Enfold screenshot

Enfold

Classic One-Time Purchase Elementor Multipurpose by Kriesi Updated Aug 2025
40
PageSpeed
5.0
Handoff /10
$59
Starting price
Safe to use
Scout verdict

Overview

Safe to use

Enfold is a long-standing multipurpose theme known for its excellent support and one-time payment model, making it a stable choice for legacy projects. However, its reliance on a proprietary backend builder creates significant vendor lock-in, it suffers from poor performance on modern metrics, and it is completely incompatible with popular page builders like Elementor.

Pros

  • Excellent and highly responsive customer support
  • One-time payment with lifetime updates
  • Actively maintained with regular security patches

Cons

  • Proprietary builder creates permanent theme lock-in
  • Complete incompatibility with the Elementor page builder
  • Poor mobile performance and Core Web Vitals scores

Analysis

Enfold is a veteran multipurpose theme from ThemeForest that has maintained a large user base for over a decade, largely due to its one-time purchase price, lifetime updates, and consistently excellent customer support. It is built around a proprietary backend page builder, the Advanced Layout Builder, which offers a wide array of customization options and has proven to be a stable and reliable tool for many developers over the years. The theme is also actively maintained with regular security patches and compatibility fixes.

However, Enfold’s greatest historical strength—its all-in-one proprietary builder—is now its most significant weakness. This system creates severe vendor lock-in, as all content created with it is lost if you ever switch themes, forcing a complete site rebuild. Furthermore, the theme is completely incompatible with modern, popular page builders like Elementor. Its aging architecture also struggles to keep up with current performance standards, resulting in poor mobile PageSpeed scores and consistent failures to pass Google’s Core Web Vitals.

Ultimately, Enfold is a product of a previous era of WordPress development. It remains a viable option for developers maintaining legacy websites or for new projects where its specific demos are a perfect fit and long-term performance is not the primary concern. For most new builds, however, its dated workflow, performance issues, and lack of flexibility make it a difficult choice to recommend over modern themes built for the Gutenberg block editor or other mainstream page builders.

Performance

PageSpeed Mobile 40
PageSpeed Desktop 74

Core Web Vitals (mobile)

Metric Mobile Desktop Target
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) 3.03 3.42 < 2.5s

The mobile PageSpeed score is 40/100 based on a test of the official demo site on 2026-02-22. This poor score is accompanied by a mobile LCP of 3.03s, which fails Google's Core Web Vitals threshold and indicates significant performance issues out of the box.

Performance concerns

Use Enfold with caution on performance-sensitive projects, as community members consistently report that sites built with the theme fail Google's Core Web Vitals assessments even after optimization efforts [8].

Avoid if performance matters

Avoid Enfold if your project has a strict requirement to pass Core Web Vitals or achieve high mobile PageSpeed scores, as the theme has documented cases of excessively high Time to First Byte (TTFB) and slow load times compared to modern alternatives [9], [10].

Tested URL: https://kriesi.at/themes/enfold-2017/. View PageSpeed Insights report.

Client Handoff

5.0
out of 10

How easy it is to hand this theme off to a client without ongoing developer support.

Score breakdown

Criterion Rating
Panel complexity complex
Documentation quality good
Learning curve days
When it works well

Enfold is a safe choice if the end-user only needs to perform basic content edits and will not be responsible for creating or modifying complex page layouts.

Use caution when

Use caution when handing off to clients with limited technical skills, as the complex theme options panel and backend-only page builder can be overwhelming and confusing for beginners [13], [15].

Avoid if

Avoid Enfold for projects where the client expects a modern, intuitive, front-end editing experience, as its "wireframe-style" backend builder has a clunky workflow that requires constant saving and previewing to see changes [15].

Scout recommendation

Enfold is best suited for developers building sites for clients who require minimal ongoing layout changes. For clients who need to build pages themselves, a theme utilizing the native block editor or a modern page builder is a more user-friendly alternative.

Alternatives: Kadence, Blocksy, GeneratePress

Pricing

$59
Base price
Standard Commercial
License type
6 mo
Support included

Available plans

Plan Price Type Includes
Regular License $59 Single site, end users not charged
Extended License $2,799 Single site, end users can be charged

Plugin Compatibility

5
Plugins tested
3
Fully compatible
2
With issues
Plugin Category Status Notes
Elementor Page Builder Not tested The theme author explicitly states that Enfold is not designed to work with Elementor and they do not offer support for it.
WPML Multilingual Full support Enfold maintains full and official compatibility with WPML and is recommended by the WPML team as a compatible theme.
Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) Developer Tool Partial support The theme has known issues with advanced ACF fields, such as multi-select options, which may not work correctly without custom code.
WooCommerce E-commerce Full support No major compatibility issues were reported in the available research; the theme is marketed as multi-purpose.
Wordfence Security & Backup Full support The theme's changelog mentions specific patches related to WordFence, indicating active compatibility monitoring and support.

Community Feedback

11 discussions analyzed
Timeframe Last 24 months
Analyzed Jan 2026
Pain points
  • Complete incompatibility with Elementor page builder plugin compat
    Show description

    The theme author explicitly states that Enfold is not designed to work with third-party page builders like Elementor and that no support is provided for conflicts or errors that arise from attempting to use them together.

    Users must choose a different theme if Elementor is a requirement for their project. There is no workaround.
    Frequent 80%
    Critical ThemeForest [1]
  • Proprietary shortcodes create severe vendor lock-in general
    Show description

    The theme's core Advanced Layout Builder is built on proprietary shortcodes that do not convert to standard HTML or Gutenberg blocks. This means that if a user decides to switch themes, all content created with the builder will be lost, requiring a complete site rebuild.

    There is no way to automatically convert the shortcodes. The only solution is to manually rebuild all pages in the new theme.
    Frequent 80%
    Critical WPML [17]
  • Persistent failures to pass Core Web Vitals assessments performance
    Show description

    Users consistently report that websites built with Enfold fail to pass Google's Core Web Vitals (CWV) tests, even after implementing standard optimization techniques. This can negatively impact SEO and user experience.

    Extensive manual optimization, a premium caching plugin, and a high-performance hosting environment are required to mitigate the issue, but passing CWV is not guaranteed.
    Common 60%
    Major WordPress.org Forums [8]
  • Backend-only builder has a clunky and unintuitive workflow handoff
    Show description

    Enfold uses a backend-only page builder, which users describe as a 'wireframe-like' experience. To see any visual changes, one must save the page and then open a preview, a workflow that is significantly slower and less intuitive than modern front-end editors.

    This is a core design characteristic of the theme. Users seeking a visual, real-time editing experience should consider alternative themes.
    Frequent 80%
    Major Kriesi Support [15]
  • Major updates require a complex and risky manual FTP process updates
    Show description

    For major version updates, the theme developer recommends a complex manual procedure involving renaming theme folders via FTP. This process is error-prone for non-technical users and carries a risk of bringing the site down if performed incorrectly.

    Users must follow the developer's instructions carefully and always perform a full site backup before attempting an update. Alternatively, a developer should be hired to perform the update.
    Common 60%
    Major Reddit [12]
  • Expired update tokens can lock users out of automatic updates updates
    Show description

    Users report being unable to perform automatic updates because their Envato API token has expired. If the original developer who purchased the theme is unavailable, the site owner is unable to generate a new token, effectively blocking them from receiving crucial updates.

    The site owner must gain access to the original ThemeForest account that purchased the theme to generate a new personal token.
    Occasional 35%
    Major WordPress.org Forums [11]
  • Slow baseline speed compared to modern, lightweight themes performance
    Show description

    In comparative speed tests and benchmarks of popular WordPress themes, Enfold is often noted for being slower and heavier than modern alternatives that are built with performance and the Gutenberg editor in mind.

    Aggressive caching, a CDN, and image optimization are necessary to achieve acceptable performance with Enfold.
    Common 60%
    Moderate Elementor Help [9]
  • Recent security vulnerabilities required emergency patching security
    Show description

    A Broken Access Control vulnerability was discovered in early 2025, which required users to update the theme promptly to secure their sites. While the developer patched it, the existence of such vulnerabilities highlights the need for constant maintenance.

    Users must ensure they are always running the latest version of the theme to receive security patches.
    Occasional 35%
    Moderate WordPress.com Forums [24]
  • Partial and limited support for Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) plugin compat
    Show description

    While basic ACF fields may work with Enfold, more advanced options such as multi-select fields are not fully supported out of the box. This limitation requires developers to write custom code or find workarounds to implement desired functionality.

    Developers need to budget extra time for custom coding and testing when using advanced ACF features with Enfold.
    Occasional 35%
    Moderate Freshvanroot Blog [6]
  • Built-in CSS caching options often confuse clients handoff
    Show description

    Freelancers report that clients become confused and frustrated when their CSS changes do not appear on the live site. This is often caused by Enfold's built-in CSS file merging and caching options, which are not always intuitive for non-technical users to manage.

    Developers should educate clients on how to clear the theme's cache after making changes or disable the feature if it causes persistent confusion.
    Common 60%
    Minor Kriesi Support [16]
  • Overwhelming admin panel for beginners handoff
    Show description

    Enfold is a feature-rich theme with a large number of options in its admin panel. While this provides flexibility for developers, it can be overwhelming and confusing for beginners or clients who are not familiar with the theme's structure.

    Developers should consider creating a simplified user role for clients, hiding unnecessary menu items to make the backend more manageable.
    Occasional 35%
    Minor WordPress.org Forums [13]

Pain points were identified by analyzing user discussions, support forums, and professional reviews.

FAQ

Sources & Methodology

Data confidence: HIGH (26 analytical sources, 26 total)

This analysis is based on a combination of official documentation, marketplace data, user reviews from forums and social media, and independent performance tests.

  1. [[1]] ThemeForest — marketplace
  2. [[2]] WordPress.com Forums — forum
  3. [[3]] Kriesi Support — forum
  4. [[4]] Reddit — social
  5. [[5]] Kriesi Support — forum
  6. [[6]] Freshvanroot Blog — review_site
  7. [[7]] Kriesi Support — forum
  8. [[8]] WordPress.org Forums — forum
  9. [[9]] Elementor Help — documentation
  10. [[10]] ZSE Glogow — review_site
  11. [[11]] WordPress.org Forums — forum
  12. [[12]] Reddit — social
  13. [[13]] WordPress.org Forums — forum
  14. [[14]] CreativeMinds Docs — documentation
  15. [[15]] Kriesi Support — forum
  16. [[16]] Kriesi Support — forum
  17. [[17]] WPML — documentation
  18. [[18]] WPFellows — review_site
  19. [[19]] Reddit — social
  20. [[20]] Tuts+ — review_site
  21. [[21]] Reddit — social
  22. [[22]] Kriesi Documentation — documentation
  23. [[23]] WP All Import — review_site
  24. [[24]] WordPress.com Forums — forum
  25. [[25]] WPML — documentation
  26. [[26]] ThemeForest — marketplace

Analysis date: January 18, 2026

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