Block themes already make up many of the top Wordpress websites, including media companies and culinary blogs.
In most cases, these companies use custom blocks for their sites that are designed specifically for them. Block themes offer strong flexibility, reducing overhead costs.
Should you drop your regular classic themes in favor of a new block theme?
Interface
Classic themes had to create their own interface or use the customizer to add extra features. Now, with block themes, all of the work is done in the Editor.
From creating templates to switching fonts/colors/sizes/styles, everything is done in one place.
Pricing
There’s not abundant availability of premium block themes yet.
As for server costs(hosting) of classic themes, block themes have an advantage, as they need much less code to work, reducing billing costs. Some block theme’s billing can be as low as cents.
As for their individual pricing:
- Ollie Pro 1 site: $69/year
- Ollie Pro 500 sites: $249/year
- Spectra One: Free
- Yith Wonder: Free
- Frost: Free
Templates
Spectra One, Yith Wonder, and Ollie are some of the popular block themes that are currently available. Ollie Pro is one of the few premium popular block themes. They have a solid library of templates.
Another large difference is that block themes may require way fewer plugins to work(In theory they shouldn’t require any other plugin). Most classic themes require many plugins to work.
Some block thems such as Ollie, even offer the figma files of the design system.
Patterns
Block theme patterns, which can be either a pattern(non-synced), synced patterns, or pattern overrides, are a powerful component of the full site editing ecosystem.
Styles
Block themes were built to be modular. If you want to fully change the theme, you can do it with one click, as the
Speed
Block themes require much less code to work than classic themes. This means faster loading times.
Regarding the user experience, block themes may also be better compared to classic themes, as their styling may require less DOM work. This means better INP.