People who come from website builders like Wix or Weebly always have the same comment about WordPress page builders: I wish it was easier to design my site.
And it’s true, WordPress can be a bit overwhelming for beginners. It can also be slow, confusing, and frustrating because you don’t have a full WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor.
Enter WordPress page builders. These small plugins can be added to your WordPress and instantly let you design, tweak and create via drag and drop!
Sounds good, right? But first let’s see what you should look for:
What to Look for in a Good WordPress Page Builder
Not all WordPress page builders are created equal. Because they are plugins, there are a few things to consider:
- The price: some are free, others are paid via one-off fees, and others use a subscription model. It’s up to you to see which one makes sense.
- Compatibility: WordPress needs you to update your installation manually. But you also need to make sure an update doesn’t break your plugins, so check the version support!
- Resources: even though they’re drag and drop, you might need to check how to install or update them. This is where good documentation comes in handy.
- Templates: creating a site from scratch can be daunting, so the best WordPress page builders will come with a few examples you can adapt to your needs.
- Themes responsiveness: Your designs will probably look good on the laptop or PC where you create them. But will they adapt to smaller screens like tablets or smartphones? Some enable responsive design automatically, others let you decide where and how each element will adapt.
#1. The Fastest and Easiest: Beaver Builder
A friendly name and a friendly interface. Beaver Builder is a fantastic drag-and-drop WordPress page builder that will make it easy for anyone to create the site of their dreams. It’s super responsive and lets you experiment and try different structures to make a killer template.
Beaver Builder works by letting you add modules, which can be anything such as:
- Sliders
- Carousels
- Background images
- Content blocks (text, media, etc)
- URLs
- Social buttons
- Slideshows
- Pricing tables
- Maps
- And much more…
If you’re stuck for inspiration, Beaver Builder also comes pre-packed with 30 templates that you can customize to your liking. And the good news is that even if you stop using the plugin, all your content is simply moved to the WordPress editor, so you don’t have to worry about losing any of your site structure.
- Why it’s number #1: not the most affordable, but very fast, responsive and intuitive. It costs a lot less than to hire a developer to build your theme and it’s fun to use.
- Pricing: Beaver Builder costs $99 for a lifetime license. Note that there’s also a free version (Beaver Builder Lite), which only comes with five modules: audio, HTML, text editor, photo and video.
#2. The Most Complete: Elementor
Elementor gives you fantastic control over the look and feel of your WordPress site. You have all the elements to choose from on the left panel, such as text blocks, media content, background images, and all the basics.
To add to that, you also get more than 50 widgets to place wherever you want on your pages. That includes some great features for eCommerce, for instance, like a countdown, marketing, and conversion tools, or social media.
- Why it’s number #2: Elementor is a very professional builder that is great for e-commerces, portfolios and corporate websites. It’s a bit more overwhelming than Beaver Builder, and the license is paid on a yearly basis.
- Pricing: You can buy a single site license for $49 per year. For 3 sites, it’s $99 per year. Experts who build 1,000 sites per year can pay $199. There’s also a free version you can try!
#3. The Best Premium Price: Themify
Themify is hugely popular in the WordPress community thanks to its ease of use, flexibility, and affordable price. In order to use it, you first need to install the Themify Plugin, which is completely free. After that, you only need to fork out $39 for the Builder Addon Bundle.
This bundle will give you 40+ pre-designed templates. They are segmented by industry, so you can find a good starting point for your gym, restaurant, portfolio or photography website. The online store section is also great, with different layouts that highlight products, special offers, or pricing tables.
Themify is compatible with other addons like WooCommerce and Image Pro, and while it’s simple to use, the fact that you can edit through the backend and frontend can be a bit confusing to complete beginners.
- Why it’s number #3: A good number of templates and flexible interface. It can be a bit overwhelming for complete beginners.
- Pricing: The plugin itself is completely free, and it only costs $39 to add the Builder Addon Bundle.
#4. The Most Popular: WPBakery
WPBakery Page Builder for WordPress might sound like a strange name, but you’ve probably heard of its former name: Visual Composer. For a while, it was the recommended solution by WordPress to edit your site manually through a WYSIWYG editor (what you see is what you get).
The plugin has evolved a lot over the years, and it now lets you work with the frontend or backend. You can add and edit everything you need in the form of content blocks, images, videos, animations and more.
One great feature of WPBakery Page Builder is that you can also edit some of the content, like logos and images. This makes it more than a simple tool to manage your site’s structure: you can actually tweak all the visual elements to your liking too.
On the compatibility side, you get support for the most popular WordPress plugins such as Yoast SEO, WooCommerce, and translation tools like Polylang and WPML.
- Why it’s number #4: Affordable, frontend and backend editor, plus lifetime updates.
- Pricing: WPBakery Page Builder will set you back $64 to design one site. The license is valid for a lifetime and you get free personal support for 6 months.
Best WordPress Page Builder Comparison
| Price | Best Feature | Setup | Compatibility | |
| Beaver Builder | $99 one time payment | Flexibility and pre-made templates | Very easy | All WordPress versions |
| Elementor | $40 per year per site | 50+ widgets | Very easy | All WordPress versions |
| Themify | $39 for the Builder Addon Bundle. Free plugin | Good online store templates | Easy | All WordPress versions |
| WPBakery (formerly Visual Composer) | $64 per site | The logo and menu editors | Easy | All WordPress versions |
The Bottom Line – Which is the Best WordPress Page Builder?
All the WordPress page builders we’ve tested offer great compatibility with the latest versions of the software, other plugins, and an easy installation process. But there are still a few determining factors:
- Ease of use: as far as simplicity is concerned, we’ll have to say Beaver Builder really is the friendliest solution out there.
- Flexibility: Elementor seems to give you more options to play with when designing your WordPress site
- Affordability: You could look at the free Elementor plan, Beaver Builder Lite, or the free Themify plugin. Even if you buy the Builder bundle with the latter, it’s still the cheapest out there.
Hope this helps you get started on your way to building a great-looking WordPress site easily and fast!
