Since the official release of WordPress 5.0 (December 6, 2018), the Gutenberg editor has been part of the WordPress core. This means that Gutenberg has now been in use for over a year. That's why we're taking a look at what has happened in the meantime in this article.

Today, we're also looking at the question of whether anything has changed in the comparison of the Gutenberg Editor with the already established WordPress page builders.

I think everyone should know "what the Gutenberg Editor is" by now. But in case you are not yet familiar with the new WordPress editor, here is a brief review of the most important features:

• The Gutenberg Editor replaces the TinyMCE Editor.
• The new editor uses individual blocks instead of the single large text field of the old editor.
• A block can contain text, an image, a button, a quote or much more.
• This makes it easier to create multi-column layouts.
• You have drag & drop features to arrange the blocks.
• It is designed for compatibility with existing WordPress functions.

You can try out the Gutenberg Editor directly in the official live demo on WordPress.org.

If you want to learn more, you should read the article WordPress 5 and the Gutenberg Editor. Then you'll know what to look out for in the new editor.

There is no doubt that the new editor brings flexibility when creating content. You can use it to create individual post and page content even without programming knowledge.

But...

The editor is just the beginning

The editor is just the beginning of three planned phases. Gutenberg is more than just an editor. It is also the foundation that will revolutionize the customization and creation of websites in WordPress.

Gutenberg has three planned stages. The first, which is geared towards integration into WordPress 5.0. These basic elements pave the way for stages two and three, which are planned for next year, to go beyond the post into page templates and finally the full customization of the website.

- Source: en.wordpress.org/plugins/gutenberg

On this topic, WPCrafter's interview with Matt Mullenweg (the founder of Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com) is highly recommended. In the interview, the two talk about Gutenberg and the future of WordPress, among other things.

The developers have big goals for Project Gutenberg. But just as they say, this is just the beginning. Gutenberg is still in its infancy. That's why we should make a few things clear.

What Gutenberg is not (yet) compared to the page builders

This is a backend editor and not a live editor

In the Gutenberg Editor, you cannot see the complete design of the website when editing. You have to use the preview, which can make customization a little trickier in some places.

Gutenberg is an advanced content editor, but not (yet) a page builder

Phase 1 of Gutenberg focuses on the editor and therefore on the creation of content for posts and pages. At least in its current form, it is not possible to customize the entire design, as is the case with page builders.

The following illustration should make this big difference a little clearer. With the Gutenberg Editor, you edit the white area of the blog post or page, i.e. the content. The orange part, i.e. the layout, can be completely customized with page builders such as Elementor. (The blue part is only the interface, which we will ignore at this point).

The basic design for Gutenberg is based on the theme

If you do not use a page builder, the basic design of your website is based on the theme as usual. So the orange part in the image above is determined by the theme.

Even with the use of the new blocks, the style options with the Gutenberg Editor are still quite simple. Basically, the Gutenberg Editor in its current form is an advanced content editor.

Gutenberg is not (yet) accepted by the community

If you look at the current reviews of the Gutenberg plugin, the vast majority are not impressed by the new editor.

Or many simply don't want to get to grips with a new workflow that requires some training. Either way, with over 200,000 active installations, only just over 1% have rated the plugin with one or two stars.

Personally, I can't quite understand the bad reviews. I updated my website on release day and haven't had any problems with Gutenberg so far. Well, I didn't have too much content either. With the wrong theme and lots of content, there may be complications when updating. But I think this is where the plugin and theme developers have to step in and ensure compatibility. In my opinion, you can't blame WordPress for providing our beloved CMS with new features.

The further development of Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg will receive features in phase 2 and 3 to customize the complete design of your website. However, the developers are talking about development over the next few years. So it will be a while before you can call Gutenberg a page builder. In the meantime, the page builders will of course continue to develop.

The strength of Gutenberg lies in the large WordPress community

Due to the open source mentality of WordPress, in principle any developer can participate in the expansion of Gutenberg. Even at this stage, there are already several plugins that provide Gutenberg with additional functions and new blocks.

I would like to mention a few of the plugins at this point:

• Advanced Gutenberg
• Gutenberg Blocks - Ultimate Addons for Gutenberg
• Atomic Blocks - Gutenberg Blocks Collection
• Kadence Blocks - Gutenberg Page Builder Toolkit
• Stackable - Gutenberg Blocks
• Premium Blocks for Gutenberg
• Page Builder Gutenberg Blocks - CoBlocks

If I have forgotten an important plugin, please let me know in the comments below. On this topic, you should watch the video by Income Mesh, which presents 10 essential plugins for Gutenberg.

If you use a number of plugins, you should also take a look at the Block Manager, which has been added to Gutenberg with the recently released WordPress version 5.2. This allows you to deactivate blocks, as there will inevitably be overlaps between the plugins. In addition, the workflow is not disturbed by too much choice.

Page builders such as Elementor or Beaver Builder also allow the use of plugins from other developers. But others, such as Thrive Architect, do not offer this option. Gutenberg can only benefit from the community.

Compatibility with existing WordPress functions could slow down development somewhat

The WordPress core is designed for high compatibility with the lowest possible access barriers. This is one of the special features of WordPress, but at the same time the high level of compatibility also limits free development somewhat. But here too, the extensions from the WordPress community can shine.

Conclusion: Will Gutenberg soon replace Page Builder?

So in my opinion, the question should be approached differently. Instead of asking yourself where competing points can be found, you should rather consider how Gutenberg and Page Builder can benefit from each other.

An illustrative example is once again Elementor with their Elementor Blocks for Gutenberg plugins. With this plugin you can insert Elementor templates as a block in Gutenberg. This allows you to use your templates that you have created with the Elementor Page Builder in Gutenberg.

Or, like Brizy, you can take a different approach with Brizy.Cloud. In the cloud, you can create landing pages as HTML pages without needing WordPress.

In my opinion, casual users will benefit greatly from Gutenberg to create engaging content. This is because many websites do not necessarily require the use of a fully-fledged page builder. WordPress page builders will be geared more towards power users. This will also allow developers to focus on more extensive functions that are specifically tailored to professional users.

I don't think page builders will be replaced by Gutenberg, even in the long term.

If you'd like to take a closer look at WordPress page builders, I can recommend the Elementor Pro review on my blog. In it, you can find out what one of the most popular page builders has to offer.

Finally, I would be interested to know what you think. Will Gutenberg replace page builders in the long run? Let us know your opinion in the comments below.