Divi has become a leading WordPress theme and page builder, powering nearly 1 million websites with its versatile design options and intuitive Visual Builder. Its rise in popularity stems from its ease of use and ability to create stunning, professional websites without extensive coding. However, we know Divi 4 isn’t perfect.
Through user feedback from forums, social media, and our research, we’ve heard your frustrations loud and clear. Performance issues, an outdated codebase, a clunky interface, and limited design flexibility are a thing of the past in Divi 5. These insights have shaped the evolution of Divi 5, and a complete rewrite of Divi’s core is how we’re addressing these pain points head-on.
In this post, we’ll discuss Divi 4’s most common criticisms and explain how Divi 5 delivers a faster, more scalable, and modern solution.
👉 Divi 5 is ready to be used on new websites, but we don’t recommend converting existing sites to Divi 5 just yet.
Divi 5: Where We Are And What’s New
Divi 5 is in its Public Alpha phase, a major milestone that invites users to test new features on new website builds. Until a full release is available, this phase lets you explore the revamped Visual Builder, improved speed, and enhanced design flexibility of Divi 5. We’re committed to continual updates, ensuring ongoing improvements driven by your input. While we work towards a full release targeted for Q4 2025 – Q1 2026, we’ll be adding new features and working out the kinks.
Key New Features In Divi 5
- A Modern Codebase: Divi 5 delivers a faster, more responsive Visual Builder, eliminating Divi 4’s code bloat by loading only the modules you need.
- No More Shortcodes: Say goodbye to shortcodes in Divi 5. Built on an HTML-5-based system, Divi 5 slashes bugs, boosts compatibility, and aligns with modern WordPress standards.
- Enhanced Visual Builder: The Visual Builder’s UI has been completely transformed with light and dark mode, dockable panels, tabbed windows, keyboard shortcuts, and a more intuitive Layers View with breadcrumbs for effortless navigation.
- Nested Rows and Module Groups: Create complex, responsive layouts with Nested Rows for infinite nesting and Module Groups as versatile, reusable containers.
- Divi AI: Divi AI has been fully integrated into Divi 5’s Public Alpha phase, bringing the ability to generate text, code, images, sections, and full layouts.
- Customizable Responsive Breakpoints: Divi 5 introduces seven adjustable breakpoints (versus three in Divi 4) to give you precise control over responsive designs, ensuring layouts shine on every device.
- Preset-Based Design: Divi 5 introduces a preset-based design approach, allowing users to create Element Presets and Option Group Presets that provide more control over your site’s look and feel.
- Design Variables: Create global defaults using Design Variables for setting fonts, colors, typography, links, and more, via Divi 5’s new Variable Manager.
- Attribute Management: Divi 5’s new Attribute Management system allows users to copy, paste, and reset style and content settings to promote design consistency throughout your Divi websites.
- Advanced Units: Divi 5 expands on units like vw, vh, rem, and em in Divi 4 to include Advanced Units like calc() and clamp() for spacing and typography, and CSS units like min, max, unset, and more.
Divi 5’s Public Alpha is your chance to experience a smarter, faster, and more flexible Divi.
Common Complaints About Divi
Based on user insights and our research, we’ve identified the most common user frustrations with Divi 4 and how Divi 5 directly addresses them. Below, we outline these pain points and how Divi 5 addresses them.
1. Performance And Speed Issues
Divi 4’s Visual Builder is slower than you would want, with complex pages taking longer to load due to Divi 4’s underlying architecture which made it difficult to scale. A common complaint we see from our users is that the Visual Builder lags during the editing process, is riddled with unnecessary animations, and takes time when swapping breakpoints.
As a result, designing pages with Divi 4 can take longer, frustrating users.
How Divi 5 Addresses The Problem
Divi 5 is built from scratch to be lean and modular, loading only the modules and features you use. This eliminates unnecessary processing, making the Visual Builder faster and more responsive. By adopting the same HTML-5-based storage format as Gutenberg, Divi 5 removes shortcode processing entirely (unless in backward compatibility mode — see below), ensuring a snappy editing experience and faster page loads.
We’ve also revamped how module settings are handled, so the front-end outputs only the customized styles and markup, keeping things efficient. With over a decade of experience behind it, Divi 5’s new foundation delivers a smooth, future-ready performance that testers praise for its speed and fluidity in the Public Alpha phase.
Divi 5 In Backward Compatibility Mode
For pages with legacy Divi 4 shortcode-based modules, Divi 5 ensures they render correctly by loading the Divi 4 framework alongside the streamlined Divi 5 system. This prioritizes compatibility but may slightly impact performance. To keep things efficient, the Divi 4 framework only loads on pages with legacy modules, so the rest of your site fully benefits from Divi 5’s speed improvements.
2. Outdated Shortcode-Based System
Divi 4’s reliance on shortcodes creates compatibility issues with modern WordPress, leading to frustrations like complicated theme switches. With Divi 4, switching to a different theme is difficult, often requiring users to rebuild sites from scratch when migrating away from Divi.
When Divi 4 is deactivated, the content is wrapped in shortcodes generated by the theme, making switching themes difficult and cumbersome. This has contributed to potential Divi users finding more modern applications, like Bricks or Gutenberg, for cleaner transitions when theme switches are necessary.
How Divi 5 Addresses The Problem
Divi 5 eliminates shortcodes, adopting a clean HTML-5-based storage format that aligns with WordPress’s block editor. This shift reduces bugs, simplifies migrations, and ensures future-proof scalability. Elegant Themes’ Discord community feedback has reported smoother theme transitions with no shortcode-related errors during Alpha testing.
3. Clunky Interface
Divi 4’s Visual Builder is often criticized for its cumbersome user experience, which requires excessive clicks and slows down the design process. The Layers View, a critical navigation tool, is cluttered and not dockable, making it difficult to manage complex layouts efficiently. Users, especially beginners, find the interface unintuitive, with a learning curve that requires time and patience.
The clunky interface increases design time, which can increase frustration. Beginners struggle to locate settings or understand the workflow, while more seasoned users waste time navigating nested menus and the Layers View popup, which must be perpetually moved around the layout as you design. This can reduce productivity and alienate users seeking a more streamlined experience.
How Divi 5 Addresses The Problem
Divi 5 transforms the Visual Builder with a sleek, user-centric UI designed to minimize friction and enhance productivity. For instance, tools like dockable panels allow users to pin frequently used settings, and tabbed windows make it easier to navigate module options. Additionally, the revamped Layers View is now compact and dockable, and there is now a breadcrumbs feature that makes it easier to navigate your layouts without getting lost in nested structures.
These changes create a fluid, responsive editing experience that feels modern and efficient.
4. Limited Advanced Layout Features
Divi 4’s layout system is a significant pain point for designers. It lacks modern Flexbox support and relies on rigid row structures that restrict creative freedom. Building complex layouts, such as dynamic portfolios, intricate pricing tables, or multi-column designs, often requires using a specialty section, custom CSS, or other workarounds, which feel outdated compared to other builders. This rigidity stifles creativity, forcing users to overcome limitations to achieve modern, visually sophisticated designs.
The lack of flexible layout tools in Divi 4 forces designers to spend extra time on custom solutions to achieve desired results, significantly increasing development time and frustration. This puts Divi at a disadvantage against competitors like Elementor and Bricks, which offer more advanced layout features out of the box. For users aiming to create responsive, complex layouts without coding, Divi 4 often feels restrictive and time-consuming.
How Divi 5 Addresses The Problem
Divi 5 redefines design flexibility with new features that allow users to create complex, modern layouts without touching a line of code (unless that’s your thing). The introduction of Nested Rows allows for infinite nesting, allowing designers to build multi-layered row structures for galleries, team member showcases, and more.
Module Groups act as versatile containers, offering advanced styling options to create cohesive, visually dynamic sections.
Seven Customizable Breakpoints provide granular control over responsive design, ensuring flawless layouts across devices, from mobile phones to widescreen desktops.
While Flexbox support is not yet introduced, we’re laying the groundwork for it, so expect it to be released soon. Adding support for Flexbox will further enhance layout precision and flexibility and work hand-in-hand with Module Groups to keep designs clean and reusable.
Other features, like Advanced Units, include CSS functions like calc() and clamp(), while Design Variables enable side-wide styling consistency with minimal effort.
Attribute Management streamlines workflows by letting users copy, paste, or reset styles across elements, significantly cutting design time.
These tools make Divi 5 a powerhouse for creating sophisticated, responsive designs that rival and surpass competitors, all within an intuitive environment.
5. Limited Blog Module And Gallery Module Customizations
Divi 4’s Blog and Gallery Modules lack the flexibility for modern, dynamic designs, forcing users to rely on third-party plugins or custom code to create layouts like masonry grids, custom post feeds, or stylized gallery displays. This limitation hinders users from achieving unique, visually appealing content presentations without additional tools.
Users face extra costs and spend significant time on workarounds, frustrating those seeking native, seamless solutions within Divi. This reliance on third-party plugins complicates workflows and undermines Divi’s all-in-one appeal, especially compared to competitors offering more robust content customization options.
How Divi 5 Addresses The Problem
Divi 5 addresses this limitation of the Blog and Gallery modules with the upcoming Query Loop Builder, which will change how users create and style dynamic content with Divi. The Loop Builder allows users to build fully customizable loops for any post type, including blogs, galleries, and projects, using Divi’s entire suite of modules within the Visual Builder.
Custom loops allow designers to create templates for repeating content, like masonry grids or dynamic post feeds, without plugins or coding. For example, a user can build an event layout with a mix of image modules, text modules, and buttons, then apply it to a loop of events, controlling posts that appear via query options. You can also incorporate Module Groups and Nested Rows to create perfectly styled (and reusable) layouts to showcase your content with style.
6. Perception Of Lagging Behind Competitors
At Elegant Themes, we’re committed to delivering a web design experience that evolves with the needs of our users and the WordPress ecosystem. Some have wondered if Divi can keep up with the fast-paced world of page builders. The answer is a resounding yes and we’re doing it faster than ever.
How Divi 5 Addresses The Problem
After two years of intensive refactoring, we’ve rebuilt Divi from the ground up with a modern architecture that positions us to outpace the competition for years to come. This overhaul allows us to roll out new features every 1-2 weeks, delivering speed, flexibility, and innovation to our users. Our accelerated development cycle means you’re not just getting a page builder that meets today’s standards. You’re getting one that’s always a step ahead.
Divi 5’s speedier Visual Builder and front-end rendering, combined with full compatibility with WordPress’s block editor, ensure a seamless and future-proof design experience. Features like Design Variables allow you to make site-wide styling changes with a single click.
Meanwhile, Preset-Based Design streamlines workflows by enabling consistent module styling, whether through Element Presets for entire modules or Option Group Presets for reusable settings like border styles.
With a modern codebase and a quick pace for feature releases, Divi 5 isn’t just catching up. It’s setting the standard for what a page builder can be.
The Future Of Divi 5
The Divi 5 Public Alpha has sparked enthusiasm among testers, who are happy with its transformative advancements. Early adopters praise the faster Visual Builder, describing it as a drastic update from its predecessor. Features like Nested Rows and Module Groups make complex layouts possible, while Divi AI’s ability to generate content and layouts offers time-saving potential. However, we realize some users await full Flexbox support, the Query Loop Builder, and upcoming features before embracing Divi 5.
We deeply engage with our community. First, we actively respond to feedback. We are incorporating user-driven features. This collaborative approach ensures Divi 5 evolves to meet our users’ needs.
The lack of a confirmed release date puts some off, and we get it. However, we want to provide the best version of Divi possible, which takes time. Currently, we are actively releasing new features, fixing bugs, and scanning user input for more improvements.
Therefore, we invite you to download the Divi 5 Public Alpha, test its powerful features on new projects, and share your feedback via our sales/support chat, social media platforms, or by commenting on our Divi 5-related blog posts. Your input is critical in shaping the final release, helping ensure Divi 5 meets and exceeds expectations. So, dive in and help us build the future of WordPress.
Embrace The Evolution Of Divi
Divi 5 marks a significant leap forward, directly addressing key user complaints about Divi 4 with a modernized, user-focused approach. It tackles performance issues through a faster Visual Builder and improved front-end rendering. Plus, it eliminates shortcodes by utilizing a modern framework and delivers a streamlined UI with intuitive navigation. Designers will also find much-improved layout flexibility thanks to Divi 5’s new features and the foundational groundwork for Flexbox support. Divi 5’s advancements will allow you to easily create complex, responsive layouts in less time.
We understand if you’re currently on the fence about adopting Divi 5. However, it’s fully functional and ready for new projects. If you’re starting a new project that doesn’t require third-party integrations, we encourage you to explore Divi 5 and join our interactive community. Your feedback is essential to the ongoing development of Divi 5 and will directly shape its final release.
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