In today’s interview for
Website Planet, we sit down with Marko Anastasijević, Support Lead at MaxiBlocks, to explore the story behind MaxiBlocks — a free and open-source Gutenberg page builder for WordPress. Marko shares insights into the inspiration for its creation, the philosophy of keeping features fully accessible, and how MaxiBlocks is shaping the future of site building with performance, flexibility, and AI-driven innovation.
What inspired the creation of MaxiBlocks as a free and open-source Gutenberg page builder for WordPress?
Having worked in web development for several decades and spending the last several years heavily focused on page builders, particularly Divi, we gained a deep understanding of the common frustrations and limitations people face when building websites. These experiences gave us a clear vision of what an ideal builder should provide: powerful features, intuitive workflows, and zero unnecessary restrictions.
That vision led to the creation of MaxiBlocks. We invested three years into developing the first stable release, crafting a robust, feature-rich builder. Since then, we’ve been committed to continuously improving every aspect of the platform.
How do the extensive library of block patterns, page templates, and SVG icons help users speed up and elevate their site-building process?
While MaxiBlocks includes a wide range of advanced features, one of the biggest time-savers is our extensive library of pre-made blocks, page templates, and SVG icons. With a single click, users can insert professionally designed, fully responsive sections and layouts into their pages.
Every block is fully customizable, mobile-ready, and built with design best practices in mind, allowing users to either use them as-is or easily adapt them to match their brand. This significantly accelerates the build process, reduces repetitive work, and ensures high quality design consistency across the site.
Speaking of icons – our library has thousands of fully customisable SVG icons.
What advantages does the Pro cloud library offer, and how does it differ from the free version?
The MaxiBlocks plugin itself with all its core features is 100% free, and will remain that way forever.
The Pro Cloud Library is an optional upgrade for users who want instant access to an even larger selection of professionally designed sections, full-page layouts, and design assets. While the free version already provides everything you need to build from scratch, the Pro library is ideal for those who prefer to work with ready-made designs or want to save even more time.
Importantly, this is purely optional. The plugin remains fully functional and unrestricted even without a Pro subscription. The Pro library simply adds an expanded set of design resources for those who want them.
Can you explain the philosophy behind offering full access to features, no locked blocks, and no domain restrictions?
One of the most frustrating aspects we encountered when using other builders was running into paywalls, essential features locked behind premium plans or restrictions that limited creativity and workflow. From day one, we decided MaxiBlocks would be different: a free and open-source builder with no locked blocks, no feature limitations, and no restrictions on how many sites you can use it on.
Our mission was to create a platform anyone could use: freelancers, agencies, hobbyists, without having to compromise on tools or performance. While we never imagined the project would grow to the scale it has today, we’re extremely proud of what MaxiBlocks has become.
Of course, running and improving the project requires resources, which is why we offer the optional Pro Cloud Library. Those who subscribe get an incredible collection of ready-made designs while helping fund ongoing development, ensuring the free version remains powerful and sustainable for the long term.
How does MaxiBlocks balance design flexibility and performance optimization, especially with tools like style cards and responsive templates?
Balancing a high level of design flexibility with strong performance was one of our biggest technical challenges early on. MaxiBlocks offers a huge range of customization, from basic sizing controls to advanced features like the Interaction Builder, scroll effects, style cards, and responsive settings with five breakpoints.
With so many capabilities, performance optimization became a top priority. We invested heavily in ensuring that pages built with MaxiBlocks are lightweight and efficient. As a result, even complex layouts deliver excellent scores on tools like Google PageSpeed Insights and GTmetrix right out of the box, without requiring extensive optimization work from the user.
This balance, creative freedom without sacrificing speed, has been central to our approach since the beginning.
How does MaxiBlocks plan to evolve its platform, particularly with AI integration and future full-site editing capabilities?
Our current focus is on refining and enhancing the features we already have, whether that’s improving the UI/UX, further boosting performance, or expanding design capabilities. We believe that continuous improvement is key to long-term value for our users.
AI is already integrated into MaxiBlocks for text generation, but our vision goes much further. In the future, we plan to integrate AI into additional blocks and features, assisting with design, layout generation, content creation, and more, making site building even faster and more intuitive.
Alongside AI, we’re committed to embracing the future of WordPress, including full-site editing capabilities, while ensuring the same design freedom and performance users expect from us. And of course, our library will keep expanding, offering fresh, high-quality content for both free and Pro users.
