Stackable Blocks Review [Free Version]- Does it stack up?

A full-featured block library

Stackable is what we consider a “full-featured” block library add-on. Here’s why:

• It offers 27 custom blocks in the free version. (This is on the high end).
• It has a good selection of pre-built design templates (89 free and 264 premium)
• It has UI Kits you can use to create consistently styled sections.
• Global color editor.
• Global typography editor.
• Hide or show blocks based on screen size.
• All blocks have margin and padding settings.

I’ll go into these in more detail shortly. But first, let’s talk performance.

Is it fast?

We tested 86 block plugins to determine their speed overhead. We looked at added page-weight, number of calls and milliseconds of load time.

Stackable passed with flying colors and is in our “top-tier” of fastest Gutenberg-related plugins. It added only 75 kilobytes to the page-weight, just 2 calls and 0 milliseconds in load time.

What about a real world test?

We used Stackable as the main block library on a client site: https://cryptogard.tax/

The home page speed tests look like this:

Yes, Stackable is fast.

Stackable Features Overview

Let’s take a look at some of the features mentioned above.

27 Custom Blocks

These blocks include things like:

• Container
• Columns and Grid
• Testimonials
• Pricing Tables
• Accordion
• and more

Overall, we’ve found their blocks to be quite nice. There are many options within each block type so you can customize them to your needs.

The layout of each block’s settings is also pretty good, and most similar to the Elementor page builder.

Pre-Built Design Library

Stackable offers 89 pre-built templates in the free version. These include layouts like hero sections, post-grids, testimonials, etc. They are organized by type.

I don’t find myself using these often, but they can be useful to get you started if you’re stuck. You can also use them to reverse-engineer settings if you’re not sure how to get the look you want.

You can remove the design library completely from your editor if you don’t ever use it. A nice touch which shows me that Stackable is putting some thought into their plugin.

UI Kits

UI kits are similar to Pre-Built Sections, except that they are organized by style and color, rather than section type. I think this is a great idea and could be a big time saver if you’re using templates.

Global Color Editor

The global color editor allows you to change the color palette of all your blocks across your entire site. So no matter what block you’re using – Stackable or otherwise – you’ll see your custom color palette. This is a huge time saver.

Global Typography Editor

Similar to the global color editor, this feature allows you to set the typography – font family, size, weight, etc – for your headings and body text within the Stackable settings.

Many themes already allow you to change your typography, so this feature seems less useful. But if your theme doesn’t let you change typography easily, this would be quite helpful.

Hide or Show Blocks Based on Screen Size

This feature adds a “Responsive” setting for each Stackable block that allows you to hide a given block (or group of blocks in a container or column) depending on screen size.

So say you have a section that you want to hide completely on mobile, you can do that with one click.

All Blocks Have Margin and Padding Settings

This may seem trivial. But there are many instances when you want more or less space between blocks.

Default margins and padding can be inconsistent – especially when you have multiple block libraries installed – so this allows you to get the spacing between elements just right.

Kadence, another block library we like, doesn’t have margin/padding settings for every block. This is a big weakness in our experience. Kadence does have some other awesome features, which you can read about in our Kadence Review.

Conclusion

Stackable is a well-rounded and well-conceived block library. It’s fast and feature rich. We recommend it.

Download the free version here.

Learn more about the premium version here.