Speed is essential for online stores, and at WooCart, the first hosting built exclusively for WooCommerce, we want to help store owners build the fastest store possible.
The same way themes affect the page speed, page builders do as well.
We wanted to do these page builder speed tests so that everyone understands the performance compromise when working with them. Performance is often overlooked in favor of design, even though in the case of online stores, it should more often be the other way around.
The 2021 test was done in March.
Overview
- Which page builders did we test and how?
- Which is the fastest WooCommerce page builder tested?
- Analysis of the WooCommerce Page Builder Speed Test
- Speed Testing Methodology
- Which page builder for WooCommerce should you choose?
Which page builders did we test and how?
We’ve tested 7 popular paid and free page builders and Gutenberg.
We gave the test stores a basic homepage design that was built with the page builder. There were no changes made to the shop or product page. We’ve tested the three pages (homepage, shop page, product page), each page ten times. The testing was done with GT Metrix API. The results are for Page Load time. This, in our opinion, gives the most realistic results.
The theme used is Astra as it was the fastest WooCommerce theme in our benchmark test and it supports all of the popular builders.
To fully understand how we tested the page builders, read the Testing Methodology section below the results.
Which is the fastest WooCommerce page builder tested?
Let’s jump straight to the results. In all cases the lowest number is the best.
Page Load Time – Overall
This is the average of the three tests.
Page Load Time – Single Pages
Each page was tested 10 times. The result is the median.
Analysis of the WooCommerce Page Builder Speed Test
We added a few new page builders to the test but the results are almost the same as last time. The main difference is that Gutenberg took over Beaver Builder this year.
Still a very impressive showing from Beaver Builder, and also the newcomer Brizy. Even though they have full page builder features, there is barely a performance compromise compared to Gutenberg.
| Page Builder | Version | Overall | Home | Shop Page | Product Page |
| Gutenberg | 5.6.2 (WP) | 805 | 637 | 874 | 905 |
| Beaver Builder | 2.4.2.1 | 914 | 960 | 903 | 878 |
| Brizy | 2.2.8 | 1006 | 1077 | 1085 | 855 |
| Site Origin | 2.11.8 | 1263 | 1025 | 1514 | 1250 |
| WP Bakery | 6.5.0 | 1453 | 1693 | 1683 | 983 |
| Visual Composer | 34.1 | 1455 | 1525 | 1662 | 1178 |
| Divi | 4.9.0 | 1658 | 1261 | 2126 | 1587 |
| Elementor | 3.1.1 | 1721 | 1932 | 1965 | 1265 |
The results pretty clearly show that the most popular complex page builders like Divi and Elementor come with a large cost to performance.
If you’re looking for a partner to help you with your store performance, take a look at our website. WooCart is the only hosting built exclusively for WooCommerce and we’re focused on making your store fast and easy to maintain.
Results for the WooCommerce Page Builder Speed Test 2019/20
These are the results from last year. The tests were run five times per each page (compared to this year’s ten times). The time is Fully Loaded and not directly comparable to this year’s Page Load time.
| Page Builder | Version | Overall | Home | Shop | Product |
| Beaver Builder | 2.2.4.3 | 1005 | 934 | 1076 | 916 |
| Gutenberg | 5.2.3 (WP) | 1080 | 993 | 1101 | 971 |
| WP Bakery | 6.0.5 | 1163 | 1150 | 1163 | 991 |
| Visual Composer | 19.0.0 | 1218 | 1163 | 1166 | 1098 |
| Divi | 2.0.0 | 1232 | 1334 | 1313 | 1106 |
| Elementor | 2.7.1 | 1817 | 1917 | 1717 | 1776 |
Speed Testing Methodology
To make sure the tests are reliable and consistent, we’ve set strict testing criteria.
WooCommerce Store Configuration
We used the free Astra theme. Page builders were used to create the homepage with the same sections – above the fold with a hero image, three images for categories, featured products, one big featured product, and a text FAQ section.
Stores are hosted on WooCart hosting on Google Cloud Platform in a datacenter in the Netherlands. There is no CDN running on the stores. Caching is enabled.
The versions are WordPress 5.6.2 and WooCommerce 5.0, both latest at the time of the test. All page builders were running the latest version as well.
Stores have been set up with the WooCart Turnkey store settings. This gives all stores 35 demo products, 81 images for the products and homepage, and subpages for contact, about and legal.
Speed Testing Configuration
The speed testing service is GT Metrix and we used the API. The test location is Frankfurt (Germany), and the browser is Chrome (desktop).
We run the tests ten times per page: homepage, product page, and shop page. We calculate the median result of the page load times.
Why median?
We calculate the median because it is far better than regular average for
If you’re interested in the raw test data, take a look at the full spreadsheet.
Which page builder for WooCommerce should you choose?
If you’re building a new store, we recommend you work with Gutenberg. It’ll only get more powerful and easier to use with every year. If you want a full page builder, then Beaver Builder and Brizy have almost no cost to performance and we can recommend them without reservations.
