WordPress is the most popular CMS. When it comes to customizing your WordPress site, two popular options are using page builders or using themes. Page builders provide with the functionality to create and modify pages from scratch with lots of settings. On the other hand, themes provide full site customization options along with readymade designs.
Understanding the differences between these two approaches is very important to make an informed decision.
In this post, I have tried to cover the details and major differences between WordPress themes and page builders. By the end of this post, you will have a clear answer to what to choose.
Let’s start, then.
A theme is a framework or template that determines the visual appearance and functionality of a WordPress website. It provides the structure to the overall design and layout of a website. You can load a theme to your website to change your content and customize the look, including fonts, colors, and layouts.
Nowadays, themes come with a complete package; all you have to do is install and then import the demo. Later on, changing images and texts is all you have to do.
WordPress is an open-source platform; for this reason, there are thousands of free and paid themes. As a WordPress user, you can install a theme from anywhere. The most popular places for paid themes are ThemeForest, Envato, etc.
Every theme varies from each other, and premium themes always come with extra features and facilities that free themes don’t provide. In earlier days, themes had customization options in WordPress for customizing the website(There are still a lot of themes available with Customizer). It was very much limited, and one had to take the help of page builders. But now WordPress has introduced FSE (Full Site Editor) to themes.
With the help of full site editing, one can create everything visually, that a website needs. Most of the popular themes come with this feature. FSE is fast, developer-friendly, and, most importantly, free. Themes with FSE don’t require the page builder and let one create whatever he wants. The biggest benefit is you control everything from one place.
A page builder is a tool that allows users to design and create web pages easily without writing any lines of code. It comes with a visual interface, typically with a drag-and-drop functionality that allows a user to arrange all the elements of a page.
There are many limitations in the default editor of the WordPress, and page builder works here, providing with more features and functionalities. Nowadays, page builder comes with pre-designed layouts that allow one to create a page instantly. Later on, that page can be customized as the user wants.
Some page builders also provide advanced features like third-party integration, custom coding, predesigned sections, etc.
One of the major issues of a page builder is that if you change your theme at a later time, all your customizations will be lost. Your new theme settings will override all the customizations you have made.
WordPress Themes vs Page Builders
Let’s assume that you are in need of a website; which one are you going to choose? You can choose a theme and use the Full site editing option, or you can use a renowned page builder. To reach a conclusion, we need to understand both and how similar or different they are from each other.
Here, I am going to start the comparison with the editor interface of both.
Editor Interface
Let’s take a look at the editor interface of Theme first.
Theme’s Editor Interface
First, let’s see the interface of the Themes editor. When you navigate to Appearance -> Editor, you are taken to the editor interface of the theme.
This editor is very different from any page builder and earlier version of WordPress customizer.
In the beginning, you might think that ‘This isn’t the whole site, and where are the editing options?’ Well, everything is here; all you have to do is hover your cursor to the place where you want to customize.
For example, if you want to customize the header, all you have to do is click on the header and then hover the cursor over the header. You will find the option to add, edit, and other options to customize the header.
To add a new block, click on the Add block (‘+’ icon) button, and you will be able to add you’re required block in the place you want.
Apart from that, you will also be able to customize the block in the way you like.
The default page that open for customization is the home page; you can always choose the page that you want to edit. Just check at the top middle, and you will find all your pages there.
Alternatively, you will be able to add pages from the templates and template parts. Everything you do in the editor is fully visible and looks exactly the same. You won’t have to leave your editor to customize your website.
Page Builders Editor Interface
There are a lot of page builders available on the internet; among all the page builders Elementor, WPBakery, Divi, and Thrive Architect are the noteworthy ones. The working method of all the page builders are almost the same, therefore, I am taking one as an example.
Here, I will be showing details about the Elementor page builder.
Elementor is one of the most popular page builders that is used to develop a website in WordPress. After creating or opening a page, you have to click on ‘Edit with Elementor’ to edit that page with Elementor.
Then its editor interface will open. Almost all the page builders have the same editor layout. Here you have to drag and drop elements to create your website page. After inserting an element, you will be able to customize it from the right sidebar.
Elementor comes with a detailed level of customization options; the interface comes with a huge panel of options. If you are a newbie, then it will take a lot of time to make a perfect section or page. But if you are a pro or used to with page builder then you can customize your page in the way you want.
If you don’t wish to create a section from scratch, you may insert blocks that match your section.
If you are in a hurry and want everything done for you, then you may insert a readymade page that has been created by Elementor for you.
Performance
Nothing can beat the default feature and functionalities in terms of performance. The themes that come with full site editing or Gutenberg based was a concern for people at the earlier stage. As it was immature, people thought this to affect the workflow or content creation.
But now the theme’s full site editor is working butter smooth and provides the best performance related to all other page builders in the platform. A page builder has many dependencies and many issues, whereas a Full site editor has very few.
I have been using the block editor since the very beginning. After the full site editor was introduced, I started using the themes, full site editor. Through these days, I have never experienced any lag using the theme’s full site editor. The editor works perfectly even though I have lots of tabs opened in my browser.
On the contrary, I have faced a lot of issues with page builders. They lag; if you keep one page in an idle state, it may not respond easily, etc.
The main part is when you measure the site performance in Google Page Insight or GtMetrix; you will always find higher scores for your site built with the full site editor of a theme. On the other side, you will see poor scores with page builders (or relatively low). Later on, by considering changes in the design, you may be able to increase the score.
Therefore, it is safe to say that A theme’s full site editor is much ahead in the competition of performance against page builders.
Ease of Use
Ease of use is another crucial factor when you are comparing the Full site editor of the theme with the page builder.
Theme Full site Editor’s Ease of Use
The full site editor is mainly based on Gutenberg, and since Gutenberg was launched, it was not that much popular. At that time, people were switching to page builders due to ease of use. At that time, page builders were providing drag-and-drop UI.
It was easier for people who were new, but still bringing perfection to a website was the task of a pro developer.
The full site editor makes it more easier; you won’t have to go through lots of complex settings, and you won’t have to take the hassle. You will easily find blocks, move them, delete them, or do anything you like at ease. Moreover, everything can be done from one place.
If you have been a page builder user, then it might take some to get adjusted. But I can assure you that you will love the Full site editor of the theme.
Page Builder’s Ease of Use
Though page builders got a new competitor, that doesn’t mean page builders are of no use.
Page builders were built in a way so that one can easily and quickly build a page. With page builders, you get ready-made sections and pages. These are very useful for a personal website or small website. But if you are a moderate or a big company owner, those are not that much handy, instead, you will find them useless as you require a unique design and customize everything.
To create a page with perfection, you have to have moderate to advanced knowledge regarding that page builder else you will end up creating a page that you might not like it. Besides, you have to upgrade to the pro plan to use the premium features. Which is a big hindrance to your development.
If you are happy with the readymade sections and pages that is offered by page builder, then page builder is a great ally.
Key Differences
The fundamental difference between the Page builder and themes full site editor is in their scope of influence. While a page builder focuses solely on individual pages, theme’s full site editor enables users to control the website’s structure and layout. Theme’s full site editor introduces a top-down approach, where changes are made in one area, and it automatically propagates through the whole site, ensuring coherence and consistency.
Choosing The Right Tool
After using both page builder and theme’s full site editor, I can say that theme’s full site editor is simpler, easy to use, and, most importantly, it provides you with the performance that you are looking for.
The best part is Full site editing is Gutenberg, and it is now becoming more popular than any other editor. Developers have already started making add0ons and plugins that add new blocks to the editor.
But if you require granular control over individual pages and like to use readymade sections or pages, then a page builder might be the perfect fit for you. Conversely, if you seek a comprehensive solution that will allow you with global design control and efficient site-wide management, then the theme’s full site editor is a more powerful and unified approach.
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