The Best WordPress Page Builder & Drag and Drop WordPress Themes

A comparison of the 16 most popular WordPress page builders

With a WordPress page builder, you don't need any programming knowledge to customize posts and pages: The extension replaces or supplements the standard editor and comes with many customizable building elements such as galleries, buttons and text areas that you can put together using drag & drop. But there is more than just one WordPress page builder. We'll introduce you to 15 different plugins to help you make faster progress with WordPress.

Website builders have improved significantly in recent years and offer a variety of features that simplify the creation of websites. And they can be useful when you're creating websites for clients. Let's take a closer look at WordPress page builders!

Website builders are often characterized by drag and drop elements that allow for quick development of concepts, designs and even website edits. For this reason, we will highlight some of the best WordPress page builders. 

What you will learn in this guide:

  • Why developers should use drag & drop WordPress themes 
  • The most important functions of WordPress page builders 
  • The 14 best WordPress page builders currently available 

Why you should use WordPress Page Builder

Using drag & drop WordPress themes can save you a lot of time as a developer. But there are other advantages of WordPress page builders, including:

  • Faster mockup creation: When you're in the early planning stages of a new project, it's common for you to create mockups for your websites. Using drag & drop WordPress themes speeds up this process significantly and gives you the opportunity to give your clients even more options to choose from.
  • The ability to create reusable templates: You can use WordPress Page Builder to create website templates. Page builders not only simplify the process of website creation. They also give you the ability to create and reuse a template with these drag & drop blocks.
  • Faster website edits and style variations: If customers have a change request, you can implement these changes much faster than if you had to program them yourself by hand.
  • A wide range of website functions: Even if you're an expert in various programming languages, it's time-consuming to create (or implement) complex functions manually. Drag & drop WordPress themes and page builders include complicated functions via blocks that you drag into your design. This means that you can offer your customers more functions and services.

Main features of WordPress page builders


Drag & drop WordPress themes and page builders are some of the best tools for creating a WordPress website. Developers will appreciate the key features that make Page Builder so useful, including:

  • Pre-built design blocks or modules that you can insert using drag & drop: These modules can include paragraphs, photos, charts and more complex website features such as image galleries, custom widgets, countdown timers and carousels. They can also include options for page layouts, such as columns.
  • Instant style selection: You can count on Page Builder to give you one-click customization features. You can change elements like fonts, colors, styles and sizes with sliders or drop-down menus. You can also give your customers a range of options to choose from to keep up with current trends - with less work for you.
  • A wide range of templates: Most WordPress page builder plugins come with multiple templates to choose from. So while you can design a website from scratch with visual blocks or modules, you can also choose a template or theme to start the design process.
  • Add-ons that extend the functionality: In addition to the basic page builders, most of the options we discuss in this tutorial offer add-ons that enable further integrations and functions.
  • The ability to customize blocks or modules and save them for later use: After you've inserted modules and your website looks right, you can save the block or module combination you've used as a template to insert into future websites.

The 16 best WordPress page builder plugins

What follows is a list of the best WordPress page builder plugins currently on the market. There's a combination of free and premium tools, so as a developer:in you can find something that works at any stage of your career. Let's go!

1st WPBakery Page Builder

The best WordPress page builders & drag and drop WordPress themes
More than 4,300,000 WP users use the WPBakery Page Builder.

WPBakery Page Builder is currently the most popular WordPress page builder plugin. It used to be called Visual Composer, but this has now been spun off into a separate tool, with the page creation functions remaining with WPBakery.

WPBakery Page Builder serves as a frontend and backend page builder that enables the creation of responsive designs. With multiple templates and lots of flexibility, it's a solid choice.

What is the WPBakery Page Builder?

WPBakery is one of the pioneers in the field of WordPress page builders. The former Visual Composer was renamed to WPBakery Page Builder renamed. This new WordPress page builder focuses on the visual editing of content such as posts or pages.

Since WPBakery has been around for a long time, you will find many integrated layouts and building blocks such as boxes, icons, text blocks and diagrams with which you can design your content. In addition, many third-party providers offer thousands of useful elements for an expressive appearance and over 250 integrations with other important plugins such as WooCommerce.

The WordPress Page Builder should work with every theme. This compatibility is probably due to the fact that all elements are integrated via shortcodes. If you deactivate the plugin, shortcodes will remain in your content.

The interface is intuitive, but no longer up to date, requires manual saving and is significantly slower than the competition. Nevertheless, the advantages of this WordPress page builder may outweigh the disadvantages, depending on the intended use.

Key features:

  • WPBakery Page Builder can be used with almost any WordPress theme
  • 50+ content elements
  • Built-in skin builder allows quick element styling
  • A robust template library
  • Fully extensible via WPBakery Page Builder API
  • Advanced Grid Builder
  • Dedicated support from Monday-Saturday

Advantages of WPBakery Page Builder:

  • Many content elements, also available from third-party providers
  • Integration with more than 250 known plugins possible
  • Many design templates

Disadvantages of WPBakery Page Builder:

  • Slow, partly overloaded interface
  • Parts of the interface are not up to date, for example the image size has to be entered manually via "large", "thumbnail" or "small"
  • No automatic save function

Best WordPress page builder for: Experienced developers and newbies. The plugin is easy to use, fully featured and makes it easy to use pre-built templates and create your own.

Price: The regular license for the WPBakery Page Builder plugin costs $45 and includes updates, premium support and access to the template library for use on a single website. The extended license costs $245 and includes updates, premium support and theme integration. It can be used for a single SaaS application.

2. visual composer website builder

Visual Composer Page Builder
Visual Composer is now a complete site builder.

After the developers launched the WPBakery Page Builder, it seemed to be the end of the Visual Composer. In reality, they have been working diligently on it and have developed not only a WordPress page builder, but also a complete site builder. This is a visual editor with which you can not only change the content without programming knowledge, but also other layout areas of the WordPress site such as the footer or header. 

With Visual Composer, you can edit content and layout directly in the frontend and work with many customizable elements. The user interface is modern, can be used either as docked or floating and enables quick results after familiarization.

You also get access to the Visual Composer Hub with 100 content elements and 100 page layouts that you can download and use. With the competition among WordPress page builders, these elements are usually integrated and do not require an additional download.

Visual Composer is available in a subscription model from USD 59 per year. There is a 40 percent discount from the second year.

Advantages of Visual Composer:

  • Text and layout can be edited directly on the page
  • Attractive layouts can be conjured up after just a short training period
  • Visual Composer Hub with many extensions
  • 3-in-1 solution: front-end and tree view editor
  • Development interface
  • Elements can be hidden and displayed again later
  • Supports CSS and JavaScript editing

Disadvantages of Visual Composer:

  • The Undo and Redo functions do not work correctly
  • Parts of the interface are outdated, for example, the image size must be entered as a word

My tip: You can find a detailed comparison between the WPBakery Page Builder and Visual Composer here.

3. elementor

Best WordPress Page Builder & Drag and Drop WordPress Themes
One of the most frequently used WordPress page builders: Elementor.

Elementor is one of the best free WordPress page builder options. While it offers premium plans, the free version gives you access to a drag and drop website editor, 40 widgets, 30 templates, and responsive editing. Elementor gets even more impressive when you venture into the premium features.

Although the WordPress page builder called Elementor is one of the newest, it is already running on more than half a million websites. The rapid success is probably due to the successful interface and the outstanding ease of use.

This allows you to easily edit posts, pages, user-defined content and even category pages - in the frontend and backend. This means you don't need to design your content in the administration area, but can view it directly from the visitor's perspective and change it in the WordPress page builder using drag & drop.

Elementor offers you many elements that you can use for your own layout: Buttons, headings, animations, galleries and much more. The scope can be extended endlessly by installing special Elementor plugins. Integration with WooCommerce and numerous other extensions and themes that come with their own Elementor blocks is also possible. 

The free version of Elementor has more than 30 elements and 60 preset layouts for a quick start. The Pro version includes a further 26 modules such as menus, tables and price lists. These are particularly useful if you want to integrate social media or display WooCommerce products.

Page Builder - curse or blessing for the WordPress world?

It has never been easier to design a professional website with a huge range of functions without a great deal of background knowledge. But WP freelancer Pascal Prohl is ambivalent about the use of such little helpers - find out why in his article on the pros and cons of page builders.

The excellent theme builder is worth mentioning: This gives you a framework to quickly assemble your own theme layout for the various post and page types - without any programming knowledge, completely from Elementor components. All the layouts that you put together in this WordPress page builder can be reused on the same website or on others.

Key features:

  • Over 50 Pro Widgets
  • Over 300 Pro templates
  • 10 complete website construction kits
  • Builder for themes and forms
  • WooCommerce and popup builder
  • One year of support and updates

Advantages of Elementor:

  • Even the free version comes with many templates and features
  • Layouts can be set flexibly and precisely
  • Fast, fluid editing mode including front-end editing in real time
  • Many high-quality elements that can be quickly adjusted and used
  • Elementor users are also provided with fresh elements and templates by many third-party providers
  • Deactivation leaves no shortcode garbage behind
  • The Pro version comes with a pop-up builder, a visual form generator, animations and special effects for appealing content
  • Elementor supports translations with plugins such as WPML
  • Development interfaces for comprehensive integration are available

Best WordPress page builder for: Anyone who only has one website or who wants to try out the website builder experience for free. Elementor's premium plans shine with a low price for developers.

Price: Elementor has free and premium options. The Personal plan costs $49/year for a single website and includes everything in the free plan plus the features listed above. The remaining plans include all the same features but adjust the number of websites Elementor can be used on. The Plus plan costs $99/year for use on three websites, and the Expert plan costs $199/year for use on 1,000 websites.

4. beaver builder

The best WordPress page builders & drag and drop WordPress themes
The Beaver Builder is popular with developers and designers alike.

Beaver Builder is another popular WordPress drag & drop plugin that greatly simplifies the website creation process. It offers a page builder plugin and a framework theme so that developers can quickly create websites and condense their workflow.

The Beaver Builder is reliable and simple. Compared to the competition, the WordPress page builder focuses strongly on performance and stability - instead of an infinite number of features. You experience design results like the competition, but first you invest time in familiarization and learn to cope without a large element library.

If you become familiar with the user interface, you will discover that Beaver Builder is a powerful tool that works reliably. In contrast to most WordPress page builder competitors, no shortcode is generated here, but layouts are set directly via HTML and CSS.

A resulting advantage: You can uninstall the plugin and still keep the layouts. You can also edit them later without the Beaver Builder and combine them effortlessly with different themes. 

Key features:

  • Live and front-end editing
  • Responsive and mobile-friendly designs
  • Support for shortcodes, widgets and WooCommerce
  • The option to activate editor mode to hand over websites to customers
  • Full support
  • Several easily insertable modules

Advantages of Beaver Builder:

  • Free version offers important basic features
  • Excellent front-end editing with fast switching to preview mode in real time
  • Does not generate shortcodes, but clear HTML and CSS code
  • Changes are retained even after deactivating the plugin
  • Top performance

Disadvantages of Beaver Builder:

  • Comparatively few content elements

Best WordPress page builder for: Developers who want multiple module options. Some developers will also enjoy the Pro plan, which includes the Beaver Builder theme.

Price: The Beaver Builder is available as a free version. If you need more features, you can purchase a license for unlimited websites: Beaver Builder's Standard plan costs $99 and includes the Page Builder plugin, modules and templates. It also includes one year of support and you can use it for an unlimited number of websites.

The Pro plan costs $199 and includes everything in the Standard plan, plus the ability to create multiple websites and use the Beaver Builder theme. Finally, the Agency plan costs $300 and includes the features of the Pro plan as well as white labeling.

5 Themify Builder

The best WordPress page builders & drag and drop WordPress themes

Another one of the best free WordPress page builders is Themify Builder, which offers a free download of its plugin that you can use on any theme of your choice. However, if you need more guidance, the plugin is also bundled with Themify Themes.

Key features:

  • 40+ pre-designed layouts
  • Support for row, column and grid layouts
  • The option to create layout parts
  • 60+ animation effects
  • Customized styling
  • A variety of add-ons
  • Support for custom code and shortcodes

Best WordPress page builder for: Anyone who needs a flexible page builder. The plugin can be used with any theme, making it a good choice for developers who want to speed up website development or create ready-made templates for their clients.

Price: You can get Themify Builder on its own for free or bundled with a Themify theme for $59. You can access all Themify themes for $89/year or a one-time payment of $249.

You can also purchase Themify Builder Pro for $69, which includes the same features as the free version of the plugin, plus features that empower you to create and customize WordPress website themes - not just pages.

6. divi builder

The best WordPress page builders & drag and drop WordPress themes
Divi is one of the most popular themes and WordPress page builders on the market.

Another drag and drop WordPress plugin you should consider using is Divi. With it, you can build entire websites visually and rely on drag and drop elements for easy rearrangement.

The Divi Builder is modern, user-friendly, comes with many functions and around 50 ready-made elements for the website. Similar to the other WordPress page builders, there is frontend and backend editing - with the former featuring direct text editing in particular.

If you are logged in as an administrator, you can open a subpage in the frontend and edit the text there with a click, just like in Word, without having to open an additional window. Since you move the elements in a page builder using drag & drop - which sometimes works too imprecisely - Divi offers the wireframe mode. This mode is a special view in which module positioning is much easier.

One of the disadvantages of this WordPress page builder is the large CSS file, which makes manual adjustments difficult. You will also notice in edit mode that the operation slows down for complex layouts with many elements.

Since Divi Builder, like most other WordPress page builders, relies on shortcodes, your layouts will disappear as soon as you deactivate the plugin. They only come back after reactivation. Nevertheless, Divi is worth a test with its solid features and successful user guidance. 

Key features:

  • Visual and responsive editing
  • 40+ design modules
  • 800 ready-made website layout packages
  • Inline text editing
  • Global elements and styles
  • Undo and redo functions
  • Complete element customization
  • CSS styling options

Advantages of Divi Builder:

  • Divi Builder comes in a package with more than 110 themes.
  • Wireframe mode

Disadvantages of Divi Builder:

  • Large Divi CSS file
  • Based on shortcodes

Best WordPress page builder for: Everyone. Divi Builder offers a generous number of design elements and layouts to choose from, so both new website owners and experienced designers can find what works for them.

Price: Since Divi Builder is from ElegantThemes, your purchase gives you access to more than 110 themes in addition to the WordPress page builder: Annual access costs $89 for one year of access to Divi and other plugins from Elegant Themes, including Bloom, Extra and Monarch. It also includes website packages, updates and premium support and you can use it for an unlimited number of websites. Lifetime Access costs $249 and offers all the features of Yearly Access, but is only a one-time payment.

7. siteOrigin Page Builder

The best WordPress page builders & drag and drop WordPress themes

Another WordPress drag & drop editor worth considering is SiteOrigin Page Builder. This plugin is free and responsive and offers a robust set of tools for anyone who wants to create a website without having to dive into the code.

Key features:

  • Simple drag & drop page builder interface
  • Compatibility with most WordPress themes
  • Works well with standard WordPress widgets
  • Live, front-end editing
  • History browser

Best WordPress page builder for: Developers on a budget. The SiteOrigin page builder isn't as visually appealing as others on this list, but it has features you can use that will save you time.

Price: The SiteOrigin Page Builder is free of charge. However, there are premium add-ons that extend the functionality and add modules such as contact forms, block animations, accordions and calls-to-action. The add-ons cost $29 for use on a single website, $49 for use on up to five websites and $99 for use on unlimited websites.

8th Brizy

The best WordPress page builders & drag and drop WordPress themes
Brizy scores with a modern user interface.

Brizy is another WordPress editor plugin with many features. It is based on React and comes with multiple templates to speed up your creative process.

Brizy is a fairly new WordPress page builder. The developers rely on a modern interface and a particularly large number of high-quality designs and templates. You can edit your pages directly in the frontend without complicated menus. Click on the text and edit it just like in Word. It's just as easy to create new page elements and create column layouts in no time at all. The WordPress Page Builder works extremely smoothly and reliably. 

If you don't just want to design the content of your posts and pages, you need Brizy Pro. Similar to Visual Composer, this also allows you to edit other areas such as footers or headers in just a few clicks. If a group is working on your site, role management is a good option. Here you determine who can edit what. Fortunately, the WordPress Page Builder works without shortcodes and thus offers you more independence: after deactivation, you are spared code deserts.

Global blocks are an interesting feature. This refers to elements that you can set centrally and then make available to your other websites via the cloud. You could announce an event in a global block and this announcement is then automatically visible on your other pages that contain that global block. Another plus point for Brizy is the automatic saving, which works better than with WordPress Page Builder competitors. 

Brizy is available as a functionally limited free version or as a Pro version. The Pro version can be purchased from 49 USD. If you want to work without WordPress and don't want to use Brizy as a plugin, you can also use the Brizy Cloud service.

Key features:

  • Real-time editing
  • Drag and Drop WordPress Theme Interface
  • 400+ templates
  • Visual contact forms
  • Animated sliders
  • Adjustments for edges, corners, borders and upholstery
  • Shadow, image focus and zoom
  • Support for global styling

Advantages of Brizy:

  • Wonderfully simple and fluid editing in real time, directly in the front end
  • More than 150 ready-made content blocks
  • Many professional layouts for numerous application scenarios
  • Quick creation of column layouts
  • Extended user administration with role assignment
  • Brizy Pro can also edit footers and headers
  • Global blocks for cross-site content distribution
  • Fast automatic saving function
  • Brizy is quickly supplied with updates

Disadvantages of Brizy:

  • Basic features are expandable.

Best WordPress page builder for: Anyone interested in drag & drop WordPress themes. Brizy offers several features and tools that other page builders don't have. Global styling, for example, is a great time saver.

Price: Brizy starts at $34/year for use on three websites. The Pro plan costs $69/year and can be used for an unlimited number of websites. Finally, you can pay a one-time fee of $299 for lifetime access to the plugin.

9th Thrive Architect

The best WordPress page builders & drag and drop WordPress themes

When it comes to drag & drop WordPress themes and plugins, Thrive Architect simplifies the process of creating customized websites and landing pages.

Key features:

  • Complete drag & drop editing
  • 278 landing page templates
  • Various conversion elements to increase your business
  • Blog post styling to improve social shares
  • Flexible column layouts
  • Text and image combinations
  • Font customization

Best WordPress page builder for: Those who want to create a sales-focused website. Whether you want to build your email list, sell products or encourage sharing, Thrive Architect makes these goals easier to achieve.

Price: One license for Thrive Architect costs $67, and five licenses cost $97. You can also pay $19/month for 25 licenses for the plugin, plus access to all other Thrive Themes plugins.

10. wp page builder

The best WordPress page builders & drag and drop WordPress themes

The WP Page Builder is perhaps the best WordPress page builder for developers. This free option streamlines the page creation process with a fully visual editor.

Key features:

  • Live page creation via drag & drop
  • Mobile-optimized and responsive pages
  • Prefabricated templates and blocks
  • Widget support
  • Undo/redo options
  • Customize fonts, styles, colors and layouts

Best WordPress page builder for: Both beginners and experienced developers.

Price: WP Page Builder is free of charge. However, you can upgrade to the Pro version. The Pro version is available in three license packages that cost $39 for one website license, $59 for five website licenses, and $99 for unlimited licenses. Each package comes with one year of support and updates.

11. oxygen

The best WordPress page builders & drag and drop WordPress themes
Oxygen is also a flexible WordPress page builder for developers.

Visual Editor Oxygen is a unique entry in this list. Oxygen offers similar features to the others presented here, but the organization of tools and features is focused on three key areas:

  1. Visual website building
  2. WooCommerce store management
  3. Website performance and search engine optimization (SEO)

The creators of WP All Import have launched Oxygen, a WordPress page builder that is just as attractive and powerful as Brizy. It works differently to similar WordPress page builders. Oxygen connects to WordPress as a plugin and creates a separate sandbox module, replacing the WordPress interface and allowing the entire design to take place there.

Oxygen has been competing for supremacy among WordPress page builders for some time now. The editor is sophisticated and comes with a fluid and intuitive user interface. Similar to Brizy, you get a very large selection of high-quality designs and templates that you can use for your site.

Although the Page Builder is also suitable for non-programmers, its great strength lies in its support for PHP, JavaScript, CSS and, of course, HTML. Coders will be pleased with this important flexibility. Unfortunately, Oxygen generates shortcodes that remain visible as garbage code if Oxygen is deactivated.

Key features:

  • Visual editing via drag & drop
  • Visual control of WooCommerce
  • User-defined header builder
  • Global colors
  • Fully expandable for developers
  • Dynamic data

Advantages of Oxygen:

  • Intuitive user interface
  • Complex layouts can be put together very quickly
  • Many content elements and templates
  • Support for PHP and JavaScript leaves nothing to be desired for developers
  • Customer-friendly pricing

Disadvantages of Oxygen:

  • Shortcodes are generated
  • Focus is on developers, which can also be an advantage depending on your point of view

Best WordPress page builder for: Developers. As far as drag & drop WordPress themes and plugins go, Oxygen can easily be used by beginners. But its advanced features are well suited for developers who want to offer their customers more.

Price: Oxygen is subject to a fee, but the developers offer an attractive pricing model: Pay $99 USD once and use Oxygen with lifetime updates for an unlimited number of projects: Oxygen's rates start at a one-time fee of $99.

The Basic plan includes an unlimited lifetime license, but does not include support for WooCommerce or Gutenberg. The WooCommerce plan costs $149 and includes support for the e-commerce plugin. Finally, the Agency plan costs $169 and includes an editing mode and support for Gutenberg.

12th MotoPress Content Editor

The best WordPress page builders & drag and drop WordPress themes
MotoPress Content Editor makes it easy to visually design pages and posts.

The MotoPress Content Editor is a low-cost, multilingual WordPress page builder that merges with the WordPress editor and offers very convenient real-time frontend editing. It works with all themes and is suitable for customizing pages, posts and other custom content.

Various ready-made design templates and elements are included. If you need more, you can purchase additional layouts and blocks. Developers can purchase an additional white label plugin to customize the editor branding and offer customers a professional, uniform look.

Key features:

  • Frontend editing
  • Predefined layouts
  • Style Builder
  • Ready-made drag & drop WordPress themes
  • Compatible with Multisite and WPML
  • Prefabricated content elements
  • Expandable via add-ons

Advantages of MotoPress Content Editor:

  • User-friendly front-end editing
  • Affordable premium version (29 USD)
  • WooCommerce support included as standard
  • Supports WPML

Disadvantages of MotoPress Content Editor:

  • Comparatively few prefabricated elements available

Best WordPress page builder for: Those who want straightforward content editing features and developers who want to white-label the client-side experience.

Price: MotoPress Content Editor has three plans. Personal costs $39/year for one website, Business costs $69 for use on five websites and Developer costs $139 for use on unlimited websites.

13. page builder sandwich

The best WordPress page builders & drag and drop WordPress themes

Page Builder Sandwich is one of the latest free drag & drop WordPress themes and plugins currently available. But that doesn't mean it's not worth considering. It offers a healthy set of features, and that's remarkable for an open source WordPress page builder.

Key features:

  • Live editing
  • Fully customizable
  • Backend and frontend processing
  • Complete page templates
  • Global shortcodes
  • Compatible with most common plugins and themes

Best WordPress page builder for: New website owners. Since it has a robust free option and a large feature set, you can create pages visually without extra features getting in your way.

Price: This plugin is free, but there is a premium version that adds more page templates, elements, and design options. The price for the premium version starts at $39 for a standard license for a single website and goes up to $89 for an unlimited standard license.

14 GeneratePress

The best WordPress page builders & drag and drop WordPress themes

GeneratePress is a lightweight drag & drop WordPress theme that prioritizes performance with fast loading times and small file sizes.

Key features:

  • Supported by secure and stable code
  • Optimized for search engines
  • Prioritizes accessibility
  • Custom colors and typography
  • Page Builder compatible
  • Layout control

Best WordPress page builder for: All developers. Although it's technically a theme, GeneratePress supercharges WordPress and allows for deep customization and optimization.

Price: The basic theme is free, but you can upgrade to the premium version to add a website library, custom elements, WooCommerce support, and secondary navigation. GeneratePress Premium costs $44/year or a one-time payment of $219.

15th Genesis Pro

The best WordPress page builders & drag and drop WordPress themes

Last on our list is Genesis Pro. Developed by StudioPress, Genesis Pro adds a robust set of website building tools to WordPress.

Key features:

  • Prefabricated content sections
  • Complete page layouts
  • Extensions of the Gutenberg Block Editor
  • Access to Genesis Framework and Child Themes
  • User-defined layouts and elements that can be saved in a library

Best WordPress page builder for: Developers. The features included in Genesis Pro are performance-oriented and emphasize client-side interaction.

Price: Genesis Pro costs $360/year and offers access to the Genesis Framework, all child themes, layouts, a block library, 24/7 support and use on unlimited websites.

16th Gutenberg

The best WordPress page builders & drag and drop WordPress themes
Since WordPress 5.0, Gutenberg is the new default editor for WordPress.

After the first page builders came onto the market, the WordPress developers started to develop their own variant called Gutenberg. It has been integrated into the CMS as standard since WordPress 5.0. You can use it to edit the content of your posts and pages in the backend using various elements provided. Editing the complete page layout is not yet possible with this page builder, but is planned.

How is Gutenberg developing?

Will Gutenberg replace WordPress Page Builder in the long term? And what does the further development of Gutenberg look like? You can find out this and more in our article Gutenberg vs WordPress Page Builder.

The current basic functions of Gutenberg are currently similar to WPBakery Page Builder: Assemble content quickly using drag & drop, publish and you're done. Gutenberg is primarily aimed at average WordPress users who want to quickly redesign their content. However, professionals will expect more functions from a WordPress page builder, such as live editing in the frontend, custom layouts, a large selection of elements and advanced design, including the use of PHP and JavaScript.

Since Gutenberg comes from the WordPress makers, the question is whether it will replace the other page builders at some point. It is more likely that there will be greater integration. Elementor already shows an example of how this can work. The Elementor Blocks for Gutenberg plugin integrates templates into the Gutenberg editor.

WPBakery Page Builder takes a similar approach: Gutenberg blocks can be used there together with other elements. It's more of a fusion than a competition. This is good for you as a user, because you can take advantage of both WordPress page builders at the same time.

As Gutenberg is free and included in the latest WordPress versions, you don't need to download and install the WordPress page builder separately. Additional elements from third-party providers are available as plugins in the WordPress library. These include Gutenberg Blocks and Stackable.

Advantages of Gutenberg:

  • Additional installation not necessary
  • Simple interface
  • Good for simple content design

Disadvantages of Gutenberg:

  • No front-end mode
  • Other WordPress page builders offer more options

Disadvantages of page builder plugins compared to Gutenberg

There's certainly no shortage of page builder plugins for WordPress. While they allow you to speed up your development and design process, there are a few drawbacks compared to the classic editor or Gutenberg.

Page Builder add yet another plugin

Using a page builder plugin means that you need to install another plugin on your website. This may not be a problem if you only use a few plugins, but the more plugins you add, the more likely you are to run into performance issues. 

To take a page builder plugin as an example, several users report better page speed when using Gutenberg compared to Elementor.

With great freedom comes great responsibility

Not everyone is a designer and website updates should be done by a person who understands the implications of changes. If your clients have easy access to a page builder plugin that makes it easy to create page layouts without code, they could be making changes to their website that have disastrous consequences. 

Potential shortcode chaos

Maybe you decide to use a favorite page builder plugin, but later decide to stop using it. If you deactivate the plugin, you have to be prepared for shortcode chaos and a broken web design. 

In this case, you will not only have to fix the problems with the shortcodes, but also laboriously recreate each of your web designs in a different page builder plugin or find another solution.

Conclusion: The best WordPress page builders

The WordPress page builders mentioned are among the best solutions you need for a quick but solid design. In addition to the features, the user experience also counts, which is why it is worth trying out the individual page builders for yourself and only then making a decision.

If you would like to learn more about the future and development of WordPress page builders, take a look at these external articles:

You can use WordPress Page Builder & Drag and Drop WordPress Themes - no matter what stage of your career as a developer you are in.

The functionality of drag and drop WordPress themes and the general time savings make them a helpful resource for all developers. At least one of the page builders discussed here is sure to come in handy.

If you decide to use one of the best WordPress page builders, you need WordPress hosting you can rely on. Raidboxes offers a variety of plans for developers, agencies and freelancers. Get in touch if you want to find out more.

Your questions about WordPress page builders

What are your experiences with WordPress page builders? What questions do you have for Maddy? Let us know in the comments! You want to be informed about new posts about Raidboxes? Then follow us on Twitter, Facebook or via our newsletter.

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11 comments on "A comparison of the 16 most popular WordPress page builders"

  1. Can you please tell me which plugin you used to create the Table of Contents on this page.

    It looks great !

  2. How about adding Breakdance to this list? It's new and it knocks the other builders out of the park.

  3. Thanks Maddy for such great effort. Really increased my understanding of WordPress page builders.

  4. A great list you have shared in this blog. However, I think Divi should be on top of the list, especially after they have updated the plugin with more features. Elementor and Divi both are lightweight as compared to WPBakery and only take about 38KB for a non-custom page.

  5. You clearly have not tried Divi - it's not drag and drop (although it LOOKS like one), and it is the hugest pain in the ass you can imagine.

  6. Thanks for the cool and informative post! 🙂 I'm excited to see where the journey for "Bricks" goes, looks promising.

  7. The article appears to have been written in mid-2020. At that time, Gutenberg was still in its infancy and page builders were at their peak. The introduction of WordPress 5.9 in January 2022 heralds the end of the page builder era. How many of today's page builder plugins will still be on the market in three to five years' time is questionable. Top dog Elementor is already preparing for the changing market with its hosting offer and will probably end up like a kind of WIX at some point. The future of Page Builder is uncertain. Anyone setting up a new WordPress site would therefore be better off using Gutenberg.

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