Kadence vs Greenshift vs Neve

This is a direct comparison between three different themes, with different block builders: Kadence vs Greenshift vs Neve FSE

You may have been in doubt for a while, or you may have heard great things about one or more FSE (full site editing) themes and a number of block-builders, such as Kadence Blocks or Greenshift Blocks. This comparison on wpinsight is simple, gives a lot of insight and makes your choice even more difficult, uh, easier. The circumstances of the test are below. The tests themselves are performed with the Google Developer Tool PageSpeed ​​Insight.

  • Cache: no, no form of cache
  • Optimization: no, no form of optimization
  • Other plug-ins active at the time of testing: WooCommerce
  • Type of hosting: simple shared hosting

1) Two FSE themes with Greenshift Blocks

We created a basic page, with a header (head H2), an image (JPG 400x600px), an ordinary text block and a simple list.

Neve FSE theme with Greenshift blocks

The Neve FSE theme is described as a fast theme. Editing is indeed fast, but Frontend (which the visitor experiences) was disappointing.

  • PageSpeed ​​Insight Mobile: 68
  • PageSpeed ​​Insight Desktop: 98
  • The score of 98 (out of 100) is beautiful, but Google determines the performance score on mobile, and that was low
  • Conclusion: slow theme

Greenshift FSE theme with Greenshift blocks

The Greenshift theme is also described as a fast theme. Not only is editing fast, but also Frontend is superfast.

  • PageSpeed ​​Insight Mobile: 95
  • PageSpeed ​​Insight Desktop: 100
  • A mobile score of 95 is excellent. Everything above 90 is acceptable in my opinion.
  • Conclusion: Fast theme.
FSE thema with Greenshift blocks

2) Two FSE themes with Kadence blocks

We used the same setup: a basic page, with a header (head H2), an image (JPG 400x600px), an ordinary text block and a simple list.

Neve FSE theme with Kadence blocks

The Neve FSE theme is described as a fast theme. Editing is indeed fast, but Frontend (which the visitor experiences) we thought was really disappointing in combination with the Kadence Blocks. Until we remove the 25 or so fonts activated on Neve FSE.

  • PageSpeed ​​Insight Mobile: 79, after removing fonts: 100
  • PageSpeed ​​Insight Desktop: 98 after removing fonts: 100
  • Conclusion: fast theme

Greenshift FSE theme with Kadence blocks

The Greenshift theme is also described as a fast theme. Not only is editing fast, but also the frontend is superfast.

  • PageSpeed ​​Insight Mobile: 97
  • PageSpeed ​​Insight Desktop: 100
  • A mobile score of 97 is splendid. Everything above 90 is acceptable in my opinion, and it is a score that would make many people very pleased.
  • Conclusion: Fast theme.
FSE thema with Kadence blocks

3) Kadence (classic) theme with Kadence blocks

We used the same setup: a basic page, with a header (head H2), an image (JPG 400x600px), an ordinary text block and a simple list.

Kadence theme with Kadence blocks

The Kadence theme is also described as a fast theme. In my opinion, editing is slow (saving a page can take 3-10 seconds), but Frontend (which the visitor experiences) is fast.

  • PageSpeed ​​Insight Mobile: 97 PageSpeed ​​Insight
  • Desktop: 99 The score of 97 (out of 100) is magnificent.
  • Conclusion: superfast.
  • To be honest, this was not what we expected. FSE themes are praised for their speed, but Kadence is just as fast as Greenshift.
Kadence classic theme with Kadence blocks

Conclusion

If you were curious and wanted to know how to get the fastest visitor experience, and the best combination of theme and block builder, we hope this test helped you.
The Neve FSE theme, which we actually had our hopes on, was disappointing. The Greenshift FSE theme and the Neve FSE theme turned out to be very fast, both with Greenshift blocks and Kadence Blocks. What was striking, however, is that the Kadence theme, a classic theme, in combination with their own Kadence Blocks, is just as fast as the Greenshift theme.
We hope that the promise of Kadence, an entirely new FSE theme, will be realized quickly. We will test that as soon as possible…. But given the results of this test, we have high expectations!

Addendum

In March 2025, we did the same test with the Alpha version of Divi 5.0. The circumstances were identical. The same shared hosting, fresh WordPress installation, buttons with custom colors and hover, no form of caching, nothing optimized.
  • PageSpeed ​​Insight Mobile: 92
  • PageSpeed ​​Insight Desktop: 99
  • Saving the page in the editor was the fastest of all tests: 0.5 seconds.

This indicates that Divi is on the right track. Divi 5.0 (Alpha) is almost as fast as Greenshift and Kadence and a lot faster than the Greenshift or Kadence Block Builder with the Neve FSE theme. While Divi is not a native Gutenberg and is still in Alpha…