When we talk about the speed and performance of a page builder, we're actually talking about two different things: 

• Backend Performance: This is about how fast and responsive the page builder interface is for you. Think about how quickly the editor loads, how smooth dragging and dropping elements feel, and how fast changes are saved. A builder with good backend performance makes your workflow much smoother and less frustrating.
• Frontend Performance: This is the speed your visitors experience. It's how quickly your actual web page loads in their browser. Metrics like how fast the main content appears, how soon it becomes interactive, and the total loading time fall into this category. This directly impacts user experience and SEO.

Both aspects matter for a successful website. You don't want to use a builder that's super-fast to work with but produces slow-loading pages, or vice versa.

With this out of our way, let's now look at how Divi and Elementor perform in both frontend and backend speed.

Divi vs Elementor: Performance Test Environment

To truly compare the speed impact of Divi and Elementor, we created two clean WordPress sites. This allowed us to ignore the effects that other plugins might have on performance metrics.

We set up our testing environment carefully using the following:

• Server: A DigitalOcean server with 1 vCPU and 1GB of RAM, located in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
• WordPress Installation: A fresh, clean WordPress 6.8 installation for both sites.
• Theme: The lightweight Twenty Twenty-Five default WordPress theme.

To check the performance across various metrics, we used Google PageSpeed Insights and GTmetrix tools.

For consistency, we ran the GTmetrix tests from London, UK, using a Chrome browser on a Broadband connection (20/5 Mbps).

Before installing any page builders, we tested both sites with just WordPress and the theme. This gave us a performance baseline. Crucially, this baseline test confirmed that both sites produced near-perfect performance scores.

Now that we have a baseline to compare, we'll install Divi on one site and Elementor on the other. On both sites, we'll create three types of test pages to cover different scenarios.

Divi vs Elementor Performance Test #1: Simple Page

First, we’ll look at the performance impact on a simple page. This page is built using only basic elements like text and buttons. This helps us see how the builders affect straightforward layouts.

Backend Performance

For simple websites with just a few pages, both Divi and Elementor editors generally feel responsive. While there’s often a slight, negligible delay when you first open the page in the editor, adding basic elements and adjusting settings feels quick in both interfaces. We didn’t notice any significant lag during the editing process for this basic page.

If we consider specific tasks, adjusting padding and margins can feel different. 

Divi offers both manual input for precise values and a drag-and-drop method for visual adjustments.

While this visual method is intuitive, setting precise values can sometimes require a bit of back-and-forth. Elementor, on the other hand, only provides direct manual input for precise values, which can feel more direct for setting exact spacing values.

Frontend Performance

Now, let's see how fast this simple page loads for your visitors. We'll conduct tests using Google PageSpeed Insights and GTmetrix and focus on key metrics that impact user experience.

For the simple page built with Divi, here are the Google PageSpeed Insights results:

And here are the GTmetrix test results:

For the simple page built with Elementor, here are the test results from Google PageSpeed Insights:

And here are the GTmetrix test results:

Let's put the key metrics from both builders' side-by-side in a table to see the direct comparison for the simple page:

Metric	Divi Simple Page	Elementor Simple Page	Notes
PageSpeed Mobile Score	95/100	93/100	Green for both.
PageSpeed Desktop Score	100/100	99/100	Green for both.
First Contentful Paint (FCP)	2.3 seconds	2.6 seconds	Both scores are in the 'good' range
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)	2.4 seconds	2.6 seconds	Both scores are in the 'good' range
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)	0	0.001	Divi achieved a perfect score.
Speed Index	2.3 seconds	2.6 seconds	Divi is slightly faster.
Total Blocking Time (TBT)	0 ms	0 ms	Both achieved a perfect score.
Fully Loaded Time	1.3 seconds	1.4 seconds	Divi is slightly faster.
Total Page Size	464 KB	354 KB	Elementor has a smaller page size.
Requests	25	38	Divi made fewer HTTP requests.

On this simple page test, both builders performed really well, achieving good scores across the board for frontend speed. 

Divi held a slight edge in most speed metrics like FCP, LCP, Speed Index, and Fully Loaded Time. Divi also produced a perfect CLS score and made significantly fewer HTTP requests. Elementor, however, resulted in a slightly smaller total page size for this simple layout.

Divi vs Elementor Performance Test #2: Moderate Page

Next, we’ll look at the performance impact of a more moderate page, similar to what you might find on a typical brochure site. This page contains images and icons along with widgets and modules from each page builder. We've made both pages identical in design to ensure a fair comparison.

Here’s how both pages look on the frontend:

Backend Performance

Moving to a moderate complexity page means the editor has more elements and settings to handle. At this level, both Divi Builder and Elementor editor generally remained quite responsive.

However, with more content on the page, you might notice subtle differences in Divi, especially on less powerful hosting environments. Tasks such as opening the module settings, switching between different tabs, or duplicating and moving elements can sometimes feel less immediate.

The same is not the case with Elementor. The module settings are always displayed in the sidebar, and you can instantly switch between different tabs without any noticeable delay.

Frontend Performance

To see how these moderate pages perform, we'll use the same tools.

Here are the Google PageSpeed Insights results for the page built with Divi:

And here are the GTmetrix test results for the same:

For the moderate page built with Elementor, here are the test results from Google PageSpeed Insights:

And here are the GTmetrix test results:

To make it easier to compare the results, here's a side-by-side look at the key metrics:

Metric	Divi Moderate Page	Elementor Moderate Page	Notes
PageSpeed Mobile Score	91/100	88/100	Green for Divi.
PageSpeed Desktop Score	99/100	95/100	Green for both.
First Contentful Paint (FCP)	1.8 seconds	2.5 seconds	Both scores are in the 'poor' range.
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)	3.3 seconds	3.0 seconds	Both scores are in the 'poor' range.
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)	0.029	0	Elementor achieved a perfect score.
Speed Index	3.0 seconds	4.8 seconds	Divi is slightly faster.
Total Blocking Time (TBT)	0 ms	0 ms	Both achieved a perfect score.
Fully Loaded Time	1.4 seconds	2.0 seconds	Divi is slightly faster.
Total Page Size	638 KB	449 KB	Elementor has a smaller page size.
Requests	28	53	Divi made fewer HTTP requests.

Looking at these metrics, Divi shows slightly better performance in the PageSpeed Insights tests, with higher mobile and desktop scores and faster FCP and Speed Index compared to Elementor. Divi also achieved a better Fully Loaded Time and made significantly fewer HTTP requests. 

However, Elementor resulted in a lower page size and a slightly faster LCP, despite having more requests.

Divi vs Elementor Performance Test #3: Complex Page

Finally, we'll test the performance impact on a more complex page. For this test, we've created a page featuring a query loop, which dynamically pulls and displays blog posts. This type of dynamic content adds complexity and is more demanding on page builders.

Here’s how it looks on the frontend of both websites:

Backend Performance

Working with complex pages, especially those with dynamic elements like query loops, can significantly impact the backend editing experience. In our testing, we did experience some lag, particularly with the Divi Builder, but it wasn’t anything major.

However, other users have reported different experiences. According to discussions on Reddit, both Divi and Elementor can face significant challenges with backend speed on complex layouts. For example, a Divi user described the backend as slow and laggy on complex pages, with the editor sometimes taking 30-40 seconds to open, occasionally showing "out of memory" messages or requiring reloads. Saving changes or switching between frontend and backend editing modes is also sometimes reported as very slow for Divi.

Similarly, an Elementor user mentioned the editor being very slow, taking up to 10 seconds to load or simple clicks taking 3 seconds on pages with deeply nested structures.

If you’re going to work on complex pages like this, we’d strongly recommend that you do so on a powerful machine as well as a server with lots of RAM.

Frontend Performance

Now, let's see how these complex pages, particularly with the dynamic query loop, perform. Like previous tests, we'll look at results from both the Google PageSpeed Insights and GTmetrix.

For the complex page built with Divi, here are the Google PageSpeed Insights results:

And here are the GTmetrix test results:

For the same complex page built with Elementor, here are the test results from Google PageSpeed Insights:

And here are the GTmetrix test results:

To easily compare the performance differences, here's a side-by-side comparison of the key metrics:

Metric	Divi Complex Page	Elementor Complex Page	Notes
PageSpeed Mobile Score	77/100	86/100	Orange for both.
PageSpeed Desktop Score	83/100	91/100	Green for Elementor.
First Contentful Paint (FCP)	2.9 seconds	2.7 seconds	Both scores are in the 'poor' range.
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)	4.7 seconds	3.2 seconds	Divi score is in the ‘worse' range.
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)	0	0	Both achieved a perfect score.
Speed Index	3.6 seconds	4.7 seconds	Both scores are in the 'poor' range.
Total Blocking Time (TBT)	0 ms	0 ms	Both achieved a perfect score.
Fully Loaded Time	1.8 seconds	1.6 seconds	Elementor is slightly faster.
Total Page Size	723 KB	924 KB	Divi has a smaller page size.
Requests	36	61	Divi made fewer HTTP requests.

For the complex page test with a query loop, Elementor showed significantly better frontend performance. It scored better than Divi in all of the PageSpeed Insights metrics despite having a larger page size and more HTTP requests.

This notable difference, especially when compared to simpler pages, shows Elementor can handle dynamic data and complex structures more efficiently.

Divi vs Elementor: Code Output Quality and Bloat

Page builders make creating layouts easy, but they do this by generating the underlying code for you. The quality and amount of code they generate can significantly impact how fast your pages load.

If the code is presented in a complex structure, it means the browser has more work to do to display your page. This is often referred to as "code bloat."

Both Divi and Elementor have faced criticism for this in the past. They add their own wrappers, classes, and scripts to create excessive and deeply nested div elements. They also tie styling to specific elements rather than reusable classes, which adds to the CSS size.

To get a clearer picture of this code bloat, let's create three different pages and look at the HTML output. 

For the first example, we’ll add a basic heading element using each builder on a blank page.

Next, we’ll create a page with a simple form element.

Finally, we’ll create a basic query loop, similar to the complex page test we performed earlier.

After looking at the HTML output, here's what we found:

Element	Divi Div Count	Elementor Div Count
Heading	2	4
Contact Form	4	7
Query Loop	14	11

These simple tests show you how much extra code each builder adds, even for basic elements like headings and forms. This extra wrapping creates a more complex DOM structure that browsers need to process. 

Interestingly, the pattern we see here is quite similar to the frontend performance results from earlier. Remember how Divi often had a slight edge in speed metrics on our simpler and moderate pages? That aligns with Divi adding fewer divs for basic elements like headings and forms.

However, for the complex page, Elementor's frontend performance was significantly better. This also aligns with the Query Loop HTML output, where Elementor added fewer divs (11 vs Divi's 14). 

The similarity suggests that the way each builder structures its code plays a real role in the page performance.

Divi vs Elementor - Who Wins in Speed?

Choosing between Divi and Elementor can be tough, especially if you’re looking to create a fast-loading website. Both are powerful page builders, but their performance impacts differ depending on the type of page you build.

As you've seen from our tests, the results aren't always identical across every scenario and page type.

For simpler and moderate layouts, Divi often held a slight advantage in frontend speed metrics. This aligned with our code bloat tests, where Divi added fewer divs for basic elements.

The picture changed significantly on our complex page test, particularly with the demanding query loop. Here, Elementor clearly outperformed Divi with better code output and performance scores. This suggests that Elementor appears to perform better for complex pages, while Divi might be a better option for simple and moderate pages.

However, you should be aware that both these builders are considerably slower than a builder like Breakdance, which was optimized for speed from the outset. Here's a relevant video:

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