Divi vs Webflow, Which Is Better?

As a Webflow professional, I have to first say that Webflow overall is going to be a much more robust design tool when it comes to creating websites. However, before moving over to Webflow I used WordPress pretty extensively. More specifically the Divi theme. While I’m for team Webflow, I think Divi is still a great tool for the right user. Understanding the differences between the two and which option is best for you will make sure your business is set up to scale. As a seasoned user of both platforms I want to outline the pros and cons of each. Let’s dive into how Divi and Webflow stack up against each other in these key areas, starting with ease of use.

Divi vs Webflow

Let’s give a quick background on each platform.

What is Divi?

Divi is a WordPress page builder and theme. It is an extension of WordPress that allows users to turn their WYSIWYG editor into a drag and drop page builder allowing users to visually build their website without coding. As of this writing Divi claims to have almost 975 thousand users. With its easy to use drag-and-drop interface, extensive library of templates, and flexibility, it’s one of the best options for WordPress users. 

What is Webflow?

Webflow is an all in one website platform. Unlike Divi it is not built upon WordPress or another web platform. Webflow is a standalone page builder, designer and publisher where users can “code” visually. As of April 2024, it claims to have over 875 thousand designers and developers using the platform.

‍

Ease of Use

Both platforms are made to be easy to use but the user that each platform caters to is going to have a different skill set and possible different goals. 

Learning Curve

Overall, Webflow has a steeper learning curve compared to Divi. Though Webflow is a visual page builder, it’s a page-builder that allows users to code visually. What does that mean? Webflow makes the assumption that users have a basic understanding of HTML and CSS and how different elements naturally fall on a page. Instead of dragging and dropping objects on a page, Webflow utilizes a design interface that allows users to select HTML elements such as divs and links, and style those visually by selecting CSS elements such as background color, layout and typography settings.

Divi on the other hand is a true drag and drop page builder, meaning users can literally drag objects where they want them on the page. This makes Divi more intuitive for users less familiar with code to be able to start building quickly. However the ease of use also comes at a cost to customizability. WIth Divi, you’re mostly limited to selecting a premade grid layout before you start dragging and dropping items on the page. Being restricted to these options does create more of a potential for the site to look templated and less custom.

Setup

Webflow also wins when it comes to setting up a project. Because Webflow is a web based platform, starting a project is essentially as easy as creating an account and clicking “add new site”. There’s no requirement to set up hosting or a staging environment before getting started. Webflow takes care of the setup allowing its users to start building faster.

Because WordPress is not an all in one web based platform, there are a few extra steps to get it set up before you can start using Divi. Users will need to either have hosting or some sort of staging environment with WordPress loaded before Divi can be added as a theme. While there are plenty of dedicated tools out there that make setting up WordPress easier, this generally takes more steps. The setup process can become even more challenging for users who are not familiar with how hosting or staging environments work. 

‍

Design Flexibility and Customization

Design customizability is one of the most important differences between any page builder or content management system. For the most part, designers, developers and casual users want to be free from design restrictions when customizing their website. However with more customization comes more complexity. Let’s look at how Webflow and Divi stack up against each other for design flexibility and customization.

Customization Options in Divi vs. Webflow

Before we talk about customization let’s set the context. Technically both of these platforms have the ability to make some very unique and highly customized websites. But this is really more dependent on the capabilities of the designer or developer building the website rather than the platforms themselves. I’ve seen plenty of awesome websites built in both Divi and Webflow. I’ve also seen some pretty bad ones built in each. So let’s just focus on each platform’s capabilities out of the box assuming no additional development or custom coding is going to go into either.

Out of the box, Webflow wins when it comes to customization. Overall it has more options for adjusting the underlying code of a web page which gives it more control of the end result. As I mentioned above, Webflow isn’t just designing visually, it’s coding visually. Having access to create your own layouts using HTML and CSS allows users to make layouts as complex or simple as needed without restriction. This also makes the webflow interface more challenging to master. More customization equals more complexity, remember?

Divi’s user interface is much more intuitive for the casual user while still offering a decent amount of options for customizing. For those that don’t need to be creating custom layouts and are happy working with the usual grid layout, Divi makes this easy and quick for users to put together.

Pre-made Templates: Quantity and Quality Comparison

Both Webflow and Divi have the option to purchase premium themes for users that want work off of a starting point. In Divi’s case these are technically what is known as child themes, essentially themes within a theme. Elegant Themes, Divi’s parent company has a number of options on its marketplace that can be sorted by industry or use. Webflow also has a marketplace where users can find inspiration and download ready to use themes.

Animations and Interactions

After creating websites on both platforms that leverage animations, I think Webflow is the best choice for creating interactive websites. Its interface is fairly simple to use and allows for some pretty advanced animations without any coding knowledge. This blog post also comes on the heels of Webflow’s announcement that it has acquired GSAP, an advanced JavaScript library used for creating advanced animations. This all but ensures that Webflow’s animation and interaction features are likely to grow more thorough in the coming year.

Divi allows for some basic preset interactions. With Divi users can create basic animations such as fade in, bounce, and slide in. Divi’s animation functionality is also much easier to use than Webflow’s more advanced interface, but as I’ve mentioned this simplicity means less options. Overall Divi’s ability to create animations is nowhere near as robust as Webflow’s but will be more ideal for the casual user.

‍

Performance & Speed

Every website is going to be different when it comes to speed and performance. This makes it tricky to say whether one platform is going to be better than another. However, I do think there’s a case to be made on which is better based on each platform’s features. First off, let’s talk about plugins.

WordPress Plugins

Third-party plugins give WordPress and therefore Divi a lot of power. Through plugins you can add the features needed for certain functionality such e-commerce or search engine optimization. Plugins however have a few big drawbacks. 

Plugins by nature add additional code to a WordPress website. Most third party plugins come with unnecessary code that can bloat a website’s code base. This leads to slower load times and even laggy performance. Using multiple plugins can exacerbate this problem further by adding conflicting or duplicate code as well.

Webflow on the other hand does not rely on plugins (for the most part). While this was a big differentiator between the two platforms early on, Webflow does have options for apps that can be added on to increase functionality. However, Webflow overall is much less reliant on third party apps. Instead of leveraging plugins for some common items like submission forms or SEO, Webflow has these options already built into the platform natively. This focus on creating an all encompassing product keeps Webflow’s code base more simple and likely faster loading.

Hosting

Where a website is hosted and the quality of the hosting service will have a big impact on its performance and load times. Your hosting service can impact everything from speed, reliability, security and more. When it comes to hosting, Divi and WordPress give a lot more options over Webflow, but I think this is actually a drawback in this case.

Since WordPress/Divi is open source, the files and code can essentially be downloaded and installed on any hosting service. This gives a lot of flexibility of what hosting service can be used as well as a lot of variations. Divi features its top recommended platforms for hosting on its website but it's ultimately up to users to decide and figure out what will be best for them.

Since Webflow is a cloud-based platform, users are tied to hosting their website through a Webflow site plan. I would argue this gives Webflow the ability to really focus on optimizing their hosting and content delivery network to their platform. This allows Webflow to optimize for load times and up time. This also allows Webflow to give additional benefits to its users like security, and staging environments. Having Webflow’s entire team backing your website also makes sure that the latest and greatest technology is being deployed at no additional effort to you.

‍

SEO Capabilities

Webflow is the clear winner when it comes to SEO capabilities. While neither Webflow nor Divi are technically SEO tools, they do require some search engine optimization features to be effective website building platforms. Let’s look at a few key functionalities that make Webflow a clear winner here.

Built-in SEO tools and features

Webflow trumps Divi when it comes to built in features. On the surface Webflow’s interface allows users to easily enter in title and meta descriptions right on the page settings. This is a little more complicated with Divi. Users will need to first enable these features and then create custom fields for each SEO element. This is not an easy task for novice users and an extra step that really seems like it should just be a built-in feature of Divi. To be fair, Divi likely isn’t trying to be an SEO tool since so many better plugins like Yoast SEO already exist but I do think having these bare minimum options is a no-brainer for those that don’t want to pay the $99 per year cost of tools like Yoast.

Webflow on the other hand goes beyond just these base features and gives additional options that make it more attractive and easier to implement key SEO elements. This includes features like sitemap editing, redirect management and easy options for configuring CMS options like schema markup.

Third-party Integrations and Plugins for SEO

As I mentioned Divi is technically not an SEO tool so I feel it’s only fair to mention plugin options here as well. Since Divi is WordPress based, it’s going to have a lot more third-party options when it comes to SEO tools. Yoast SEO being the biggest plugin out there. Yoast has a few extra options that Webflow does not as of yet that are worth mentioning. First, Yoast has adopted AI for helping generate titles and meta descriptions. This is great for users who are new to SEO. Yoast also has an option for targeting up to 5 keywords to rank for on a page, further helping dial in your title tags, meta descriptions and your content overall.

‍

Cost & Pricing

Webflow and Divi’s pricing vary fairly dramatically depending on what your requirements are. Overall Webflow is a much more inclusive platform when it comes to the features it offers but this also makes it more expensive on the surface. Divi is on the opposite end of this spectrum, keeping its offerings more focused on the page builder aspect but offering a more competitive pricing. Let’s start by just looking at the pricing models of each of the base products.

Pricing Models

Divi has two packages, their base plan and their pro plan. At $89 and $277 per year respectively, the Divi Pro plan comes with some additional features targeted for web professionals who are likely building websites for clients. This includes features such as a multi-site manager, AI tools, cloud storage and premium support. Beyond this Divi also has a lifetime payment plan for each of these different packages that puts their base plan at $249 and their pro plan at $295. Each of these plans allow for unlimited uses making it very attractive to those who are not interested in another subscription. 

Webflow on the other hand comes with 4 different pricing plans and corresponding packages–Basic, CMS, Business and Enterprise. The CMS plan will meet most users' needs so I’ll focus on that. The CMS plan comes in at $29 dollars per month or $276 if paid yearly. This makes it significantly more expensive than Divi but remember there’s a lot that you're getting for this price.

Cost of Additional Features

When looking at all that you’re not paying for with Divi the prices can add up quickly. Assuming you have the yearly base plan of $89, there’s still a couple of other items you’ll need to pay for to get the same features that Webflow offers. The two key features I see that are not included in Divi’s pricing are hosting and an SEO tool. In order to add those on you would need to pay $216 per year at Siteground (Divi recommended hosting) and $84 per year to Rankmath for SEO features (Divi SEO partner). With these added costs the total annual cost of Divi sits closer to $389 making it about 40% more expensive than Webflow.

‍

Support & Community

Questions and problems are inevitable with any website platform and having the right community and support to lean on will help overcome these when they arise. Things like video tutorials and documentation can help you learn the platform ins and outs while forums can help address less common issues and even be an opportunity to network. Let’s take a look at the learning, community and support options of each platform.

Learning Platforms

I truly think Webflow’s Webflow University is hands down one of the best web learning platforms out there. It’s clear they’ve put a lot of time and resources into not only making these videos informative but also entertaining. If you’ve ever watched one of their tutorials you can tell that the company puts a lot of its personality into each video through the quirky jokes and character interactions. This focus on the learning platform is not only helpful for learning but it's also a great marketing strategy for adoption.

Beyond the entertainment and quality factor, Webflow University has a well organized dashboard that’s got video tutorials, full courses, documentation, interactive learning and even certification. The dashboard comes complete with an easy search option to help find any topic you might be looking for some answers on.

Divi’s learning platform isn’t necessarily bad, it’s just not as robust and likely doesn’t have the same type of resources that Webflow has. Divi or Elegant Theme’s learning platform consists much more of articles rather than videos or interactive tutorials. Unlike the Webflow dashboard Divi’s learning center is set up in more of a blog and page format making it a little more challenging to navigate. That being said it does have a search option to help filter through the 10 or so pages of training material.

Support

Support is an area where Divi shines. Divi’s support channels are much more responsive, meaning you can get help more quickly. Webflow requires the traditional route of submitting a ticket and then waiting for a support agent to respond. Unless you are on Webflow’s Enterprise plan support tickets don’t explicitly give a turnaround time. Divi on the other hand handles all of its support tickets and questions through a chat feature that links you up directly with an agent. This could be helpful if you need quick support and would rather work one on one with an agent 

Community

Both Divi and Webflow have fairly good communities behind them making them both fairly equal in this area. Webflow’s own forum is a great place to ask questions that are outside of the purview of their support team. Divi also has a forum that can be searched to find answers to less common questions. Beyond their own platforms both Webflow and Divi also have a great community following on platforms such as Youtube. A quick search of either platform on Youtube will show plenty of creators that specialize in making content specific to each. 

‍

Security & Updates

As I already mentioned, WordPress’s reliance on plugins plays a big part in security and updates for Divi. Webflow handles all software updates as well as security for its users while Wordpress and Divi pass this responsibility on to their users. This comes with some advantages and disadvantages for each.

Security

When talking about security there are plenty of ways that your website and the data it works with can become compromised. For WordPress, poor hosting services can more easily open your website to malicious code. Out of date or poorly built plugins can also do the same. This makes WordPress and Divi a little more hands on when it comes to securing. If you’re planning on using WordPress you will want to make sure you choose a reputable hosting service as well as have someone consistently staying up to date on plugins. There are plenty of services that do offer these services for WordPress users. WP Engine is a popular service that will handle WordPress maintenance for its users. However, this comes at an additional cost not already factored in (WP Engine starts at $20 per month or $240 per year). 

Webflow’s cloud based nature takes the bulk of these challenges away from users without additional costs. Rather than users being reliant on third parties making these updates, Webflow has its own security team that regularly tests and monitors for attacks. Webflow also hosts through Amazon Web Services (AWS) one of the most trusted hosting providers for large organizations. This doesn’t mean Webflow is perfect. Users will still need to utilize best practices when it comes to protecting passwords and other sensitive data.

Updates

Similar to security Webflow pushes all software updates to users without need to make updates  automatically. While some users have reported that they have experienced problems after updates, these issues are extremely few and far between and Webflow support is quick to help address them when they do arise. Overall Webflow’s automated updates take away a lot of the burden that WordPress users are used to and allows users to focus more on the front-end aspects of managing a website.

‍

Who Each Platform is Best for

Now that we’ve gone through some of the pros and cons of each platform above, let's break down the best use cases and who each platform is going to be best suited for.

Who is Divi Best for?

If you read the entire article you’ll probably guess that Divi (and WordPress) are going to be better platforms for the more casual user. Divi’s has a much flatter learning curve when compared to Webflow making it ideal for users who probably aren’t going to be web design professionals. However, simplicity does come at a cost when it comes to customization. Despite the easy to use page builder, Divi still only has premade layouts and options leading to designs that can look templated and less original.

Despite being an easier platform to learn initially Divi does have its drawbacks when it comes to some other important metrics like, search engine optimization capabilities, speed, performance and security. Most casual users will have a little more challenging of a time optimizing for these items without a little more experience. That being said, there are plenty of add-on or third-party services that can manage each of these metrics for users at an additional cost.

This brings me to my last point, Divi overall is a great deal when it comes to price. However, users should understand that there’s a lot of things Divi doesn’t give you (see paragraph above) that you’ll likely need to pay for in addition to a license.

Overall Divi is a good deal for small businesses and DIY users who don’t plan on being web design professionals, just plan on paying more for anything beyond the page builder.

Who is Webflow Best for?

Webflow has a much steeper learning curve, but it’s great for those that plan on being website professionals such as web designers, web developers and even marketers. Webflow is a visual page builder that utilizes a design interface where users can select and style HTML elements visually. Naturally users will need a little more knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript and other internet technologies to really be able to harness its full potential. Users that are able to do this will have much more control when it comes to customizing their designs to meet their needs.

Webflow also is great for users and teams that want an all in one platform for managing their website. Rather than having services like hosting, search engine optimization capabilities and security being handled by a third-party, Webflow incorporates these directly into their platform. This makes Webflow’s pricing a little more appealing when compared to Divi.

Overall, Webflow is going to be a great platform for users that are more technical and who are looking for an all in one solution.

‍

Conclusion

Ultimately, the platform that works best will depend on your needs. As someone who has used Divi I think it’s a great option for small businesses and casual users but when it comes to the scalability and customization options I’m a strong proponent of Webflow. This conclusion shouldn’t come as a surprise considering this website is built on Webflow. For those that are looking to get the best of both platforms I would recommend having a qualified individual build a Webflow site for you. This bypasses the learning curve necessary to get started and a skilled Webflow designer can build a site that is easy to manage without needing the ability to learn the platform themselves. 

If you’re in the market for a new website or updating your current one, our team can help build you a website tailored to your needs. Submit an inquiry to our team here and we would be happy to help.

‍