If you’ve inherited a WordPress website or have had a few different developers work on it over time, there’s a chance it might be running more than one page builder—like Elementor, WPBakery, or even Divi. While that might not sound like a big deal at first, running multiple page builders can cause serious issues for your website’s performance, compatibility, and long-term manageability.
At Sympley, we regularly see websites bogged down or broken because of this exact issue. Here’s why your WordPress site should stick to just one active page builder—and what you can do if it isn’t.
Multiple Page Builders Can Break Your Site
Each page builder plugin is built differently and comes with its own set of frameworks, rendering methods, and styling conventions. When more than one builder is activated, they can clash—especially if a page tries to load elements built with the wrong builder.
For example, WPBakery might try to interpret shortcode content built with Elementor, leading to a broken or misaligned layout. Even worse, this can happen without any warning or clear error messages, leaving you wondering why your site suddenly looks off or isn’t functioning properly.
These kinds of conflicts aren’t just visual—they can also affect how interactive elements (like forms, sliders, and pop-ups) work, often leading to broken functionality across the site.
Performance Takes a Major Hit
Even if you only use one page builder on a particular page, WordPress may still load assets from other page builders that are activated site-wide. That means additional CSS, JavaScript files, fonts, and other resources are being loaded unnecessarily—slowing down your site.
This excess bloat hurts page speed, increases loading times, and impacts your SEO rankings and user experience. In today’s competitive digital landscape, that’s the kind of technical debt you can’t afford.
If you’re relying on a WordPress maintenance service to keep your site fast and secure, unnecessary plugins and builders work directly against those efforts.
Choose One Page Builder and Rebuild If Needed
If your site is currently using multiple builders, the first step is identifying which one is actively used on the majority of your pages. That builder should become the standard going forward.
Before disabling the others, you’ll need to audit the site and identify any pages or elements that rely on the secondary builders. This might include landing pages, templates, pop-ups, or headers/footers. These items will need to be recreated using the main builder to avoid layout or functionality loss once the unused builders are deactivated.
It’s a time-consuming task, but it’s a smart investment. Standardising your site on one page builder makes future edits easier, reduces plugin conflicts, and improves site speed and stability. It also makes your WordPress maintenance service more effective, as there are fewer moving parts to manage and update.
Need Help Fixing It?
If your site is suffering from builder bloat or you’re not sure which plugin is doing what, our team at Sympley can help. We’ve worked with WordPress for over a decade and specialise in streamlining complex, bloated websites into clean, fast, and easy-to-manage platforms.
We’ll not only help you remove unnecessary page builders and rebuild any affected sections, but also make strategic upgrades to improve the overall health and performance of your website. Learn more about our approach to smarter web development by visiting sympley.com.au/new-websites.
Let’s Clean It Up
Running multiple page builders is like trying to drive a car with two steering wheels—it just doesn’t make sense and often ends in chaos. If you’re unsure where to start, reach out to our team at Sympley. We’ll help clean up your site, standardise your tools, and set your business up for faster, more reliable growth.
Need a hand? Contact us today to find out how we can help streamline your WordPress website.
