Walk into any WordPress meetup and you’ll hear the same argument: “ACF is outdated!” versus “Gutenberg is overengineered!” Meanwhile, you’re stuck trying to figure out which one won’t bite you in the middle of your next project.
Here’s the reality: the “best” site builder choice depends on what you’re trying to build rather than what’s trendy in the forums right now.
At Matter Solutions, we’ve spent years building WordPress sites for clients who demand both flexibility and reliability. We’ve watched developers waste weeks rebuilding sites because they picked the wrong tool for their specific situation.
In this article, we’ll cover the difference between ACF and Gutenberg. We’ll explain where ACF still dominates, where Gutenberg outperforms, and the hybrid approaches that often work best.
Ready to end the site builder debate? Let’s begin.
Gutenberg: The Block Editor Revolution
The Gutenberg Editor saved developers from becoming full-time phone support. Your clients could at last build pages without calling you every five minutes to ask where the “Make Text Bigger” button is.
If your clients have used modern website builders like Squarespace or Wix, Gutenberg will feel comfortably familiar to them.
Let’s see what makes Gutenberg good.
Visual Building & Simplicity
With Gutenberg, your non-technical clients finally get an interface that makes sense. What they see in the Gutenberg editor matches what appears on the live site.
The editor is also known as a WYSIWYG editor. Your clients can easily drag and drop content blocks without accidentally nuking your carefully written CSS or mysteriously deleting entire sections of the site.
This feature eliminates those painful conversations with clients where you try to explain why the backend looks nothing like the frontend. In the meantime, your client stares at you like you’re speaking ancient Greek.
Core Integration & Future-Proofing
Let’s start with a truth bomb. Gutenberg is not going anywhere. Since WordPress built it into its core, you get new features instantly irrespective of your preference.
Sites we’ve built with Gutenberg just keep working as WordPress updates roll out. You’re riding with WordPress instead of fighting against it. It saves you those dreaded “the site broke after an update” conversations with your clients.
ACF: Granular Data Control
While Gutenberg handles basic content well, you’ll hit walls when your clients need structured data. WordPress’ default core system can’t handle it.
Enter Advanced Custom Fields (ACF), your Swiss Army knife for creating the data fields you want for your projects. It gives you surgical precision over your content structure.
With ACF, you’re building custom databases that your non-technical clients can use without breaking everything.
Here’s what makes ACF functionally unique for developers seeking control.
Custom Content Structures
ACF works great when you require specific data fields in your project. Building a restaurant site? Create fields for cuisine type, price range, and opening hours. What if it’s a real estate project? Add property size, bedrooms, and listing price fields.
This plugin lets you input data as required. It makes your job easy since the input areas are clean and organised. It also prevents messy, inconsistent data.
Developer-Centric Flexibility
ACF gets interesting here (and slightly demanding). It assumes you know how to code. It is both its power and its weakness, depending on your skill level.
The best part about ACF is you get complete control over how data appears on your site. You’re writing the display logic yourself. Want that price to appear in a specific spot with custom formatting? No problem, as long as you’re comfortable with PHP programming.
You’ll need to pull ACF data into your theme templates with custom code. This gives you pixel-perfect control over presentation. But it also demands strong WordPress development skills.
If PHP makes you nervous, ACF might feel like overkill for simpler projects.
ACF vs Gutenberg: A Complementary Relationship
When it comes to the ACF vs Gutenberg debate, most developers think they’re trapped in some WordPress Hunger Games, forced to pick a side. In reality, these tools work brilliantly together. Just build custom Gutenberg blocks that pull data from ACF fields. Your clients get drag-and-drop editing while you maintain structured data control.
Consider testimonial blocks as an example. Clients add quotes through Gutenberg’s familiar interface, but names, companies, and ratings stay safely structured in ACF.
This creates the perfect win-win situation. Your clients get simplicity, while you get neat, searchable data. No more hunting through poorly formatted content at three in the morning. As a developer, you sleep soundly knowing the client’s creativity won’t break the website.
Site Builder Choice: Performance and Workflow Considerations
Your choice of ACF or Gutenberg directly influences three things: how fast your pages load, how quickly you can create new features, and how much support your clients need. Your team structure and client requirements also impact the efficiency of your work.
Let’s see where they affect your site.
Impact on Site Speed
Gutenberg blocks can be lightning fast when WordPress optimises them properly:
- Native blocks loading well as part of core WordPress
- Minimal database queries for standard content
- Built-in caching system working smoothly with block content
- Fewer plugin dependencies reducing potential conflicts
However, ACF can slow things down if you’re not careful:
- Complex field queries create database bottlenecks
- Multiple repeaters on one page multiply query load
- Flexible content fields can trigger excessive database calls
Through our testing of various setups, we’ve found that poorly optimised ACF implementations cause more performance headaches compared to Gutenberg.
Agency Workflow Efficiencies
Here are some Gutenberg benefits for agencies:
- Clients can update content without calling the agency
- Reduces ongoing support requests dramatically
- Faster content creation for basic pages
- Built-in responsive design for most blocks
ACF works better for complex and data-heavy projects:
- Ensures consistent data structure over time
- Prevents clients from accidentally breaking layouts
- Handles complex relationships between content types
- Maintains data integrity for business-critical information
You need to choose your setup based on your project’s difficulty and your client’s technical ability.
Making the Right Choice for Your WordPress Project
The ACF versus Gutenberg debate creates unnecessary confusion for WordPress developers. Both tools are good at different tasks. However, the wrong site builder choice will waste time and create client frustration. That’s why smart solutions exist.
In this article, we’ve examined Gutenberg’s visual editing strengths and ACF’s structured data control. You’ve also seen performance considerations, workflow impacts, and how these tools complement each other in hybrid approaches.
Our team at Matter Solutions builds WordPress sites that work perfectly for clients. Contact us today to discuss your next project.