Hi so I’m tempted to get Oxygen, very interesting lifetime license.
Although I’m not a developer I don’t mind some learning curve and I have time. But after some digging around, I found that they have a new builder now called Breakdance, but subscription based; and the general consensus is that it has everything Oxygen has, better UI, plus improved/added features the community has been asking for on Oxygen.
I would like to know if it’s alright to go for Oxygen to save money in the long run, but risk losing quality support/updates since they seem to be shifting their focus on Breakdance. Is Breakdance that worth it?
Or should I go for another builder that also offers lifetime license like WPBakery (\*not sure\*) or Bricks, but not as many extensive features?
I should also mention I have ACF Pro lifetime, and had been using it with Elementor but it’s so bloated I stopped and looking for alternatives. Thanks!
bricks is the right choice, it will fill the gap and reach oxygen soon, 6 months, maybe one year.
oxygen is still the best at the moment.
breakdance is shit, just like elementor.
Why not learn Gutenberg? It’s free, it’s built-in making it lightweight compared to other builders, and it’s the focus for WordPress so it’s going to continue to improve.
Breakdance is (supposed to be) geared more towards “non-developers” than Oxygen is. That was their response when the Oxygen community wigged out over the news.
If that’s true, and you say yourself you’re not a programmer, that might be the better option if it’s between the two.
That also assumes the company is telling the truth and not just ninja killing Oxygen for a flashy subscription based reclone.
Oxygen user here.
Oxygen is honestly great but (if you didn’t know) the founder(s) of Oxygen has created Breakdance so when it was announced Oxygen users were HIGHLY upset because they felt abandoned. Needless to say, Luis (founder) says they will continue to support oxygen and continue with their updates/releases but people are skeptical even to this day. I’m still using it, along with many others, but there are alot of people complaining about some of the issues that the builder had for some time- one of which is how slow it retrieves your pages you’re trying to edit.
Now days, there’s been a big shift of Oxygen users, including myself, moving to a “newer” builder called Bricks. Similar to Oxygen but with better UI/UX and more. Still not as mature as Oxygen but it’s getting there real quickly. Pros and cons at the moment but I’d recommend checking Bricks out.
Good luck!
Edit: Breakdance is more focused on ecommerce vs Oxygen btw.
I have Bricks. It lacks conditional content – although they say that’s on the roadmap. I’m ok with it, as I can do some code. But the builder is excellent, and the templating allows a lot of flexibility. It’s currently very cheap… I think it will go subscription eventually… but right now it’s a bargain. It’s also still relatively new, so by the time you’ve learned the basics, it may have added other features like conditionals.
I tried Oxygen – and it can do an insane amount of stuff – you can virtually build your own membership or listings sites, all sorts. But it is quite dense and complex – and there is the worry that Breakdance will see Oxygen sink into a development dead-end.
I went with breakdance instead. It is definitely easier to get started with, and has a lot of good fundamentals – lovely menu builder, crisp templating system. The UI could do with a bit of work – it’s mostly clean, but does bury a few menus-in-menus that get a bit messy. Still, it’s new, this will probably iron out.
Of the three – Bricks has the best balance of clean UI, useful ‘blocks’ and ease of learning. Breakdance has more blocks, and conditionals. If you’re in no hurry, I’d go with Bricks. If you want to play deeper – and can afford it – go with Breakdance. Alas I’m not confident Oxy will last the distance.