep. For new sites, a modern block theme like Twenty Twenty-Five offers full site editing, better performance and more design control.

Twenty Fourteen features

• Featured content: show featured posts in a grid or slider on the home page, chosen by a tag.
• Bold, dark design with a left sidebar and big featured images.
• Responsive layout that works on phones and tablets.
• Widget areas in the sidebar, content sidebar and footer.
• Post formats such as aside, image, video, quote and link.

When it launched, we felt it borrowed the best ideas of premium frameworks like Genesis and Thesis. At the time we were testing the previous default, Twenty Thirteen, on our own site.

Is Twenty Fourteen still a good choice?

According to its WordPress.org page (external site), Twenty Fourteen is still being updated, so it’s fine to keep on an existing site. But it’s a classic theme built before the block editor:

• You customise it with the Customizer and widgets, not the Site Editor.
• Its design looks dated next to modern themes.
• Block themes give you more layout control without code.

Newer WordPress default themes

• Twenty Twenty-Two (WordPress 5.9) was the first default block theme with full site editing.
• Twenty Twenty-Three and Twenty Twenty-Four added style variations and patterns for many site types.
• Twenty Twenty-Five (WordPress 6.7, November 2024) focuses on flexible patterns for blogs and portfolios.

How to switch themes safely

1. Back up your site first.
2. Preview the new theme with Live Preview in Appearance > Themes.
3. Check menus, widgets and featured images after switching; classic widgets don’t always carry over to block themes.
4. Test on a staging site if your site earns money.

FAQ

Is Twenty Fourteen still supported?

Yes. It still receives updates on WordPress.org.

Is Twenty Fourteen a block theme?

No, it’s a classic theme. The first default block theme was Twenty Twenty-Two.

How do I set featured content in Twenty Fourteen?

Tag posts with “featured” (or the tag you choose in the Customizer) and they appear in the home page grid or slider.