Frost
by WP Engine
WP Engine's free block theme, created by Brian Gardner. Strong pattern library — but no release since March 2025.
Frost's last WordPress.org release was version 1.0.10 on 12 March 2025 — more than sixteen months ago. WP Engine has published no end-of-life notice, so this is an inference from the release record rather than a vendor statement: the theme still installs and works, but nobody is shipping fixes for it. Treat it as unmaintained until WP Engine says otherwise, and weigh that against a block theme's dependence on a fast-moving editor.
Source · Confirmed 2026-07-24
- Last release
- March 12, 2025 v1.0.10
- WP.org rating
- 5.0
Frost is a free, GPL block theme built for full-site editing, originally created by Brian Gardner — the developer behind StudioPress and the Genesis framework — and acquired by WP Engine at the end of 2021, which released it publicly as open source. Its appeal was always the pattern library: a large set of well-designed block patterns that let you assemble a site without reaching for a third-party block plugin. That design work holds up. The maintenance does not: the WordPress.org listing has sat at version 1.0.10 since March 2025, and it declares compatibility only up to the WordPress version current at that time. For a block theme, which leans directly on an editor that changes every release, a gap that long is a material risk rather than a cosmetic one.
Pros
- Large, genuinely well-designed default pattern library
- Free and GPL with no Pro tier or upsell flow
- Clean, minimal design from a developer with a long theme-design track record
- Backed by a large company rather than a solo maintainer
Cons
- No release since March 2025 — see the maintenance note above
- Declares compatibility only against a WordPress version from early 2025
- Block themes depend on a fast-moving editor, so a stalled theme ages faster than a classic one would
- Small ratings base on WordPress.org, so little recent community signal either way
Hard to recommend for a new build while it sits unmaintained. If you are already running Frost and it works on your WordPress version, there is no urgency to move — but plan a migration path rather than assuming a fix will arrive.
Avoid for any new site you expect to maintain for years, and avoid it specifically if you rely on recent block-editor features — an unmaintained block theme is the case where staleness bites hardest.
Frequently asked questions
- Who makes Frost?
- WP Engine. Frost was created by Brian Gardner — founder of the StudioPress theme store and the Genesis framework — and WP Engine acquired it at the end of 2021, then released it free and open source. It is published on WordPress.org under the WP Engine account.
- Is Frost still maintained?
- There has been no release since version 1.0.10 on 12 March 2025. WP Engine has not published an end-of-life notice, so we can only report the release record rather than a formal status. In practice, treat it as unmaintained: it installs and runs, but no fixes or compatibility updates are arriving.
- Is Frost free?
- Yes — fully free and GPL-licensed, with no Pro tier and no upsell flow. That has not changed since WP Engine open-sourced it.
- Frost vs Spectra One?
- Both are free FSE block themes, but Spectra One is the safer pick today purely on maintenance: it ships regular updates, while Frost has not been released since March 2025. If Frost's pattern library is what draws you, weigh that against running a block theme nobody is currently patching.
| Product | Type | Price | Lighthouse |
|---|---|---|---|
| | Block | Free | — |
| | Block | Free | 99 |
| Spectra One | Block | Free | 97 |
-
Astra
Lightweight multipurpose theme that ships fast and plays nicely with every major builder.
-
GeneratePress
Lightweight classic theme prized by developers. Tiny core, GPL, sustained 12-year vendor history.
-
Blocksy
Block-friendly modern theme with header builder and WooCommerce focus. Native Gutenberg, generous free tier.
-
Hello Biz
Elementor's newer business-focused starter theme. Hello Theme architecture with built-in business homepage patterns.
Performance testing
Lighthouse scoring methodology lands soon. Until then, treat the score as provisional.
Data freshness
Last release tracked March 12, 2025. Version and release date come from the WordPress.org API and refresh on every build; entries with no WordPress.org listing are maintained by hand. Where we can't source a release timeline, we omit it rather than reconstruct one.