Divi Alternative: The Benefits of Choosing Cornerstone

Visual Building Experience

Cornerstone provides a structured workspace with tabs for pages, headers, loops, and more—making it ideal for organized development. Divi emphasizes quick inline design and visual editing but can get chaotic as builds scale.

Dynamic Content & Query Capabilities

Cornerstone includes a native visual query builder and supports external APIs and Twig. Divi offers basic dynamic field support but lacks native querying or templating logic.

Output Quality & Markup

Cornerstone uses semantic, HTML-first output. Divi uses shortcodes and nested wrappers, making it harder to optimize or maintain.

Reusability & Design Systems

Cornerstone includes a full component system with parameter controls. Divi uses global modules, but lacks advanced reusability tools.

Developer Friendliness & Extensibility

Cornerstone supports custom elements, raw inputs (Breakout Mode), and attribute-level control. Divi is more visual with limited extensibility.

Performance & Optimization

Cornerstone is lean and plays well with Perfmatters/WP Rocket. Divi’s shortcode-based output often requires tuning for speed.

Cornerstone vs. Divi

Now that we’ve looked at a few high level features, let’s do a head to head comparison of Cornerstone and Divi on over 20 of the most important aspects.

Company	Themeco	Elegant Themes
Product	Cornerstone Builder	Divi Builder
UI/Editor	Dual-pane layout with real-time editing	Full-screen visual editor with floating controls
Inline Editing	Yes	Yes
Performance	Lightweight, optimized output	Heavier, can be slower without optimization
Code Output	Clean HTML, minimal shortcodes	Shortcode-heavy (can create lock-in)
Learning Curve	Moderate (more technical control)	Beginner – Moderate
Templates	Pre-built + custom templates, fewer in quantity	2,000+ templates and layout packs
Custom Elements	Yes (especially in Pro Theme)	Yes (via built-in modules or custom module API)
Global Styling	Yes (via Design Cloud or custom controls)	Yes (via Theme Builder and Global Defaults)
Responsive Controls	Granular control, device-specific styling	Yes, with live preview for each device
Animations	Basic (more design-focused than effects-heavy)	Rich animation and motion tools
Role Manager	Yes	Yes
External REST API	Yes	No
WooCommerce Support	Yes	Yes
Components & Parameters	Yes (can tailor the builder experience)	No
Query Builder	Yes	No
Extensibility	Custom code, dev tools, highly extensible with 3rd party data	Large third-party marketplace, plugin ecosystem
Multisite Friendly	Yes	Yes (but license terms apply per site)
Pricing	Annual or lifetime	Annual or lifetime
Migration Friendly	High (clean output, easier to switch away from)	Low (due to shortcode lock-in)
Best For	All skill levels	All skill levels
Standout Feature	Custom Elements + Live Code Editor + Clean Output	Theme Builder + Built-in A/B Testing

Final Thoughts

From complete beginners to celebrity designers, big brands to government agencies — Cornerstone is powering the best of the web every single day. Whether you’re designing a single page or managing an entire website ecosystem, Cornerstone gives you:

✅ Real-time editing with a dual-pane interface
✅ Clean, shortcode-free output for blazing-fast performance
✅ Custom Elements, dynamic conditions, global styling, and templating
✅ Developer tools and a flexible API you’ll actually enjoy using
✅ Seamless integrations with the tools, plugins, products, and apps you need

And we don’t just think Cornerstone is the best builder on the market, we want to prove it to you. If you have purchased Divi and want to try Cornerstone, we’ll give you up to a $99 credit when you switch! Contact us to receive your special checkout link. Terms apply.