Time To Move From Page Builders To Gutenberg? WordPress

Here's an interesting question - can we say goodbye to page builders in favour of the new crop of Gutenberg themes and block plugins?

For me, I've already moved a lot of my tech stack over to more Gutenberg based tools and themes, but do still use the likes of Bricks Builder & Elementor Pro for different projects.

Let's talk about that in more detail and why not give me your thoughts in the comments section.

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[Chris...S]

I'll stick with Elementor. I've built 2 projects with Gutenberg and Kadence as they fitted appropriately. However months after the projects were completed the client wanted more and Gutenberg couldn't cut it and had to rebuild completely again with Elementor and Crocoblock. So I'm sticking with what I know works

[AndreSjoberg]

Also, the main challenge with Gutenberg is this: For it to become a competitor to «proper» pagebuilders/sitebuilders it needs to have competitive functionality. To do that, it will grow and at some point bloat. If it doesn’t we will need to add loads of functionality through plugins that offer more complex functionality, which in itself will cause it’s own type of bloat, and complexity from having to add different plugins offering blocks of different types. Established pagebuilders on the other hand have started out bloated, but are working hard to slim down and trim the fat, and Gutenberg (and additional block suppliers) will have huge job catching up to the versatility and flexibility of for instance Elementor, especially on the user interface-side, where I feel Gutenberg is all over the place right now. I would love nothing more than having the flex of elementor built into gutenberg, but for that to happen, the way wordpress is being developed, it’ll take a loooong time before Gutenberg feels as «solid» as something like Elementors editor for building elements, headers, sidebars, and handling where they are visible etc etc

[BoomlandJenkins]

I rebuilt our (web design) company website last year with WordPress FSE (2022 theme) without any extra plugins for building (plugins purely for security and cache/optimization). I wanted to see what was possible and now we're using it on about 30% of all client projects. If the client wants to manage their own website, we're using Elementor, because the block editor is still lacking on the admin side of things. If we're managing the site entirely, we use the core block builder with custom CSS classes/IDs for style rules generally.

Our company has 12+ years of WP experience, having gone from coded sites, to early Elegant Theme designs, to Visual Composer, to SiteOrigin, to Elementor, and now slowly moving into Gutenberg/block.

[WritewheelUK]

Hi. Thanks for the videos. Just subscribed.

I've used free Elementor for a few years now, before Gutenberg in fact. I found it great for my two websites. I had additional Elementor-specific plugins, which were useful. However . . .

I've been with my host since 2001 and a relationship has built up. One of my websites has crashed three times in the last three years. Twice I sorted it with my host's help, but the last time it was all down to them. They never charge, but I don't like taking the mickey. Their opinion was that every time Elementor or a specific plugin was causing the problems. They've wiped my sites for me and I went to Gutenberg only.

It had moved on a lot from the early days. Following one of your videos, I got the Stackable plugin. That, at the moment, is enough for me.

I'm rather pleased with my move. Building or updating a page is quicker, and I prefer the Gutenberg UI. Stackable is the cherry.

On top of that, my host probably thinks I've changed it all because I didn't want to cause him too much bother, which is correct. But I don't want him to know just how much I prefer it.

If it all goes wrong, I'll be back on here. In the meantime, it's back to sorting my pages out.

[TLCOnlineChannel]

Hi Paul, Yes I moved over about a year ago to Guttenberg from the main player page builders, Beaver Builder and Elementor. It is the best move we have done. We are now using Kadence Theme and Blocks. Works really well for our set up and our clients. Great combination. PS: Love your channel.

[derek-hanson]

Very well presented. Choosing what fits the project is always the best advice because every situation is different. I would say that Gutenberg plus the theme and block extensions you mentioned like Kadence and Blocksy provide a very page builder like experience.

I would say that as a post editor for writing engaging blog content, Gutenberg hands down is the best option.

Plus, the future of the Gutenberg project becoming cross-platform and available on other CMSs like Drupal is an amazing future extension opportunity to be prepared for.

[elevateyourcreativeness]

As much as I would like to, I’ll have to stick with my arsenal of favorite page builders.

I gave Blocksy pro and Srackable Pro a whirl and it took me twice as long to achieve the same design as in a page builder.

I think once they figure out how to render in back-end to mimmic front, then maybe worth looking at again!

I dedicated 1 complete week on burning my eyes up with their tuts and couldn’t achieve the same results as any page builder, even with the simplest build!

[emailjough]

I haven't seen anyone in the comments come at it from this angle: 'what is best for the client?' We're building the site for them, not for ourselves. Which tool is the most user friendly and will empower your client to easily make edits in the future? They shouldnt have to hire a professional to update some text or swap out some photos. I am staying with Elementor for now because a) clients ask for it and b) those who aren't already familiar with it find it easy to learn. It's easier to speed up a bloated site than to train a client on a non-intuitive tool that is unpleasant to use.

[christianschneider]

Been thinking about it. But tried the new version of Bricks wow. The markup is amazing. And it’s 1.4 (!). Kind of a curve to learn if you don’t know the basics. But the result. Wow. Got a 98 score on Page speed insight without any cache.

[AndreSjoberg]

I sat down for almost a whole day with Gutenberg to force myself to try and rebuild a site I have previously built using Elementor and astra, just to see how much was possible to get done, and boy was I disappointed, especially when doing anything more than basic low level stuff - The lack of fine controls over margins and padding and layout on some blocks, and the messy and inconsistent way that different blocks behave, and just the «floppyness» of Gutenberg in general was a real letdown - where elementor feels «tight» and you feel in control, Gutenberg just feels like Jello taped together with rubber bands, the interface lacks definition and determination somehow, it’s difficult to explain but it doesn’t feel like I’m in control the same way that Elementor feels. Also, the amount of/lack of solid layout options, and randomness of what the different offerings on blocks have in terms of options etc is really all over the place - not very impressed and it feels like this shouldn’t have been released for at least another year :/

[susanwheeler-hall]

Always thought-provoking Paul, thanks for that. I have tried Gutenberg and found it to be in my opinion, a lesser version of Divi. I agree to be able to understand both or many ways to find the right fit for each project. Most of my projects work well with Elementor pro, and only a variety of addons in addition to Lifterlms for courses.

[davidson]

Hey Paul, can you make a series of videos on CWICLY please? How to make template files such as header, footer.. etc..
Thank you

[Jim.Hummel]

As you say, having a variety of tools at your disposal is wonderful yet not locking yourself into one ecosystem may be the best approach, but for me, it's too confusing to be spread around on various building tools. I guess I'm too old school to have a bunch of vehicles to race around the same track. I'd rather master (or at least come close) one tool and make it dance.
I really appreciate your analysis on this and opening the discussion. The input here is quite valuable.

[haimbechor]

You must use a plugin suhc as Spectra or Kadence Blocks otherwise the Gutenberg blocks are too limiting. In any case Gutenberg is the most efficient POST editing tool, while Page Builders do not make sense for the POST part.

[vinvin]

Since you’ve asked for comments, I would only ask you if you could do a tutorial on the latest WordPress 6.0, which obviously has Gutenberg as its default page-block builder. It’s been having it for quite a while now, but still, if you could share your expertise giving an example & comparing it with Elementor, it’d be great. If not, no worries.

[maxinemackey]

Very informative. Not moved away from Elementor but will look at the options and you gave some great tips.

[fabianschierz]

I built my first WP website back in 2018 when Gutenberg was about to come out of beta. I decided back then to stick with Gutenberg and skip all the page builders because Gutenberg would be the future. However, I have to admit, that I completely underestimated how long it would take for Gutenberg to get to where it (finally) is today. So I had to endure a lot of frustration over the years. But today I would definitely not go for a page builder anymore. I am currently testing the beta version of Spectra (formerly Ultimate Addons for Gutenberg). From now on the question will no longer be "Gutenberg or Elementor" but "Gutenberg or Webflow". If you need a pixel-perfect design (i.e. for client work) I'd probably go for Webflow. For everything else, Gutenberg + 3rd party blocks will be more than enough. I just don't see much room for page builders anymore, especially if they lock you into pricey subscriptions as Elementor does.

[jason-m]

I'm currently using elementor pro and will continue to do so for a while (the next year) I just wish they'd focus on getting flex box into production. I keep trying gutenberg and related tools but it's still way too basic. I can get good speed results using EP with flex box so i'd rather be efficient with one comprehensive tool than use bits and bobs of many and keep having to learn new systems.
You're right though, keep learning and don't limit to one stack 👍

[Marius_Meyer]

I see my WordPress future in Cwicly. It's a tool I was dreaming about for years and fortunately the team behind it is just as great. It really has the potential evolving to one of the big players inside the WP ecosystem. It's relatively new, so nobody knows what's gonna happen, but I wish them to succeed just because they would deserve it. Looking forward to more Cwicly content on this channel. Cheers!

[garciajoaquin]

A futuro Gutenberg va a ser lo mejor, sin duda. Pero hoy en día, está muy por detrás de los builders a mi parecer. Falta mucho trabajo, pero de acá a 2 años probablemente la realidad sea otra. Creo que es un buen momento para gente como yo para empezar a ver Gutenberg. El resto, el tiempo lo dirá.