February 20, 2025
If you want to build a WordPress website and are looking for a detailed Elementor vs Divi comparison guide, you’re in the right place!
Elementor and Divi are two of the most popular page builders in the WordPress ecosystem. They enable users to create unique, fully customized, no-code websites quickly.
Although their features and functionality are fundamentally similar, they differ in some key areas. In this article, we’ll provide you with a detailed breakdown, comparing key features including:
And more.
If you’re ready, let’s jump right into it!
Elementor is one of the leading drag-and-drop visual page builder plugins for WordPress that powers over 9.3 million active websites.
The Elementor plugin was designed for both beginner and advanced WordPress users. It allows you to create visually appealing websites and customize them to your taste without writing a single line of code.
The plugin operates on a freemium model and provides many pre-designed templates, widgets, and customization options to make the website creation process seamless.
That’s not all! It integrates with many 3rd-party add-ons to extend the page builder’s features, allowing you to build just about any page on your website.
Built by Elegant Themes, Divi is another major player in the WordPress page builder space. It’s slightly different from Elementor as it consists of two parts: a page builder and a theme.
We’ll focus our article on the Divi Builder, which powers over 1.9 million live websites.
Like Elementor, Divi also gives you a visual no-code editing experience to build your site quickly, although its approach is slightly different. You get access to a variety of design modules, theme building features, and tons of pre-designed templates ready for you to use.
However, a key difference is that Divi is a premium only plugin, meaning you’ll require a pro membership to access it.
It also comes with a marketplace of third-party extensions, but it’s not quite as rich as Elementor’s.
Now that we have an idea of both the builders we’re comparing, let’s start with the detailed comparison for Elementor and Divi.
Elementor offers a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface divided into two main sections for a controlled and more intuitive editing experience.
A fixed sidebar displays all the design widgets on the left pane of the screen. It contains the settings and customization options for each widget. A search bar is also provided at the top of the sidebar to make it easy to find widgets.
The right pane provides a live preview window for adding design widgets to build and visually edit your website.
The sidebar is the starting point for building your website with Elementor. You can drag and drop any design widget from the sidebar into the live preview window.
Once you do this, the sidebar will update to show the widget’s three customization settings: Content, Style, and Advanced.
With the Elementor page builder, you can add and edit text content inline (directly within the live preview window), making it more convenient to create a website page.
However, the inline editing functionality is not as advanced as Divi’s, given that you cannot edit the color or alignment of texts inline.
When building more complex web pages, you will find Elementor’s Structure tool handy. It lets you see the outline of your page’s structure and quickly move widgets around.
To access it, right-click any widget in the live preview pane and select Structure from the menu. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl/Cmd + I to open it up.
From the Structure tool, you can rename each widget on the page by double-clicking it and typing a custom name that helps you remember its function.
Generally speaking, if you have used most other WordPress page builders, such as the Gutenberg editor or Breakdance, you will find Elementor’s user interface quite familiar and straightforward.
Unlike Elementor’s sidebar interface, Divi’s page builder is a full-screen live preview editor with a floating toolbar and pop-up system in place.
When an element is selected, a pop-up window opens and floats over the page, displaying options or settings for that element.
Pages created with the Divi page builder consist of Sections, Rows, and Modules. Every section, row, or module has a small menu that you can click to display the pop-up window containing the relevant options or settings.
Like Elementor, each Divi module has three primary customization tabs: Content, Design, and Advanced.
Divi offers more flexible customization capabilities for the design interface. It allows you to drag and position the pop-up windows displayed anywhere on your screen or resize them for a more convenient experience as you build your web page.
Another cool feature Divi offers, which Elementor lacks, is the Wireframe Mode. This mode allows you to switch between the visual builder and the structured wireframe view for backend editing.
A Layers View that works similarly to Elementor’s Structure tool is also provided within Divi, enabling you to easily see a high-level structured view of the Sections on your web page. You can move them around, duplicate them, or delete them.
The Divi page builder also supports in-line text content editing, allowing you to conveniently add, edit, or delete text from the live preview editor.
Even though the Divi page builder offers some robust customization features, the interface has a steeper learning curve than Elementor and can take some time to get used to.
Furthermore, Divi 5.0, a significant update to Divi’s core technologies, will be launched soon. It will feature a completely redesigned interface and page builder, so it is important to keep this in mind as you decide which page builder to use for your site.
|
|
|
|
🏆 Winner |
|
|
Clean structured interface with a fixed sidebar; intuitive for beginners. |
More immersive and flexible interface, but has a learning curve. |
Elementor offers some advanced customization options that enable you to style various elements on your website uniquely.
It comes with Global Styles, which lets you set the font, colors, and button styles that should be applied across your site. You also get the Advanced Motion Effect, which enables the creation of animations, scroll effects, and hover effects.
If you get the plugin’s pro version, the feature to add Custom CSS is enabled, facilitating the addition of custom CSS to individual site elements.
Elementor also offers a theme builder feature that lets you design custom headers, footers, and post templates.
With its dynamic content integration for blogs and WooCommerce, you can quickly build templates and dynamically insert content from your WordPress site to display specific data based on a site user’s behavior.
Additionally, the theme builder supports conditional display rules, allowing you to apply templates to only some specific pages or categories on your site.
Divi provides some customization settings that can only be accessed when using the Divi builder plugin alongside the Divi theme. An example of this is the backend site customization options that can be found on the Theme Options panel.
There are, however, a few customization options that come specifically with the Divi page builder.
The style Preset setting, which you can access within each module, row, or section, is one of these. You can use it to create new presets from the current applied style and reuse them as you build other pages.
There’s also a feature that allows you to set global fonts and colors that you can quickly apply to elements across your website.
Furthermore, Divi offers shape dividers, gradient backgrounds, and overlay options, enabling you to create unique section designs to set your site apart.
Adding custom CSS within each module, row, or section is also supported to enable deeper styling control.
If you prefer to create theme templates and assign them to various pages and posts on your site, you can use the provided Divi Theme Builder feature.
However, unlike Elementor, Divi generally lacks many dynamic customization features that the former provides.
|
|
|
| It’s a Tie | |
|
Offers powerful global styles, dynamic content options, and feature-rich theme building capabilities. |
Provides a flexible interface, handy style presets, and capable theme building features. |
To ensure a fair test for the Elementor vs Divi performance comparison, we have standardized the environment for each page builder.
The following were standardized to keep things equal:
We used Google PageSpeed Insights and Pingdom Tools to test the page speed of both page builders.
The test page on both Elementor and Divi page builders was also created using similar widgets/modules to ensure fair comparison.
Now, we are ready to dive into the tests!
Below is a screenshot of our Elementor test page.
Here’s how it performed on PageSpeed Insights:
And here’s how it performed on Pingdom Tools
Below is a screenshot of the Divi test page we created.
Here’s how it performed on PageSpeed Insights.
And here’s how it performed on Pingdom Tools
The table below provides a summary of the key metrics from both Elementor and Divi performance tests.
| Metrics | Elementor | Divi |
| PSI Mobile Score | 79 | 87 |
| First Contentful Paint (FCP) | 2.7 seconds | 1.5 seconds |
| Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) | 4.7 seconds | 3.8 ms |
| Total Blocking Time (TBT) | 0 ms | 0 ms |
| Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) | 0 | 0.018 |
| Speed Index | 2.7 seconds | 3.2 seonds |
| Page Size | 575.4 KB | 783.4 kb |
| HTTP Requests | 33 | 14 |
| Load Time | 718 ms | 696 ms |
The Elementor test page performs decently well across both testing tools. Its PSI mobile score and load time results lag slightly behind Divi. Additionally, the number of HTTP requests is more than double that of Divi, which impacts the FCP and LCP scores.
The Divi builder, on the other hand, creates a slightly heavier page, but its overall results beat Elementor. It scores faster load time, fewer HTTP requests, and better FCP and FCP performance.
|
|
|
|
🏆 Winner |
|
|
Decent performance, but slower load time, more requests, and lags on mobile score and web vitals. |
Faster load time, fewer requests, and leads on mobile performance and key web vitals. |
Elementor introduced AI features into its editor with the release of version 3.13 in May 2023. It integrates into the editor in 3 key areas: text, image, and layouts, aiming to assist you as you build.
One of Elementor AI’s primary features is its AI Writing Assistant. This lets you generate text and perform common AI editing tasks directly within any text field. For beginners, it can even help with code by generating custom CSS for styling or HTML snippets for any widget.
Beyond text and code, Elementor AI also works with visuals. It lets you create images by simply describing what you need. You can also work with existing images to enhance them, adjust dimensions, or clean up unwanted objects.
Where Elementor AI gets particularly interesting is in helping you structure your pages. It allows you to generate container layouts or individual sections based on text prompts. It can also create variations of existing elements or even draw inspiration by referencing external websites.
That’s not all. There’s also a separate AI Site Planner tool available. This feature lets you quickly create content-rich wireframes for key pages of your website, offering a major time saver when you’re looking to rapidly plan your site structure.
It’s important to know that Elementor AI works on a credit system, which is sold separately from the main plugin paid plans.
Divi introduced AI features into its visual builder with version 4.22 in August 2023. Like Elementor, Divi AI also integrates into the visual builder in 3 key areas.
It offers a Text Generation feature and lets you create written content in most modules. It looks at your existing content to match your brand’s voice, or you can easily set the tone you want. It also comes with the usual AI text editing capabilities, like making text longer, shorter, or fixing grammar. Additionally, you can use this feature to generate code as well.
Divi AI also works with images. You can make images instantly by just describing them and picking styles or sizes. Beyond that, it helps with existing image editing, too.
Divi AI also assists with building your page structure. It can generate individual sections based on your prompts as well as generate a complete web page.
Like Elementor’s AI Site Planner, Divi also has AI Quick Sites that lets you generate a complete on-brand website with just a prompt. However, what sets it apart is that you don’t need a separate subscription to use it.
Unlike Elementor, Divi AI comes with unlimited usage for a single flat price that’s not separate from the main plugin.
|
|
|
|
🏆 Winner |
|
|
Offers integrated AI for text, images, code, layouts, and planning using a credit-based system. |
Provides AI integration for text, images, code, sections, and full websites with unlimited usage. |
The Pro version of the Elementor plugin comes with 20+ WooCommerce widgets and a theme builder that enables you to design custom pages for single products, shop archives, and checkout and cart pages without coding.
The WooCommerce widgets are the building blocks for designing your custom online store with Elementor. You can use them to add sophisticated mega menus, product categories, and menu carts.
Elementor also provides a popup builder that lets you create promotional popups to catch the attention of your site visitors.
It also has a built-in form builder for creating forms and capturing leads conveniently using the same interface.
To top it all, Elementor integrates seamlessly with many WooCommerce-specific plugins to extend its functionality and give users more store design options.
A few plugins it integrates with include CartFlows for optimized checkouts, WooLentor for more product display options, and ShopEngine for additional WooCommerce widgets.
Divi includes 16+ WooCommerce-specific modules out of the box. Its theme builder also supports customizing the single product page, shop page with advanced filtering, cart, checkout, and account pages.
One of Divi’s unique WooCommerce features, which Elementor does not offer, is its built-in A/B testing capability. This allows store owners to test different product page layouts and choose the highest-performing one as the default product page.
Conversely, compared to Elementor, Divi adds extra code, which can sometimes slow down WooCommerce sites.
And even though it offers pre-made checkout templates, Divi lacks full customization features compared to Elementor’s WooCommerce builder.
Divi also has fewer third-party WooCommerce integrations than Elementor, making it more challenging for users to have a broader set of WooCommerce elements and customization options.
|
|
|
|
🏆 Winner |
|
|
Offers more widgets, advanced customization for store pages, built-in pop-ups/forms, and better third-party integration. |
Provides core WooCommerce modules and theme builder support, but fewer widgets and less extensive customization options. |
Elementor provides three main template types in its library that you can use to build your web pages. These are:
The free version of the Elementor page builder grants you access to 40+ block templates, while the pro version unlocks 300+ full-page templates and 100+ website kits.
Elementor also supports creating your own templates that you can save and reuse in the future.
You can find even more Elementor templates for designing your web page on third-party sites like the Envato marketplace.
With the Divi builder, you get a robust library of 2600+ full-page templates that you can use to spin up pages for your website quickly and add your own customizations.
The templates are organized into 370+ layout packs, which consist of full websites covering various industries, such as fitness, restaurants, law firms, and technology.
While Divi offers a wide range of template options, many of its designs feel outdated since they were launched a few years ago.
If you want more modern templates, you may need to create them and save them for future use or purchase them from third-party vendors in the Divi marketplace.
|
|
|
|
🏆 Winner |
|
|
Offers a good selection of Kits, Pages, and Block templates, plus third-party options. |
Provides a much larger library of full page templates and layout packs. |
To build a website page, Elementor page builder makes use of its three main structural elements, which are:
The free version of the Elementor plugin offers 30+ basic widgets for creating web pages. In contrast, the Pro version unlocks 86 advanced widgets, including forms, pricing tables, countdown timers, flip boxes, WooCommerce widgets for eCommerce sites, and more.
Third-party add-ons can also be installed to extend the widget selection that Elementor provides by default.
Divi uses a different structural hierarchy for its page-building elements:
Divi includes 65 built-in modules (native + WooCommerce + structural modules), such as a countdown timer, testimonial, gallery, pricing table, forms, map, and social follow.
Unlike Elementor, Divi has a limited number of available third-party add-ons to extend its functionality. However, you can still access some useful extensions from its extensions marketplace.
|
|
|
|
🏆 Winner |
|
|
Offers significantly more built-in widgets, deeper WooCommerce customization, and stronger third-party add-on support. |
Provides a core set of built-in modules but fewer overall and more limited third-party integration options. |
Elementor offers a free version of its page builder plugin to compensate for its rather pricey plan options compared to Divi.
The free version offers just enough features to enable users to build simple and functional websites. However, its customization options are incredibly limited, ultimately enticing users to purchase a paid plan.
Below is a breakdown of the pro plans that Elementor offers:
As the pricing breakdown shows, Elementor is more expensive in the long run. It requires users to renew their subscriptions yearly and does not offer a lifetime plan.
Divi doesn’t offer a free version, but you can test its builder using the live demo. To use the page builder and theme on your own website, you need to subscribe to its pro membership. Divi keeps things simple by providing only two paid plans. These are:
The Divi membership plan also grants you free access to other premium Elegant Themes products outside the Divi page builder and theme. These include the Extra theme for blogging, the Bloom plugin for email opt-in, and the Monarch plugin for intuitive social sharing.
|
|
|
|
🏆 Winner |
|
|
Offers a free version but has more expensive yearly plans, especially for multiple sites. |
Provides better long-term value with a lifetime license and unlimited site usage on all plans. |
Now that we have thoroughly examined the Elementor vs Divi comparison, outlining the key features of each page builder and choosing a winner based on each feature, it’s time to make your choice!
|
|
|
|
| User Interface & Ease of Use | 🏆 Winner | |
| Customizability | It’s a Tie | |
| Performance | 🏆 Winner | |
| AI Features | 🏆 Winner | |
| WooCommerce | 🏆 Winner | |
| Pre-designed Templates | 🏆 Winner | |
| Widgets & Modules | 🏆 Winner | |
| Pricing | 🏆 Winner | |
Divi and Elementor are both excellent WordPress page builders, and the choice of which one to select for your website should ideally be based on the page builder features that matter most to you.
If you are a beginner WordPress user who cares about accessing a broad number of widgets and features to build a high-converting eCommerce marketplace, then the Elementor page builder may be ideal.
If, on the other hand, your WordPress skill level is slightly more advanced and you are particular about the performance of your page builder, access to a wide range of pre-designed templates, and value for money, then Divi is your best bet.
While both Elementor and Divi were considered groundbreaking when they launched over a decade ago, they now have important limitations compared to more modern builders.
For example, here are several key features available in Breakdance but missing from both Elementor and Divi:
What is better for a beginner, Divi or Elementor?
Elementor is often considered more beginner-friendly. Its fixed sidebar interface is typically easier to get used to, and its drag-and-drop functionality has a simpler learning curve. Plus, you can start exploring its features with the free version before committing to a paid plan.
Can I use Divi and Elementor together?
Generally, no, it’s not recommended to use both Divi and Elementor on the same website. While technically possible, using two major page builders can often lead to conflicts, performance issues, unexpected styling problems, and a more complicated workflow.
Will Divi and Elementor Work with Gutenberg?
Both Divi and Elementor are designed to work alongside the Gutenberg editor. You typically choose which editor you want to use when creating or editing a specific page or post.
Will Divi and Elementor Work with Any Theme?
They can work with any standard WordPress themes, but there are some important points. Elementor is a plugin and works well with most themes, especially lightweight ones if you plan to use Elementor’s Theme Builder extensively. Divi, on the other hand, is both a theme and a builder. While the Divi Builder plugin can be used with other themes, its full power and best optimization are usually achieved when you use it together with the Divi Theme.
Is Divi bad for SEO?
Divi is not bad for SEO. While older versions of the plugin sometimes added extra code that could potentially impact site speed (an SEO factor), modern versions have made significant performance improvements.
Is Elementor faster than Divi?
Based on the performance test we conducted for this article, Divi was slightly faster than Elementor. Divi showed a faster load time and fewer HTTP requests in our specific test environment, despite having a slightly larger page size.
Get maximum flexibility with unlimited licensing and domain activations.
Get your money back within 60 days of purchase, no questions asked. It's risk-free!
We offer premium support to ensure the ultimate customer experience.
For a limited time, we're offering an unlimited site license for just $199.99/year. Buy now to lock in this price.
