Divi vs Avada 2018

In this article I’ll be doing a quick Divi vs Avada theme comparison, arguably the two most popular premium WordPress themes in the world.

For those in a rush…

You can see the winner here

So, which one is the most popular?

While Avada is the most popular WordPress theme on Themeforest, according to BuiltWith.com, Divi is currently the most popular theme in the world. With at least 578,999 websites using Divi and 386,385 using Avada.

While there’s probably no 100% accurate way of measuring the popularity of different themes, these results still give us a good indication. And it’s safe to say that Divi is far and away the more popular choice.

Check out my detailed Divi 3.0 review

What makes them so popular?

Avada and Divi are both Page-builder themes.

Page builders are a favorite choice with non-developers because of their ease of use when designing a website.

With page builders, you can design a page to look almost exactly how you want it to by adding and customizing elements, rows and columns. All without needing to know a single line of coding.

That’s not to say they aren’t just as popular with experienced developers. The amount of time saved with using page builders means that developers and web design agencies can build-out website layouts fairly quickly and then devote more time in implementing more advanced coding.

How does the Divi back-end page builder stack up against Avada’s back-end page builder?

Let me start off by saying that both Divi and Avada’s page builder are easy to use. And both will get you to your desired page layouts without much hassle.

Avada Page Builder

Divi Page Builder

Aside from the actual builder modules (text blocks, images, etc.) there aren’t too many feature differences between them. A page builder is a page builder, they do what you expect them to do.

However, head to head I would say Divi feels more polished and definitely loads faster than Avada.

Page Builder Winner: Divi

In addition to the backend page builder, Divi comes with a real-time front-end page builder called the Visual Builder.

Divi’s Visual Builder

Elegant Themes introduced the Visual Builder with the release of Divi 3.0. The Visual Builder is a pretty remarkable advancement in WordPress themes. Instead of having to constantly make changes in the backend then previewing them in the front, you can literally click, drag and edit everything to your hearts content from the live front-end. And the changes will reflect immediately

With the Visual Builder, building and customizing your pages from the front-end is probably the easiest I have seen from any WordPress theme to date.

Customizing Your Website

Both Divi and Avada excel at customizing your entire website but go about it in different ways.

Avada

Avada allows you to customize your website almost entirely within the theme options. Whether it’s on a global or page level, the extensive set of customization options means you can change almost everything within your website without having to leave the theme options. Aside from a small number of settings, you won’t ever need to use the WordPress Customize option.

Divi

Divi on the other hand, uses the WordPress Customize settings to handle most of your global layout changes. Menu design, typography, and a host of other options can all be customized within the Customize settings. The actual Divi theme options allow for you to customize display data on your posts and pages (date, author, comments etc.), upload your logo and social profile URL’s, and other minor settings.

It’s difficult to pick a clear winner here as they both allow for deep customization, the main difference being in how they go about it.

If you aren’t one for starting from scratch and customizing everything, the premade layouts will be of interest to you.

Premade Layouts

The premade layouts can be broken down into premade pages and full premade websites.

Avada

Avada has a host of different page layouts, and currently 30 amazing demo sites which you can import and use.

The premade websites (demo sites) are extremely well made and diverse.

Divi

Like Avada, Divi provides you with premade page layouts and have full premade website layouts which they release every week for you to import and use free.

The premade page layouts are a good place to get some inspiration or a quick start if you are feeling stuck. However, I feel Avada offers more variety here.

The premade websites are a new feature from Elegant Themes. On the 27^th of September 2017, Elegant Themes announced that they will be releasing fully made websites every week which everybody is free to use. These websites have professional images with no usage restrictions.

At the time of writing this comparison, Divi have already released a wedding layout and a travel layout.

Both are beautifully made and I’m certainly looking forward to the weekly releases.

Premade layout winner: Avada

However, if Divi continues to release high quality website layouts EVERY week as promised, they might eventually catch up to Avada in this category.

Both Divi and Avada’s layouts are exceptional, and even though I’m not really one to use premade layouts, the quality is of a high enough standard that I would pay to use.

Which brings me to my next comparison, Price.

Pricing

It’s difficult to do a straight price comparison for Divi and Avada because of their licensing permissions.

With Avada, you are paying for a one site license. Meaning you can only use the theme on one website. If you want to use it on another website, you will have to purchase an additional license.

Whereas with Divi, you have an unlimited license. You can use Divi on as many websites as you want without having to purchase additional licenses.

Both themes also have two pricing options.

Avada

Avada’s lowest price option is $60. This allows you to use the Avada theme on 1 website, gives you 6 months of support as well as lifetime updates.

Avada’s other price option is $2950. This option still only limits you to one website, 6 months support and lifetime updates. The only difference being that you can charge users for access to your site. An example of this would be a membership site.

Divi

Divi’s lowest price option is $89. This allows you to use Divi on an unlimited number of websites, 12 months support, 12 months of updates and access to all of Elegant Themes other premium plugins and themes.

If you want to continue to receive support and theme updates (which is pretty much mandatory in WordPress), you will need to pay the $89 yearly.

Divi’s higher price option is for $249. This gives you full access to everything in the $89 yearly option. However, the $249 is a one-time fee and the support and updates are for life.

Price winner: DIVI

For me it’s a no brainer. I’m not a fan of being restricted to a single site license.

Being able to use on an unlimited number of websites AND having access to over 80 premium themes and 7 premium plugins means you are getting far more value for money when you purchase Divi.

The Plugins

Divi Plugins

The 3 most popular premium plugins that come with Divi are Monarch, Bloom, and the Divi Builder plugin.

Monarch

The Monarch plugin takes care of all your social sharing needs on your website.

It’s simple to get setup, as well as offering a ton of customization options, from where the social sharing buttons will be positioned on each page, as well as the ability to choose which social networks to include.

Bloom

Bloom is a comprehensive opt-in plugin which allows you to grow your all-important email list by enticing visitors to subscribe with beautiful opt-in forms.

Offering integrations with all the popular email marketing tools, Bloom also has in-depth customization options, allowing you to fully customize all the templates and choose exactly where when and how each opt-in form will appear.

The Divi Builder plugin

The Divi Builder plugin allows you to use the power of Divi’s page builder on any other WordPress theme.

This is especially useful if for whatever reason, you wish to change your Divi built website to a different theme.

Avada Plugins

With Avada, you get the Fusion Core, Fusion Builder, Revolution Slider and Layer Slider plugins included.

Fusion Core and Fusion Builder

The Fusion Core and Fusion Builder plugins are required when using Avada. The Fusion Builder being the ‘page builder’.

Revolution Slider and Layer Slider

These are third party plugins which allow you to create beautiful slideshows on your website. Although Divi comes with built-in sliders and customization settings, they are inferior to the Revolution Slider and Layer Slider features.

Plugin Winner: Divi

Yes, the Revolution Slider and Layer Slider are superior to Divi’s sliders. However, I like the fact that the slider and page builder are both built into the theme. It’s always nice not having to install additional plugins just to get a theme to work.

I don’t need to get into details about how important it is to build an email list and include engaging social sharing buttons on your site. So, Divi’s inclusion of premium plugins that take care of these is a huge plus.

Besides these plugins, there’s an extra feature in Divi worth mentioning since I believe it to be an essential tool for every website. The built-in A/B testing.

Divi’s A/B Testing

A/B testing is no longer exclusively used by big companies with big budgets.

Simple blogs, local business, online stores. Every type of website benefits from A/B testing as it provides a measured way of improving your website’s conversions.

Divi’s built-in split testing tool allows you to test almost every element on each page, as well as allowing you to A/B test entire pages.

This is all done within your Divi website and at no extra cost. You no longer have to use costly solutions that require a monthly subscription, and it’s easy enough to setup even if you’re a complete beginner.

Divi vs Avada: Final Verdict

I’ve covered most of the main features in this Divi vs Avada comparison.

For me… Divi is the clear winner

• The page builder feels smoother and faster.
• The Divi theme has all the required features to work properly without the need to install additional plugins.
• Divi works for SEO. All my most important websites use Divi, and all have positive ranking results.
• Divi provides more value for money especially if you are intending to use it on multiple websites, make use of the premium plugins, and take advantage of the build in A/B testing tool.

If you do have any more questions, just send me a message and I will be happy to try and answer them.

Go ahead and check out the full list of Divi features here.

I hope you found this Divi vs Avada review useful.