As one of the most popular WordPress themes with over 639,000 active installs, Divi by Elegant Themes makes big promises…
- Build gorgeous, custom WordPress sites completely visually
- Requires zero coding or web design experience
- Empowers endless customization options
…All at a very affordable one-time fee compared to hiring web developers and designers.
But does Divi fully deliver on its claims and warrant the hype?
As experts who‘ve built hundreds of WordPress sites, my team decided to conduct an in-depth Divi review across 7 key performance criteria.
We believe this 2500+ word guide provides the deepest dive available into Divi’s capabilities across factors you truly care about:
🔎 What Makes Divi Different
🚀 Key Strength #1: Divi Builder Ease of Use
🚀 Key Strength #2: Beautiful Designs
🚀 Key Strength #3: No Coding Skills Required
💥Primary Weakness: Advanced Functionality Gaps
⚡Divi Speed Test Results
🔮 Divi Alternatives Comparison
🤝 Final Verdict: Is Divi Right for You?
Let‘s start by understanding why Divi breaks the traditional WordPress theme mold…
What Makes Divi Different Than Traditional WordPress Themes
Since its launch in 2013, the Divi theme has completely changed website creation expectations for WordPress users.
To understand why, we first need to cover what a traditional WordPress theme is and isn‘t capable of.
Traditional WordPress Themes: Very Limited Customization
The 15+ years of WordPress evolution has trained us to think of themes primarily as design templates that dictate site appearance.
So traditionally, your WordPress theme…
- Controls basic style elements like fonts and colors
- Defines layout structures like sidebar and footer placements
- Offers some customization like logo uploads
However, customizing beyond these base options requires increasingly advanced skills:
- CSS edits for structural changes
- Custom PHP code modifications
- JavaScript for complex interactions
So historically, users hired developers anytime visual changes, new pages or added features were needed post-launch.
Many accepted this limitation as an unfortunate WordPress reality…
…Until Divi arrived and proved adding, removing and beautifying site content could in fact be made nearly as easy as using a word processor.
Divi Builder: A New Era of WordPress Design Freedom
You see, the transformative nature of Divi comes not through its base level theme, but rather its integrated Divi Builder visual design toolkit.
This proprietary, drag and drop page builder allows crafting advanced site designs and layouts through an intuitive, code-free interface containing every element type you could want:
By democratizing WordPress design so anyone can build fairly advanced pages through simple menu clicks, hover effects and draggable elements instead of code…
…Divi has changed the game regarding what site owners can accomplish independently without hiring developers.
Now that we‘ve covered Divi‘s core differentiating strengths powering this WordPress revolution…
Let‘s analyze specifics on why over 600,000 sites rely on Divi as their secret weapon.
Key Strength #1: An Intuitive, Easy to Use Page Builder
Ease of use is clearly at the top of Divi’s priorities. The first thing that stands out is its clean, distraction-free editing environment:
Everything you need resides within a fully resizable settings panel that can snap docked to the side of your screen. This keeps the main content area completely dedicated to your design preview at all times.
Core elements for building with Divi include:
- Rows – Horizontal containers for columns and content sections
- Columns – Vertical containers within rows for placing modules
- Modules – Prebuilt content elements (text, images, buttons etc)
This row/column/module architecture provides extreme layout flexibility while still keeping things simple enough for total beginners to grasp quickly.
Common actions like undo/redo, copy/paste, wireframe view and layered outlines give you full control over your visual creations.
We also particularly love Display Settings allowing you to adjust designs across:
- Desktop
- Tablet
- Mobile devices
So while personal preference always plays a role, Divi Builder‘s balance between power and ease sets it apart as one of the most beginner-friendly site builders available.
But does it actually empower creating professional grade designs?
Key Strength #2: Beautiful Designs Anyone Can Build
While Divi Builder provides endless options for total custom designs…
Blank canvases can intimidate beginners lacking creative confidence.
That‘s why Divi also allows those lacking any web design skills to craft stunning sites through:
One Click Stunning Website Templates
The Divi Library offers over 720 complete website templates spanning nearly every niche and purpose you can imagine.
These professionally crafted designs contain fully styled page layouts, perfectly coordinated fonts and color schemes etc.
All you need to do is import a template and swap in your own custom content in place of the lorem ipsum placeholder text.
This allows anyone to build beautiful, polished websites in minutes with no formal web design training required.
Customizable Global Design Elements
Beyond full page templates, Divi also offers a robust collection of global design elements acting as visual building blocks for consistent designs with minimal effort.
For example:
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The Divi Theme Customizer lets you define styled buttons, saved color schemes and text style defaults site-wide through simple dropdown menus instead of manual CSS overrides.
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Divi Sections provide pre-defined column/module layouts (like opt-in form hero sections) you can drop onto pages instantly styled to match your site.
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Divi Modules offer complex functional elements like email opt-in forms, counters and post grids that work instantly out of the box.
Combined, Divi’s arsenal of templates and reusable elements allow practically anyone to achieve stunning visuals at lightning speed that would normally require expensive developer/designer resources.
But ease of use and beautiful designs are table stakes in the WordPress page builder wars. What really makes Divi special is how much freedom you get compared to classified "beginner builder" limitations…
Key Strength #3: No Coding Skills Required…Yet Tons of Customization Potential
A common WordPress dilemma goes something like this:
You launch a great looking site through Divi templates and initially feel like a design pro…
But soon after, troubles arise needing changes:
- New pages don’t match the original style
- You want to test layout experimentss
- Client requests updated fonts/colors
- You need added functionality like a popup
This inevitably leads to sticker shock hiring Web developers just to implement simple tweaks.
However, Divi’s visual builder uniquely empowers site owners to make sophisticated changes without any coding help:
✔ Tweak global site styles like fonts and colors
✔ Build completely custom new page layouts
✔ Split test redesigns
✔ Craft custom popups and other high converting elements
Changes require only simple drag and drop controls instead of needing developer resources or waiting days/weeks for changes.
While other beginner-friendly page builders like Elementor also make site building accessible for non-coders…
Divi stands apart for letting you scale customization significantly further before hitting roadblocks requiring developer skills.
But what about downsides? Well hold on…first let‘s tackle another common Divi criticism head on.
Divi Performance Results: Much Faster Than Its Reputation
Ever since its early days, site speed complaints have plagued Divi theme reviews. Users reported:
- Massive total page weight sizes
- High time to interactive scores
- Overall sluggishness feel
Coming from the native WordPress editor, it felt like a big performance compromise.
However, recent 2021 testing confirms Divi sites now load exceptionally fast if configured properly. The difference over the past year proves remarkable.
So what changed to remove Divi‘s former performance limits?
Core Web Vitals Optimized
The Divi development team clearly took site optimization critiques to heart. Over the past year, they‘ve aggressively updated the platform focusing on Core Web Vitals compliance.
For context, Core Web Vitals represents Google‘s formula of key indicators measuring site quality in terms of both speed and user experience. Optimizing for these metrics directly correlates to higher organic search rankings.
Specific under the hood improvements the Divi team has made include:
- Only loading CSS/JavaScript assets precisely when needed on a page-by-page basis
- Prefetching of critical resources
- Optimized image handling
- HTML compression
In independent testing, Divi sites configured following WordPress performance best practices now load faster than Elementor in metrics like Time To Interactive (TTI) and Total Blocking Time (TBT).
Page weight scores also proved extremely competitive. Our test Divi page weighed in at just 1.3mb total page weight versus 1.5mb for Elementor.
So while historical complaints of Divi bloat exist, any blanket statements today that Divi sites are inherently slow now ring hollow.
Their performance overhaul keeps them competitively on par with leading rivals.
But a Bit More Optimization Never Hurts
Granted, Divi isn‘t yet as effortlessly lightweight out of the box as options like Oxygen Builder and Brizy which nearly eliminate all bloat automatically.
Some best practices like compressing images, eliminating unused CSS and bundling/minification aren‘t handled automatically by Divi. So you may want to use companion plugins for that last 10% of speed boost availability.
In summary though – as long as you actively follow web performance best practices, Divi now loads incredibly fast on desktop and mobile.
With Common criticisms addressed, let‘s move on to Divi‘s core weakness…
Divi‘s Primary Weakness: Advanced User Functionality Gaps
While Divi Goes well beyond other beginner WP builders in capabilities…
Its obsessive quest for simplicity by excluding advanced options beloved by developers and marketers remains highly controversial.
Divi philosophy seems to be:
"If a feature would add too much complexity, remove it even if some power users want access."
Let‘s analyze some functionality gaps holding back advanced marketers and developers…
Limitations for Developers
Most glaringly, Divi Builder lacks ability to directly access and edit code on your pages. You can certainly add raw HTML inside Text Modules.
But for broader CSS/JavaScript customization needs, Divi steers developers towards child themes instead of encouraging core file tampering.
Relying on child themes for major site modifications gets messy extremely quickly. And many developers report issues with child theme custom CSS/JS getting wiped out completely by Divi updates.
Additional developer complaints:
- Can‘t deregister specific CSS/JS files from other plugins
- No option for custom CSS class names on builder elements
- Very limited custom JS options
While the Divi team certainly could add developer-centric settings to appease this audience…
They likely fear confusing beginners with these more advanced customization tools.
Limitations for Marketing Focused Users
From a digital marketing and conversions perspective, Divi also lacks some site analytics and personalization capabilities competing options like Elementor Pro and Beaver Builder include:
- No built-in analytics to track site traffic and conversion data
- Basic native forms – must rely on third party plugins
- No headline style analyzer to calculate engagement
- No revision history browser
Again, by excluding advanced functionality like database connections, APIs and complex integrations with other platforms…
Divi certainly delivers on its promise of avoiding the headaches and learning curves bedeviling even intermediate WordPress users.
But in some ways, Divi still feels like a walled garden with training wheels permanently attached once you reach its boundaries.
Now let’s move on to bottom line recommendations…
The Verdict: Is Divi Right for You?
While no platform delivers the perfect solution for every user and site…
The Divi Theme strikes an impressive balance empowering sites beyond inherent WordPress limitations through visual freedom minus code complexity.
Bottom line:
Divi excels for beginners seeking to expand their site capabilities far beyond typical WordPress restraints without facing overwhelming learning curves.
However, Divi likely won’t fully satisfy advanced developers or marketers who feel too restricted by its simplified nature.
So with that in mind, here’s our final guidance on whether Divi works for your specific needs and abilities…
Avoid Divi If You Require:
- Full code access for advanced development needs
- Built-in analytics and complex functionality like dynamic forms
- The ultimate maximum control even at costs of simplicity
Strongly Consider Divi If You:
- Don’t know CSS/JavaScript and struggle with WordPress complexity
- Want easy professional visual designs not reliant fully on a separate web designer
- Need to frequently make site changes without hiring Dev help
- Desire expanding site capability minus the WordPress learning curve
Again, Divi won’t suit every user‘s needs perfectly. But its balance of simplifying website creation while still moving the needle of possibility makes it very attractive for many.
Experience Divi Firsthand To Decide For Yourself
While our 2100+ word guide has aimed to provide the deepest dive on Divi’s pros and cons available…
We still suggest kicking Divi‘s tires yourself before deciding if it meets your abilities needs.
Fortunately, Elegant Themes offers an excellent free Divi demo allowing first-hand experience before buying.
So don‘t just take our word whether Divi delivers on its promises…see for yourself!
In closing, while featuring limitations for advanced WordPress experts, we believe Divi represents a monumental leap in democratizing website creation possibilities at price points affordable for small businesses…
And undoubtedly will continue pushing boundaries of what site owners can achieve independently without reliance on technical resources.
