Looking for a theme that takes full advantage of the Gutenberg editor (aka the block editor) in WordPress? Look no further. The best Gutenberg themes not only provide a seamless editing experience, but they can also improve your website’s performance.
Significantly, at that!
This is due to the fact that the Gutenberg editor itself is already a part of WordPress, which is in contrast to third party page builders that are externally attached to WordPress. Nowadays, when even a mere two seconds of wait time can cause one third of your potential visitors to leave your page [1], the last thing you want is extra weight to slow you down.
Before any page builder fans start throwing tomatoes at the screen, it should be said that page builders do have their own unique advantages. It’s just that improving the speed and performance of a site is definitely not one of them. [2]
If you’re interested in elite performance balanced with awe-inspiring visuals, then choosing to build your site with the block editor and selecting a WordPress Gutenberg theme to go with it is a wise decision.
Best Gutenberg themes for 2023
From sleek and minimalist to bold and colorful, our list of WordPress Gutenberg themes has an option to suit every style and need. Keep reading to find one for your next WordPress project.
Raft
Imagine the luxury amenities of a five-star cruise ship combined with the light weight and swiftness of a raft. Impossible right? Only in the nautical sense. In a WordPress theme sense, it’s very possible and you’re looking at it. The Raft theme, powered by Otter Blocks, gives you the horsepower of popular page builder plugins, but without the bloat. You’ll be able to build a great looking Gutenberg-powered site that will not only be visually enticing, but it’ll load fast and perform at an elite level. Set sail below:
Features:
- Provides full-site-editing templates for all of your main pages
- Comes with block patterns, ready for quick prototyping while building your Gutenberg-powered website
- Equipped with global styles functionality to create a perfect color combination for your site
- Adheres to the latest WordPress block editor standards
- Built fully responsive so it looks amazing on any size screen
- Contact form blocks are included, so you can capture email addresses and messages
- Pricing blocks let you quickly create beautiful pricing tables and sections for your services/products
- Overall, you’ll get over 30 new blocks, courtesy of Otter Blocks, which will extend the default WordPress editor
Neve
“Once you try Neve, you’ll probably never leave.” It’s not just a catchy tagline, it’s a reflection of Neve’s loyal following of hundreds of thousands of users from all across the internet. While those users have yet to leave Neve, what they have left instead, is a trail of superb 96%-rated reviews. If you want to build a Gutenberg-powered website that your visitors will never want to leave either, then you too should step through the door of Neve return.
Features:
- Lighting fast (can load in less than one second)
- Simple to set up and easy to use
- Seamlessly integrates with all popular page builders
- Extremely lightweight (Google will love you)
- Customizable header and footer
- Quality code and full support
- Reliable updates
- Over 100 ready-to-import starter sites
Sydney
With thousands of active installations across the internet, there’s a reason that WordPress lovers continue to put their faith in Sydney. Actually, there isn’t a reason, there are many. Sydney offers a plethora of customizations, including full control over layout and color schemes, logo uploads, sticky menus and lots more. If that’s not enough, you can import one of their templates to get your Gutenberg-powered website up-and-running in no time.
Features:
- Stunning design options (control the color, text, buttons, etc)
- Multiple menu choices (static, sticky, inline, centered, transparent)
- 18 professionally designed starter sites (three are included in the free version)
- 11 footer widget layouts with editable footer credits
- Full WooCommerce integration
- Optimized for Core Web Vitals
- Compatible with the most popular language translation plugins
- Recommended by and fully integrated with the Elementor site builder
Jaxon
Jaxon is a contemporary, minimalistic Gutenberg theme that is quickly starting to make a name for itself in the WordPress repository. It’s extremely versatile and easy to navigate, and also comes with a selection of design patterns and multiple style options. This helps explain its rising popularity. If you plan on using the Gutenberg editor to launch a blog, an ecommerce store, a personal portfolio site, or something else, Jaxon is sure to leave you impressed.
- 100% free Gutenberg theme
- Customize everything from color schemes, to menus, to your site logo
- Sticky post to keep your most important content front and center
- RTL support so you can showcase your site in multiple languages
- Alternating image and description preset layout
- Two or three columns with testimonials preset layout
- Three columns with product descriptions preset layout
- Threaded comments to keep your visitors engaged in organized conversation
Astra
“Ad astra” is a Latin phrase meaning “to the stars,” and with the type of numbers this WordPress theme has put up on the board, “to the stars” is fitting. With over a million active installations on the internet, it’s no wonder that the official Astra page braggadociously bills itself as the most popular theme of all time. If you want your Gutenberg-powered website to reach the moon, Astra might be just the theme to get you there.
Features:
- Lightweight theme with excellent performance based on test results
- Pixel perfect website demos available in the Astra library to reduce web design time
- WordPress Customizer so you can customize your Gutenberg-powered site without relying on code
- Seamless integration with Elementor, BeaverBuilder, Yoast, LearnDash, and other popular tools
- Ability to turn off the page title and sidebar to create full-width pages with design freedom
- Several header layout options built-in (Pro version has even more)
- Full control over width, content and even the meta of blog posts & archive pages
- Brand continuity through global color and font settings to maintain a consistent look
Zakra
Zakra’s tagline is “the only theme you’ll ever need.” That’s a bold statement, but Zakra backs it up with a host of features and close to 100 pre-made starter templates. You probably won’t even get through all of them before you find one that will fit your future Gutenberg-powered website. You will also love Zakra for its ease of use, where custom coding is welcome, but completely optional.
Features:
- User support for both free and pro versions of Zakra
- Optimized for speed to keep site loading time to a minimum
- SEO-optimized and works with major SEO plugins
- Compatible with the block editor and Elementor site builder
- Tested with all major browsers to ensure a consistently clean aesthetic look
- Widget areas are available on important areas of the theme from header to footer
- Translation-ready so that any hardcoded English text can be translated to another language
- Option to use custom CSS to tweak the look and the design of the theme
Riverbank
Riverbank is a rockin’ and rollin’ Gutenberg theme that’s got it all! This theme is highly customizable, so you can easily create a website that’s tailored to your unique needs. Whether you want a clean and modern look, or a more traditional and elegant feel, Riverbank has a style that will suit your needs. If you plan on running an online shop, you’ll love Riverbank’s support for WooCommerce, which makes it easy to sell your products or services online.
- 100% free Gutenberg block theme
- Fully responsive, so your pages and posts will look great on any device
- Built-in translation support so you can offer your site in multiple languages
- Premade block templates that you can edit to fit your use case
- Preset full width columns with text and cover
- Three columns with pricing plans premade layout
- Threaded comments to organize conversations on your posts
- Optimized for search engines, which is crucial if you want people to find your website without having to spend money on advertising
AccessPress Parallax
If you’re looking to “wow!” your future Gutenberg-powered site visitors, then the AccessPress Parallax theme is a good starting point. Even if you’re not familiar with the term “parallax“, there’s a good chance that you’ve probably been impressed by this popular 3D effect at some point in your web browsing history. It’s intuitively expected that a theme incorporating the feature name in its title will offer it, and AccessPress Parallax does not disappoint. Learn more, and get ready to say “wow!“
Features:
- Customizer-based theme so you’re able to make edits in real-time without having to use code
- Compatible with both the block editor and Elementor
- Fully responsive so your Gutenberg-powered site will look great on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices
- Tested using major browsers to ensure a consistent visitor experience
- Configure and place social links/icons on the header/footer
- A separate, feature-rich blog layout
- Upload your logo and favicon to highlight your brand
- Add custom CSS/JS codes right from the theme panel
Hestia
What happens when high performance takes a great user experience out to lunch and they fall in love? Hestia happens. This stylish one page theme is sure to make your Gutenberg-powered website stand out in a crowded, competitive space. Not only will the search engines and your visitors be fans, but you’ll also feel right at home when using it. Take a peek at all the wonderful features below.
Features:
- Slick material design to impress site visitors
- Seamless integration with the block editor and all popular page builders
- WooCommerce online store capability
- SEO-ready structure, plus a clean and optimized source code
- Live customizer (see changes in real-time as you make them)
- Ultra-fast loading times
- One-click updates and fast support
- Powerful, responsive, and user-friendly mega menu (arrange and organize submenu content)
OnePress
If you’re planning on launching a one-page Gutenberg-powered website, you really need that one page to demand your visitor’s attention. OnePress was designed with you in mind. It’s simple and straightforward, yet within its simplicity, you’ll find a theme that’s highly functional, SEO-optimized, and with an aesthetic design. There’s no need to look at one more theme, OnePress is the one for you.
Features:
- Responsive design that adapts to several devices and screen sizes
- Parallax backgrounds so visitors can enjoy your aesthetic content in parallax scrolling sections
- Built-in customizer so you can quickly change aspects of the design
- HTML5 and CSS3 compliant coding
- Optimized for speed because loading time matters
- Tested for browser compatibility for a consistent visitor experience
- Paid version includes one year of free updates and priority customer support
- Option to translate the theme into the language of your choice
WordPress Gutenberg themes FAQ
Gutenberg themes are different from regular WordPress themes because they have been either specifically designed to work with the Gutenberg (block) editor, or tested to ensure their compatibility with it. While all themes may have some level of block support, if they are not specificaly optimized for the Gutenberg editor, then they may not offer the same level of customization options as Gutenberg themes.
Using WordPress Gutenberg themes comes with several benefits.
First, these themes have been tested to work with the Gutenberg editor, which means they are guaranteed to be compatible with future WordPress updates. No more panic attacks about your site crashing when WordPress rolls out yet-another iteration.
Second, since Gutenberg themes work with the native WordPress block editor, they tend to be more lightweight and offer faster loading times than themes that rely on additional plugins or page builders. Overall, using Gutenberg themes can help improve the efficiency and performance of your WordPress website, while offering a high level of customization and beautiful aesthetics.
It’s best to think of it this way – all block themes are also Gutenberg themes, but not all Gutenberg themes are block themes. When we talk about Gutenberg themes, what we’re really talking about it is any WordPress theme that is capable of working with the Gutenberg (block) editor, without any problems.
However, there is a difference between classic themes that were designed prior to the adoption of Gutenberg as the default WordPress editor, and themes that have been designed specifically to work with the (block) editor. The former are what we would refer to more precisely as “Gutenberg-compatible”, whereas the latter are block themes.
On a more technical level, classic themes mostly use PHP-based templates (with some exceptions), while block themes have been built from HTML templates made entirely of blocks.
First things first – there is no such thing as an “FSE theme”. FSE itself stands for full site editing, and rather than being a singular entity, it’s actually a compilation of various components.
WordPress has previously introduced several of these components prior to version 5.9, including the template editor, block-based widgets, and theme.json support. So technically, any theme that supports these features could be considered an “FSE theme” (if such a thing were to exist), but if you’ve read or heard someone talk about FSE themes, they were most likely referring to block themes. For additional confirmation, check out the WordPress theme repository and you’ll see that there is a specific category for block themes, but there isn’t one for FSE themes.
Like other WordPress themes, Gutenberg themes also have free versions. Some – like the Raft theme – are entirely free. Others – like Neve – have both a free version and a premium (paid) version. If you’re specifically looking for a free Gutenberg theme, then you’ll be happy to know that there more free Gutenberg themes in the WordPress repository than you would realistically have the time to search through.
In other words, lack of options is not an issue. The real issue is finding one that will fit your specific needs and that will give you the features you’re looking for. This post you’re reading right now is a great place to do that, and all of the Gutenberg themes we featured here are either completely free, or have a free version.
Final thoughts on the best Gutenberg themes
When WordPress first released the Gutenberg editor as the official replacement to the classic editor that had been in use for years, some people were skeptical if it would catch on. Well, it’s 2023 now, and it’s very clear that Gutenberg is here to stay. Not only is it here to stay, but the WordPress ecosystem is increasingly becoming block-based.
In practical terms, this means that choosing a Gutenberg-compatible theme, and in particular a block theme, is a smart move. While the performance factor is probably the most attractive aspect for many users, the other huge benefit of going with Gutenberg is that it significantly minimizes your risk of an unexpected crash whenever the latest version of WordPress gets released.
At the risk of sounding alarmist, the same cannot be said for using just any ol’ WordPress theme with a page builder plugin, because page builders are by default, not a part of WordPress. With the best Gutenberg themes, you can take full advantage of the block editor to create a custom website that is beautiful, efficient, and “future-proof”.
Although all of the options we listed here are solid choices, if we were forced to narrow it down to two, we’d recommend:
- Neve – best overall choice with the widest range of customization options, compatibility with Gutenberg, and of course speed.
- Raft – the most popular WordPress block theme as of the time of this writing and for good reason – it’s easy to customize, it’s fast, and it looks great.
Let us know how your Gutenberg-powered website turns out when you’re finished. Please share a link too. We’d love to check it out and see your work. If this post helped you in any way, please consider Tweeting it out using the link below so that others may benefit from it also.
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* 🦜 themes developed by our sister company, Themeisle
* This list of the best Gutenberg themes contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the links and you choose to purchase the premium version of a theme, we’ll receive a small commission. No worries though, you’ll still pay the standard amount so there’s no additional cost to you.
