ACF vs Toolset on WordPress: What to Choose?

Toolset has everything required for configuring custom fields and showing them without coding on the web front end. ACF has a PHP developer API for Elementor Pro and Divi integration. ACF provides a comprehensive API protecting you if you prefer to create models of your website using PHP.

Toolset vs ACF: Which is right for you?

With regard to functionality, both Toolset and ACF help with customized content, but the focus is somewhat different.

Toolset is a fully customized content solution. It allows you to build custom post styles as well as individual fields. Even better, people can still create custom content without the need for Javascript on the front end of their website.

ACF focuses on the custom fields directly (hence the name). It is also based on only the backend – people must use PHP (or a plugin such as Elementor Pro) if they want to access the particular fields from the front end. It is also less developer-driven – Toolset can be used without writing code.

Toolset 

The toolset contains numerous elements. Each part is an individual plugin and can be combined as required:

• Types: Allows people to create personalized post types, individual fields, and tailored taxonomies. This is the most overlapping module with ACF since it manages individual fields.
• Form: Allows people to build front-end forms that feed into individual post types or custom fields.
• Access: Allows them to limit access to custom contents on the front and back end through the help of WordPress user functions.
• Maps: Allows people on Google and Azure Maps to use custom content as map markers.
• The Toolset contains specialized field forms such as partnership areas and repeater fields .

ACF

• ACF only concentrates on custom areas, which restricts what you can use it for. ACF is also directly aimed at developers – it requires that you know some about PHP to function on the front end of custom fields.
• However, ACF can do custom fields very well by restricting its focus. The free plugin contains more than 30 common field forms as well as specialized resources including repeater fields, scalable content fields, and gallery fields.
• Other than just personalized front-end continues, you can even use ACF to quickly build backend options pages for your website, theme, or plugins if you are a developer.
• Another great aspect of it is that it is expandable and has a strong third-party extension marketplace. For example, you can find more than 170 extensions for ACF if you go to Awesome ACF. Toolset doesn’t have this sort of marketplace for third parties, as most of its capabilities are inside the core product (but the core product of Toolset also gives you a lot more features).

Which one should you use?

Both are great apps to deal with customized WordPress website development, so there’s no chance that you’ll pick the “wrong” app. As it is discussed previously, though, they do somewhat different things and resolve somewhat different issues.

ACF is only available for custom fields and more for users. It does really well for custom fields, but it does little else. Developers can use it to build personalized pages for administration options.

In contrast, the toolset is a more complete tool to work on WordPress with customized materials. This allows people to view custom fields and custom posting styles on their website’s front, create new content formats, limit access to custom content, and more.

To sum-up

Use ACF to implement custom fields in a project where you only need to add some common fields and perhaps view them with Elementor Pro Uses. If you are a developer who wishes to add custom fields to a project, use Toolset to create custom websites for content (for example, classified pages, directory sites, etc.) while you gain additional power for stuff like shapes, question builders, and more.

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**About the Author: Hermit Chawla is an MD at AIS Technolabs, a Web Design and Web Development Company helping global businesses grow. He loves to share his thoughts on web development, app development and game development.