If you’re browsing the Shopify theme store right now trying to pick a free theme, there’s something you need to understand first.
They’re all duplicates
There are 23 free themes listed on the theme store. Looks like a wide range of options, right?
In reality, most of these are pre-designed variations of the same two themes: Dawn and Horizon.
Dawn was the default theme from 2021 to about 2025. Horizon is the new default. Those are the only two free themes Shopify actually offers. Everything else on that page is just a preset of one of those two.
What do I mean by a preset? I actually made a video about this a couple of years ago — all the Dawn-based themes share the exact same code. The settings, customizations, sections and blocks available to you are exactly the same. You can make any Dawn family theme look identical to any other.
Same deal with Horizon.
Which themes are which?
This isn’t listed anywhere on the theme store, so here’s the breakdown:
Dawn family (13 themes): Crave, Origin, Publisher, Sense, Ride, Studio, Craft, Taste, Refresh, Colorblock, Spotlight, Trade, Dawn
Horizon family (10 themes): Savor, Ritual, Fabric, Heritage, Atelier, Tinker, Vessel, Pitch, Dwell, Horizon
So the real choice you need to make is between Dawn and Horizon. That’s it. Once you’ve decided on that, then you pick whichever preset matches your aesthetic. But understand that you can customize any of them to look like the others — if you pick Fabric but later prefer Ritual’s look, you don’t need to switch themes. Just change the settings.
Dawn vs Horizon — what’s the difference?
Horizon is more flexible
Horizon uses Shopify’s new theme blocks system. Blocks are smaller units of content that you can drag around freely — think of sections (which are full-width) broken down into smaller, movable pieces. It makes Horizon feel more like a page builder, similar to WordPress Elementor or other drag-and-drop tools.
But more complicated
That flexibility comes with a trade-off. Horizon is harder to work with, especially if you’re not a designer. I’m a developer, not a designer, and honestly — I feel like Horizon gives me more ways to make my store look ugly. Dawn guides you towards a good design because there’s less you can mess up.
Dawn is simpler
Dawn is more opinionated with its layout. Fewer options, but that’s a feature, not a bug. It’s quicker to set up, easier for developers to work with, and pushes you towards clean, functional design without much effort.
So which one should you choose?
Horizon is the default now, and if you want to future-proof your store, I’d lean towards it.
But if you want to launch quickly and keep things simple, Dawn is still a solid choice.
My recommendation: play around with both Dawn and Horizon (the default versions, not the presets). After you’ve decided which one you prefer, then go to the theme store and pick a preset that’s closer to your branding — just think of it as a starting point so you don’t have to change as much.
Hope you found this useful. Let me know if you have any questions!
Ed