Choosing the Right WordPress Page Builder: What We Learned After Years of Using Avada

WordPress comes with Gutenberg, the block editor that’s been standard since 2018. For straightforward blog posts and simple pages, it gets the job done. But if you’ve ever tried to create a custom landing page, build a complex homepage layout, or design something that breaks free from the basic blog template, you’ve probably hit its ceiling pretty quickly.

That’s where page builders come in. These plugins let you drag and drop your way to custom layouts without writing code. Sounds perfect, right? Except there are dozens of them out there, each with devoted fans claiming theirs is the best. Elementor, Beaver Builder, Divi, WPBakery, Bricks, Oxygen, and the list goes on.

We’ve tried most of them over the years. Some we loved initially and grew to hate. Others seemed limited at first but proved their worth over time. Eventually, we settled on Avada’s Fusion Builder for the majority of our client work. Let me walk you through why that decision makes sense for us and what you should consider when making your own choice.

The Page Builder Landscape: What’s Out There

Before diving into our specific choice, it helps to understand what you’re choosing from.

Elementor is probably the most popular page builder on the planet right now. It’s powerful, has a massive template library, and the free version is actually useful. The interface is slick, and there are tutorials everywhere because half the WordPress world uses it. But it can slow your site down if you’re not careful, and once you start adding third-party Elementor add-ons, things can get messy fast.

Beaver Builder is the choice for people who care about clean code and long-term stability. It’s less flashy than Elementor, but it’s rock solid and won’t break when WordPress updates. Developers love it. The downside is fewer bells and whistles out of the box.

Divi from Elegant Themes is an entire ecosystem. It’s a theme and a builder combined, which means amazing integration but also serious lock-in. If you ever want to switch themes, you’ll be rebuilding pages from scratch. That’s fine if you’re committed, but it’s something to consider.

WPBakery (formerly Visual Composer) has been around forever. It’s included with a lot of themes, which is both good and bad. Good because it’s familiar to many users. Bad because it generates messy shortcode-based content that’s a nightmare if you ever want to switch builders.

Then there are newer, performance-focused builders like Bricks and Oxygen that appeal to developers who want complete control and lightning-fast sites. They’re powerful but have steeper learning curves.

What Actually Matters When You’re Building Real Sites

Feature comparisons sound great on paper, but here’s what actually matters when you’re trying to launch a website on a deadline:

Can you build what you need without fighting the tool? Every builder has its own logic and limitations. Some make certain layouts effortless while making others frustratingly difficult. You won’t know this until you actually try building something real.

How’s the performance? Page builders add code to your site. Some are optimized well. Others turn your homepage into a bloated mess that takes five seconds to load. Performance isn’t just a nice-to-have when you’re trying to rank in Google or convert donations on mobile.

Is it actively maintained? WordPress updates constantly. Your page builder needs to keep pace. Check the update history. If it hasn’t been touched in six months, that’s a red flag.

Can your clients use it? If you’re building sites for organizations, the staff members who’ll be updating content probably aren’t developers. The builder needs to be intuitive enough that someone can add a new team member bio or update an event without calling you in a panic.

What happens if you need to switch? This is the question nobody wants to think about, but it matters. Some builders lock you in with proprietary shortcodes. Others generate relatively clean HTML that survives a migration.

Why We Use Avada’s Fusion Builder

After working with multiple page builders across dozens of client sites, we settled on Avada for most of our projects. Here’s why.

It’s a complete system, not just a builder. Avada is a theme that includes Fusion Builder, and that integration matters more than you’d think. The builder and theme are designed to work together, which means fewer conflicts, better performance, and options that actually make sense together. We’re not duct-taping separate tools and hoping they play nice.

The flexibility is real. Fusion Builder gives us enough control to create truly custom designs without needing to write custom code for every unique request. Need a complex pricing table? It’s built in. Custom testimonial layouts? Covered. Unique homepage sections? No problem. We’re not constantly hunting for third-party add-ons to fill gaps.

Performance is solid. Avada gets criticized sometimes for being “heavy,” but in our experience, when you build intentionally and don’t go crazy with animations and effects, sites load fast. We’ve launched Avada sites that score in the 90s on Google PageSpeed. It’s about how you use the tool, not just which tool you choose.

Clients can actually use it. This is huge. Fusion Builder has both a front-end and back-end editor, so clients can choose whichever feels more comfortable. The interface is intuitive enough that we can hand off sites to non-technical staff with a quick training session, and they’re updating content confidently within days.

Updates are consistent. Avada has been around since 2012, and the team behind it takes maintenance seriously. Regular updates mean compatibility with the latest WordPress releases and ongoing improvements. We’re not worried about waking up to a broken site after a WordPress update.

Support is there when we need it. When something weird happens (and with WordPress, something weird always eventually happens), Avada’s support team has been responsive and helpful. That peace of mind matters when you’re running an agency.

The Honest Drawbacks

Avada isn’t perfect. No page builder is.

The admin interface can feel overwhelming at first because there are so many options. New users sometimes get lost in all the settings. We’ve learned to create streamlined setups for clients that hide complexity they don’t need.

Avada also requires purchasing a license, and it’s per site. If you’re building tons of sites, those costs add up. For our agency model working with mission-driven organizations on longer-term partnerships, the investment makes sense. If you’re a freelancer cranking out dozens of quick sites, the math might be different.

And while Avada is flexible, it does have opinions about how things should work. If you want absolute pixel-perfect control over every element, you might find yourself wanting more. For 95% of projects, it’s more than enough. For that other 5%, we’ll write custom code or use a different tool.

Making Your Own Choice

Should you use Avada? Maybe. It works for us because of the type of sites we build and the clients we serve. Your situation might be different.

If you’re building simple sites and want something lightweight, Beaver Builder might be a better fit. If you’re already deep in the Elementor ecosystem and it’s working, there’s no reason to switch. If you’re a developer who wants maximum control and minimal bloat, check out Bricks.

The right page builder is the one that lets you build the sites you need to build without constant frustration. Try a few. Build actual pages, not just test layouts. See which one feels right when you’re three hours into a project and need to make one more adjustment before launch.

For us, that’s Avada. After years of building WordPress sites for nonprofits and startups, it’s become the reliable tool we reach for first. It’s not perfect, but it gets our clients launched with sites they can manage themselves, and that’s what actually matters.