It’s 2023 and everyone wants to build beautiful, conversion-focused WordPress landing pages and websites.
Themes just don’t cut it anymore. We demand a new level of agility in our web building.
Every team I’m a part of, every project, every client wants to use a page builder. Some come to us with an idea for their needs: a history and understanding of one tool or another, they heard “Elementor was good” and “BeaverBuilder sucks”, or just are afraid of learning a new platform. Often, clients have no idea which page builder would be be best for their organization.
Why are we all choosing to use a page builder with WordPress? And most importantly, what’s the best page builder for WordPress?
“Create a stunning website in just a few hours with WordPress.” reads the headline. But, do you believe it? Can it be true?
A WordPress page builder is a plugin that lets you build and customize your page layouts in WordPress. When picking a page builder, there are two primary types of building methods to choose from: Drag-and-drop setup and an HTML Builders. Be mindful of mobile responsiveness by previewing the page with different devices. Keep these tips in mind when choosing a WordPress page builder for 2023.
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What are the best WordPress page builders?
There (of course) isn’t any one answer to the question. Many teams find the usefulness of one page builder outweighs another’s, but that depends heavily on the specific requirements of the project.
This article is intended to be a comprehensive guide to help you choose the best WordPress page builder for your website. We have tested 16 of the top page builder plugins and written an in-depth review of most. With a WordPress page builder plugin, even beginners can easily create stunning websites.
2023’s Best WordPress Landing Page Builders (drag and drop)
Let’s have a look at some of the most commonly used tools to build pages in WordPress:
- Elementor Pro Page Builder
- WPBakery Page Builder
- Divi Page Builder
- OptimizePress Page Builder
- Beaver Builder for WordPress
1) Elementor / Elementor Pro
Elementor Pro Page Builder has definitely become the most popular, and well-respected page builder plugin for WordPress. In 2023, Elementor has over 5 million active installations!
Elementor is perfect for building custom landing pages, and can be used to develop a completely custom website – quickly!
Elementor Page Builder is an incredibly popular and versatile page builder for WordPress. It comes with a free version that has many features and can be used to quickly develop a completely custom website.
Elementor’s drag-and-drop visual editor, large selection of widgets, WordPress Theme Builder functionality, expandability via plugins, and responsive controls make it the best WordPress page builder available. Its fast performance, ease of use for any experience level, customization capabilities, and lack of need for complex themes are all pros of using this tool.
The only con is that high-level customizations can be tricky.
Full-featured, and nicely made, Elementor is our top pick. The free version beats many other page builders in quality and quantity of features.
Available for free, Elementor basic is available on WordPress.org and from Elementor. The free version of Elementor has many great features, and is only hardly somewhat limited.
It is a live page builder plugin which means you get to see your changes live as you edit it with Elementor. Just start by making sections and selecting the number of columns for each section.
Building pages is easy with Elementor. This is easily the best WordPress page builder available.
You can just drag and drop widgets from the left side to your page on the right. Elementor comes with many widgets! Widgets include the most commonly used website elements.
Elementor Pro is an upgrade option for Elementor. It offers a variety of features not available in the free version, including Theme Builder, WooCommerce Builder, and Form Builder as well as integrations with third-party services like ActiveCampaign, GetResponse and Mailchimp.
Elementor Page Builder Demo Video:
Elementor features:
- Drag & drop visual editor with large selection of widgets
- Includes WordPress page builder
- WooCommerce page builder and 15+ shop widgets
- WordPress Theme builder functionality is included
- Expandable via third-party plugins
- Large selection of page templates
- Responsive controls. You can show/hide elements on specific devices.
What we love: If you ever deactivate Elementor, it leaves behind clean code. Fastest performance of all page builders we tested.
Pros of Elementor:
- Easy to use for any level of experience
- Super-fast performance
- Most customizable of any page builder option
- Doesn’t really need complex themes
- Works well with many popular WordPress plugins
Cons of Elementor page builder:
- High-level customization can get tricky
- Extensive set of add-ons and 3rd party extensions can cause some confusion
- Isn’t totally free for all features
Price: Free (or Pro for $49/year for 1 site)
2) WPBakery
WPBakery Page Builder (at Ver. 6.10.0 in January 2023) for WordPress now has 4.3 million downloads. Very popular for DIY WordPress development, maybe just for the low cost for entry (just $64 once), it is pretty easy to work with.
Of the page builders for WordPress we’ve tested, WPBakery fairs well. Speedy performance, easy to get started, and not too many options. Some developers have complained of buggy performance on highly customized WordPress sites.
It has an intuitive drag and drop interface, over 50 content elements, Skin Builder to customize design options, Template Library with downloadable templates, WPBakery API for developers to extend functionality, an advanced grid builder for posts and media, plus professional online support. It is multilingual ready, adaptable to any theme and compatible with qTranslate, WPML and Yoast SEO plugins.
WPBakery allows users to create websites quickly and easily without any coding or technical knowledge required. The plugin features an intuitive drag and drop interface, a backend/frontend editor, responsive design capabilities, template libraries, object-oriented code, multi-language support, social icons, parallax backgrounds, video backgrounds, icon sets & filters, undo/redo capabilities, RTL support custom post types & fields and much more. WPBakery Page Builder also has full compatibility with popular plugins such as Woo Commerce and Advanced Custom Fields (ACF).
WP Bakery features we liked:
- Easy to get started, and affordable
- Drag-and-drop worked smoothly
- Plays nicely with security plugins for WordPress
- User-friendly
- Works with any theme
- Many freelancers know how to work with it, makes outsourcing WordPress work easy
WPBakery Price: $64, 6 months updates included.
3) Divi Builder
Divi Builder is the plugin component of Divi theme. Divi is the flagship theme made by Elegant Themes.
The ultimate and most popular WordPress theme and a great page builder package all-in-one.
Divi includes a visual editor like most of the options to satiate your desire for conversion and your creativity. Direct integrations for basic email service providers are included.
One of the hallmarks of Divi page builder has always been the level of detail with regards to styling available within the controls. Across three different tabs, its easy to configure settings.
Plenty of tools, templates, and inspiring design to get your pages made in no time.
In 2023, Divi feels left behind
All sites built with it are feeling clunky, many are showing console errors, and most are very sluggish, despite solid caching and CDN practices.
In late-2022, we worked with numerous organizations to migrate their website away from Divi and Divi Builder. In most cases, the clients elected to go with Elementor page builder for their new websites or with custom themes.
Divi page builder features:
- Nice drag and drop landing page builder
- 110+ design packs with over 900 page layouts
- WooCommerce integrated right out of the box
- Built-in A/B testing for any page
- Goes best with the theme, so prepare for both
- Opt-in form and social sharing plugins included, too
What we loved: The only thing we like about Divi page builder at this point is that everyone has used it a little bit, so handoff is easy, and training is easy.
Divi Price: $89/year+ for access to all plugins and themes.
4) OptimizePress 3.0
OptimizePress is a purpose-built WordPress landing page plugin with enough functionality to power your entire sales funnel.
It is 100% focused on creating high-converting marketing pages that get you leads, customers, and email subscribers. Described as a “very powerful WordPress plugin” that you can use to “create high-converting landing pages” and any kind of sales pages.
The developers built the latest version new from the ground up. Testers thought the tool’s interface was ahead of the competition, but maybe a little complicated compared to Divi or Elementor.
They have a good selection of templates, including: ‘squeeze pages’, ‘long-form sales pages’, ‘lead capture pages’, ‘thank you pages’, ‘course pages’, ‘webinar pages’, and more. 30+ pre-built templates to get you started.
A lead generation focused WordPress theme is included and on some plans you get access to a checkout builder and funnel builder. A/B testing and analytics is included in some plans.
100% responsive and mobile-friendly page construction, so your landing pages all look amazing on any device.
OptimizePress page builder features:
- Drag & drop editor makes page design easy
- Large selection of landing page templates designed in sets
- 40+ different customizations to add functionality to your landing page
- Go beyond simple funnel pages and create entire sales funnels
- Integrate payment gateways and build conversion-focused checkout pages
- Ability to disable/enable scripts on your landing pages
- Includes a lead generation focused WordPress theme
OptimizePress Price: $99/year+
5) Beaver Builder
Beaver Builder is a drag & drop page building plugin that can be used for WordPress landing page creation. One of the best and most popular WordPress page builder plugins on the market, Beaver Builder lets you set up your new landing page in minutes.
Beaver Builder is a complete design system that includes a WordPress page builder plugin and a framework theme. If you’re a WordPress user, finally get complete control of your website.
Using this well-known and solid plugin is a delight compared to so many other options. For beginners or those newer to the WordPress platform and ecosystem, Beaver Builder is a solid choice.
A WordPress website builder and framework theme can revolutionize your workflow. Save valuable time and empower clients to handle their own edits.
Using the front-end visual editor, design and create custom page layouts. The editor feels smooth and lightweight – it doesn’t hang while saving, typing is quick.
You can add a variety of page elements, including opt-in forms, contact pages, pricing tables, and other conversion-focused elements. Maybe not as many as Elementor Pro or other tools.
Beaver Builder features:
- Great drag & drop visual page designer
- Large selection of elements in the library
- Well-designed but limited selection of landing page templates
- Support for WooCommerce
- Integrates with popular email providers
- Great support
What we loved: it felt like Beaver Builder was the easiest to get started with.
Beaver Builder Price: $99+ for 1 year of support.
Honorable Mentions:
Thrive Architect
Thrive Architect (link) is a popular WordPress landing page plugin. While it can be used as a page builder for pages and posts, it’s perfect for building conversion-focused WordPress landing pages and other funnel pages.
Thrive Architect is the revamped version of what was once Thrive Content Builder. The new interface features a lot of similarities with Elementor’s interface.
You get a drag and drop page editor with advanced control over mobile responsiveness. And all the conversion-focused page elements you need. The visual editor is easy to use and the front-end style editor means that you can visualize the page as you build it.
We think the fastest-to-press option is Thrive, because of how easily it is to create professional-looking landing pages quickly.
What we like about Thrive Architect is that its default styling looks pretty darn good right out of the box.
You can also add all sorts of conversion-focused design elements to your pages. Things like: call-to-action buttons, countdown timers, testimonials, basic contact forms, and more.
Thrive Architect page builder features:
- Easy drag & drop visual editor
- 275+ design templates and assets
- integrations for most email marketing services
- Edit posts and pages quickly
- A part of the Thrive ecosystem
- Integrated with other Thrive Themes products
- Frequent updates!
What we love: easiest to use interface of any tested!
Thrive Architect price: $67 for lifetime updates and 1 year of support.
Why use a page builder with WordPress
Every year, managing content quickly becomes more important for any content marketing plan.
The easiest way to build highly customized and involved sales landing pages within WordPress is with a WordPress page builder plugin.
There are many reasons to use a WordPress page builder:
- Page builders save time in building complex designs in WordPress
- They provide a universal standard, many designers and developers using the same set of tools
- They’re simply easier to work with than other methods (classic editor, blocks, Gutenberg, etc.)
- Page builder plugins allow custom development without a custom theme
Isn’t a WordPress theme enough?
There are many WordPress themes available, however most of them are not able to do one thing well. Customization can become complicated quickly, page speeds suffer, and there is no universal way of setting up the theme and the theme options. For this reason, a WordPress theme alone may not be enough to meet all organizational needs.
Page builders make WordPress easy
By using a page builder plugin with WordPress, users can quickly and easily customize their website without needing to know any coding. This makes creating beautiful landing pages achievable in a short amount of time, and allows organizations to manage content quickly.
What is the best page builder plugin for WordPress?
The best WordPress landing page plugin depends on your project’s needs. What do you want from your landing pages?
The best WordPress page builders available are Elementor Pro, Divi Builder, WPBakery, OptimizePress, and Beaver Builder. Each of these page builders offer different features and benefits.
Elementor is the most comprehensive WordPress page builder with the most features. It’s also the fastest and comes with a free version as well.
Divi is a great choice for beginners and those looking for an all-in-one solution as it includes a theme along with the page builder plugin.
WPBakery is popular for its low cost at $45 one time payment, but has been known to cause some bugs on highly customized sites.
Our list of best WordPress page builders with an easy-to-use interface and conversion-focused design elements such as call to action buttons and countdown timers should help you make some decisions about the right tools for you. Ultimately, which WordPress page builder you choose will depend on your specific website project needs.
Overall, Elementor and Divi are the best page builders for WordPress. This is reflected in their features and the landing page templates included.
Next Steps
Not sure if building pages in WordPress with page builders is something your team can handle? Learn how our WordPress Management allows organizations to focus on growth and forget about WordPress website development.
