Genesis Framework - Pros & Cons

[MeganR]

Our SEO agency is preparing to relaunch our website on Genesis Framework and WP Engine.

The agency claims we will see a marked improvement with cleaner code, etc;

My biggest hesitation in making the switch is that the site currently has an average mobile Page speed of 98/99.

No doubt, there are plenty of other items which could be better executed on our site and maybe Genesis can help with those items.

I would like others input as to what Genesis does well, and what to watch out for.

 

[Chris Ratchford]

Hi Megan,

Like you, I'm a stickler for page speed. While I don't have extensive knowledge of Genesis, any loss in page speed (due to theme/framework bloat) is a small price to pay for a solid framework like Genesis. And you're hosting @ WP Engine, so we're not talking about GoDaddy's shared hosting plan.

Last, with Genesis being one of the most popular frameworks out there, you're not tied to one developer.

 

[Orlando Sydney]

FWIW I use Avada theme with WP Engine (about 4 years now) 98/100 desktop last time I checked.
Avada used to be heavy compared to Genesis or so I read.

 

[Conor Treacy]

We used to use Genesis/StudioPress - for many years - but when we flipped over to helping clients with Elementor, we killed off all use with Genesis, and didn't have any performance lack.

The advantage of Genesis is that it's stripped-down code. it's REALLY fast. The issue is, the moment you step outside of the core of the box, you're then into using a dozen or more plugins. This is not a problem, you can have 50+ plugins as long as they're optimized. (Genesis Extender, Responsive Menu, Custom Blocks, Design Palette, Simple Hooks/Edits, Slider plugin, custom headers, Contact Form 7) - and that's just the "necessary" ones, I've said nothing of the custom CSS end of things and how breakpoints are handled in their code, or the nightmare if you need to create a new breakpoint.

The question/comparison that I'd make today however is what does Genesis have over Gutenberg in terms of stripped-down functions?

 

[Joey Abna]

You might ask them where the "Marked Improvement" will mostly come from. What is holding back the current site from performing at it's best?

I have clients using WP Engine and Genesis with good results. But I also have clients that need a lot of custom code that Genesis didn't play well with.

 

[bernardoklock]

We use Oxygen Builder, so, there's no theme on our websites. Oxygen is the lighest builder out there, and together with WP Rocket and Asset Cleanup, you can do a lot in terms of speed. Some customers come to us using Elementor, which is a tragedy for performance - my opinion. You can see a comparison between some builders here in this post from WP Rocket.

By the way, our projects always count with this initial setup:

- Oxygen Builder
- Asset CleaUp
- Cloudways server (Digital Ocean)
- Cloudflare
- WP Rocket (paid) or Breeze (free from Cloudways)

 

[jmshap]

We find GeneratePress to be like a modern take on Genesis. It is actually a little faster from what we have seen.