How many times have you seen someone make a website and then wonder how they made it? I know the feeling; I’ve been there.
The chances are that they use some form of a website builder plugin and/or a theme to build their website quickly and easily.
In this article, we will talk about what page builders do and why you might want to use one on your WordPress website.
Then we’ll introduce you to our favorite options and compare them to help you pick the right one.
Let’s get started!
What is WordPress?
WordPress is a content management system (CMS) based on PHP and MySQL. WordPress originated in 2003 as a free blogging platform developed by Mike Little and Mike Mullenweg, who continue to manage WordPress.org, the corporation that makes WordPress available to anybody interested in creating a website or blog.
By creating and keeping WordPress permanently free, its designers aimed to “democratize publishing” by creating a site-building platform that would enable anybody to have a voice and presence online.
The characteristics that made WordPress so appealing to bloggers and other Internet publications also drew a far broader audience, including some of the world’s most notable corporations.
Now, WordPress powers a whole slew of major companies, like Sony Music, Variety, Time, Inc., and the Walt Disney Company, in addition to millions of smaller businesses and personal websites.
The platform’s most recent version has been downloaded more than 22 million times, and the enormous WordPress user community is constantly producing new versions.
What are WordPress page builders (and why we recommend using one)
A page builder is a plugin that lets you create custom pages on your WordPress website without any coding. Various WordPress page builders are available, some of which are free, some of which are paid.
Page builders are a broad term that encompasses many tools that enable you to build a website from scratch, and they do this by providing you with drag-and-drop functionality and pre-built components that you can customize.
The key to choosing a good page builder is to focus on two critical criteria: ease of use and a broad selection of elements to add to your site. Many different page builders are available, so it’s a good idea to try out a few to see which one best suits your needs.
A page builder can save you time and energy by making it easy to add custom content, manage posts and pages, and format the look of your website.
If you’re new to WordPress or have difficulty creating custom pages with code, a page builder might be the perfect solution for you!
Best drag and drop WordPress page builders
Page builders are tools that enable you to put together websites in record time by providing you with pre-built elements you can arrange in any way you want. You can insert them into your pages, move them around, and see the effects immediately.
Each builder has its strengths and weaknesses.
Here we go:
Elementor
Elementor is a relatively new WordPress plugin that has quickly gained in popularity. It now boasts over 5,000,000 active installs and is the most popular page builder according to WordPress.org numbers. The premium version of Elementor offers more than just page-building capabilities- like theme building and more customization options for your pages.
This is a live page builder plugin, which means that you can view your changes immediately as you edit them using Elementor. Simply begin by establishing sections and assigning a column count to each area. Following that, you may drag and drop widgets from the left panel into your area. Elementor includes many widgets, including the most frequently used website components.
There is something for everyone, from simple image and text widgets to complicated testimonials, sliders, icons, accordions, social networking and tabs. Each widget has its own set of options.
Additionally, Elementor allows you to incorporate widgets produced by other WordPress plugins.
What if you do not want to create your layout?
Elementor has many ready-to-use templates that you can quickly incorporate into your sites. Simply point and click on any item on the page to modify it, update the information and you’re finished.
Type: Free and premium
Divi
Divi is a drag and drop WordPress theme and page builder plugin. It is straightforward to use and has over 20 distinct layouts/templates for various types of websites. The Divi Builder is a visual drag and drop page builder with a real WYSIWYG editor (what you see is what you get).
You may immediately begin modifying your page by clicking on it and viewing a real-time preview of any changes. You do not need to save or click preview to view your modified design.
Divi has 46 content modules that you may drag and place anywhere you like in your layout. You may arrange them in three section kinds and twenty row types, and each element’s advanced design choices allow you to modify it further.
Divi enables you to design any custom page layout you choose quickly. You may then store these Divi layouts for usage on your website in the future. Additionally, you may export a Divi layout from one installation to another.
Although the Divi Builder plugin is at the heart of the Divi theme, it is compatible with any other WordPress theme.
Best of all, Divi comes with a variety of affordable price choices. You’ll receive the Divi theme, the Divi page builder plugin and all additional Elegant Themes items for a single payment.
This means you may install the Divi Builder plugin or utilize the Divi theme on any other theme.
Type: Premium
Beaver
Beaver Builder offers a robust WordPress page builder for the creative types who still crave something more than the simplicity of the previous builders.
Beaver Builder features an interactive drag and drop interface. You can view all of your changes as you make them by simply dragging and dropping objects from the right sidebar into your website. You may alter the characteristics of any element on a page by clicking on it.
There are modules for practically anything you might imagine, including sliders, carousels, backdrops, content blocks and buttons. Additionally, it includes over 30 beautifully designed landing page templates, making it incredibly simple and quick to develop fantastic website layouts.
Beaver Builder is extremely user-friendly, and it has been upgraded to integrate with WordPress’s new Gutenberg editor.
The pricing is slightly higher than most builders, but you can use Beaver Builder on an unlimited number of sites, starting at $99.
Type: Premium
WP Bakery Page Builder
WP Bakery Page Builder is a WordPress page builder that allows users to create custom websites quickly and easily. WP Bakery Page Builder is perhaps the most well-known WordPress page builder on the market and it comes bundled with a large number of premium themes. It supports various themes and websites, and its frontend editing tools make it extremely easy to use.
WP Bakery Page Builder has a user-friendly design and is easy to use even for those new to web development.
Important features of WP Bakery:
- It includes a vast library of pre-designed layouts
- All of its elements are CSS-customizable
- It is entirely compatible with plugins for translation, such as WPML
- Allows you to update any page using a frontend visual editor
WP Bakery Page Builder is a paid plugin at $56 per year; however, it comes pre-installed with many themes.
Type: Premium
Brizy
Brizy is a react-based tool that provides powerful features to build a fully functional WordPress website. It offers a real-time website building experience and supports custom field integrations for WordPress. It has many features, including drag and drop pages and custom post types. It is available as a plugin or as a standalone application.
Important features of Brizy:
- It provides a live website creation experience
- It has hundreds of stunningly designed pre-built pages, blocks, and popups
- It supports WordPress custom field integrations
It is available for free, but you can unlock more features in the premium version: Personal – $49 per year for 1 site, Freelancer – $99 per year for 100 sites, Agency – $199 for 500 websites.
Type: Free and premium
Visual Composer
Visual Composer is a powerful WordPress website builder that allows you to quickly and easily customize the entire look of your site. It features a real-time live editor that instantly lets you see each change you make on the page.
The plugin comes with a bundle of professional templates out of the box and design options to customize any element on your website.
Although most features are similar to Beaver Builder, Visual Composer can do more, including editing header, footer, menus, logo, sidebars and more.
The plugin has extensive design choices that allow you to alter the appearance of every element on your page altogether. You can add beautiful backdrops in various ways, including parallax, gradient, slideshow, carousel, zoom in/out and video. Additionally, it has a grid layout creator and adjustable rows and columns for constructing grid layouts on your site.
Visual Composer integrates seamlessly with any WordPress theme, enabling you to swap themes without losing any Visual Composer-created custom layouts.
Additionally, it integrates well with the new Gutenberg WordPress editor, Google Fonts and the Yoast SEO plugin.
Type: Premium, starting at $49 per year for 1 website.
Themify
Themify is a well-known WordPress theme seller that builds all its themes with a built-in Themify builder. You can also buy the Themify Page Builder plugin for use with non-Themify WordPress themes.
This straightforward and highly intuitive page builder has various pre-built modules that you can incorporate into your pages or posts. Many of these modules need the installation of other WordPress plugins.
Themify provides two editing options: backend editing and frontend editing. With the backend builder, you will be able to quickly drag and drop modules on your WordPress backend, while with the frontend interface, you can see what you are doing in real-time.
The Themify Builder comes with over 40 professionally designed layouts. You can import and build your own pages using them and also create stunning pages in literal minutes.
Additionally, the Themify page builder plugin includes its own caching system that helps to reduce server resources and optimize your website for speed.
Type: Free and premium
Oxygen
Oxygen is a new WordPress page builder that offers lifetime updates, lifetime support and unlimited installations.
Oxygen builder is a haven for developers who are bored with simplistic page builders designed for beginners. Although it has a high learning curve, its flexibility, customizability, and depth of features make it an excellent choice for programmers. Combine it with a competitive price, and you’ve got one of the most excellent page builders available.
Important features of the Oxygen builder:
- Extremely versatile
- Exceptional characteristics
- Well-rounded
- Modules and templates of reasonable quality
- Good pricing
Type: Premium
Disadvantages of page builder plugins compared to Gutenberg
Page builders require the installation of a plugin on your website, which can lead to performance problems and using a page builder plugin means that you have to deal with shortcode issues and broken designs potentially.
The disadvantages of using page builder plugins over the WordPress Classic or Gutenberg editors include the need for more knowledge on web design and potential code chaos when disabling a plugin.
Final thoughts
WordPress page builders offer many features and advantages over traditional WordPress themes, such as faster loading times and professional designs that are useful for individuals, developers, agencies and freelancers.
Whether you have an older looking or modern WordPress theme, any of the above-listed drag and drop page builders will work well to enhance it.
Let us know if you have any questions about WordPress page builders or if you have experience using any of them in the comments!
