Freda D. CuevasWordPress users wanting to customize their websites can choose from a range of page builders whose intuitive, drag-and-drop nature means that no HTML or CSS coding knowledge is required – read our WordPress.com website builder review for more details on how the platform works.
To help you decide which WordPress page builder is best for you, we’ve listed eight of the top options on the market. For a run-down of non-WordPress options that you may wish to consider, check out our guide discussing the best website builders.
1. Elementor
- Price: Free or $49 for Pro
With over five million active installations and a five-star rating on WordPress.org, Elementor is a popular and reliable page builder that is available as a free download, although paid versions offer increased customization options and support.
Instantaneous editing is a key feature, with every tweak you make instantly viewable in the live preview – leaving no doubt as to how your website will look. Meanwhile, every change is logged and detailed on the revision history page, making it easy to revert back should you make an error.
The finder function is also handy for reaching any page or setting from wherever you are on the site. Users happy to pay for the Pro version will get access to a catalogue of extra widgets, templates, and full website template kits, including the WooCommerce builder for those looking to incorporate an online store.
2. Beaver Builder
The live demo on the website is a useful option, though the lite version of Beaver Builder is free to download and will give you a handy taster of its features.
You’ll get six editing modules in the lite version (text, HTML, video, audio, images, and sidebar), which also includes a virtual tour of the extras that come as part of the premium versions. Naturally, the $99 version provides a host of additional modules (29 in total), plus optional WooCommerce integration. It also comes with dozens of customizable templates including landing pages, about pages, and services pages.
Responsive editing is available in all versions, allowing users to toggle between large, medium, and small-screen views to ensure your site looks just as good on a mobile or tablet as it does on desktop.
3. Divi
Divi works on the front end of the website in real time, with an advanced visual builder meaning that the designs you create will be exactly as seen when you hit publish.
Tailored for both design pros and newbies, Divi enables users to edit shapes, sizes, fonts and colours with over 40 different content elements. Along with those you’d expect—audio, images, blog—there are more niche options like filterable portfolios, countdown timers, and email options.
The global elements and styles option is ideal for making universal changes over several pages at once, while changes can be easily rowed back thanks to Divi’s undo, redo, and revisions functionality. The inline text editing is also really intuitive. Simply click where you want to place or edit content and start typing.
4. SeedProd
- Price: Starting from $39.50
SeedProd is tailored to web users who wish to build high-converting landing pages on their WordPress website.
The page builder features inbuilt templates that include sales, webinar, lead squeeze, and 404 pages while the pre-designed coming soon pages are good to get live first, during the time when the rest of your website is in development. The basic package includes over 100 page templates and over 20 page blocks.
It’s also fully mobile and tablet responsive, meaning your landing page can be tweaked and optimized for every device likely to access it. SeedProd can also incorporate seamlessly with other marketing tools including Campaign Monitor, Mailchimp, and Sendy.
5. Visual Composer
- Price: Free or $49 for Premium
From the team behind the drag-and-drop page-building favourite that is WPBakery, Visual Composer comes with even more functionality. Described as a website builder (rather than simply a page builder), it gives users the power to customize other areas of their site including headers and footers.
Those familiar with Photoshop will be immediately comfortable with Visual Composer’s “tree view” editor, which comes as an alternative to the back and front end editor and shares similarities with the layer functionality of Adobe’s premier design software.
The Visual Composer Hub is available on the $49 premium model, giving access to pre-designed templates, extensions, and blocks. What’s more, this cloud library of over 500 elements is continually updated with new content options every week. One neat tool that isn’t commonly available with other page builders is the popup builder, which allows users to tailor their own promotional popups based on their conversion goals.
6. Themify
Themify themes and plugins have been available since 2010, and continue to be downloaded by thousands of WordPress users. It makes sense then that Themify’s site builder is one of the slickest around.
With 60 preset layouts including customizable animation effects, templates are sorted by theme, and include designs for business, sports, education, fashion, music, and weddings.
In addition to the existing features, Themify offers builder add-on modules that provide further functionality to the page builder. This includes a WooCommerce builder, mosaic tile layouts, and parallax infinite scrolling capabilities.
7. WP Page Builder
- Price: Free or $39 for Premium
Released by Themeum in 2018, WP Page Builder is a lightweight and slick tool. Simply select one of the template layouts to act as your starting base, then tweak according to your preference using handy functions, including column and row manual resizing, unlimited undo/redo options, and the show and hide option. This latter feature allows you to restrict particular elements from showing on specific devices.
WP Page builder has over 30 add-ons including flip box, testimonial carousel and image hover, and while this page builder is simple enough for users without coding knowledge or experience to use, there is a custom CSS option for coders keen to implement sophisticated design tweaks.
8. Oxygen
Lifetime support and lifetime updates put Oxygen ahead of many of its rivals, as does its unlimited use across as many WordPress sites as you like. What’s more, the $99 fee is not an annual subscription, but a one-time payment. It also comes with a 60-day money back guarantee.
The tutorials section of its websites comes with a bank of extensive documentation and videos, including newbie guides and design how-tos. The videos touch on subjects including how to create exit intent popups and design custom animated buttons. For $50 more, users are able to create their own store with WooCommerce integration.
Summary
Thanks to its open-source plugin architecture, which seamlessly integrates with thousands of free and low-cost website plugins, it’s easy to see why WordPress remains one of the most popular content management systems (CMS) on the market.
For more tips on building sites on WordPress, check out our guide on how to fix the most common WordPress website mistakes.
