4 Great WordPress Page Builders
Visual page builders have only existed for a short while. Before that, you couldn’t launch web pages without intricate knowledge of coding. Basically, you had to rely on professional web designers and developers to do all that, and it wasn’t cheap. And those developers and designers had to have knowledge of CSS and HTML to even make the smallest change on a website. It took them a long time, and it was very frustrating.
When shortcodes came along, the development process got a big boost in terms of speed. You didn’t have to go the whole HTML route every time. But it wasn’t till the WordPress page builder was introduced that things got really easy. These are handy additions to WordPress that make the whole process a lot more visual and a whole lot simpler.
Web developers are now able to create more sites quickly, turning over clients more rapidly and thus making more money. And if you’re a beginner or a startup, you can do it yourself without having to hire an experienced developer. Now, you have access to convenient drag and drop features like images, videos, carousels, columns, product galleries, and portfolios.
Why Use a WordPress Page Builder?
If you’ve ever attempted to craft a simple page, such as a Contact Us page, you know how hard it used to be to include a form with fields that can be filled in with the user’s name, email address, phone number, as well as the actual message. Then you could add a map showing people your location, links for support pages and a link to your About Us page. That’s a lot of information! And that’s just a simple contact page. What about all the bigger, more complex pages?
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It takes a lot of formatting, coding, and stress to do all this without a visual builder. That’s why WordPress page builders are game changers. Sure, they make it faster for experienced developers to create websites, but they also allow beginners to create their own sites without worrying about complicated code.
The best part is, a lot of content is displayed on the screen just like it will appear on your website. You don’t have to keep hitting the Preview button. This is helpful when you have to create a complicated page, such as an e-commerce page. WordPress page builders make it easier to create multiple rows of content.
The typical e-commerce page may include:
- Sliders to promote your latest sale
- Product gallery with all items you sell
- Add To Cart buttons
- Testimonials from past customers
- Countdown timers announcing product launches
- Navigation menu at the top which includes all the most popular categories
- Social share buttons
Arranging all of this takes a lot of time (hours!), but if you use a WordPress page builder, you can slice this time down to about 20 minutes. The page builder will help guide you in regards to column and content repositioning, column configuration, resizing, padding, and colors.
Here, we will talk about the best and most popular and best WordPress page builders:
- GeneratePress
- Beaver Builder
- Divi
- Visual Composer
1. GeneratePress with Sections
This is a free WordPress theme, ideal for beginner webmasters, developers and bloggers, and developers seeking an uncomplicated, quick visual builder. The premium Sections add-on is an added perk if you want to add a great drag and drop functionality to the interface.
GeneratePress WordPress page builder is a simple and lightweight WordPress theme with positive reviews and attractive layout for anything from landing pages and blogs to business websites and sales pages. This modern and clean interface allows you to do most of the editing through the WordPress live editor. But when you opt for the Premium, you get access to all modules including Sections.
Even without Sections, you can still make a beautiful and functional website. But with Sections, you can get even more design options. You can add a section, then add content like text, media, headers, and background colors.
When combining GeneratePress WordPress page builder and Sections, the biggest benefit is speed. Once you create all your sections, it’s easy to move them around, as the sections are stacked one on top of the other.
Benefits of GeneratePress
- Create and manage a professional website in a matter of minutes.
- Free theme, with the option to pay $40 for the Premium that includes 14 modules (including Sections).
- Drag and drop functionality with Sections.
- Premium version can be placed on unlimited number of sites.
- Available modules for colors, WooCommerce, menus, typography, page headers, blogs, backgrounds, hooks and spacing.
- Well-developed performance optimizations, such as dynamic CSS caching, no jQuery, a default option of a system font stack (no font files), and smaller Font Awesome essentials.
2. Beaver Builder
This robust WordPress page builder is perfect for creative types who want more than basic simplicity. Choose from a free lite version and a premium version, and you can use it on an unlimited number of sites. Packages start at $99. The Agency plan ($399) includes white-labeling.
With the Beaver Builder WordPress page builder, you can retain full control over all design elements, backed by many modern templates and a handy drag and drop system. Precision is the name of the game with this visual builder.
The live, frontend editing is a big part of why the Beaver Builder WordPress page builder is so great. No need to keep clicking the Preview button or second guessing when to make adjustments. This mobile-friendly builder offers WooCommerce support, ideal for online stores. You have the ability to save and reuse rows and modules for use at a later date. Plus you can use shortcodes and widgets when third-party plugins aren’t compatible with Beaver Builder.
It has reusable templates, an open API, and an import/export feature, which makes Beaver Builder one of the better ones out there.
Benefits of Beaver Builder WordPress Page Builder:
- Live, frontend editing works in real-time for quick changes.
- Works well with WooCommerce.
- Simple, yet powerful design.
- Effective presets at the click of a button.
- Dozens of drag and drop modules including photos, separators, text editors, accordions, calls to action, subscribe forms, number counters, and pricing tables.
- White-labeling, network-wide settings, and a DIY web publishing platform with the Agency Plan.
- Can save and reuse your layouts elsewhere on your website.
3. Divi
Made by the developers at Elegant Themes, you must join Divi as a member to unlock all of the plugins, themes, and other features. Developers and agencies that need a library full of plugins and themes tend to love Divi. It’s not expensive to join. It only costs $89 a year.
The Divi Builder (Divi WordPress page builder) gives you countless layout possibilities, with the ability to use them on any theme you wish thanks to the available 46 content modules. Modules include:
- Accordion
- Bar counter
- Audio player
- Comments
- Divider
- Portfolio
- Email opt-in
- Testimonial
- Slider
You are allowed multiple columns, but you also have access to long-form content for blogs and landing pages, boasting vertical displays of imagery and interactive elements.
While Divi has a simple configuration, you may choose to add your own custom CSS. You can also duplicate and copy any element with just one click, with the ability to hide or lock any module on the backend if you want to save for later or prohibit someone else from editing.
Benefits of Divi:
- 46 content modules, making Divi one of the largest libraries of website elements.
- Many beautiful templates.
- Duplicate, disable, and lock items.
- “Collapse” feature to consolidate your view and clear out the area for a cleaner look and feel.
- Unlimited redos and undos.
Visual Composer
Developed by the creators of WPBakery, the Visual Composer WordPress page builder is easy to use and has lots of features that web developers love.
You get access to more than 50 premium content elements and 100 predefined layouts, with more than 40 grid design templates and 200 exclusive third-party add-ons. You get both front and backend visual editors, with the frontend solution displaying real-time results as you make adjustments, and the backend editor being a grid-based interface with modules that you can drag and drop.
Visual Composer requires no coding. You can take a “tree view” that provides a layered interface in the same vein as Photoshop or Sketch Layers.
You also have access to the custom CSS or custom Javascript sections.
Benefits of Visual Composer
- Drag and drop editor to move and manage elements and layouts.
- Only costs $59.
- 3-1 editor, complete with the backend, live frontend editor, and tree view.
- Ability to hide elements and save them for later.
- No coding knowledge necessary.
Well there you have it: the four most popular WordPress Page Builders that we recommend. Got more questions? Just give us a call!
