Best WordPress Theme for Agencies? Why I Chose Kadence

For years I have been bombarded with WordPress themes and page builders. There are so many of them that one may get lost and confused over all the reading material available online. What is the best WordPress theme for agencies?

At Learning Pixels, after a few years working with Divi, we’ve made the switch to Kadence and Gutenberg. It hasn’t always been pleasant transitioning sites from Divi to Kadence, but mid-long term, we see only benefits of this! I would not go back.

What is the best WordPress theme?

This question can only generate subjective answers. 😉

But since this is my blog, I will respond with my experience and opinion. A little history first which will explain where I come from and why I am convinced that the best WordPress theme for agencies is Kadence.

First, when I started to get interested in the web, I tested several builders and several themes. I quickly formed the idea that you should not choose a theme in relation to a final subject. For example, when I see people on Facebook asking what is the best WordPress theme for a bakery… it bothers me. I’m uncomfortable with these questions, because there is a super important principle that people forget.

When they ask this kind of question, it’s a design they’re really looking for. Maybe specific features too. For example, we have a site creation offer for real estate agents with property display and search features. These are the features that our customers are looking for.

The problem is that by purchasing a specific WordPress theme on Theme Forest, for example, you are subject to the stack on which the theme was built. Themes for sale on Theme Forest, Envato, etc. often come with WP Bakery, Beaver Builder, sometimes Elementor free version. The design of the theme may be pretty, but you buy yourself a debt from the start of your project. This is especially a problem with people who are not web professionals.

I always (ALWAYS) advise people to purchase a tool box instead. Don’t buy a design, buy a toolbox. Choose the best tools for you, the ones that suit you, and then learn how to use them. As you develop your knowledge, you will be able to create the design you are looking for.

My own toolbox, and the one I choose for all our projects, is Kadence.

Kadence is one of the most popular and highest-rated themes for WordPress, and for good, simple reasons. It is a high-quality theme that offers a great user experience for both developers and site users.

Before using Kadence, all of our websites were built with Divi from Elegant Themes. Please note: I still love Divi and I believe that this theme and builder still occupies an important place in the WordPress ecosystem. But I made the choice to change for two main reasons.

First, I fundamentally believe that WordPress is moving more and more towards the use of blocks. Divi doesn’t work that way, and it cut me off from all sorts of new innovations.

Second, site performance is significantly better with Kadence than with Divi. Our specialty is LearnDash sites. Divi and LearnDash work, but it’s slow. And neither company seems to want to take a step to get closer to the other. As LearnDash has become a very important part of our business, I chose to move to Gutenberg with Kadence.

Why We Chose Kadence

Flexibility

Kadence stands out for its remarkable flexibility, offering users an expansive toolkit to create bespoke websites tailored to specific needs and aesthetics. One of the most compelling aspects of Kadence is its intuitive customization options, which allow both novice and experienced developers to craft visually appealing and functional sites with ease.

At the core of Kadence’s flexibility is its modular design system. Users can choose from a plethora of pre-designed templates, blocks, and elements that can be effortlessly integrated into the website. Whether you’re looking to build a portfolio, an e-commerce platform using WooCommerce, or an educational site with LearnDash integration, Kadence provides the building blocks necessary to bring your vision to life.

Furthermore, Kadence offers robust compatibility with popular WordPress plugins, including WooCommerce, LearnDash, The Events Calendar, ensuring seamless integration and enhanced functionality. This compatibility extends to various third-party tools and extensions, granting users the freedom to expand their website’s capabilities without constraints. Those tools are frequently used by agencies, which in our opinion makes Kadence the best WordPress theme for agencies.

The theme’s responsive design capabilities further amplify its flexibility, ensuring optimal performance across devices of all sizes. With Kadence, you can rest assured that your website will provide an immersive user experience, whether accessed via desktop, tablet, or mobile devices.

From a developer’s perspective, Kadence’s extendable architecture enables custom CSS and JavaScript modifications, empowering users to fine-tune every aspect of their website’s appearance and behavior. This level of control is invaluable for those seeking to create unique, high-performance websites tailored to specific business requirements.

Performance

Kadence not only excels in flexibility and customization but also shines brightly in terms of performance and speed optimization. Kadence has been meticulously designed to prioritize performance at every level. When you run an agency, that’s precisely what you want, because you don’t want to spend time later debugging or responding to complaints about performance! You want it fast, efficient, right out of the box!

One of the standout features contributing to Kadence’s exceptional speed is its lightweight architecture. The theme is crafted with clean, efficient code that minimizes unnecessary bloat, ensuring swift loading times and responsive interactions.

This lean approach to development not only enhances user experience but also positively impacts search engine rankings, as speed is a crucial factor in determining search visibility.

Kadence incorporates advanced caching mechanisms and optimized asset delivery strategies to further accelerate website performance. By minimizing HTTP requests, leveraging browser caching, and prioritizing critical rendering paths, Kadence ensures that your website loads quickly and efficiently across various devices and network conditions.

Library of Templates and Blocks

Kadence distinguishes itself not only through its robust performance and flexibility but also through its expansive library of blocks and the innovative Kadence Cloud integration. This extensive library empowers users with a diverse collection of pre-designed blocks, templates, and modules, streamlining the website development process and accelerating time-to-market.

The library of blocks within Kadence encompasses a wide array of design elements, ranging from headers and footers to content sections and interactive elements. Each block is meticulously crafted to align with contemporary design trends and user experience best practices, ensuring that users can create visually stunning and functional websites with minimal effort.

Furthermore, the integration of Kadence Cloud amplifies the theme’s capabilities by providing users with a centralized platform to access, manage, and deploy blocks and templates seamlessly. Kadence Cloud facilitates effortless synchronization across multiple websites, enabling users to maintain consistency and coherence in design elements and content across various digital properties.

Gutenberg

WordPress has been moving towards a block-based editor experience since the introduction of the Gutenberg editor in WordPress 5.0, released in 2018. The Gutenberg editor replaced the classic TinyMCE editor with a block-based system, allowing users to create content by adding individual blocks for paragraphs, headings, images, galleries, and more.

The block editor aims to provide a more intuitive and flexible way to design and structure content within WordPress without relying heavily on custom code or third-party plugins. Over time, the WordPress ecosystem has embraced this block-based approach, leading to the development of various block plugins and themes that extend the functionality of the Gutenberg editor.

For an agency that builds websites in 2024, it simply makes sense to build WordPress sites with blocks. Divi, Avada, and other page builders that don’t use blocks are going in a direction that’s not aligned with some of the core principles of the Gutenberg project.

As WordPress continues to evolve, the emphasis on blocks is likely to increase further, with ongoing improvements and enhancements to the block editor interface, performance, and capabilities. This shift aligns with WordPress’s vision to democratize publishing and make it easier for users of all skill levels to create engaging and visually appealing content.

Hooked Elements

Kadence Hooked Elements stands as a testament to the theme’s advanced customization capabilities, offering users unparalleled control over their website’s layout, functionality, and user experience. This innovative feature enables developers and designers to inject custom content, scripts, and functionalities into specific areas of a webpage, granting a level of flexibility and customization that is seldom found in other WordPress themes.

At its core, Kadence Hooked Elements leverages WordPress hooks to seamlessly integrate custom code snippets, widgets, or plugins into predefined sections of a website. This granular control allows users to tailor the user interface and user experience to meet specific requirements, whether it’s adding custom call-to-action buttons, embedding interactive elements, or integrating third-party services.

Kadence Hooked Elements simplifies the process of managing customizations by providing a user-friendly interface that facilitates effortless implementation and modification of hooks. Users can easily identify available hook locations, define custom actions, and preview changes in real-time, ensuring a seamless development workflow and optimal results. The flexibility offered by Kadence Hooked Elements extends to its compatibility with other Kadence features and third-party plugins, enabling users to create cohesive, integrated solutions that align with their unique objectives and specifications.

A1 Technical Support

I personally have never seen better technical support from a software company. Their support staff are just WOW: Teejay, Gilbert, Viktor, Bonn… and all the others. You can ask them simple stuff, they’ll help with patience. Or you can ask them complex stuff that, let’s face it, you’re probably the only person who’ll ever ask that, and they’ll provide custom code just for you! With Kadence support, you really feel cared for.

Kadence tech support goes beyond mere troubleshooting, encompassing clear communication, patience, and a commitment to customer satisfaction.

How Much is Kadence Pro, and is it Worth the Investment?

Kadence has several pricing points, but for an agency that plans on building several sites over time, the Lifetime Full Bundle is the way to go. As of December 2023, the bundle is sold at $799.

Is this worth the investment? If you build complex, dynamic websites and if you do build several of them per year, then I’d say go for it. In our experience, we found difficult to make a client understand that they have to pay for lots of several additional plugins. Not that it’s not feasible, of course, but we sometimes feel it is easier to provide those licenses to our clients.

If you want to check the pricing page on Kadence’s website, you can click here (disclaimer: this is our affiliate link).

How to Install Kadence on Your WordPress Site

Kadence is both a theme and a plugin (block library).

If you want to install the Kadence theme on WordPress, it goes like this:

1. Log in to your WordPress site and go to “Appearance” > “Themes”.
2. Click on the “Add” button at the top of the page.
3. In the search bar, type “Kadence” and press Enter.
4. The Kadence theme will appear. Click on the “Install” button.
5. Once the installation is complete, click on the “Activate” button to activate Kadence on your WordPress site.

Then, to install the plugin that gives you access to the block library:

1. Go to “Extensions”.
2. Click on the “Add” button at the top of the page.
3. In the search bar, type “Kadence Blocks” and press Enter.
4. The Kadence plugin will appear. Click on the “Install” button.
5. Once the installation is complete, click on the “Activate” button to activate the Kadence blocks.

If you purchased the pro version of Kadence, you also need to follow these steps:

1. Go to https://www.kadencewp.com/my-account/ and log in.
2. Download the .zip file containing the Kadence premium theme.
3. Please note, this is a plugin that must be installed to have the Pro features of the Kadence theme. You must therefore repeat the actions that allowed you to install the block library.
4. There a several add-on plugins your can download, depending on your needs.

All you got to do now is enjoy!

Do you need help customizing something in Kadence? Feel free to reach out to our team for a consultation.