WordPress has opened the world of online publication to all – but that doesn’t mean building a website is easy.
If you’ve tried to find the best tools to help you do the best job you can, you’ve probably run into thousands of options already, leaving your head spinning.
However, you’ve probably seen two of the biggest names: Visual Composer and Divi pop up repeatedly.
If you’re reading this, you’re probably wondering: Are they as good as everyone says? Why are they so popular? Do they provide the tools to help me build MY website the way I want?
And, crucially, which is the best builder between Visual Composer or Divi?
Ask no more! In this Visual Composer vs Divi comparison, we give you an in-depth look into the usability, features, pricing, and support of both website builders.
We also compare them to help you determine which is likely the best option for you.
For ease of navigation, you can use this executive summary to jump to the appropriate section:
- Overview
- Key Features and Benefits
- Best Website Building Experience
- Free Elements and Predesigned Content
- More Budget-friendly Option
- Level of Support
- Which Is the Best Website Builder
Can’t wait to start building your WordPress website? Then, let’s get to it!
Overview of Visual Composer and Divi
Before we start with the in-depth comparison, let’s get a quick overview of both these worthy contenders:
An Overview of Visual Composer
Visual Composer has been around in the WordPress builder industry in one shape or another for some time.
In recent years, there has been a tremendous amount of confusion surrounding the original Visual Composer Page Builder, its replacement WP Bakery, and the brand new Visual Composer.
Visual Composer’s creators have finally acknowledged and apologized for this confusion, and you can find a detailed breakdown of the main differences here.
For the purposes of this comparison, it’s sufficient to know that Visual Composer is a complete website builder whereas the original (now known as WP Bakery) is a page builder.
Visual Composer doesn’t only come with tools to customize the content part of your pages, but to edit the headers, footers, and sidebars as well.
It’s also built on clean React.js code instead of the less optimized WordPress shortcodes.
So, the revamped Visual Composer we’ll review in this article is a feature-rich website builder tool which can go toe-to-toe with the best.
Check out our in-depth Review of Visual Composer to get the detail insights.
An Overview of Divi
With nearly 12 years, 800,000 users, and a total of 115 employees behind it – ElegantThemes is a fast-growing company, and Divi, its flagship product, an increasingly popular WordPress website builder.
It has transformed into an entire suite of WordPress products that all ship with a single subscription.
And, the recent v4.0 update has brought some important features, like a theme builder, that has transformed Divi from a simple page builder to a full-fledged website builder.
Divi is especially well-known for its intuitive and powerful front-end page builder which is often praised by the ElegantThemes marketing team.
However, it also comes with premium themes and plugins as well as all the templates, content, and tools you need to build an entire website.
With a worldwide presence, it can offer instant 24/7 support and its lifetime access plan is a cost-effective solution if you’re serious about using a website builder long-term.
All of this makes it a prime candidate for anyone looking to create a WordPress website(s).
Check out our in-depth Review of Divi Builder to get the detail insights.
Key Features and Benefits of Visual Composer and Divi
Before we get into the details, let’s take a quick course on the most important features and benefits of both Visual Composer and Divi:
Visual Composer: Everything and Anything Your Website Needs
Visual Composer is a well-rounded website building tool that comes with everything you need to get started, and beyond:
- Built on clean and performant React.Js – no slow-loading or unoptimized shortcodes
- A powerful theme builder with comprehensive header, footer, and sidebar editing tools
- A massive library of 200+ website, page, header, footer, sidebar, and block content templates
- A robust and feature-rich page builder tool that allows you to design responsive pages for a variety of contexts
- A built-in analyzer to analyze your pages for SEO, errors, and performance
- A developer-friendly API for extending and unlocking the full potential of your WordPress website
- 300+ Elements to help you quickly and easily put together attractive and dynamic pages
Divi: The World’s Most Powerful Website Builder Backed by a Suite of Tools
On top of all the basics, Divi offers a number of unique and groundbreaking tools for building WordPress websites:
- Easily one of the most intuitive, fun, and powerful WYSIWYG page builders in the industry
- A huge collection of 200+ full website templates as well as 1500+ individual page layouts
- Robust developer tools to extend Divi’s functionality and troubleshoot any issues
- An easy-to-use and comprehensive theme builder to quickly make wholesale changes across your entire website
- A well-rounded collection of 50+ highly customizable modules and elements for additional features and content
- An official marketplace of third-party add-ons and integrations
- 24/7 live chat support with a presence in over 20 countries all over the world
- A lifetime access package for a once-off fee + unlimited website usage on all plans
Visual Composer vs Divi: Which Provides the Best Website Building Experience?
For many WordPress users, this is what it all comes down to WordPress, and page builders should make your experience of building a website as easy and enjoyable as possible.
Both Visual Composer and Divi claim to offer the most intuitive and powerful page builders in the industry. With some key differences between them, you should play around with both demos to see which one best suits your preferences.
Visual Composer Is a Powerful and Robust Website Builder
You can either download Visual Composer from the website and install it on your WordPress site or you can add it directly from the WordPress plugin library.
From here, Visual Composer works a bit differently.
Instead of creating a page and then editing it with Visual Composer, you can choose the “Add New with Visual Composer” option straight from the page section in the WordPress admin panel.
As for the builder itself, it’s an extremely powerful tool with very few limitations in how it can be used to customize your pages.
It’s a drag-and-drop frontend editor that allows you to dynamically change text, reposition content, readjust columns, etc.
Elements can be added from the left hand sidebar or by scrolling to the bottom of the page (where you can also choose to add a new, empty row):
Visual Composer also uses this unique mapping tool to adjust the padding, margin, border, and radius of elements:
Another notable feature is that Visual Composer doesn’t only provide the basic desktop, tablet, and mobile views to edit your pages for responsiveness, but you can also switch between landscape and portrait mode for these devices.
While it’s a fantastic tool, I thought that it was a bit overwhelming in the beginning. And, for someone who is used to working with similar tools, it did take some time to get comfortable doing things a slightly different way.
However, this might not be the case for complete beginners, although it will take time to get to grips with the builder.
Have Fun Building Dynamic Websites Using Divi
Divi has always been famed for its incredibly powerful and intuitive drag-and-drop page builder and it’s clear that ElegantThemes themselves markets it as their flagship product.
The plugin itself is easy to install and activate using the same methods as Visual Composer.
From here, you can start editing pages using the builder simply by creating a page and clicking the “Edit with Divi” button.
Hopefully, Divi uses color-coded sections (blue), rows/columns (green), and elements (grey) to help visually organize the page and let you know what you’re working on at all times:
Text can be directly edited on the page, and you are handily provided with contextual options when hovering over any elements.
Sections, rows/columns, and elements can all be extensively customized and edited using the available tools:
You can also edit for responsiveness in desktop, tablet, or mobile view.
What makes Divi so great is that it’s incredibly beginner-friendly while providing enough depth for seasoned users to customize their pages to a pixel-perfect level.
Verdict
Although there is nothing much to complain about when using Visual Composer, Divi just always seems to take the cake with what’s arguably the most powerful and intuitive page builder.
Period: It’s easy and fun to use for both beginners and experts with a huge amount of freedom when it comes to customization.
What Free Elements and Predesigned Content Do You Get With Visual Composer and Divi?
Not everyone has the time, knowledge, or willingness to design a complete website from scratch that ends up looking polished, modern, and has wide-ranging appeal.
From full website, page, or section designs, templates and pre-designed content makes this task quick and easy
Visual Composer: A Marketplace With Every Element You Can Imagine
You get a huge amount of predesigned content alongside the Visual Composer builder to help you quickly create stunning WordPress websites.
In total, Visual Composer provides you with 200+ templates, consisting of full websites, individual pages, as well as headers, footers, and content blocks.
Only 10 of these templates are free, so unlocking the full library of designs is one of the top reasons to upgrade to a premium plan.
Templates are fully customizable and you have the option of saving the layouts you created for later reuse.
You can even create templates that can be used in any widgetized area for truly complex and multi-layered designs.
In terms of design, the templates all look modern and professional with a broad spectrum of styles and industries. The range of header and footer designs is especially helpful in helping you get that exact look you want.
Via the cloud marketplace Visual Composer Hub, Visual Composer can offer an unmatched selection of 300+ content elements.
These cover everything from layout tools, like post or image grids to functional widgets to dynamic elements that add some specific style or functionality.
Divi: Find the Right Template, No Matter What You Do
Not to be outdone, Divi also comes with a huge collection of over 200 full website templates, consisting of over 1,500 individual page templates.
Divi’s template library contains some of the best variety of designs and templates you’ll find anywhere, even covering unique niches like doggy parlors, yoga studios, juice shops, and many more.
For some templates, Divi also releases free header, footer, or sidebar templates.
However, varied header and footer designs are one of Divi’s weaknesses in this area with fewer options when it comes to different layouts and styles.
However, you can create or customize your own header, footers, and sidebars using the theme builder. Divi’s templates also generally stand out for how easy they are to use and customize.
Compared with Visual Composer, Divi offers a much smaller collection of around 40+ modules.
However, this is an impressive collection compared to most other builders that also includes a number of WooCommerce-specific modules.
Verdict
This one is tough to call because both these builders come with a tremendous library of templates that can put a fully designed website at your fingertips.
While there is very little to choose between the two when it comes to the quality of the website and page templates, Visual Composer wins thanks to its header, footer, and sidebar layouts.
Is Visual Composer or Divi the More Budget: Friendly Option?
Now that you know what each website builder brings to the table, it’s time to find out how much it’ll cost you.
There are a number of factors to consider when it comes to pricing, aside from just the monetary cost. We look at it from all angles, including any free trials, subscription terms, and more:
Visual Composer: Affordable Yearly Pricing for All Budgets
Visual Composer caters to a range of budgets and needs with no less than four different pricing packages, consisting of both free and paid options.
The more you play, the more features you unlock, plus you’ll get additional licenses to use Visual Composer on more sites. Here is a quick breakdown:
- Free: $0 for 1 website
- 30 elements
- 10 templates
- Singe website: $29.40/the first year, $49/year renewal for 1 website
- All 300+ elements
- All 200+ templates
- Theme and popup builder
- Header, footer, and sidebar editor
- WooCommerce support
- Dynamic content, global templates
- Premium support
- 3 Websites: $59.40/the first year, $99/year renewal original for 3 websites
- Same as Single website
- Developers: $209.40/the first year, 349/year renewal for 1000 websites
- Same as a Single website
While the free plan has no expiry, it comes with a far smaller set of freebies and without many of the tools for a full website builder.
In some way, it’s similar to its cousin, WP Bakery. Although there is no free trial, you can use any of the other premium plans for a relatively short 15-day trial period.
Check The Pricing Details Here
Divi: Maximizes Your Budget With Unlimited Sites and Lifetime Access
Divi’s pricing works very differently than that of Visual Composer. Firstly, there is no free plan or trial. However, you can play around with the Divi Builder demo for free on the official website.
Second, there are only two packages, both of which give full access to the entire suite of ElegantThemes tools:
- Yearly Access: $89/year
- Lifetime Access: $249/once off
Both packages come with support and updates for all of ElegantThemes tools and features for as long as your subscription is active. Both are also covered by an industry standard 30-day money-back guarantee.
This suite includes the Divi Page Builder, Divi Theme, Extra Theme as well as the Monarch and Bloom plugins – all of which are premium tools in their own right.
Check The Pricing Details Here
Verdict
As the rest of the comparison shows, both builders provide fair value for what they cost. Still, there’s no doubt that Visual Composer can be by far the most affordable option for those on a tight budget.
However, with an unlimited site license, Divi’s all-inclusive pricing may have more mileage for those who have multiple websites to build and manage.
The lifetime access plan with its incredible long-term savings potential is what swings this round in the favor of Divi.
What Level of Support Does Visual Composer and Divi Offer?
Premium WordPress plugins should come with premium support that help their users solve problems quickly, so they can get back to building their website.
Inadequate documentation, unresponsive reps, or an inactive community can leave you stranded in no-man’s land.
Visual Composer: Comprehensive Documentation and Video Tutorials
Another reason to upgrade from the free plan, all paid Visual Composer packages come with premium customer support.
One-on-one premium support is delivered via a ticketing system from within your Visual Composer account dashboard or via email.
Unfortunately, there are no instant communication methods like live chat or phone.
There is also no official community forum and it’s slightly tough to get in touch with the rest of the community.
The main part of Visual Composer’s documentation is in the form of an extensive knowledge base accompanied by an FAQ.
This document helpfully breaks down the entire product into categories of functionality with sub-sections describing specific parts of the builder.
Step-by-step guides are accompanied by tutorial videos, which can also be found on the YouTube channel.
Divi: Support That Has You Covered From All Angles
Divi’s premium support has you well-covered from all angles. First of all, you can get one-on-one support from a worldwide support team with 24/7 live chat.
Response times are usually within a matter of minutes, and although it was questionable in the past, the quality of the support is usually very good.
Divi also provides unique tools that will help you in your own troubleshooting or to speed up your support tickets.
The first is a “safe mode” which deactivates all plugins that might interfere with Divi, allowing you to better hone in on the problem.
The other is a mode that allows technical support staff to directly login to your WordPress website to try and identify your issue.
Divi’s documentation also contains vast tonnes of information on all of its products. There are well over 40 hours of free video tutorials that accompany the extensive written guides and information.
Lastly, as a highly popular plugin, Divi has a huge and active community that you can engage with on the official forum or other unofficial groups.
Verdict
The final round is a clear win for Divi No matter whether you prefer DIY, community, or one-on-one technical support, Divi provides a number of channels to get it.
Visual Composer vs Divi: Which Is the Best Website Builder or You?
As with all good questions, the answer isn’t always clear-cut. If you look hard enough, you’ll find great reasons to sign up with either Visual Composer or Divi to build your next WordPress website.
Visual Composer is a long-standing veteran of the website builder industry and has matured into a powerful and robust tool with everything you need.
Along with a massive content library of templates and content elements, you really won’t be left wanting.
On the other hand, Divi’s all-powerful page builder is one of the top tools for beginners and pros alike. It’s one of the few frontend builders that are not only intuitive but genuinely fun to use.
Divi’s free content is almost as impressive as that of Visual Composer and now also features a fantastic theme builder.
In the end, Divi’s incredible support that you can call on from all angles, plus it’s top performance in all categories forces us to call it the overall winner.
Especially if you’re committed to your WordPress website, the lifetime access is incredibly cost-effective, particularly if you want to create a large number of sites.
So, which builder do you think you’ll go with for your next WordPress website project? Or, if you’ve used either Visual Composer or Divi before, let us know about your experience in the comments below.
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