Free vs Pro - Verba

Anything that creates or changes content lives in a plugin. The theme only displays it. That single rule explains where every Verba feature sits, and it is the reason the free theme can go on a live blog and come off again without leaving anything behind.

#Why the line is drawn there

WordPress asks themes to handle presentation and plugins to handle data, for a practical reason: a theme is something you swap. If a theme creates content, changing themes destroys it.

You can install the free theme on a real blog, look at it for a week, and remove it having lost nothing. It adds no data of its own.

If you build a site on Pro features and then switch the plugin off, those pieces stop appearing. Your posts, pages, and media are untouched, but the things Pro drew are gone until it comes back.

#The free theme

The free theme covers the front page, archives, single posts, static pages, search, and comments: everything WordPress considers a blog, presented the Verba way.

It is configured through the Customizer: colors, typography, logos, header, footer, and the dark scheme. See Basic settings in the Customizer for the full tour.

It contains no blocks of its own, no widgets, no extra fields in the editor, and no content-editing extensions. Whatever WordPress gives you, you get.

#Installing the free edition

The free edition installs from the WordPress.org theme directory like any other directory theme: no purchase, no key, no account. The steps, and what to do when your host blocks the theme browser, are in Installing the free edition from the WordPress.org directory.

#The free companion plugin

JKD Theme Companion is a free plugin on wordpress.org. Installing the free companion plugin covers the install.

On top of the free theme it adds a demo importer (including importing single pages), a font library, an integration registry, WPML and Polylang support for translating the theme's own settings and texts, and the service screens: tools, preferences, notifications, announcements, and the changelog.

The free demos are a set of the theme's basic elements with Customizer settings already filled in. They are a quicker starting point and do not match the screenshots on the sales page.

The plugin lets you try the free theme properly and decide for yourself whether you need Pro. Install it alongside Pro and it steps aside, because Pro already contains everything it does. You never need both.

#What Pro adds

Almost everything you see on the demo sites is drawn by the Pro layer.

In groups: Theme Options (the large settings panel), post listings, Elementor support with a set of widgets, extended blocks for the editor, object fields on posts, pages, categories, and users, the single post header styles and reading experience, every integration (including the language switcher for TranslatePress, Weglot, and WPML), and the AI features. Each of those has its own page in this documentation.

If you buy the full version later, you keep the theme you already have and add the Pro plugin to it. The theme then keeps updating from WordPress.org while the Pro plugin updates from Hub.

#Side by side

	Free theme	Free plus companion	Pro
Dashboard and onboarding	yes	yes	yes
Customizer settings	yes	yes	yes
Ready-made style kits	yes	yes	yes
System info	yes	yes	yes
Recommended plugin installer	yes	yes	yes
License activation screen	yes	yes	yes
Demo import	no	free demos, single pages included	free demos plus the catalog from Hub
Font library	no	bundled library	plus Adobe Fonts and your own font files
Integrations	no	registry only	full catalog from Hub
Translating theme settings with Polylang or WPML	no	yes	yes
Language switcher for TranslatePress, Weglot, and WPML	no	no	yes
Tools, preferences, notifications, changelog	no	yes	yes
AI features	no	on the WordPress side	plus the AI assistant
Theme Options panel	no	no	yes
Object fields on posts and taxonomies	no	no	yes
Editor blocks and Elementor widgets	no	no	yes
Diagnostics	no	no	yes
Version Control and rollback	no	no	yes, with a direct license
White label and child theme generator	no	no	yes

Fonts, demo import, and integrations appear in more than one column on purpose. The free layer gives you the basic version of each; Pro adds the part that needs a license behind it, which is the Hub catalog, Adobe Fonts, and your own uploads. What each license tier unlocks, including automatic updates, is in What your license actually covers.

#Common questions

Can I start free and move to Pro later without redoing the site?

Yes. Pro is a plugin you add to the same theme. Your Customizer settings, content, and menus stay as they are, and the Theme Options panel appears alongside them.

If I install Pro, should I remove the companion plugin?

You can. Pro includes everything the companion provides, so keeping both adds nothing. Nothing breaks if you leave it installed; it steps aside.

What exactly disappears if the Pro plugin is deactivated?

Anything the Pro layer rendered: Theme Options settings, post listings, Pro blocks and widgets, object fields, and the integrations. The posts themselves, their titles, text, images, categories, and comments are WordPress data and stay.

Is the free theme on wordpress.org the same theme?

Yes. It is one theme, and Pro is an optional paid plugin on top of it.

Does the free edition expire?

No. It has a smaller feature set than the full version and keeps working for as long as you use it.

Do I get support for the free edition?

Through the theme's support forum on wordpress.org. Direct support is part of what a license pays for, as the Support Policy sets out.

Last updated 1 Oct 2026