Best Drag-and-Drop WordPress Theme Builders Of 2023
What is a Drag and Drop WordPress Theme Builder? A vast majority of WordPress users decide on using this platform for its ease of use. The requirement for coding is minimum, in some cases it is nonexistent. This is arguably one of the biggest WordPress “selling” points.
There is nothing wrong with that, of course, you should dedicate your time to make the best content. Besides, adding new features or altering WordPress themes would be tricky if you were to change it by hand.
This is where WordPress page builder plugins enter the story. Drag and drop WordPress theme builder is a type of plugin that lets you pick content elements and simply drag them wherever you want. Not only do you not need any coding knowledge, but you can also use a single theme to make millions of designs.
Contents:
What To Look For In Drag And Drop WordPress Theme Builder Plugin
Since most of these tools belong to the premium WordPress plugins category, we need to be careful about what we are getting. Some of them can be good in theory, but just don’t play well with other plugins.
So, let’s see what you should worry about when buying one.
Is it compatible?
Sometimes, the plugin can have a code that in one way or the other interferes with the code of others. This can also be the case with the plugin being incompatible with the WordPress version itself. This often leads to errors, so be sure to look out for it.
Does it come with good features?
Having lots of great options is always a plus, but sometimes the developers exaggerate them a little. This is why you should always try a demo first.
What about SEO?
Being SEO friendly is a must nowadays. Don’t worry though, all plugins on this list comply with that rule.
Does the plugin create responsive designs?
Having a design that breaks or slows down under certain circumstances is not ideal. Your page builder must be able to create responsive designs.
So, let’s just move on to the list, shall we?
Best Drag And Drop WordPress Theme Builder – The List
The experience and workflow are subjective issues, so you might not like the interface of some plugins on this list. Objectively, though, their functionality is at the top of their category.
All in all, this list has no special order, we are just listing our top picks.
Elementor
Having a free version is what gives Elementor the edge from the start. In addition, consider the fact that it has 3 million + active installations. That is insane!
What sets Elementor apart is that:
- It is really fast, “a speed no other page builder can match”.
- This plugin is truly live, you get an instant overview of the final look while you edit.
- With Elementor you also get special features like Box Shadows, Hover Effects, Animations and much more.
- It comes with 100+ templates, hence makes your job even easier.
- The editing is really responsive, from changing the font size to column ordering.
- You can start from scratch with a blank page template. This way you don’t have to rely on the default layout of the theme. (no headers footers to worry about)
- In addition to all other features, you also get a good number of widgets that make the whole designing process a breeze.
Besides having a free version, there is also Elementor Pro with three payment plans:
- Personal – this package costs $49 / year and it comes with 50+ Pro WordPress widgets, 300+ templates, and both support and updates for 1 year. This plan is available for 1 site only.
- Plus– will cost you $99/ year and the perks are the same as the “personal” one but it is available for 3 sites.
- Expert – this package, costing $199 / year, allows you to use the plugin on 1,000 websites.
Divi Builder
Another very popular drag and drop WordPress plugin brought to you by Elegant Themes. This tool can help you build faster, optimize and have complete design control over your site.
The only downside of Divi builder is that it can’t be bought alone, it is a part of the Divi theme pack. This does not mean it is any less useful though, the Divi is the most popular theme for a reason.
Divi drag and drop WordPress page builder prides itself on:
- Being a type of WYSIWYG editor (What You See Is What You Get). Therefore, just like Elementor, this popular WordPress plugin is truly live.
- Custom CSS control – you get the chance to link Divi builder controls with your own CSS. This way you get even more design freedom.
- Responsiveness, it provides. It gives you a full overview of what your page will look like on mobile phones and other devices. No additional setup required.
- Dozens of elements that can help you customize layouts exactly the way you like.
- Option to save your designs – you can save and re-use them to increase the speed of your workflow.
- 100+ full WordPress website packs that you get for free. You can use these as a whole, or break them apart to create new looks.
Aside from having a live demo on their site, Divi comes with two payment plans:
- Yearly Access – for $89 / year you get Divi, Extra, Bloom and Monarch, hundreds of website packs, and both the updates and support.
- Lifetime Access – will cost you $249 (1-time payment). It is essentially the same as yearly access, but you only pay it once.
Beaver Builder
Beaver Builder is a complete design package for your WordPress site. (It includes both the drag and drop WordPress plugin and a proper theme).
Features you get with Beaver Builder are:
- A good number of page templates you can combine or use as a whole.
- Precise positioning of images and text with drag and drop method.
- The builder comes with a specialized theme (“the last theme you’ll ever need” according to wpbeaverbuilder.com)
- Separation of themes and page builder – you can use the plugin with any theme without losing content.
- Live frontend editing – just like the two previous plugins, this one is WYSIWYG too.
- It is SEO friendly – it also works perfectly alongside Yoast SEO.
- With Import and Export options you can share your work with others or transfer your design to your other sites.
You can try it on the official site, and payment plans are as follows:
- Standard – the price is a one-time fee of $99. You get page builder plugin, support for 1 year and premium templates.
- Pro– costing $199 will, aside from the standard features, give you a Beaver Builder theme and multisite capability.
- Agency – costs $399 and has all the perks of the former two but also gives you the “White Labeling” option. (basically, you get to rebrand the plugin texts)
WPBakery Page Builder For WordPress (Visual Composer Website Builder)
Should you trust 4,3 million+ users (some of them are big companies like Forbes and TechRadar)?
We would assume so, yes.
So, what do you get with this plugin?
- Intuitive WordPress frontend editor – you can create great looking sites with no prior coding knowledge with a couple of clicks.
- A site builder that works with any theme.
- 50+ elements out of the box, and 250+ extra add-ons containing hundreds of available elements.
- Skin Builder, a tool with lots of design options you can use to create perfect WordPress designs.
- Online template library that gets frequent updates.
- The chance to expand plugins functionality by changing functions.php, or adding shortcodes in Shortcode Mapper.
- Advanced Grid Builder – a grid tool helping you to display things in grid form.
- Responsive mobile-ready design – no need to adjust anything extra, your design will work on all devices from the start.
Apart from a “free test drive” to use this plugin you need to pay:
- $45 for “Regular” pack that you can use on a single site, free updates and access to templates.
- $245 for “Extended” which lets you use it in a single SaaS application, both updates and support, and theme integration.
Themify Builder
As well as being a great alternative to the previous entries, this plugin is completely free. Additionally, It is compatible with all the plugins that use the latest coding standards, so no worries there.
Let’s see what Themify builder has in store for us:
- Very intuitive backend and frontend interfaces allow you to make changes and edit really fast.
- You can instantly see your alteration with the Live Preview feature.
- Undo and redo options for those unsure of the changes they make.
- You can import and export modules from one user to another. (e.g. send your client new design options)
- Copy and paste or duplicate modules and rows can really speed up your workflow.
- Free element order with builder’s column options.
- Whole layout parts can be used and updated simultaneously. If you edit a specific layout part, it will automatically update itself wherever it was used.
- 60+ animation effects will help your site stand out instantly.
- Custom styling choices including different Google Fonts, slider backgrounds, video backgrounds, parallax scrolling and much more.
- Codes that meets all modern coding standards, making the plugin responsive, SEO friendly and resource cost efficient (plugin comes with own cache system).
- It uses WordPress editor for rich text formatting, HTML and shortcodes.
We mentioned the free version, but there are also two more options available:
- The builder addon bundle you can get for $39. This pack comes with the plugin and all add-ons available on Themify.
The second option is one that includes Themify themes:
- Single Theme costs $59 and gives you 1 theme, one year support and updates, and the Themify Builder of course.
- For Master Club, you must pay $89. This choice will get you 42 Themes with PSD (Photoshop) files, 12 plugins, 25 builder addons, 5 PTB add-ons, support, and updates. It also includes future themes addons and plugins.
Thrive Architect
Maybe a little less known, this builder still brings quality drag and drop WordPress theme customization to the table. It is built for business professionals and sites that focus on conversions.
Let’s see the features it offers:
- Works “at the speed of thought” is what its developers describe it as. We can’t argue with that.
- The changes are live, everything you do affects your site instantly.
- 320 page templates make it very easy for you to make perfect sales pages, opt-in pages and more!
- You can replace a lot of plugins with conversion focused elements, included in Thrive Architect. Things like customizable buttons, countdown timers and testimonials are all a part of the Thrive Architect package.
- With very adjustable columns, custom fields, and horizontal opt-in forms there is not much holding you back from making a site tailored to your needs.
- It is also optimized for blogs, having elements like highlight boxes, lists, media, click-to-tweet quotes and more.
- Flexible column layouts will definitely speed up your design process right from the start.
- Color and gradient overlay – Pictures make your site more visually appealing, however, if you choose to put a text over them, in most cases they make it difficult to read. That’s why you can use overlays and make that text pop.
- Having over 700 custom fonts, what you can visualize, you surely can create.
- Full-width capability – you can create a section that spans the entire screen with no limitations from the theme itself.
This WordPress Theme builder is a premium plugin and available plans are:
- Thrive Membership – for $19 / month, you get all Thrive plugins and themes, install on up to 25 websites, 320 landing pages, both unlimited updates and support.
- Single License – this version will cost you $67 and give you all of the features and the possibility of installation on one site.
- 5 License Pack – costs $97 (down from $335) and includes all features and can be installed on up to 5 websites.
But Wait, I Only Need A Drag And Drop Builder For A Contact Form Page
Oh, ok, we got you covered.
WPForms
Among other successful endeavors, Syed Balkhi and his team managed to make one of the best contact form plugins. 2 million + users now have a lot of time to spare, and it is all thanks to them!
With WPForms you get:
- Easy to use drag and drop building method you can use to create forms in minutes.
- Lots of form templates so you don’t start from scratch.
- It also has a mobile ready interface.
- Instant notifications system.
- Easily collectible payments and orders.
- A smarter workflow that saves time.
- All of the elements you would ever need to make an efficient form.
- Protection from spam, using both smart captcha and honeypot.
- Section dividers, custom CSS and HTML blocks that can help you customize your WordPress forms completely.
The price plans for this plugin are:
- Basic – costs $39.50 / year. With this pack, you get unlimited form and entries, advanced fields, form templates, file uploads, spam protection, 1 year of support/downloads/updates. All this is available for one site.
- Plus– costing $99.50 / year will, aside from the basic features, give you newsletter forms, mail chimp, AWeber, GetResponse, Campaign Monitor and Drip. You can install it on 3 sites.
- Pro – costs $199.50 / year and has all the perks of the former two but also gives you Paypal and Stripe support, form landing pages, surveys and polls, geolocation, Zapier, signatures, user registrations, offline forms, and more. This is all available for 5 sites.
- Elite – for $299.50 / year you get everything from previous ones plus client management, WordPress multisite support, and all that available for an unlimited number of sites.
Bonus tip of the day
Your speed tests are showing undesirable results? You are not happy with your current WordPress hosting or WooCommerce hosting service?
Why not change the hosting provider, and stop all the hustle. The VPS hosting services may still be expensive, but it’s worth it. Not only that you’ll increase your speed, but also reliability. Some providers even give amazing discounts. (SiteGround coupon, and Bluehost coupon were recently available on certain sites) So, what are you waiting for?
WordPress Theme Builder – Conclusion
To sum up, if you were on a lookout for page building plugins for WordPress, this article was a great place to start. Besides, the list of WordPress page builders compared against each other must’ve at least put you on the right track.
Lastly, if you are interested in more WordPress tutorials and lists, check the rest of our WordPress blog here.