Divi vs Elementor 2023 – Which One Is Best For YOU

Divi wasn’t always a top contender in the page building scene. Long ago, Elegant Themes (the people behind Divi) only sold premium WordPress themes.

Now Divi is a page builder as well.

And pretty good page builder at that – so much so that it rivals a big name in the scene, Elementor.

So which should you choose?

Let’s find out in this Divi vs Elementor showdown.

TLDR: Divi vs Elementor

Divi is a powerful page builder, with an active community and a long history in the WordPress scene as a WordPress theme. It has more templates than Elementor, it’s more customizable, but it’s harder to master.

Elementor on the other hand is easier to get into, and while you don’t get the same amount of control, it still helps you create almost anything you want.

But answering the Elementor vs Divi question is a bit more complex.

So let’s get into the differences between Divi and Elementor.

Divi vs Elementor: Features Comparison

While we’ll do our best to focus on the features of each individual page builder, remember that both Divi and Elementor have their own adjacent tools and ecosystems.

Divi was initially just a theme, and it comes with a ton of page templates to help you build something beautiful.

Elementor has a lot of other tools like their popup builder, which can streamline your web design efforts, or their theme builder, which works wonders for WordPress veterans.

On top, if we’re completely honest there’s no big point to make in the Divi versus Elementor debate.

It’s not as if either tool has a major drawback or advantage over the other. Both Elementor and the Divi builder are decent choices for your website page builder.

So remember that while we delve into each feature.

But do also remember that the devil’s in the details.

Take your WordPress theme, add ons, website needs and one too many pricing tiers into account and it can be hard to make the difference.

So let’s take it step by step.

User Interface and Getting Started

Divi is harder to get into than Elementor.

First, you can’t just download it from the plugin market on WordPress:

While Elementor is available there, you’ll need to buy the Divi page builder on their website:

And then install it on your own.

That’s not as hard, especially if you know your way around WordPress. 

But it’s not the only downside of the Divi builder.

Elementor and other page builders like Thrive Architect get you started with demos and explanatory videos:

With Divi, you’re just thrown into the action without a clear idea on what you have to do.

So it’s harder to get started with Divi, especially if you’re a beginner.

But again, more than one issue with Divi.

Elementor has a very clean interface, with all of your customization options on the left side:

And intuitive menus or options all across the board.

By comparison, Divi has options spread around the screen:

It’s cumbersome and hard to navigate.

More often than not, you won’t know exactly what every button can do.

For example, the first page I ever built with Divi was an agency homepage template. I opened it to preview it and then I had no idea what button I should press to settle on it and get to editing.

So one way Divi can be improved is with better support when getting started.

In the other corner, Elementor is much more beautifully designed, and easier to get into.

But if you’re a developer, this shouldn’t matter as much.

And Divi does get ahead in other categories.

Even navigation wise, the Divi builder works wonders for widening margins or padding, and it’s much easier to structure a page with Divi.

Blocks And Modules

Blocks and modules are a very important part of page builders. They’re premade elements that you can drag into the page and edit quicker than you would actually code.

But while Divi relies on templates and just a few premade blocks, Elementor has a much bigger variety of modules and widgets.

Divi does seem to fare a bit better for developers, especially when compared to the free version of Elementor.

It’s a bit more versatile, at least when it comes to adding and editing snippets of code.

That being said, Elementor Pro sports a large variety of blocks, more than the Divi builder, and even if you go for the free version, it’s easy to just install one plugin for more elements:

You can use both Divi and Elementor to create a beautiful page, you’ll just rely on different things. In Elementor, it’s the pre-made blocks and widgets. In Divi, it’s that and the code snippets or page templates.

Templates

Divi definitely takes the cake here.

Elementor has a few hundreds of page and element templates.

But Divi is structured a bit differently.

In Divi, you use layout packs, which are theme templates based on the niche you’re active in. For example, if you get an agency layout pack, you’ll get page and block templates for a home page, an about us page, and a portfolio page, all built for an agency theme.

With 174 layout packs, Divi goes well above 1200 page templates, knocking Elementor out of the park in this one category.

You could even take different layout packs and do A/B testing in focus groups to get the perfect layout of your website.

If this is usually something only corporations can afford, with Divi it’s easy to set-up specifically thanks to the templates and theme layout packs.

Responsiveness editing

Mobile optimization is one way to boost your SEO and conversion efforts.

So a good page builder lets you preview a page as it’s seen on a mobile device, and make changes according to what’s working best on smaller screens.

Both Divi and Elementor can do that.

With Elementor, you just press the bottom row buttons to view your page on mobile:

It’s easy to preview and you can choose not to display certain elements that would look bad on mobile.

For example, let’s say you imported an element from a third party or a theme that doesn’t translate well into mobile. You can just choose to hide it when people visit your site from that type of device:

In Divi, it looks like you get more options.

You can preview it just the same, and you can even add elements while in mobile preview, which is great if you don’t intend to optimize for desktop visitors.

Yeah, that’s a possible scenario.

Let’s say you run an affiliate campaign with Instagram promotion – 99% of your visitors will come from a mobile device, so you can just go ahead and build the landing page from this screen.

But as far as we could tell, there’s no option to hide an element while in mobile view, while Elementor also has the option to add blocks while in mobile view.

So the seamless editing across devices and easy to understand options make Elementor a better choice in this category too.

Developer Tools

So far, normal youpreneurs or blog owners could probably do better with Elementor.

But what about web developers?

Which is the better tool if you know how to code?

What if you want to create your theme from the ground up?

There are a few things to take into account.

The first thing you’ll notice is that CSS changes take effect in real time in Elementor. So if you want to modify the position of a button on a page, you’ll notice exactly what your code is doing while writing it, which is not possible in Divi.

That being said, the code module in Divi is a bit more complex, it supports more complex customization options and it’s easy to use.

But while Divi comes with its own Divi theme from Elegant themes, Elementor features a fully-fleshed theme builder.

Both page builders support integration with APIs like WooCommerce and both tools are pretty decent when it comes to helping developers.

But Elementor has a bit more third party integrations:

Which can make anyone’s job easier when building their site.

So Elementor wins this round as well.

Blogging & SEO

If you want to power-up your site in terms of organic traffic, you’ll need to do some blogging.

While both tools offer support for bloggers and SEOs, Divi fares a bit better here.

Let’s see why.

First, Elementor works well for blogging if you work on the GeneratePress theme, providing full integration with the theme and helping you update post pages.

And that’s about it.

It’s thin, and while we use Elementor across a few sites, whenever we use the free version we just use WordPress’ basic editing options for blog pages. If we use a theme with decent blogging features, we’ll even use that.

With Divi, it’s a bit easier to edit a blog page:

And Divi does a lot for you in the background.

For blogging, you have an entire options page to enable added features for blog pages:

On top, Divi does a lot of work for you SEO-health wise.

For example, it has built in tools to minify and combine javascript files:

And if you ever had to do that after a site loading speed test, you’ll know it’s a bugger to take care on your own.

The Divi theme itself is pretty well optimized to support blogging as well.

So Elegant Themes gets a plus here, but it’s not major. You can make blogging work easily in Elementor too, and most of the SEO work you’ll need to do (like updating metadata or doing on-page optimization) can only be pulled off with other plugins, like RankMath.

Marketing

One of the most important aspects for webmasters is how well you can market your new platform.

And both page builders fare pretty well here.

Both of them have lead generation and conversion optimization tools for the paid versions:

But Divi also has support for complex A/B testing for specific elements on-page, so it fares a bit better in this category.

Other Features

One of the best things about building your website with Elementor is the shortcode feature.

This is how it works: You can save elements (both made in Elementor and from a third party plugin) as shortcode, and then reuse it quickly anywhere on your site:

This means both a streamlined workflow, and easier integration with other tools. There are a lot of third party tools available for free on the WordPress plugin market.

You can edit blocks in their own software, then quickly import into the site with the shortcode feature.

Elementor also sports a header footer editor, which makes working with WordPress theme templates easier.

Besides these features, Elementor also has a few other special builders.

First, there’s the theme builder we already mentioned, making Elementor a wonderful choice for developers that want more customizability for their WordPress page or website.

Second, you get the pop-up builder, which can work wonders in increasing your conversion rate optimization, especially since decent pop-up plugins like OptinMonster don’t come cheap.

Lastly, there’s the Woocommerce builder, which lets you quickly create an eCommerce website or section to your site.

But Divi doesn’t lag behind in extra features.

It’s got the code module, Divi theme, and extra blogging or SEO options we already talked about.

But for the price of a one year license, you’ll also get a few other specialized tools or themes.

First, there’s Extra, which is a Magazine Divi theme and page builder:

So if one of your projects is a news or magazine website, you can hit the ground running with Divi much easier than you would with corresponding Elementor templates.

And lastly, there’s Monarch, which is a social sharing plugin for WordPress:

And it fits right in with Extra, since most magazines or news websites get their organic traffic through social media.

But Divi really gets ahead with customization options that you don’t have in Elementor.

Sure, the interface may be harder to understand or use at times.

And there’s definitely a steeper learning curve for any Elegant Themes product.

But that’s the main difference between the tools:

Elementor is great for newcomers and experienced web developers alike – you can create something awesome with it.

Divi is your go-to for fine retouches and minor tweaks that only a developer knows how to take advantage of.

So let’s round up some of Divi’s extra features:

First, Divi can integrate with some Thrive products.

It’s highly unlikely that you’ll purchase both Divi and Thrive, but if you’re making the shift from Thrive Architect to Divi you’ll like the extra compatibility.

Second, Divi has more leeway in how you edit a page. 

With Elementor, you just have a left-sidebar with all your options.

In Divi, you can choose to have edits on page, or you can put it on the left side too:

Third, Divi shows you a page in real-time, with WordPress elements added and how they’d look after actually publishing something, while Elementor will only display Elementor page blocks.

And that’s an important point. When your vanilla WordPress page and the customized Elementor page mix, it can lead to some incompatibility issues.

Fourth, adding margins or padding is much easier in Divi. You just drag and drop a section.

In Elementor, you have to input it in text, and see the results that way:

Divi has more extra features worthy of a mention, like the blocks and page library, the extra control with your right click, or the Portability options.

But by and large, both tools offer the same customizability besides the examples brought up so far.

However, don’t make your choice yet.

Let’s see how much it’s going to cost you.

Pricing

A Divi vs Elementor showdown won’t be complete without a price comparison. While both page builders have decent pricing when compared to the market standard, Divi seems a bit better at first glance.

For an Elementor Pro subscription, this is what you’ll have to spend:

The free version weighs a lot in Elementor’s favour.

And you do get quite a bit: the 40+ basic widgets and 30+ basic templates can be enough to help you build something decent fast, without any sort of financial investment for the page builder.

Add the extra free plugins you can install and you can easily create something beautiful in a matter of days.

But if we’re honest, you won’t spend a lot of time with the free version of Elementor if you really want to create a stunning website.

You need the Pro version for its added templates, builders and page widgets.

And comparing Elementor vs Divi is only fair if we analyze each page builder at its best.

So that’s why you’ll spend either $49 for a one site license, $99 for a 3 sites license, or $199 for the right to use Elementor on up to 1000 sites.

(features stay the same for all pricing tiers)

But notice something about Elementor’s pricing: it’s all for a year of using the tool.

So whatever plan you choose, you’ll need to renew your subscription after a year.

On the other hand, the Divi builder has a lifetime option too.

Divi’s pricing looks like this:

Both of their plans cover an unlimited amount of websites, which is an advantage for Divi right away. Both of their plans work for youpreneurs and agencies alike.

And you get the same value for a year of access with their $89 plan, as you would with Elementor’s $199 plan.

Not to mention, Divi has a $249 lifetime access fee, which means that you can pay $249 and use Divi for life, updates and support included.

That’s a bargain for any agency.

And even for a regular user, a one time fee for a tool like Divi is cheaper than paying for Elementor every year.

But that doesn’t mean Divi’s pricing is intrinsically better.

Sure, for anyone serious about web development, it’s the better choice.

But if you’re just getting started building your own website (or just getting started learning web design) Elementor’s free version is unbeatable.

In fact, it’s the reason Elementor has such a big name in the page builder scene.

Support

Both Elementor and Divi fare pretty well in terms of support.

Both have a live chat support function on their website:

But that doesn’t mean Divi and Elementor are equal in this department.

While Elegant Themes usually gets back within a day, Elementor had a human chatting with me in a matter of minutes:

So Elementor has an extra point in customer service.

Both builders have exhaustive knowledge bases.

But again, there are differences between Divi and Elementor support.

It’d help Divi to organize some of that content in the first screen of your page builder, because as it stands now it’s a bit tough to get started.

They do have a starter’s guide for example. But you do have to subscribe to their email list to get it, so it’s not the best deal you can get.

By and large, Elementor has better support.

Divi vs Elementor: The Winner

Core features wise, they’re more or less the same tool:

• Block, widgets and page templates to fit any need
• Responsive editing
• Fast drag-and-drop editor
• Developer support
• Helpful integrations and add ons
• Extra builders (like Elementor’s theme builder) that help you set-up shop online
• Decent pricing for different needs

So what’s the difference?

While Divi has more templates, a bit more control in some areas, and exclusive themes, it falls a bit behind for most people.

Elementor on the other hand is easier to get into, faster to master and provides more or less the same functionality with better support.

So our final winner: Elementor.

Does that mean you should just go ahead and buy Elementor?

Not necessarily.

Let’s see cases in which Divi is the better option for your website.

What Builder Is Right For Your Website

If you’re constrained by a budget, choose Elementor the free version (or the 1 site license).

If you favor beautiful design, choose Elementor.

If you want better developer options and integrations, Elementor slightly takes the cake with its theme builder, pop-up builder and third party add ons.

If you want better support, definitely go for Elementor.

On the other hand…

If you want to start an online magazine, or any other platform that relies heavily on social sharing, Divi is the better option.

If you want a long-term option for a small investment, choose Divi.

If you want more control over how your content is displayed and structured, Divi slightly wins in this case.

And if you want tons of templates for all possible scenarios, definitely go for Divi.

Conclusion

Choosing the right page builder is an important task for your  website creation process.

A simple Wordpress theme won’t cut it, so one of the choices you can make is between Divi and Elementor.

In our point of view, the Divi vs Elementor showdown has a simple answer for most people:

Buy Elementor.

But that doesn’t mean it’s right for everyone, and we hope you now have a better idea of what you need for your website.