The Best FSE Full Site Editing Themes

What is a good FSE theme?

If you’re starting to work with FSE themes or making the big switch from a classic to an FSE theme, it’s crucial to choose a good theme! It’ll save you a lot of time and, crucially, a lot of frustration. The term “FSE” means “Full Site Editing”. Some people are suggesting those themes should be called Block themes. But since there are several block themes that are still classic themes, that term is confusing. So, FSE, or Full Site Editing it is.

I tested the themes with those block builders and plugins

The Best FSE Full Site Editing Themes… I tested the great themes I discuss here, using Kadence blocks, Greenshift blocks, Greenlight blocks, Kadence Shopkit, WowStore, and XOO side-cart. I also tested, but less intensively, Stackable, PostX and Nexter blocks in combination with those FSE themes. Most of the FSE themes are tested also in combination with WooCommerce.

Best FSE Full Site Editing Themes

The discussed WordPress themes:

  • Greenshift
  • Ollie
  • Fork

Themes I found interesting

  • Basti. Interested but not tested (no free version available).
  • Bricksy. Disadvantage: only English and French language files.
  • Neve FSE. Found saving very slow. The front end is reasonably fast.
  • Raft. Not really tested yet.
  • Twenty-twenty-four. Decent theme, also for testing purposes.
  • YITH Wonder FSE. Their demo site is a mess on mobile.
  • FastX FSE. Not tested yet, but my first impression is positive.
  • Frost. Installed and looked at it. Promising and fast.
  • Prime FSE. Promising.

FSE themes with issues

  • Twenty-twenty-five. Advise not to use it.

Greenshift FSE theme

Why I chose the Greenshift theme for testing

The Greenshift theme is one I discovered when I started exploring the Greenshift blocks. It was also the theme that got me excited about full site editing themes. The theme is blazing fast. It doesn’t use jQuery, which is a huge advantage because jQuery inherently slows down a website. It supports dark mode and offers many additional options. In addition, it is a smart loading theme, meaning it only loads the assets that are needed and nothing more.

Why is the Greenshift theme a good choice?

The Greenshift theme offers

  • Super-fast editing.
  • Super fast for the visitor; a speed score of 100/100 is possible, or you can get close. No cache required!
  • Excellent WooCommerce integration.
  • Extensive template and setting system.
  • Gradients in text, fluid typography, variable fonts
  • The theme is very usable (especially for testing or for a simple website) without a paid builder plugin; the native Gutenberg blocks and the free Greenshift plugin are more than sufficient.
  • The Greenshift theme has improved navigation (header and menu) and even offers megamenu integration.
  • Integrated side-cart. An extra plugin is not needed, although I liked the Xootix Side-cart plugin.

Disadvantage of the Greenshift theme

  • This theme is designed for Greenshift blocks users. It works perfectly with other builders, but keep in mind that it’s Greenshift-focused.
  • It’s free. That means there is no premium support unless you are a premium Greenshift Pro user.

Price of the Greenshift theme

  • Free.
  • There is no separate premium version; to be honest, the (free) theme is premium already.

Download the theme here.

Ollie FSE theme

Why I chose the Ollie theme for testing

Ollie is in a class of its own. They have a vision. Instead of forcing you to buy all sorts of extra plugins, from additional block builders to caching, they’ve designed their theme so that it offers so much out of the box, and a caching plugin is usually completely unnecessary; the theme is extremely fast. It even feels faster than Greenshift, which is already a very fast theme.

Why is the Ollie theme a good choice?

The Ollie theme offers you

  • Super-fast editing.
  • Super fast for the visitor; a speed score of 100/100 is possible, or you can get close. No cache required!
  • Good WooCommerce integration.
  • Extensive template and setting system.
  • Fluid typography, variable fonts.
  • The theme is very usable (especially for testing or for a simple website) without a paid builder plugin; the native Gutenberg blocks and, if you like, the free Greenshift plugin are more than sufficient.
  • The Ollie theme includes the Ollie menu designer, a brilliant plugin for easily creating beautiful mega menus and mobile menus.
  • Responsive Pattern Designs
  • Beautiful page designs.

Ollie Pro theme offers you

Important: Ollie Pro offers these features without purchasing a third-party builder. They’ve added extra functionality to the native Gutenberg WordPress blocks.

  • Class manager.
  • Beautiful menu examples for the Ollie Menu Designer.
  • SmartSync.
  • Animation Designer.
  • Advanced Column Controls.
  • Advanced Grid Controls.
  • Advanced Group Controls.
  • A lot more designs.

Disadvantage of the Ollie theme

  • The free version offers fewer pro features than the Greenshift theme. But some features are easier to work with.
  • Although it’s not really a disadvantage, it could be if you don’t expect it… The Ollie theme is a lot faster without a cache plugin (tested with and without LiteSpeed cache).

Price of the Ollie theme

  • Free version.
  • Pro version: € 69 a year.
  • They have several other premium plans.

Download the theme here.

Fork FSE theme

Why I chose the Fork theme for testing

The Fork theme is also an excellent one. It’s fast, blazing fast even, has a beautiful, sleek design, and works very well.

Why is the Fork theme a good choice?

The Fork theme offers you

  • Super-fast editing.
  • Super fast for the visitor; a speed score of 100/100 is possible, or you can get close. No cache required!
  • Good WooCommerce integration.
  • Extensive template and setting system.
  • Fluid typography, variable fonts.
  • The theme is very usable (especially for testing or for a simple website) without a paid builder plugin; the native Gutenberg blocks and, if you like, the free Greenshift plugin are more than sufficient.
  • Responsive Pattern Designs.
  • The pages radiate simplicity and sleek design.

Fork Pro

The Fork theme is a free theme. In my opinion, it could easily be a paid theme, but they choose not to charge for it.

Disadvantage of the Fork theme

  • The theme offers fewer pro features than the Greenshift theme. But what it lacks in that regard, it more than makes up for in the theme’s ease of use.
  • It’s a free theme, so no premium support.

Price of the Form theme

  • Free

Download the theme here.

All the FSE themes are tested with

  • Greenshift blocks and all the pro add-ons
  • Kadence blocks (free and pro)
  • Kadence Shopkit (pro)
  • Stackable blocks
  • PostX blocks
  • Nexter blocks
  • WooCommerce
  • WowStore
  • YITH Quickview
  • Xootix Side-cart plugin
  • Checkout Fields for Blocks plugin

In my opinion, the tested FSE themes can be used also with PostX blocks and Nexter blocks.

Limitations in the tested builders or plugins with FSE

  • Kadence Shopkit was only partly usable with the FSE themes.
  • Some Shopkit WooCommerce blocks required extra CSS to function normally, for example, with product variations. This was a bug, confirmed by Kadence.
  • Quickview van Kadence Shopkit didn’t function well; this can be replaced by YITH Quickview (free version).
  • The extra checkout fields of Kadence ShopKit didn’t work with any FSE theme. Extra fields in the checkout page of an FSE theme can be created with the ‘Checkout Fields for Blocks’ plugin (free).
  • To be honest, the Kadence shopkit isn’t essential for an FSE theme. Several features don’t work or only work partially, and what’s really needed was easily replaced.
  • Shopkit single product template can be replaced with WowStore (free version).
  • Side-cart (only the Greenshift theme has a side-cart) can be obtained with the Xootix Side-cart plugin (free version).
  • The only thing I missed when omitting Shopkit from an FSE theme was the ability to customize the text of each WooCommerce button. I replaced that with some simple PHP code. Cursor AI and even ChatGPT can write that for you.