Welcome to my ultimate review of Blocs 5 website builder for 2024. Before we start, let me tell you that I have been using Blocs app for the past 8 years, starting from the version 1. I also have three online businesses built around Blocs:
Blocs Templates, a collection of high-quality premium templates for Blocs.
Blocs Master, a series of detailed video courses for Blocs.
Blocs Library, the fastest way to make websites in Blocs.
That being said, I will keep this review unbiased, and I will honestly tell you what I don’t like or you might not like about working with Blocs. I will also clearly tell who should not even think about purchasing Blocs.
Blocs works perfectly on any modern Mac, including the new M1 and M1 Pro Macs with Apple Silicon. It often receives updates to stay fresh and up to date.
You can purhchase the Blocs 4 or 4 Plus with just one simple payment without any recurring fees. Once you buy it, it yours forever. I really hate subscriptions, and I have even made a video on my YouTube channel about my favorite Mac apps without subscription.
Being a standalone app for Mac without subscription means you can use the Blocs app to build as many websites as you want. I have built over 250 websites and templates starting from Blocs 1.0.
The only feature requiring the internet connection is Google Fonts, but if you are using local fonts (like I do for my websites), you can use the Blocs app fully offline.
When you master your web design skills with Blocs, you can make pretty much any type of front-end website design you want, all without writing a line of code.
If you like using WordPress CMS to manage the dynamic content of your website, you can build and export your Blocs website as a WordPress theme. Take a look at my wife’s blog to see how it will work and perform.
One of the things I really like about Blocs is that you can start building complex websites right out of the box, meaning that the built-in functionality you have in Blocs 4 is more than good enough to make pretty much any type of website. Just take a look at my templates to see what’s possible using only the built-in functions of Blocs.
At the same time, if you want to expand the functionality of Blocs app, you can take advantage of some of the advanced custom brics (add-ons) for Blocs, which you can find on Blocs.Store. I recommend to take a look at Volt CMS, which is my favorite CMS platform for Blocs.
Blocs is very flexible. You can start building websites from completely nothing, a white canvas, or you can open any of my Blocs templates, modify the content, and you will have a ready-to-publish website in just a few minutes.
If you don’t want to be locked into Apple ecosystem, the Blocs app is not for you, because as of May 2024, macOS, iPadOS and iOS are the only operating systems you can use to run Blocs.
When you are using Blocs app to built websites, you need to figure out and manually setup hosting, website security, domain, ftp client, and everything related to managing website files. Some people love the full control, but some people want more automation. With Blocs, it is all about manual control.
When comparing Blocs app with a subscription-based website development platform like Squarespace, the initial investment fee will be higher with Blocs, because you will have to purchase the app, domain, hosting, security, etc. All of these things are usually come included in the subscription fee (as it is the case with Squarespace).
But, you will have to pay the subscription fee every year for every website you build with a subscription-based website development platform, which is not the case with Blocs. The more websites you build, and the longer these websites stay online, the higher ROI you will get with Blocs.
If you only need one website, and you are not sure if this website will stay online longer than a year, then Blocs app is probably not for you. Otherwise, it is very simple, Blocs app is an absolutely must-have app for any website designer using Mac.