9 Best Free Gutenberg Plugins for WordPress

The default WordPress Gutenberg editor has now simplified the way users build websites. With its block-based approach, it allows you to design stunning layouts without touching a single line of code. But the real magic happens when you extend its capabilities with Gutenberg block plugins.

Here you’ll have the option to explore the best free Gutenberg plugins for WordPress, which we specifically picked, like GutenKit, Kadence Blocks, Stackable Blocks, Otter Blocks, and many more. 

So let’s now know what these 10 best free Gutenberg plugins for WordPress are!

Quick Overview
Gutenberg block plugins extend the standard WordPress editor with advanced design tools, pre-made templates, and custom functionality without the need for code. Here are the 9 best free Gutenberg plugins you can choose from:

👉 GutenKit:
1. Best For: Creating high-end business sites and portfolios with Full Site Editing (FSE).
2. USP: Offers an unmatched library of 65+ blocks, 900+ templates and advanced modules like Mega Menu and Query Loop builders.
👉 ShopEngine:
1. Best For: Specialized for e-Commerce website.
2. USP: The most comprehensive e-commerce block suite, replacing several single-use plugins.
👉 Kadence Blocks:
1. Best For: Professional users who prioritize speed and granular layout control.
2. USP: The “Row Layout” block provides the most precise control over spacing and structure in the block editor.
👉 Stackable Blocks:
1. Best For: Design-conscious users who want “page builder” effects like glassmorphism and animations.
2. USP: Highly intuitive UI with a massive collection of 480+ pre-designed UI kits and block arrangements.
👉 Getwid:
1. Best For: Developers and minimalists looking for a 100% free, high-quality block library.
2. USP: One of the largest collections of blocks (40+) that are entirely free with no “Pro” version upsells.
👉 Spectra (Ultimate Addons):
1. Best For: Beginners and Astra theme users seeking a stable, widely-supported ecosystem.
2. USP: The most popular Gutenberg addon with over 700,000 active users and high-speed performance.
👉 Otter Blocks:
1. Best For: Bloggers and content creators who need simple but powerful interactive elements.
2. USP: Built-in “Visibility Conditions” allow you to show/hide blocks based on user roles or login status.
👉 Gutentor:
1. Best For: Creating complex, multi-layered layouts with advanced styling options.
2. USP: Offers a “Repeater” field for dynamic items and a robust SVG shape divider library for modern designs.
👉 CoBlocks:
1. Best For: Simple, minimalist sites and users who prefer a native WordPress feel.
2. USP: One of the first block plugins, owned by GoDaddy, offering a very clean and intuitive interface.

9 Best Free Gutenberg Plugins in a Quick Glance

Here’s a quick glance at the 9 best free Gutenberg plugins:

9 Best Free Gutenberg Plugins

Let’s dive into the top Gutenberg plugins that can transform your WordPress editor into a powerful design toolkit.

1. GutenKit

Our first on the list is GutenKit. It is a strong choice if you like Gutenberg and want more design flexibility without switching to a completely different page builder. It gives you many blocks, ready-made templates and pages, and design tools: 

👉 Fully compatible with the WordPress Full Site Editor (FSE)

👉 Pre-made responsive breakpoints optimized for mobile, tablet, and desktop

👉 Advanced Mega Menu builder and Dynamic Query Loop builders

👉 Flexible full-width containers with inline editing support

👉 Smooth motion animation effects for WordPress blocks

👉 Copy and paste styles across Gutenberg blocks

👉 65+ blocks supported by the WordPress block editor

👉 900+ professionally designed templates and patterns

👉 Fast-loading assets and performance optimization

If you were building a WordPress site for blogs, business, or even a portfolio, GutenKit is your best choice. You can use GutenKit for:

1. Creating a hero section with a custom layout with image, text, and background.
2. Use container blocks to make full-width sections. You can set your section’s padding and margin visually.
3. Use ready-made templates for parts like pricing, testimonials, team section, etc.
4. Apply responsive controls to make sure your website looks perfect on mobile and desktop.
5. Build a fancy navigation menu and an accordion for FAQs, and so much more.

Just like any other Gutenberg plugin, there are minimal issues with the plugin, like malfunctioning on the container line items and translation support issues. But its dedicated support team is always reliable at resolving any technical issues to ensure good service and mitigate impact. 

2. ShopEngine

If you are building an online store, ShopEngine is a specialized Gutenberg plugin designed specifically for WooCommerce. While other plugins on this list are general-purpose, ShopEngine focuses on giving you total control over your shop, cart, and checkout pages using the block editor. Here are the features that make ShopEngine stands out for e-Commerce needs:

⭐ Over 70 drag-and-drop WooCommerce builder widgets

⭐ More than 20 WooCommerce add-ons designed for eCommerce stores

⭐ 40+ professionally designed WooCommerce templates for online shops

⭐ Flash sale countdown timers to create urgency and boost conversions

⭐ Product wishlist feature allowing customers to save items for later

⭐ One-click quick checkout for faster and smoother purchases

⭐ Cross-sell and upsell tools to increase average order value (AOV)

⭐ Live sales notifications to build trust and social proof

⭐ Product quick view for instant access to details without page reloads

⭐ Partial payment options enabling installment-based purchases

⭐ Currency switcher to show prices in customers’ local currencies

⭐ Product carousel to showcase items in an interactive slider

⭐ Filterable product lists with real-time sorting and filtering

It is a lightweight alternative to heavy e-commerce page builders, offering a modular system where you can enable only the features you need.

You can opt for ShopEngine when:

1. You want to design a custom Single Product page or Archive page without coding.

2. You need advanced e-commerce features like Product Comparison, Wishlists, and Quick View in a free version.

3. You want to replace the default WooCommerce checkout with a more user-friendly and conversion-optimized layout.

4. You are looking for Variation Swatches to show different colors or sizes of a product elegantly and so on.

The only drawdown on ShopEngine is its specific use case. It is specifically built for e-Commerce website. So, this plugin won’t be useful if you are running a standard blog website. 

3. Kadence Blocks

Kadence Blocks is also a good option for users wanting more design and layout control. It is integrated with the native WordPress block system, so you can keep working within the same editor. 

Just like GutenKit, you can also only load what you use, so that your site’s loading performance will not be compromised. Additionally, the tools’ layout controls are very flexible. You can use the Row Layout block to build a container with columns and add other elements inside. 

You can use Kadence blocks to:

1. Build full-width sections, custom grid/columns layouts with fine control on spacing and styling.
2. Use it alongside lightweight themes.
3. Create custom page sections with reusable styling. This means that you only set your section styling, including typography, color palette, etc, and other sections will follow the same styling by default.

However, there were reported issues with the performance of Kadence blocks, where a single class [class-kadence-blocks-css.php] accounts for nearly 3 seconds of execution time per page load. Another drawback of this tool is its learning curve, where the number of controls and options can feel overwhelming if you are only looking for a simple setup. 

4. Stackable

Stackable is another Gutenberg tool that offers a free version to build your website in a basic yet powerful design. Overall, Stackable gives ample design freedom, good responsive controls, and claims to maintain performance. 

Moreover, the tool has pre-designed layouts and sections to speed up your page building. It’s also known for its good performance with a small frontend CSS/JS load of approximately 7kb. 

You can use Stackeable when you:

1. Need custom layouts, hero sections, feature grids, etc, beyond basic post or page.

2. Care responsiveness controls so you can adjust settings for mobile/tablet views. You can hide or show certain blocks on a type of device and set custom breakpoints. 

3. Work on a theme that supports Gutenberg to maintain performance that is lightweight and optimized for speed.

4. Want advanced controls for layout, typography, spacing, and responsive settings.

However, there were some reported feedbacks that Stackable requires a learning curve for beginners. Some of its advanced features require an external plugin, just like dynamic content that requires ACF.  Furthermore, some users reported editor crashes or issues with Stackable configurations where Stackable blocks are broken, “attempt recovery.”

5. Getwid

Getwid is a good option for users looking for a good balance between flexibility, theme integration, and cost. Like other plugins, Getwid has a large collection of custom blocks with pre-made templates. 

Getwid is also labeled as a performance-oriented Gutenberg block plugin, with the performance results conducted by WPHive:

•  Average memory usage increase on front-end: ~ +99.71 KB.
• Average page loading time increase: +0.06 s (0.06 seconds) on the front page.

Still, the performance of Getwid depends heavily on theme, hosting, enabled blocks, and compatibility with other plugins.

 You can choose Getwid when:

1. You are looking for a block plugin that can inherit style information from your theme, including fonts, colors, layout, etc.
2. Creating custom layouts with flexible sections with background images or videos, and looking for advanced blocks like Image Hotspot to add interactivity.
3. You want to ensure a minimal loading time impact.

Just like other plugins, Getwid has reported issues on its AI block due to its geographical limitations. Also, there’s a reported issue with its compatibility, just like the table block bug. 

6. Ultimate Addons for Gutenberg

Ultimate Addons for Gutenberg offers a set of advanced and design-oriented blocks. Just like other plugins, you can also disable other blocks not in use to maintain a clean editor and to maintain good performance. 

Moreover, UAG is impressive when it comes to blocks like  “Post Carousel” of recent posts, a “Content Timeline” because of their extra styling.

You can opt for Ultimate Addons for Gutenberg when:

1. When you are using the Astra theme, you want a block plugin that fits well with Astra.
2. Building pages optimized for search, as it has SEO-aware blocks like FAQs and How-To.
3. You are looking for advanced features like schema, animations, and advanced layouts. 

Reportedly, UAG has a page speed impact of +0.436 seconds on average after activation. The data below shows the admin/back-end impacts:

• For /wp-admin/post-new.php: load time increased by +3.999 s and memory usage increased by +7.52 MiB after activating the plugin.
• On front-end (the homepage “/”), the load time increase was +0.036 seconds and memory by +626.8 KiB. 

Overall, the plugin is a good choice because of its broad feature set with extra blocks + layout/design control. However, there were reported bugs after updates, like slider image issues on mobile. 

7. Otter Blocks

Otter Blocks has a wide set of extra blocks, layout tools, templates, patterns, and advanced options. Just like GutenKit, it offers full-page templates and patterns you can import to speed up your page building. 

You can opt for Otter Blocks if:

1. You are looking for advanced controls like custom CSS per block, animations, responsive table/mobile settings, and visibility conditions.
2. You prefer a minimal site or simple blog, which gives you all the blocks and options under the free version. 

Moreover, Otter Blocks has a modest performance impact based on this PluginTests.com test result:

• Memory usage: +1.37 MiB after activation. 
• Page speed impact (front-end): +0.211 seconds average page load time increase.

Nonetheless, the plugin is sufficient to deliver your Gutenberg page-building needs. But, there’s a reported issue on REST API calls increasing when many Otter blocks are used, which slows down editor performance.

8. Gutentor

Gutentor is a block plugin that, like other tools, has a large collection of additional blocks, layout tools, templates, and design options to build even complex layouts. You can disable blocks or modules not in use to keep your site clean and reduce possible overhead. 

Opt for Gutentor when:

1. You want advanced styling controls such as background, typography, shape divide, etc, without writing custom CSS.
2. Prefer a basic page design, where the free version is already sufficient. 

On the other hand, there was a security risk on Gutentor based on the test of its previous versions.

• A Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability, CVE-2025-4685, affects versions ≤ 3.4.8 of Gutentor. 
• Another XSS vulnerability, CVE-2025-22293, affects versions ≤ ~3.4.0 and CVE-2024-43308 (versions ≤3.3.5)

Additionally, there’s a reported test that Gutentor has approximately +2 seconds render time when using the plugin on a specific host + PHP8.1/8.2.

Though the plugin has been updated (3.5.3), it is still important to look out for security and may require security patches. 

9. CoBlocks

CoBlocks is a Gutenberg block plugin that offers more control over layout. You can design a full-width row with a background image, columns, and custom padding. 

CoBlocks has an intuitive interface, reducing the learning curve. It’s also compatible with many themes and other plugins, which ensures lightweight and fast loading performance. The test result of PluginTests.com shows it:

• Memory usage increase: ~ +894 KiB after activation
• Page speed impact: ~ +0.125 seconds average page load time increase.

and…………..

WP Hive data shows (approximate):

• Average front-page loading time increased by ~ +0.12 seconds by using CoBlocks.
• Average memory usage increase is ~ +111.75 KB

Despite being lightweight, there were still reported issues with its performance as a Gutenberg plugin. It showed slow page loads or editor slowdown, where 2 seconds or more were added when using PHP 8+. Additionally, users reported that sometimes updates break websites, causing errors and blocking access to menus.

Best Practices in Choosing the Best Gutenberg Plugin

Here are the best practices for selecting a free Gutenberg plugin.

1. Understand Your Goals First

Decide what you need. You can use these questions to determine your goal:

• Do you need more blocks (e.g., testimonials, pricing tables)?
• Do you need layout controls (columns, spacing, advanced grids)?
• Do you want theme-style matching or page templates?

2. Check Plugin Compatibility

Ensure the plugin can work well with all the plugins on your WordPress website. Plugins usually have compatibility notes in their description. You can search for the plugin on WordPress.org and look for the information that talks about its compatibility.

3. Prioritize Lightweight Performance

Check if the plugin has performance optimizations. Make sure that the plugin has loaded only the blocks you’ll use. Avoid those plugins that add hefty CSS/JS on the frontend, as they may only slow down your site. Choose a plugin that has modular loading or selective block loading.

4. Read Reviews and Ratings

Look for a plugin that has consistent updates because it is a good sign that a plugin is well-maintained. You can check in WordPress.org to see how the users rate the plugin and the reviews they gave. The more reviews, the better, and only settle for a plugin that has a minimum 4-4.5-star rating. 

5. Look at Support Responsiveness

A good plugin offers good support. You can visit WordPress.org to see how fast the developers give replies and provide resolutions to all technical issues faced by the users. Their responsiveness is a good sign that they have good support and they truly care for their users.

6. Evaluate Block Quality & Usefulness

Always consider the blocks that are only needed in your website. Then evaluate if those blocks are well-designed and responsive. Also, examine if the blocks can integrate with your theme style and if all blocks have maximum customization control. 

7. Check Extensibility & Integration

Always choose a plugin that has design flexibility. A flexible plugin can play well with custom fields and integrate with the full site editor. A good plugin has patterns and reusable blocks. 

8. Test Before Paying

Before committing to a plugin, make sure that you test the features of the plugin. Most plugins have their free plans for you to test. Take note that the more blocks, templates, and patterns being offered under their free plan, the better.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. Do you need multiple Gutenberg plugins to build a professional site?

Not necessarily. Many “All-in-One” suites like GutenKit or Spectra provide enough blocks (60+) to build an entire website. It is generally better to use one comprehensive plugin rather than five small ones to avoid “plugin bloat” and potential code conflicts.

2. Will installing a Gutenberg block plugin slow down your website? 

Most modern block plugins are designed for performance. Unlike older page builders, plugins like GutenKit and Kadence use “Modular Loading.” This means that they only load the CSS and JavaScript for the specific blocks you use on a page. Always check if the plugin allows you to deactivate blocks you aren’t using.

3. Can I use these plugins with any WordPress theme? 

Yes, most Gutenberg plugins work with any theme. However, for the best experience, we recommend using a Block Theme (built for Full Site Editing) or a lightweight theme like Hello. 

Final Thoughts

The Gutenberg editor has matured into a full-fledged website builder, and these free plugins make it even better. Whether you’re a blogger, developer, or small business owner, the right combination of Gutenberg blocks can help you create professional websites quickly and efficiently.

With these tools, specifically GutenKit in your WordPress toolkit, you’ll unlock the true potential of the Gutenberg editor, all without wasting a cent. But if you are working on a e-Commerce site, ShopEngine is the only tool you can rely on.