WordPress Block Editor Maturity: A Year-End Assessment

The WordPress block editor has been shipping updates for years. The question at the end of 2025: is it finally mature enough to recommend to clients without caveats? After a year of client projects using it, I have a concrete answer. Here is the honest assessment.

What Is Solid Now

Core blocks: paragraph, heading, image, button, columns all ship reliably
Block patterns: reusable layouts work well, clients can apply them
Block themes: template editing is real, FSE is usable
Global styles: site-wide design changes from one panel
Full-site editing: header, footer, templates all editable

For typical marketing sites, the block editor is more than enough. Clients can edit pages, change layouts, and update design without calling me.

What Is Still Rough

Custom blocks: the developer experience is better but still awkward
Block variations: conceptually good, inconsistently implemented
Pattern overrides: getting there but not fully stable yet
Query loops: powerful but hard for non-developers to configure

Most client-facing editing experiences work. Some developer-facing customizations still surprise.

The Performance Story

Block themes are faster than classic themes in my measurements. No jQuery dependency. Smaller CSS footprints when using the right patterns. Core Web Vitals are achievable without heroic effort.

plaintext

Client marketing site (block theme):
  LCP: 1.2s
  CLS: 0.01
  INP: 85ms

Those are production numbers for a real client site with no custom performance work.

The Custom Block Workflow

Custom blocks used to mean PHP and JSX in two files that did not agree with each other. With AI agents writing both sides, custom blocks became fast to produce:

bash

cd wp-content/plugins/custom-blocks/
claude 'add a pricing-card block with title, price, features list, and CTA'

In 10 minutes I have a shippable custom block. The ratio of time to value shifted dramatically.

What Clients Love

The reason block editor matters is not developer productivity. It is client autonomy. Clients can:

Edit their own pages without breaking layouts
Add new sections from pattern libraries
Change global colors or fonts from one place
See what the page will look like while editing

That is the whole pitch. The editor matured enough to deliver on it.

The Recommendation

For new WordPress client projects in 2026, I default to a block theme. Classic themes only on legacy projects where the migration cost is not worth it.

For the current block editor handbook, see the WordPress block editor documentation.