It’s no coincidence that Kadence Blocks is the first block plugin we’re going to review. This plugin adds a load of functionality to both classic and FSE themes, but Kadence WP markets these blocks as lightweight and cut down on bloat.
I’m particularly interested in plugins that lead with performance and it’s because I was burned by page builders in the past. After ignoring my website for several years, one of the first pieces of advice I received when jumping back into WordPress was to install Elementor, a WYSIWYG easily customizable site builder absolutely packed with features that don’t require coding expertise. It had one problem: the underlying code brought Google’s PageSpeed scores to a pretty bad place. (Elementor’s acquisitions over the past couple of years signal that they’re aware of this.)
WordPress block developers undoubtedly saw an opportunity here and built themselves as an extension of WordPress core. Block libraries like Kadence Blocks, Stackable, Co:Blocks (now owned by GoDaddy), among many others began to fill a need for users looking for less CSS customization and more ways to leverage the power of Gutenberg blocks.
Kadence Blocks: A Strong Foundation
One of the biggest challenges for WordPress continues to be structuring content. While the “Group” block in core’s made major improvements, this is the first functionality I pay attention to when installing Block libraries, and Kadence handles this challenge well. I’m still not wild about experiencing “Group Block” layouts that feel like the WordPress equivalent of Inception.
This is where Kadence Blocks shines. The Row Layout block immediately brings section layouts to the forefront. This feature borrows heavily from site editors, and it’s a welcome first step to the design process without having to immediately navigate to the block toolbar to make customizations.
Selecting the row layout opens up your “rows” to further customization if you want to add or remove them, as well as a highly welcome resizing function inside the block editor. Along with gutter sizing, this allows adjustments to your content faster than other block libraries that require continual fiddling inside the block toolbar. I’m not a fan of image sliders, but the design needs of legacy websites can also be met with Kadence Blocks directly within the row block. Video block backgrounds – now cost-of-entry in these types of containers – are present and work well.
Other Blocks
There are certainly features more differentiating than others — Lottie Animations, Info Box blocks (which have six design options pre-customization), Accordion styles (also with beautiful design options and full customization of the container.) The other features are now standard across other block libraries, but Kadence Blocks loaded with less lag in both the editor and the page preview.
The standout feature, however, is the “Posts Block.” The initial design was clean, pulling in most recent posts quickly and including an option for every feature to be turned on and off depending on your needs. Upgrading to Kadence Blocks premium allows filtering on structured data, but for the needs of a site with light structuring of posts and pages the free version still offers robust options. Down to the category styling, Kadence blocks “Post” block would have been enough to install the entire library simply for this one block.
Kadence Design Library
Finally, the Kadence Design Library – among all the block libraries with pre-built design themes we tested – is the best in class. The free block patterns and page defaults are good enough on their own, but upgrading to Kadence Pro rounds out the power of the blocks. This felt like an upgrade that wasn’t “required” to actually use the plugin. It was something I didn’t feel pushed to do, but would anyway. This particular design library performs a master class in how not to “hard sell” users, and it will likely sell a ton of premium licenses anyway.
I can’t say enough good things about the design library in particular, and how well it shows functionality without overdoing design or layouts.
Work To Do
The biggest struggle for Block libraries is documentation and the same holds true for Kadence blocks. It’s a tough ask for individual developers and companies because it’s a critically important but non-revenue generating activity. Still, the website documentation was broken in several key places which likely increases the work for anyone monitoring the plugin forum or Kadence forum (premium users).
There are small improvements that can benefit the library as a whole. I couldn’t help but want more design options for the hover effects, which other block libraries are beginning to bring in as features. For example, not being able to set the speed for hover is a clear miss as well as ease-out functions. I could do this in CSS, however, this small feature could be a big win since it can scale to background colors and borders across the blocks.
Additionally, it was a bit frustrating that header and font sizes from within the info box weren’t editable from within the floating block toolbar (see below). This is a feature that likely sees significant usage, especially when redesigning a section with multiple rows/info blocks.
The last nitpick I have is one that KadenceWP is likely already working on: Including block-level design templates similar to the Info box block and the Row block. I expected a similar pre-set design for the Countdown block as the former and spent more time starting from scratch than I wanted to. While I could certainly use one of the patterns in the design library, I left wanting a more consistent experience. Again, this is a small ding of an otherwise fantastic effort.
The Final Verdict
Block libraries like Kadence Blocks provide a much-needed boost to the WordPress block editor, enhance the power of an existing theme (Kadence for example), package patterns pre-built using the blocks, and sell premium features to keep the lights on. The catch? The quality of the code isn’t always much better than a page builder. A performance hit in Lighthouse would negate all the solid features both the user and the developer worked so hard to implement.
Luckily, Kadence Blocks is clean, fast, and differentiates itself with a best-in-class design library. The blocks allow both longtime users and those newer to WordPress to stage and publish a site quickly without much code bloat.