Bricks Builder vs Next.js: The Best Case for Staying on WordPress, Tested

Why developers pick Bricks over every other builder

Bricks is unusual twice over. It installs as a theme, but the theme contains a full visual site builder, written in VueJS 3, that replaces the theme-plus-page-builder pair most WordPress sites run. And it was clearly built by people who read their own page source. The front end runs on vanilla JavaScript with no jQuery. The vendor says it outputs clean, semantic HTML with a smaller DOM, and its performance page claims top grades in Lighthouse and GTmetrix out of the box. Treat those as vendor claims and test them with the method in our Bricks speed guide.

The toolkit reads like a developer's wish list. A Query Loop builder pulls posts, terms or users into any layout. Components, global classes and variables keep a design system consistent across hundreds of pages. Conditions and interactions are built in. The Menu Builder's Nav (Nestable) element, a popup builder and a WooCommerce builder covering archive, product, cart, checkout and account pages are included in every plan. The pricing page counts more than 110 elements. Our Bricks review goes through them one at a time.

It even takes lock-in seriously, at least on paper. Bricks can load core Gutenberg blocks, save its data as block-editor data, and expose its components as Gutenberg blocks. The limit, stated by the vendor, is that conversion works with standard WordPress blocks only, not third-party ones. For a WordPress tool, that is an unusually candid exit door.

A thinner WordPress stack, but still a WordPress stack

Because Bricks is both theme and builder, a Bricks site skips a layer that Elementor and Divi sites carry. That is a real advantage, and it shows in the plugin list. What remains is still WordPress: PHP and MySQL on the server, an admin login on the public domain, WooCommerce for stores, an SEO plugin, a caching layer, often a forms or CRM connector, and a backup routine. A few details are specific to Bricks.

• Updates come from Bricks, not wordpress.org. Bricks is sold by Codeer Limited, registered in Cyprus, and is not listed on wordpress.org. Downloads and license keys come from my.bricksbuilder.io.
• Styles load inline by default. Bricks, Settings, Performance, CSS Loading Method: External Files writes per-page CSS files instead and adds a Regenerate CSS files button for when styles go stale. Stale styles have their own fix: Bricks CSS not updating.
• Fonts can be served locally. The Font Manager downloads Google Fonts to your server, though an open bug report says it fetches every unicode-range variant.
• Breakpoints are editable. The defaults switch layouts below 992px for tablets in portrait, below 768px for phones held sideways and below 478px for phones held upright, and custom breakpoints can be switched on under Bricks, Settings, General.

Bricks does not play host to other builders; it replaces them. A team arriving from Elementor relearns its tools, and a client who knew Divi starts over. The Bricks vs Elementor and Bricks vs Divi comparisons weigh that switching cost against what Bricks gives back.

Bricks against Next.js, with and without Athena

This is the closest fight in the series, so the first column describes a Bricks site built by someone who knows Bricks: external CSS files, local fonts, query loops, WooCommerce through the Bricks builder, one SEO plugin and page caching. The second column is a Next.js build. The third adds Athena CMS. Other matchups live in the WordPress vs Next.js section.

Read down the first column and Bricks wins more rows than most WordPress options we compare. It loses the rows that depend on the platform underneath: security surface, live updates and data. Bricks cannot fix those by writing better code, because they belong to WordPress, not to the builder.

Bricks licensing: generous terms, one trap

As of October 2026, Bricks sells four plans, and every one includes the full feature set. They differ only in site count and term, which makes comparison shopping refreshingly short.

• Starter: $79 a year, one site.
• Business: $149 a year, three sites.
• Agency: $249 a year, unlimited sites, plus eligibility for a Bricks Expert Listing.
• Ultimate Lifetime: $599 once, unlimited sites, with all future updates, features and support.

The terms are friendlier than most. Local and staging sites do not count against the limit. The first purchase carries a 60-day money-back guarantee; renewals and upgrades are excluded from it and get a 30-day grace refund instead. And after one successful, non-refunded yearly payment, you may keep using Bricks if you cancel. The Bricks pricing guide runs the numbers for single sites and agencies.

Version 2.4: AI editing, a browser, and a regression list

Bricks 2.4 shipped on September 16, 2026 with AI-assisted site editing and the Bricks Browser, plus modular Cart, Checkout and My Account v2 elements for WooCommerce and a Woo Setup Wizard. Point releases followed quickly, and 2.4.2 arrived on September 28. The bug forum filled up in the usual way.

• SVGs disappeared from the new media manager in 2.4.1, and other users reported images not loading since 2.4.
• The experimental CSS Sync feature deleted or merged Custom CSS edits when a style control was clicked afterwards.
• Bricks theme styles leaked into the Gutenberg editor, removing paragraph, heading and list spacing.
• Account Page V2 threw a critical error in the editor on PHP 7.4, and the 2.4.x dynamic data parser could hang on CSS-like strings.
• Threads in 2026 also track the new AI and MCP features, including one about disabling MCP in a local ddev setup.

Several were marked solved quickly; this vendor is responsive. Others were still open at our check. For a business, the pattern matters more than any single bug. AI editing inside a live production builder is a different safety model from AI changes proposed as code, reviewed, built and previewed before anyone sees them. If 2.4 left your editor blank, start with Bricks builder not loading. If the header vanished on phones, Bricks mobile menu not working explains the Nav (Nestable) toggle that staff say is required.

Bricks writes better code than WordPress usually gets. It still has to run inside WordPress.

The third option

Athena CMS, with AI agents on staff.

Not a theme and not a blank Next.js repo. The content system we put behind every custom site: plain fields, a real preview, every version kept, and AI agents that handle the chores a plugin only nags you about.

• PPicassoImages
• AApolloSite analysis
• AAresCompetitor watch
• PPrometheusContent holes
• AAtlasPage depth and structure
• DDelphiAI search visibility

ZDAOAand 12 more agents. Two come with Athena; the rest are monthly add-ons.

Meet the agentsTake the Athena tour

PPicassoWeekly · ImagesAApolloWeekly · Site analysis

Where a Next.js build still beats the best Bricks site

Grant Bricks everything above and four gaps remain. None is about skill or taste. All of them are structural.

There is a fifth, quieter gap: rendering. Next.js can prerender pages at build time, refresh them on a schedule with incremental static regeneration, and use React Server Components to keep JavaScript off the page. Bricks renders every uncached request in PHP. With good caching the visitor rarely notices; on a store full of logged-in customers and live carts, caching helps less. The store side is covered in WooCommerce vs Next.js ecommerce.

Picking between Bricks and Next.js for the next project

Choosing among lean WordPress options before you decide? GeneratePress vs Bricks and Kadence vs Bricks compare Bricks with the two themes developers most often weigh it against.

Exiting Bricks: what its no-lock-in promise covers

Bricks advertises two-way Gutenberg conversion as protection against lock-in, and for core blocks it delivers. Anything built from Bricks elements, query loops, interactions or third-party blocks does not convert, so a migration reads the rendered pages and the Bricks templates, not just the post content.

The good news is that a well-built Bricks site maps neatly onto Next.js. Global classes and variables become design tokens. Bricks components become React components with the same names and jobs. Query loops become data queries. Header and footer templates become one shared layout. A disciplined Bricks build already thinks in components, which shortens the rebuild.

WooCommerce stores need orders, customers and products moved with care, and that path is in WooCommerce to Next.js. The full plan for this builder is at Bricks to Next.js. We keep your URLs and redirect every old one, as the redirect guide describes.

Athena, and a verdict for each kind of Bricks owner

Agencies like Bricks partly because it feels hard to wreck, right up until a client opens the builder. Athena splits the roles cleanly. The developer builds the site in Next.js. The client edits plain fields with a real preview and every version kept. Agents take the jobs that usually become retainers: Argus on broken links and failing forms, Aegis on intrusions, Ariadne on internal links, Atlas on thin and orphan pages. The full roster is on the Athena page.

Want a second opinion on your Bricks build? A free site audit tells you what to tune and what a rebuild would change, with a fixed quote and financing if you go ahead. Weighing three options at once? Read Bricks vs Elementor vs Next.js.