Kadence Theme Review: My Experience After Using It For 3 Years
Reading Time: 12 minutes Buckle up website owner – this will be the most comprehensive and useful Kadence theme review you will ever need.
I’ve been using the Kadence theme along with its full suite of Kadence Pro plugins for the past three years, and I am here to offer you everything you need to know about it.
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Not only this – but I’ve used the theme on multiple websites, from blogs to e-commerce sites to online marketplaces, so I know exactly how it performs under many different uses.
This honest Kadence Theme review is designed to cover EVERYTHING you need to know and consider before you make the switch. So, let’s dig in!
Why You Might Be Considering Switching To Kadence Theme
Are you considering switching your WordPress site to the Kadence Theme? Or perhaps you’re a brand new online creator and you’re not sure what the best theme will be for you.
Truthfully, WordPress can be a bit confusing and there are A LOT of theme options out there.
So many that there are a lot of things you want to consider before you make that switch.
If you’re thinking about making the switch from anything to Kadence, you’re in the right place.
What is Kadence Theme?
Kadence is a WordPress Theme bundle that includes a WordPress theme, and extremely useful plugins, created by Kadence WP.
The company behind it, Kadence WP, has actually launched a few other themes, but Kadence is by far their biggest hit.
The Kadence Theme launched in 2020, and really took off—likely because they didn’t re-invent the wheel but instead gave creators all their favorite features right in the free version.
It’s easy-to-use, pretty to look at and doesn’t cost anything to try out.
There are a few themes that are recommended regularly, and Kadence sits at the top of that list.
Why? Well, it’s an awesome, beginner-friendly theme that gives you a TON of options for running a professional-grade website.
Why Kadence is a Top Theme
Kadence comes HIGHLY recommended, let’s dig into why it’s a favorite for many creators out there:
Easy to Use
Before we dig into the more compelling reasons for switching to Kadence Theme, let’s start off with the most useful to everyone: it’s easy to use.
It doesn’t matter how experienced you are with WordPress, Kadence Theme is by far one of the most beginner-friendly themes to use.
It’s built to work natively with Gutenberg so you don’t have to learn WordPress AND Kadence.
It’s also a bit more of an intuitive theme, things are where you think they should be. It makes sense when you’re digging around in your back-end and A LOT of the customization is available right in WordPress’ native customizer.
Customization Options
Speaking of customization, boy can you customize Kadence!
You can customize almost anything on Kadence, so long as you know where to look—the best part is you don’t have to know CSS.
All of the things that we tend to want to control on our website—the color, fonts, header, footer—you can do right with Kadence, even if you’re just using the free version.
What I like most of all is that almost all of these changes can be done right in the WordPress customizer. Things like:
- Setting up your color scheme
- Create text/font styles and schemes
- Build the set-up of your pages and posts
Beyond the customizer, you can create templates for pages and posts that make your life easier.
Overall, Kadence Theme is an awesome choice for beginners and advanced online creators alike (though advanced users might like Kadence Pro for additional customization).
It’s easy to work with, and you can design the site with your dreams without compromising on what you need.
Related: How To Produce High-Value Content.
Starter Templates
Kadence Themes’ Starter Templates are perfect for starting out brand new sites. These templates give you a structured beginning but still leave enough room for you to build the site that you want.
These have recently been re-branded as “AI Starter Templates.”
With a Pro account, you can tell Kadence what you need and it’ll build it.
In my books, this is a standout feature of Kadence. There are both free and paid templates that you can access. And, just like the rest of Kadence, all of these starter templates can be further customized–they simply give you a solid place to start.
When you install a pre-designed template, running Kadence starter templates will also install ALL the plugins you need for the theme to work. It’s a handy, done-for-you way to get started.
Performance
We often think about performance last when choosing a WordPress theme–but it SHOULD be the first.
Luckily, that’s not a problem when it comes to Kadence Theme. It’s built to be lightweight, ensuring it loads quickly–crucial for creating a superior user experience.
There are many gorgeous themes available today–both free and reasonably priced. But they often come with A LOT of bloat, which can significantly hinder your site’s speed.
Slow loading times can frustrate visitors and negatively impact your SEO rankings. But, in my experience, Kadence doesn’t have this problem. Its streamlined design means you can have a beautiful, functional site without sacrificing speed.
That said, while Kadence is optimized for speed, it’s not foolproof. You still need to be mindful of the elements and plugins you pair with it. You need to ensure that you:
- Optimize your images
- Properly set up your content
- Use well-coded, lightweight plugins
Overall, Kadence offers the balance of beauty and performance, helping you create a stunning website that loads quickly and efficiently.
Features
Both the free and paid versions of Kadence are feature-rich.
Many of the features that come standard with Kadence are ones you’d typically need to pay for with other themes.
For example, you can design a sticky header or sidebar, add a “related posts” slider at the end of each blog post, customize your header and footer, and add typography anywhere—all for free.
This extensive range of capabilities allows you to create a highly customized and professional-looking website without any additional cost.
For even more advanced features, Kadence Pro is for you. The pro version unlocks a plethora of additional tools and options. With Kadence Pro you can:
- add hooked elements
- create mega menus and multi-column dropdowns
- apply custom designs
- add icons
These features allow for even greater flexibility and creativity in your website design.
Kadence has SO MUCH to offer, whether you’re using the free version or upgrading to Pro. Its extensive feature set ensures that you have all the tools you need to build a stunning and highly functional website.
Integrations
Kadence integrates seamlessly with all the tools and plugins you need to run your online business.
Whether you use a page builder to build your sales pages or ConvertKit to collect emails, Kadence is fully compatible, ensuring a smooth and efficient building process.
- Want to build a WooCommerce store? Kadence supports that too, providing tools to create elegant and powerful eCommerce solutions.
My favorite “integration” of Kadence is that it’s designed with Gutenberg in mind. It makes it easy to take FULL advantage of the block editor’s capabilities to build what you want and need.
But Kadence also integrates with popular plugins like LearnDash for online courses, ‘Give’ for donations, and BeaverBuilder for additional page-building flexibility.
But what’s truly amazing is that you don’t need any of these additional tools to build a standout site with Kadence.
The theme itself provides all the necessary features and functionalities to create a professional and visually appealing website right out of the box.
Kadence Pro Upgrade
While you don’t need to, I HIGHLY recommend upgrading to Kadence Pro because it unlocks even more powerful features and tools to elevate your website.
I’ve used Kadence Pro since the beginning.
Here are your upgrade options:
- Essentials ($149/year): This package includes Blocks Pro, Theme Pro, Pro Design Patterns, Pro Starter Templates, and Custom Fonts. It’s perfect for those who want to enhance their site’s design and functionality without breaking the bank.
- All Kadence Tools ($219/year): This comprehensive package includes everything in the Essentials package plus access to Pattern Hub, Kadence Conversions, WooCommerce Shop Kit, Child Theme Builder, Kadence Recaptcha, and access to all plugins and future products.
- Lifetime Full Bundle ($799 one-time payment): This is the one I purchased, because I don’t like paying for subscriptions, I’m happy to just pay for something once and then use it for life with no further fees. This also gives you every product in the full bundle, lifetime support, updates, and all future products.
Each package offers a range of features designed to help you build a standout site with ease, whether you’re looking to add custom fonts, build sophisticated WooCommerce stores, or utilize advanced design patterns and starter templates.
The Kadence Pro upgrade ensures you have all the tools you need to take your website to the next level.
Related: How To Install Any WordPress Theme.
Kadence Free vs. Pro
Both Kadence Free and Pro offer a premium experience for WordPress users.
While Kadence Free offers an impressive array of features that enable you to build a stunning and functional website, upgrading to Kadence Pro unlocks even more advanced capabilities. Some of these include the ability to:
- Animate on Scroll: Add dynamic animations to your content as users scroll through your site, enhancing engagement and visual appeal.
- Use Custom Icons: Access a wider variety of icons to better represent your brand and content.
- Add Dynamic Content: Create personalized and dynamic experiences for your visitors with ease.
- Custom Fonts: Utilize custom fonts to give your site a unique and professional look.
- Access Pro Design Library Items: Access exclusive design library items that help you build beautiful pages faster.
- Add Page-Specific CSS and JS Options: Apply custom CSS and JavaScript to individual pages for greater control and customization.
Plus Kadence Blocks Pro, which comes with the Kadence Pro bundle, provides a ton of great options for displaying content the way YOU want it to.
This includes gallery add-ons, video pop-ups, and much more, giving you the flexibility to create a highly interactive and visually appealing site.
Both Kadence Free and Pro are perfect for bloggers and business owners of all shapes, sizes, and experience levels.
Whether you’re just starting out or looking to enhance your site with advanced features, Kadence offers the tools and flexibility you need to build a standout website.
Other Kadence WP Products
The Full Bundle (the one I have) comes with access to other Kadence WP Products that you can use to give your site an extra edge.
Here’s what else you can access (without paying any extra!):
- Blocks Pro Addon: This essentially supersizes the ability of Kadence Blocks. You have the ability to customize your site’s content even more because of it.
- Theme Pro Addon: This addon allows you to customized your headers, footers, menus, WooCommerce and add hooked elements.
- Shop Kit: Perfect for WooCommerce users, Shop Kit allows you to further customize your eCommerce store for a superior user experience.
- Conversions: Convert more readers with Kadence Conversions. It adds six new launch triggers and provides you a pre-built library to get started.
- Galleries: Make prettier galleries with this plugin. Organize albums, create beautiful galleries and give your photos the design elements they deserve.
- Pattern Hub: Create your own patterns AND sell access to your audience. This is great for anyone with an audience who creates sites!
- CAPTCHA: Make sure the people interacting with your site via comments, forms and checkouts are all, people, with CAPTCHA. This is ONLY available in bundles, you can’t purchase it separately.
- Simple Share: Encourage sharing with Kadence’s own social sharing plugin. This is ONLY available in bundles, you can’t purchase it separately.
- Custom Fonts: Upload your own fonts, including those you get through Adobe with this plugin. This is ONLY available in bundles, you can’t purchase it separately.
- Reading Fonts: Calculates reading time for posts and pages. This is ONLY available in bundles, you can’t purchase it separately.
- Related Content: Manually select and display related content to provide the experience you want your users to have. This is ONLY available in bundles, you can’t purchase it separately.
- Woo Commerce Email Designer: Technically, this addon is free and you can use it with any theme. It allows you to design and test WooCommerce emails for a more personalized experience.
Kadence Theme Review: Pros vs Cons
Now let’s take a closer look at some of the pros and cons of this theme to help you get a better understanding if this is the right tool for you and your business.
Kadence Theme Pros
Kadence Theme Cons
- Brand/Products Can Be Confusing: With offerings like Kadence Theme, Kadence Blocks, and Kadence Pro, it can be a bit challenging to navigate their product lineup.
- Small Team, Not Always the Fastest Support: Support can sometimes be slow due to the small team behind Kadence.
- Kadence Pro is Pricey: While Kadence Pro offers many additional features, it can be considered expensive, although you don’t necessarily need it to build a great site.
Final Thoughts: Is Kadence Theme Right For You?
It’s hard to decide what’s right for YOUR business, but I’m a firm believer that Kadence Theme can be the right theme for ANY business or blog out there, simply because of its customization and capabilities.
You can turn a Kadence site into anything you need it to be, if you’re willing to work with it.
There’s no theme out there that won’t benefit from you learning it inside and out, and that includes Kadence.
But while there is a bit of a learning curve, if you know your Gutenberg editor this is a really easy theme to work with.
What I find most refreshing about it is the fact that because it uses the native editor, your designs–whatever they may be–feel more secure and less likely to break.
Whether you’re building a pretty eCommerce site or an engaging travel blog, Kadence is there to give you a hand. You can design exactly what you need and want without spending $5,000 on a custom website design that breaks the first time you add a new blog post.
And if none of the sites you can use in their templates suits your fancy–there are also WordPress designers like 17th Avenue Themes or Restored 316 that create gorgeous, feminine themes that are build to work specifically with Kadence.
Simply put, the Kadence Theme works seamlessly with WordPress, you can design whatever you want AND you don’t have to worry about compromising your visitor’s experience with it.
With this WordPress theme, you can have your cake AND eat it too. How’s that for forward-thinking business practices?
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