Divi vs the block editor
Divi or the block editor? We built the same site in both.
Short answer: pick core WordPress if you want no third-party dependency and you have a developer, and pick Divi if the people maintaining the site need to change the page without one.
{ The short answer }
Divi or the block editor: which one is better?
This is the comparison with the most at stake, because one side is free and already installed. Core reproduced the design exactly. It also needed six separate workarounds to get there, where two other themes in this project needed none, and four of those six were WordPress's own doing rather than the theme's.
0
What core's own payload costs
We scored the page with core's own assets in place and with them removed. Zero point difference, zero variance across every run on both presets. Core itself is the cheapest thing we measured.
6
Workarounds needed to get there
A classic theme lets you own the page template and simply not emit the theme's markup. A block theme gives you no such escape, so the wrappers have to be neutralised one at a time. Two of them cannot be removed at all.
Both builds reproduce the same design from the same stylesheet. Read the full write-up, or see the detailed the block editor comparison.
{ What each costs }
What do the block editor and Divi cost in 2026?
The block editor costs nothing. It ships with WordPress, needs no third-party theme and no builder, and this build used no plugin of any kind. Divi is $89 a year, or $249 once for unlimited websites, with Divi Pro at $277 a year.
What core costs you is not money. It is the six workarounds, and the fact that you cannot delete what you do not like.
Prices checked on each vendor's own pricing page on 13 September 2026: Divi and Twenty Twenty-Five.
{ Who should pick which }
Who should pick the block editor, and who should pick Divi?
Pick core WordPress if you are porting a fixed design and you have a developer. There is no vendor, and the only dependency is WordPress, which matters if the site has to still work in five years.
Do not pick it if you have no developer. The editing experience here is good because someone wrote 362 controls by hand. Out of the box core gives you nothing resembling it, and the honest comparison then is core blocks against Divi, which core blocks lose.
Pick Divi if your client needs to change the page without a developer, and lock the Theme Builder down at handover.
And if you would rather we just built it for you: we will work in whichever of these you want. We have shipped sites on the block editor and we will do it again if that is what suits your team. We are not going to talk you out of a tool you already like.
Our preference is Divi, and this page is roughly why. Not because it wins on weight, because it does not, but because its problems are visible and fixable and its builder is one a client can actually learn. When something goes wrong in Divi you can see it. That matters more over five years than any single score.
Comparing a different pair? We built the same page against Elementor, GeneratePress, Kadence and Astra too, and the full write-up with every measurement in one place is in the main article. If you want to see how we work in Divi day to day, that is on the Divi developer page.
New sites start at $2,400, and you get a fixed price to approve before anything starts, so there is no hourly meter running while we work it out. You can scope out your entire project on the pricing page, or tell us what you are building and we will price it for you.
{ Keep it growing: monthly care & retainers } · month-to-month, cancel anytime
Care
$300 / month
Keep your site updated, secure, and online.
- Core, plugin & theme updates
- Daily backups
- Security & uptime monitoring
- Small fixes
- Priority support
Best value
Grow
$650 / month
Maintenance plus steady monthly momentum.
- Everything in Care
- Monthly content & page updates
- Performance & SEO monitoring
- A dedicated dev block
- Monthly check-in
Dedicated
From $5,000 / month
A true extension of your team.
- Everything in Grow
- Larger dev allocation
- Roadmap & strategy planning
- Priority availability
- Quarterly reviews
Prefer to itemize? Build your own estimate on the pricing page.
{ FAQ }
Divi vs the block editor questions, answered.
Should I build my site on Divi or the block editor?
Both reproduced this design exactly, so fidelity does not decide it. Core WordPress got there with no plugin and no third-party theme, which is a real result, and it needed six separate workarounds to do it where Divi needed none. Core is free and already installed. Divi costs a licence and gives a client an editor they can open without training. Pick core if you want nothing between you and WordPress and can absorb that setup work.
What does a custom WordPress site cost to build?
Builds start at $2,400. Most sites land between $2,400 and $6,500 depending on how many unique page layouts you need and how much has to integrate with something else. The pricing page has the full breakdown and a calculator you can run yourself, so you can get to a number without talking to anyone first.
Do I have to build on the platform you recommend?
No. We build on whichever platform you want. We prefer Divi, for the reason above: it is the one place you can hand someone a drag-and-drop editor they already understand and still own every line of the theme underneath it. If you would rather stay on the block editor, that is a normal request and it changes nothing about how the work is done.
Can you move my site from the block editor to Divi?
Yes, but it is a rebuild rather than an import. The platforms store pages in completely different formats, so nothing converts automatically. Your design, content and URLs carry over. The page structure gets built again. Worth knowing before anyone quotes a migration like it is a small job.
Will I own the site and the code?
Yes. When the build is handed over it is yours, theme files included. There is nothing locked to us and nothing you have to keep paying us to keep the site running.
Can you build from a design I already have?
Yes, and it is the exact thing this project tested. We took one finished design and rebuilt it into six platforms without changing a pixel, and all six reproduced it. If you arrive with a design from Figma or from another designer, the platform is not going to be the constraint.
Have a project in mind?
Tell us what you're building. You'll get a fixed price to approve before anything starts.