WPBakery: Pros and Cons Compared to Other Page Builders

wp bakery

Advantages of WPBakery

1. Bundled with Many Themes

  • Many WordPress themes on ThemeForest come with WPBakery built-in (often free), so you don’t need to buy the plugin separately.

2. Rich Element Library

  • WPBakery provides a variety of drag-and-drop elements like text blocks, images, videos, carousels, tabs, accordions, etc.—sufficient for most types of websites.

3. Backend and Frontend Editor

  • You can build pages both in frontend (live view) and backend (grid-style editor), offering flexibility that some builders don’t.

4. Beginner Friendly

  • The interface is simple and logical, making it easy to use for those who don’t have coding knowledge.

Disadvantages of WPBakery

1. Outdated Interface

  • Compared to Elementor or Divi, WPBakery’s UI is less modern and intuitive, especially in frontend editing mode.

2. Limited Customization

  • For advanced layouts and visual effects (parallax, animations, etc.), you often need add-ons or custom CSS.

3. Heavy and Slower Pages

  • Pages built with WPBakery may load slower due to bloated HTML code and less optimized output.

4. Shortcode Dependency

  • WPBakery uses shortcodes for layout. If the plugin is deactivated, your page will display a mess of shortcodes.

5. Poor Gutenberg Integration

  • Not fully compatible with the default WordPress Gutenberg editor, which can limit future scalability.

👉 Quick Comparison with Elementor

CriteriaWPBakeryElementor
Modern UI❌ Outdated✅ Very modern
Ease of use✅ Fairly easy✅ Extremely easy
Customization❌ Limited✅ Flexible
Page speed❌ Can be slow✅ More optimized
Live editing✅ Available✅ Better experience
After uninstalling❌ Shortcodes remain✅ Clean content

Conclusion

  • WPBakery is suitable if you’re using a theme that includes it, need a simple solution, or are working on a short-term project.
  • But if you want better scalability, performance, modern design, and SEO-friendliness, then Elementor or Gutenberg (with supporting plugins) is a better long-term choice.