Have you heard about the changes that Genesis Framework will undergo from June? Do you know to what extent StudioPress’ decisions affect you?
Here you have the information point by point.
But before we start, and as I know that changes are always a bit “stressful”, let me give you a spoiler:
This is good news.
In fact, most of the changes come as a result of customer feedback.
Genesis changes at a glance
To recap, as of June 8:
- Genesis Framework becomes free.
- StudioPress ProPlus package customers will have free access to the Pro version of Genesis Blocks and Genesis Custom Blocks.
- StudioPress will stop selling third-party themes.
- StudioPress will no longer sell its themes individually.
- StudioPress themes will be available in the Genesis Pro subscription.
Let’s go over these points in more detail to see how they affect you.
Free Genesis Framework and Genesis Sample
Starting June 8, both the framework and the child theme Genesis Sample will become free.
This is something we’ve talked about multiple times at Genesis Shapers meetings and something I’ve been advocating for years.
By offering the framework for free, they allow many more users to come and try it out and get to know the ecosystem.
They also make life easier for Genesis child theme creators. Now we no longer have to explain that the framework must be purchased from another website, but we can include it with our themes.
Honestly, I think this is fantastic news.
The StudioPress ProPlus package gives you free access to the Pro version of Genesis Blocks and Genesis Custom Blocks.
And speaking of good news, here’s another one. 🙂
Although the StudioPress ProPlus package was discontinued a few months ago, many of us developers purchased it at the time. This package was a one-time payment, about $500, and gave you access to the framework and all StudioPress child themes (and some third party ones) for life.
Well, it seems that they wanted to reward those loyal customers and from June 8 if you have the ProPlus package, you will also have access to the Pro versions of Genesis Blocks and Genesis Custom Blocks.
So, from that date on, when you log into your StudioPress account you will have access to the premium versions of the plugins and also to all the collections that will be released forGenesis Blocks Pro.
A great detail.
StudioPress will stop selling third-party themes
Also changing is the way StudioPress sells and promotes third-party themes.
Up until now, third-party themes had to pass a manual review and pay a commission to be sold on the StudioPress marketplace.
As of June 8, this will change: third-party themes that were previously sold on StudioPress will continue to be displayed on the StudioPress marketplace, but they will now have a direct link to the creator’s website.
In other words, StudioPress will no longer keep a percentage of the sale (it won’t use affiliates either) and the full amount will remain in the hands of the theme creator.
This will also allow both support and updates to reach the customer immediately, something that was slowing down a bit when StudioPress had to act as an intermediary.
New themes that want to appear on the StudioPress site will have to go through a selection process to ensure they meet quality standards.
In fact, we already have already passed that selection process with two OsomPress themes. 🥳
StudioPress will stop selling its themes individually
As of June 8, the ability to buy Genesis child themes created by StudioPress will disappear from the website.
If you had your eye on one of the more modern ones, it might be a good time to get your hands on it.
By the way, this move also favors third-party theme creators that offer to sell individual themes.
StudioPress Themes will be available in Genesis Pro Subscription
From StudioPress they are clear that what they want to promote is Genesis Pro Subscription.
So this will be the only way for new customers to access their themes after that date.
Some StudioPress themes will be archived
With the imminent arrival of Full Site Editing(FSE), StudioPress has decided to focus their efforts on this new technology and to keep their top 10 themes for sale and archive the rest.
These are the 10 themes that will be available to new customers:
- Genesis Sample
- Revolution Pro
- Monochrome Pro
- Authority Pro
- Essence Pro
- Magazine Pro
- Altitude Pro
- Infinity Pro
- Breakthrough Pro
- Navigation Pro
And these are the themes that will be archived:
- Academy Pro
- Agency Pro
- AgentPress Pro
- Atmosphere Pro
- Author Pro
- Beautiful Pro
- Daily Dish Pro
- Digital Pro
- eleven40 Pro
- Enterprise Pro
- Executive Pro
- Lifestyle Pro
- Metro Pro
- Minimum Pro
- Modern Studio Pro
- News Pro
- Outreach Pro
- Parallax Pro
- Sixteen Nine Pro
- Wellness Pro
If you’ve purchased any of these themes you’ll still have access to them from your StudioPress account. And if you’re using them you don’t have to worry because they’ll still work just fine.
Just keep this in mind when selecting a theme for a new project, as explained in the list of Gutenberg-optimized Genesis child themes.
Some third-party themes will be archived
Likewise, there will be some third-party themes that will also be archived and will be managed directly by the creators.
If you have purchased any of the themes in this group you will be sent an email with instructions on how to proceed.
Conclusions
You can see that most of the changes are positive. Very positive.
On the one hand, they make Genesis Framework available to everyone for free and also reward ProPlus package customers with free access to the premium versions of Genesis Blocks and Genesis Custom Blocks.
On the other hand, they are changing the sales and promotion model for third-party themes, which offers new advantages to third parties.
It’s true that they also archive quite a few themes and that can give a feeling that there is less to choose from.
But if you were already paying attention to me when it comes to choosing new themes, you’ll have noticed that this actually means very little change.
You’ll still have the StudioPress top 10 plus all the ones created by third parties that are optimized for the block editor.
All in all, I’m glad to see that StudioPress listens to its customers, thinks about theme creators and at the same time keeps in mind the change that will come in a few months with Full Site Editing.