This is a review of Gridbuilder WP (also known as WP Grid Builder) by an agency that actually uses it.

Gridbuilder WP AKA WP GridBuilder AKA Gridbuilder ᵂᴾ is the new kid on the block when it comes to search/filter/content grid plugins. Because our agency is heavily involved with Oxygen Builder, and Gridbuilder WP supports Oxygen Archive Templates, we had to take a look at the plugin.

After using it for some time on several client projects, we picked up a lifetime license for our own blog, which you can try out on the Archive page. This review is going to look at what Gridbuilder is, what you use it for, our thoughts, and our verdict.

Features / What Gridbuilder WP Actually Does

The selling proposition:

Query, Lay Out & Filter

Build advanced grid layouts with real time faceted search for your eCommerce, blog, portfolio, and more...

Gridbuilder WP is a well featured plugin that allows you to create custom content cards and grids, query content from specific post types, taxonomy terms, users, and more, and then display in on the front end as a Masonary/Metro/Justified grid, or a carousel. There are tons of presets that you can use to easily get started, and if you want to dive into the tool, you can create your own grids and cards. However, where this plug-in really shines is the filters that integrate directly with the grids that you create.  

There are 15 facets that work together, allow you to create advanced filters, that update the content within the grid in real time. These facets include searches, datepickers, rating pictures, hierarchies, checkboxes, and more. At least for us, this is the biggest selling point of the Gridbuilder WP plug-in, and something that will talk about in a later section of this article.

This solution works great on small websites, as well as large ones because the filtering system is powered by Ajax and has a custom indexer That reduces the load on your server. something else that we really like is the fact that the plugin is easy to use for beginners (ie our clients), but also created for developers. We can hook into anything and everything, and even have the ability to create our own facet types. We can also use the facets with PHP by themselves – completely leaving the grid and card features out (which is we do on our own blog). And (in our humble opinion), the facet solution here is so easy yet powerful, it alone justifies the price of the plugin.

So to summarize, this plugin is a complete solution if you are looking to create custom content queries, display them in custom grids, design-build individual content cards,  and allow your customers to filter your content using powerful facets/filters.

It works with all of the page builders including Elementor and Oxygen Builder, as well as pretty much every single WordPress theme out there. Because of the power, flexibility, and back-end design which we will be discussing in another section of this Gridbuilder WP review, Gridbuilder WP is by far our favorite plugin when it comes to displaying content, as well as searching / filtering through it.

One final thing, if you are like us and use Advanced Custom Fields to extend your WordPress website, this tool has deep and native integrations with the plugin. this makes it much more powerful, and opens up many use cases, primarily on the searching/facets side of things because you can query and filter custom fields. 

Gridbuilder WP Use Cases

Because of the power and flexibility that come with this plugin, there are a ton of use cases. However, the two main things that we have used this tool for both involve the powerful filters, and integration with the native Oxygen Builder Repeater element, which we used to create Archive pages.

Because of that, we have used the grid and custom card building features, which are great and well-designed (expanded upon in the next section of this Gridbuilder WP review), but seriously made use of the facets in filtering system as well as their native integration with Advanced Custom Fields.

The primary use case for us is filtering WooCommerce archives. These may consist of thousands of individual products, which all have customer ratings, pricing, and other data attached to them. We use the filtering system, as well as a custom grid and card created with Gridbuilder WP to display content to customers. By using the filters, customers can easily figure out what product they want.

Another major use of this tool, which we have implemented into multiple projects, is displaying and filtering articles and content for major digital publications. This includes our blog, which has almost 1/2 million words of content on it, and is built with the Oxygen Builder. We use this plugin to offer real time filtering of the content, so our readers can find articles that are suitable to them and the WordPress tools that they use.

For our specific use case, we integrate directly with the repeater element, but if you do not use Oxygen Builder, you can integrate with the pre-existing archive pages of your theme, or completely replace that system with a Gridbuilder grids and cards. We have done that on several other websites, due to the speed benefits discussed in the next paragraph.

Both of these use cases involve a pretty large amount of data, meaning that the indexing feature is integral to the success of the project. This is a big selling point for us, so let’s explain how it works. If you have a ton of WooCommerce products (3k) that you want to filter through, using dozens of facets, searching through the raw database every time somebody create a custom combination of filters would lead to a massive load on the server, and a really slow filtering process.

What Gridbuilder WP does is fetches all facet values according to the settings, indexing those results into a custom database table. When somebody clicks a filter, everything is already available in the indexed table, allowing the results to be pre-fetched, and then sent to the user. Also, according to the official website, this also unifies all source types such as taxonomy terms and custom fields, speeding of the search process.

There are also a ton of small features that make our life much easier, and both the front end and the back end. We really like the infinite loading of content in archive pages, the easy to use builder which we will discuss in a next section, and again, the integration with third-party plugins, namely ACF as well as Easy Digital Downloads.

The Backend Design And Usability

Easily, the biggest selling point of this plug-in is the back and design and usability. It doesn’t feel like a word press plug-in, instead of feels more like a high-quality software as a service offering due to the design of the backend.

Easily, the biggest selling point of this plug-in is the back and design and usability. It doesn’t feel like a word press plug-in, instead of feels more like a high-quality software as a service offering due to the design of the backend.

If you check out the plugins website, you’ll notice a high quality site that is incredibly well designed and easy to use. We really enjoy the front end design of the Gridbuilder WP website, and it was a major driving factor to us purchasing our first license for a client project.

This high-quality design is carried over into the back end of the plugin. In all honesty, we haven’t seen another plug in with a design that stacks up to this. Because of the great design, it’s also incredibly easy to use. There are several features that you get with this tool.

The main three things are the grid building tool, card building tool, and facet management dashboard. There are also additional settings pages, such as the license page. Let’s walk through a couple of screenshots that will affectively show you the high quality design, and easy to use back and interface. This becomes all the more important because of the power and features that this tool offers to every day WordPress uses.

Let’s walk through a couple of screenshots that will effectively show you the high quality design, and easy to use back and interface. This becomes all the more important because of the power and features that this tool offers to every day WordPress users.

There are also tons of presets, mentioned before, which make it really easy to get started.

We really like this tool, especially when compared to competition because of this backend design. Not only is it easy for our agency to use, but for clients who like messing around with the back end of the WordPress website, this is easy to pick up and customize without needing to come back to us for every little change. Having a builder interface and design that is simple to use will save you a ton of time, stress and headaches when trying to set up a complex filtering system for your WordPress Blog or WooCommerce Shop.

Gridbuilder WP Pricing

Pricing at the time of publication of our GridbuilderWP review is as follows: $49/yr for one site, $99/yr for 3 sites, and $249/yr for unlimited sites. With the features that come with Gridbuilder, we think this is a fair price to pay.

For our personal agency site, we were lucky enough to get a lifetime license. We're not sure if the company will be offering these licenses again, but if you ever see a sale/LTD, jump on it!

It should also be noted that there's a 14 day money back guarantee, so that makes it a risk free purchase -- try, and if you don't like, you'll get your money back.

Free addons are also included with extend the functionality of the tool -- including things like LearnDash integrations, and caching for EVEN MORE SPEED.

Competition

When compared to competition, namely FacetWP and ContentViews Pro, this plugin offers the most features for the best price, and by far the best backend design. Because of that backend, Gridbuilder WP is on top for usability, but also remains the most powerful and expandable offering on the market.

Really -- best in class.

Conclusion

To conclude. GridBulder WP is a well designed plugin that offers a platform to create grids, cards, and more, querying them as you want, and integrating the most powerful facet/filter solution on the market. From design to functionality to developer expandability, this plugin is best in class.

Another major selling point for us and some of our audience is the native integration with Oxygen Builder archives, repeaters, and easy post elemets, allowing you to build in Oxygen, but still make use of the powerful facets (exactly what we do on our archive).

If you have any experience with GridbuilderWP or have any per-purchase questions, feel free to leave a comment below!