Comparing Bricks vs Breakdance: Page Builders for WordPress

As a web designer exploring the best page builder options for WordPress, I wanted to compare two promising new builders – Bricks and Breakdance. Both aim to provide a fast, lightweight, and easy-to-use page building experience. This article summarizes my research findings on their features, performance, and pros/cons. 🚀

Introducing Bricks and Breakdance

Bricks is a relatively new WordPress theme and page builder launched in 2021. It emphasizes speed, flexibility, and overcoming common issues with other builders like performance limitations and bloat. Bricks offers a clean code structure and blank canvas for full customization control. 🏗️

Breakdance is a WordPress page builder plugin released in 2022. Its drag-and-drop interface is designed for Full Site Editing and streamlined website building. Breakdance is geared towards developers/agencies and integrates well with WooCommerce store elements. 💃

Both builders aim to provide a fast editing experience and optimized performance. Let’s look at how they compare.

Feature Comparison

Blocks and Elements

Bricks has over 50 built-in elements covering basic to advanced needs.
Breakdance offers 120+ Premium Elements across categories like Basics, Advanced, WooCommerce etc.

Bricks’ element selection is still expanding, while Breakdance provides a wider range currently. 🔄

Interface and Ease of Use

Bricks has a clean, intuitive 4-panel interface for visual editing.
Breakdance also uses a straightforward editing layout with Canvas, Elements, Structure panels.

Bricks offers elegant minimalism, while Breakdance seems feature-rich but more cluttered. 🎨

Customization Options

Global styles in Bricks allow quick branding and consistent design.
Breakdance has Global Styles plus a Style Manager for customizing templates.

Both enable efficient styling through global controls. 🌐

Dynamic Content

Bricks supports dynamic values, custom query loops, and ACF integration.
Breakdance integrates with popular plugins like Toolset Types and WPML.

Bricks has robust built-in dynamic content features. 🔄

Header and Menu Building

Breakdance has a dedicated menu builder with “mega menu” capabilities.
Bricks lacks a menu builder currently but it’s on the roadmap.

Breakdance excels in menu creation, while Bricks still needs development in this area. 🍔

Performance Factors

Speed and optimization are crucial for a good page builder. Here’s an overview:

Page Load Times: Multiple tests show Bricks generates faster load times compared to rivals. Breakdance also produces optimized code for speed.
Page Size and Requests: Bricks creates lightweight pages with efficient code and fewer requests. Breakdance promises the same lean performance.
Built-in Optimization: Both builders incorporate performance best practices like efficient CSS handling out-of-the-box.
Hosting Compatibility: Bricks and Breakdance work well on modern optimized hosts. Breakdance is CDN-friendly.

Bricks appears to have a slight edge in measurable performance, but both are designed for speed. ⚡

Pricing and Licensing

Bricks offers unlimited lifetime licenses starting at $99. Breakdance has annual pricing of $149/year after a limited-time discount.

If you prefer a one-time payment, Bricks is the better option. But Breakdance offers a free version to try out initially. 💰

Conclusion

For beautiful websites without bloat, Bricks and Breakdance are excellent modern page builder options. Both enable efficient editing with customizable designs.

Bricks stands out for its intuitive interface, speed, and dynamic content features. It’s especially suitable for developers needing flexibility. But the template selection is still limited.

Breakdance shines in areas like menu building, animations, and an extensive elements library. However, its interface may seem more cluttered.

Here is a detailed comparison table summarizing the key differences between Bricks and Breakdance page builders:

Feature	Bricks	Breakdance
Type	Theme + Page Builder	Plugin
Release Date	2021	2022
Elements/Blocks	50+ built-in elements	120+ premium elements
Interface	4 panels, elegant and minimal	Canvas, panels, cluttered
Customization	Global styles for consistent design	Global styles and style manager
Dynamic Content	Custom query loops, ACF integration	Integrations like Toolset Types, WPML
Performance	Fastest page load times in tests	Optimized lightweight code
Page Size	Efficient HTML and fewer requests	Promises optimized lean pages
Built-in Optimization	CSS handling optimizations	Performance best practices
Hosting Compatibility	Works well on modern hosts	CDN and cache friendly
Pricing	Lifetime licenses from $99	$149/year after discount
Free Version	No	Yes
Pros	Speed, intuitive interface, flexibility	Animations, elements, menu builder
Cons	Limited templates	Cluttered interface

Overall, I’m impressed with the progress of these new builders. While both have advantages, Bricks appears to better fit my needs for clean code and performance. But personal preference for features and work style plays a key role when choosing a page builder.

The vibrant WordPress community keeps producing innovative solutions to make website building easier. Exciting times lie ahead as page builders continue evolving! 🌐