WordPress Website Builders

WordPress website builders have made creating a professional WordPress website more accessible. Website builders allow users to build fully functional and easily customizable sites regardless of their technical expertise. This post will closely examine some of the most popular website builders, outlining their features and benefits. Sujee recommends reviewing  Elementor, Breakdance, and other top alternatives and explains why they are the best in their class.

Advantages of using a WordPress website builder.

WordPress website builders enable easier, faster, and more affordable website creation while providing users with creative control over their site's design and functionality.

1. No Coding Skills Required: Website builders allow users to create and customize websites without knowing HTML, CSS, or JavaScript. This empowers non-developers to build professional websites quickly.
   
2. Faster Website Creation: These builders significantly speed up the website creation process by offering pre-built templates and drag-and-drop functionality, allowing users to build pages quickly.
   
3. Cost-Effective: By enabling users to create their own websites without hiring a developer, website builders reduce the cost of website development.
   
4. Design Flexibility: Website builders offer various templates, design elements, and customization options, making it easy to create unique and visually appealing websites without starting from scratch.
   
5. Responsive Design: Most website builders come with built-in features that ensure websites are mobile-friendly and responsive, solving the issue of compatibility across devices.
   
6. Real-Time Editing: Many WordPress website builders offer live previews, allowing users to see changes in real-time, which simplifies the design and editing process.
   
7. User-Friendly Interfaces: Website builders provide intuitive, visual interfaces that are easy for beginners, reducing the learning curve typically associated with web design.
   
8. SEO Optimization: Many builders come with built-in SEO tools, helping users create search-engine-friendly websites without needing advanced knowledge in SEO.
   
9. Content Management Efficiency: By integrating smoothly with WordPress, these builders make it easier to manage and update content without needing a developer’s help, ensuring site updates are quicker and easier.

Disadvantage

1. Limited Customization for Complex Projects: While website builders provide a lot of flexibility for basic and intermediate websites, they may lack the advanced customization options needed for more complex projects, limiting what you can achieve without custom coding.
   
2. Slower Page Load Times: Many WordPress website builders generate extra code to support drag-and-drop features, which can lead to bloated code and slower page load times, negatively affecting user experience and SEO.
   
3. Potential Compatibility Issues: Some builders may not play well with all WordPress themes or plugins, leading to conflicts, broken layouts, or even site crashes. This can complicate site maintenance and updates.
   
4. Cost for Advanced Features: While many builders offer free versions, advanced features, premium templates, or pro versions often come with additional costs, which can add up depending on the level of customization and functionality needed.
   
5. Learning Curve: Even though builders simplify the website creation process, there can still be a learning curve for beginners, especially when dealing with more advanced features, especially in builders like Oxygen or Divi.
   
6. Locked into Specific Builder: Once a website is built using a particular builder, switching to another builder or back to the default WordPress editor can be difficult. The transition may result in broken pages or a complete redesign being necessary.
   
7. SEO Limitations: Some website builders might not be as SEO-friendly as coding a site from scratch. Bloated code or lack of control over certain technical SEO elements can hinder optimization efforts.
   
8. Dependency on Plugins: Website builders typically rely on plugins, and this creates potential issues with plugin updates or security vulnerabilities. If a builder plugin is abandoned or incompatible with future WordPress updates, it can break the site.
   
9. Performance Overhead: Features like drag-and-drop functionality, real-time previews, and complex design elements can put extra strain on server resources, affecting overall website performance.
10. Generic Design: While templates and pre-built elements make design easier, websites built with builders can sometimes look generic, as many users may choose the same popular templates.

List of WordPress website builders

Elementor: The Versatile Drag-and-Drop Builder

Widely regarded as the top WordPress page builder, Elementor is our first choice. Even if you have no idea about coding, Elementor has permission to use the drag-and-drop interface to create good-looking layouts. Elementor has various templates and widgets, which can help personalise the page as one sees fit.

Key Features:

• Simple GUI: Well designed and easy to observe the outcome in real-time. This is super helpful during the live edit to make sure every element is exactly where they belong before you approve the design.
• Templates: With a paid plan, there are hundreds of really professional looking and modern templates available so that you can customize the application to suit any niche. Especially handy for those of you who don't have the time or ability to custom design your own.
• Advanced Widgets: Website builders comes with a range of advanced widgets including sliders, galleries, forms and more allowing sophisticated layouts without knowledge in coding. It offers large media libraries and wide varieties of widgets, allowing the user to create vivid websites.
• Responsive Design: Ready to use tools make websites device agnostic, working equally well on a large monitor and the smallest of mobile phones. This is important since many web users access the web on mobile devices, in a mobile-first world.

Who should use Elementor? Great for small business owners, bloggers, creatives or anyone looking to quickly and efficiently design an online presence. Sujee recommends Elementor as a strong option for any skill level, coming with an extensive community and third-party add-ons that bolster the functionality of this CMS easily.

Breakdance: The New Contender

Breakdance is a new example of this and happens to be one of the fastest, most flexible website builders. Breakdance was designed for beginners and professionals alike, where drag/drop simplicity combines with everything you want on the customization end.

Key Features:

• Fast Performance: Breakdance is engineered to be super-fast, meaning your websites load fast. Very important for user experience and search engine optimization (SEO) because page speed has a huge influence on bounce rate, user retention.
• Flexible Layouts: The builder allows for extensive layout customization, including advanced positioning and spacing options. Users can create unique designs that stand out from typical templates.
• Code Control: Breakdance features options to inject whatever code you want as well, which can be pretty attractive to developers wanting to extend functionality.
• Templates and Blocks: Users get a chance to access various predefined blocks and templates as well using rushed designs. This allows you to build faster than ever and more professionally.

Sujee suggests Breakdance as an ideal choice for those who desire a simple as well as feature-rich theme and can be used for all kinds of projects from blogs to corporate websites. It is a serious entry into the market due to its performance- and user-experience-driven nature.

While Elementor and Breakdance are impressive, several other website builders also deserve attention. Each of these tools has unique strengths, catering to different user needs.

Beaver Builder

Beaver Builder is known for its ease of use and it allows WordPress users to design in real-time, so Beaver Builder's responsive layouts & pre-built templates in the builder will help you to get started. However, it's built well and easy to use, which is why agencies and freelancers stick with it (as a tool to do client work).

Divi

Divi is a visual page builder and design toolset that allows you to create stunning websites. With this module, all the major components are unlocked by providing a single interface for both constructing and editing, thus offering users flexibility in layout creation. It features advanced design options like hover effects and custom animations, making it the perfect choice for designers who want to create sites that have a wow factor.

WPBakery Page Builder

It is a double-edged sword that lets you design pages from either the front end or back end. This flexibility gives users an option to switch between visual editor and code editing whenever needed. It is especially useful for designers who wish to incorporate different types of media into their designs. The business owner is also compatible with a few other themes, making it even more versatile.

Gutenberg

Gutenberg is the default block-based editor for WordPress—it makes creating basic layouts with blocks a cinch. It might not give you the high level of control page builders do, but it gets the job done for simpler editing. And because it is integrated with WordPress, you can expect long-term improvements to be released and therefore get the benefits out of new updates.

Thrive Architect

Thrive Architect is made for conversions-oriented website designing. This tool has many features for lead generation, which is helpful for marketers and business owners looking to increase sales and leads. Conversion-focused templates and elements assist in syncing with user engagement to enhance conversion rates.

Brizy

It has a reputation for being simple and user-friendly, which makes it perfect for beginners. Intuitive drag-and-drop functionality and a visual building interface make every page feel distinct in design. You also have a library of pre-designed blocks and layouts, shortcuts to optimal results for those users seeking maximum efficiency without sacrificing quality.

Oxygen

Oxygen is a next-generation website builder for power users who want to take full control of their site design. Extremely customizable and works great with WordPress, which makes it also perfect for users who use code more than pre-made design elements. Oxygen allows you to build very custom sites, but it comes with a higher learning curve.

Themify Builder

Themify Builder offers a flexible page editor along with a bunch of ready-made templates as well—easy drag-and-drop for beginners, custom CSS, and animation effects for advanced users. Sujee recommends Themify for both novice and advanced web builders alike.

Free WordPress website builders

Most WordPress website builders have a free plan that does not cost you to install and use. For example, Elementor and Breakdance can be installed on your WordPress project for free and have decent features. 

Frequently asked questions about website builders.

Which is the best website builder in WordPress?

How much does it cost to install a WordPress website builder?

Which builder to use in WordPress?