Customizing the layout of a page on your WordPress site was not always easy for those who are not familiar with CSS or HTML. However, WordPress Website Builders have made the process quite easy for everyone with their drag and drop interface and varied content elements. A little bit of imagination and a grip on your site’s functionality in alignment to user experience is all you need. The rest will be managed by these plugins, which have become essential tools for WordPress web design. We have compiled a list of some of the most popular WordPress website builders in this article. Let’s look into the specific details that make these plugins really popular.
The essential features of WordPress Website Builders
One of the primary features that you look for in WordPress Website Builders is the ease of use. Let’s take a quick look at the essentials:
Top WordPress Website Builders
Here is a list of top WordPress website builders that stand out based on popularity, value for money, intuitiveness, etc.
One of the major reasons for the popularity of Elementor is its speed. The plugin offers instant responses when you edit and load pages. This makes it particularly easy to work with this plugin. Even beginners can get a hang of the working of this plugin in quick time. On the live editing screen, you can view the changes that you make instantly on the right, there is no need to go to a preview mode. This helps save a lot of time when you try different design concepts with this plugin. It also offers easy undo /redo options, and presents full revision history, which you can use if needed.
The plugin is loaded with features like Hover Effects, Animations, Background Overlays, etc., that make your site design really unique. There are numerous blocks and templates that will help with your site design. You can simply load a pre-designed template, and make the required modifications. Or, you can combine blocks at your own will to create a unique design pattern. Once you customize a template on your own, you can save it to use it later. You can even export a template that you create to another site as well. Also, you can easily switch to maintenance mode, if your site has to go down for a while.
Features
The single site license of this plugin is available for purchase at $49. You will also find a 3-site license for $99, and for unlimited sites at $199.
This is a powerful page builder option that you can use with any theme. Themify builder offers more than 40 pre-designed layouts to make your job easier. You can simply replace the content of these layouts to create your own design. It offers a drag and drop interface that makes it particularly easy for non-coders to manage their site design. You can even go to a front end edit mode, where you can instantly view how your site design would look like to visitors. It also allows you to copy paste modules that you worked on to different pages, reducing the workload. You can also duplicate or import one module to another site.
Features
If you are purchasing any of the Themify themes, you will find this page builder integrated with them. However, if you want the page builder separately, you can purchase that separately too. You will get it at $39, and if you are looking for a bundle with all the add-ons, you can get it at $59. There is also a lite version which you can download for free.
This is a free responsive page builder that you can use to create websites that reflect your site’s unique character. The plugin makes your site responsive, as all your visitors get the same high quality visual experience irrespective of screen size. It makes the design process of your site’s front end an especially hassle free process. As with the case of other plugins discussed in this article, SiteOrigin page builder too offers a simple drag and drop interface. The pages created using this plugin are assuredly lightweight and hence optimized for better search ranking for your site.
Features
If you are a fan of Divi theme, you might really like this page builder plugin. Apparently, it has taken all the good things of Divi theme to help you with site design. It offers numerous layout possibilities, which you can try on any theme of your choice. Divi Builder offers around 45 modules, which you can easily drag and drop, and rearrange according to your ideas. Some 15 demos give you a great start with your design process. You can simply customize them to get your own unique design.
Features
You need to get a Divi membership to get access to all the plugins and themes. The yearly access for Divi plugins and themes would cost you $89. There is also a lifetime plan, which costs $249.
Among WordPress page builder plugins, this one offers great control to the user. The simple drag and drop interface allows users of all knowledge levels to easily customize your web pages. It will help you streamline your workflow and make your site design an effortless process. Beaver Builder gives you the flexibility to work with the large number of available templates. You can simply choose one of the templates and replace the images and content to have your own unique site design.
Features
You can purchase the Standard version of this plugin for $99. There is also a Pro version and an Agency version at $199 and $399 respectively.
WPBakery page builder is one of the most popular options that will help you create and manage a WordPress site intuitively. It offers a drag and drop builder that will enable you to create beautiful pages even without any coding knowledge. WPBakery offers a range of content elements that lets you create unique pages and layouts effortlessly. Moreover, you can access the huge template library, and also make developer-level changes with the API.
Features
For use in a single site, you can get the Regular license of WPBakery at $45, and for use in SaaS-based applications, the Extended license for $245 can be purchased.
Visual Composer is a comprehensive website builder that you can use to build a professional site with control over every single aspect of your site design. It offers a complete toolkit with page builder, templates, blocks, elements and extensions. Additionally, the drag and drop editor makes everything easy, without the need for any coding efforts at all. Different types of users, such as store owners, designers, marketers, theme authors, etc., can use this popular website builder to create a site according to their requirements.
Features
Visual Composer offers different pricing options according to your requirements. You can start with the free version, and get a premium version starting from $49 per year for a single website.
Oxygen Builder is a powerful option that offers you a visual editing interface to build every aspect of your website. It offers a drag and drop editor, and has global color options that lets you modify colors from one place. In addition, it helps you create custom headers for your website and manage dynamic content with loops and repeaters. Also, the plugin is developer friendly, SEO-ready, and helps you build WooCommerce stores easily too.
Features
You can get the basic license of Oxygen Builder at $99 and the WooCommerce-supported one at $149 one-time payment. There is also a 60-day money back guarantee.
Brizy offers an easy option to help you create amazing WordPress sites really fast. It has an innovative editor that provides you with a wholesome editing experience with visual clarity. With a solid foundation of cutting edge technology and an amazing feature set, it will let you create superior websites. You will get access to a collection of pre-made pages, blocks and pop ups to get started without hassles. In addition, the builder lets you incorporate animations, shadows and video backgrounds to your design table.
Features
You can get a Personal License for 3 sites at a cost of $49 per year. You will get a complimentary access to Brizy Cloud Studio with all their pricing plans. There is also a 30-day money back guarantee.
This is a free option among WordPress Website Builders that will let you create unique page designs for your site without any coding efforts. You can either build a new site design from scratch, or can use one of their themes to get started easily. Additionally, you can choose premium extensions for different requirements such as integration of contact forms or eCommerce. The plugin offers all the staple design features such as drag and drop editor, live editing, multiple content elements, etc.
Features
The basic builder is available for free download. However, you can get the premium version with all add-ons starting from a cost of $49 for one year. There is also a money back guarantee for 30 days.
Comparing Page Builders
Now that we’ve seen a number of popular WordPress page builders, how do you decide which one of these is best for you?
The answer is not straightforward, because each of these products has strong points and also some weak points. The best way to decide is to run a trial with each of the products, so that you can get a feel of each one of them and decide for yourself.
Let’s just take a quick example comparing Elementor vs Beaver Builder. Beaver Builder has been around for a much longer time than Elementor, but the latter has a far larger team around and has enjoyed explosive growth in the four years that it has been around.
Having said that, Beaver Builder is favored by users who have a background in web development, while Elementor is more suited towards web designers or users who don’t use WordPress on a daily basis.
You can read about the differences in more detail in this article from CollectiveRay.
Advantages of using WordPress page builder plugins
Page builder plugins are popular because they offer certain obvious advantages to website owners. Here is a quick look at some of them
Great scope for customization
Designing a web page from scratch requires great coding knowledge. And there are quite a large number of WordPress site owners who have minimal or no coding knowledge at all. Mostly such store owners rely on their WordPress theme to provide a design suitable to their website. However, there are several limitations when you talk about adapting a theme as it is. There are chances that your site looks like a lot of other sites. How will you manage to give that unique appeal to your site?
This is where WordPress page builder plugins come into the picture. People with all levels of coding knowledge can customize their sites according to their creative interests and imagination. These classes of plugins offer a lot of flexibility for everyone to experiment with the design and layout of websites. And, if you are not in the mood to design from scratch, you can always make use of the pre-designed templates that come with these plugins.
Ease of use
Most of the page builder plugins available in the market offer a simple user interface. This helps everyone to design pages of their imagination in a matter of minutes. The drag and drop interface and instant preview features that we saw in most of these plugins are really useful. It actually helps people who are not experts in coding to try their hands on designing their own sites. Overall, it makes web page design an easy and fulfilling process.
Page builders help you manage a lot of functionalities on your store. Without them you probably would’ve had to install multiple plugins to get a lot of front end customizations. With the help of a page builder, you can effectively set up unique features on your website. You can set up several features on the site like animations, image carousels, interesting call to action buttons, etc., with the help of these
Responsive design
A responsive design is an essential feature of any website. All the page builder plugins we discussed in this article are responsive, when you are combining them with a responsive theme.
This content was originally published here.