How to Migrate From Elementor to Divi (2026 Guide)

Most Elementor users don't migrate because they think it'll be a nightmare. Often it's not as bad as expected. The content survives. The URLs survive. The SEO survives. What needs rebuilding is the visual design — and with Divi 5's improved Visual Builder, that's faster than people expect.

This is the exact playbook we use at Nicada Digital to migrate clients from Elementor to Divi. Follow it carefully and your site will be on Divi within days, not weeks.

Why Migrate from Elementor to Divi?

Common reasons people switch:

• Lower long-term cost — Divi is $89/year (or $249 lifetime) for unlimited sites. Elementor Pro is $99/year per site (single-site licence)
• One-time pricing — Divi offers lifetime; Elementor is subscription-only
• Better Theme Builder — Divi's Theme Builder is widely considered more flexible
• Performance — Divi 5 rivals or beats Elementor in PageSpeed
• Cleaner code — Divi 5 outputs less DOM bloat than Elementor
• Customer support reputation — Elegant Themes consistently ranks above Elementor for support quality

For a full feature comparison, see our Divi vs Elementor 2026 guide.

Before You Start

Critical: do these three things before touching anything:

1. Take a full site backup — UpdraftPlus, BlogVault, or your host's backup tool. Test that you can restore it.
2. Set up a staging site — do all migration work on staging, push live only when ready. Most quality hosts (Kinsta, WP Engine, SiteGround) include staging.
3. Document your current site — screenshot every page on desktop and mobile so you have a visual reference when rebuilding.

Step 1: Buy and Install Divi

1. Get Divi from Elegant Themes with the 30-day money-back guarantee.
2. Download the Divi theme zip from your members area.
3. In WordPress, go to Appearance → Themes → Add New → Upload Theme. Upload the zip and install.
4. Don't activate Divi yet — we want Elementor to remain functional during migration.

Step 2: Plan Your Page-By-Page Strategy

Make a spreadsheet of every page on your current site:

• URL (e.g. /about-us)
• Page type (homepage, about, service, product, blog post)
• Priority (high = traffic-driving pages, low = rarely-visited)
• Complexity (simple = text + image, complex = forms, sliders, custom modules)

Migrate high-priority pages first. Aim to rebuild 3–5 pages per day as a comfortable pace.

Step 3: Rebuild Pages in Divi (One at a Time)

The actual migration happens here. For each page:

1. Edit the page in WordPress.
2. If it's currently built with Elementor, you'll see Elementor's "Edit with Elementor" button. Below the WordPress editor.
3. Click Use Divi Builder instead. WordPress will display Divi's interface.
4. Click Build From Scratch or Choose a Premade Layout.
5. Visually rebuild the page using your screenshots as reference. The Divi module library has equivalents for nearly every Elementor widget.
6. Save the page in Divi.
7. Don't delete the Elementor version yet — keep it until you've confirmed Divi works.

Step 4: Migrate Headers and Footers

This is where Divi's Theme Builder shines. Instead of editing each page, design once and apply globally:

1. Go to Divi → Theme Builder.
2. Add a Global Header — rebuild your existing header design.
3. Add a Global Footer — rebuild your existing footer.
4. For blog posts, add a Custom Post Template using dynamic content modules.

Step 5: Module Translation Cheat Sheet

Common Elementor widgets and their Divi equivalents:

Elementor Widget	Divi Module
Heading	Text module
Image	Image module
Button	Button module
Icon Box	Blurb module
Image Box	Blurb module (with image)
Counter	Number Counter module
Progress Bar	Bar Counter module
Testimonial	Testimonial module
Tabs / Accordion	Tabs / Accordion modules
Slider	Slider / Fullwidth Slider modules
Form (with Elementor Pro)	Contact Form module (or Bloom for opt-ins)
Pricing Table	Pricing Tables module
Posts Grid	Blog module
WooCommerce Products	WooCommerce modules (built-in)

Step 6: Switch the Active Theme

Once every page is rebuilt in Divi:

1. In Appearance → Themes, activate Divi (or your Divi child theme).
2. Click through every page on your site to verify nothing is broken.
3. Test forms, contact submissions, ecommerce checkout (if applicable).
4. Test on mobile, tablet, and desktop.
5. Run PageSpeed Insights to confirm performance — see our speed optimisation guide.

Step 7: Preserve Your SEO

Critical SEO tasks during migration:

• Keep URLs identical — don't change slugs or permalink structure
• Migrate meta titles and descriptions — if you're using Yoast, the data stays. If switching SEO plugin, use a migration tool
• Preserve schema markup — Rank Math and Yoast both recreate it on the new build
• Test internal links — ensure all cross-page links still work
• Submit updated XML sitemap — via Google Search Console
• Monitor for 24 hours after launch — for any 404 errors via Search Console

If any URLs DO change, set up 301 redirects via Redirection plugin or your host's redirect manager.

Step 8: Remove Elementor

Once you've confirmed everything works on Divi (give it a week):

1. Deactivate Elementor and Elementor Pro in Plugins.
2. Delete both plugins.
3. Check the database for orphaned Elementor data using a plugin like Elementor Cleaner (advanced — back up first).

Step 9: Final Performance Check

After Elementor is removed, run these tests:

• PageSpeed Insights — aim for 90+ on mobile and desktop
• GTmetrix — check for asset load issues
• Search Console — check for crawl errors
• Google Analytics — verify tracking still works

Most clients see 15–30 PageSpeed point improvements after switching from Elementor to Divi 5, due to lighter JavaScript output.

Common Migration Pitfalls

• Going live before testing on staging — always test first
• Forgetting custom CSS — copy any custom CSS from Elementor's settings to Divi's Custom CSS
• Missing form submissions — test all forms after migration
• Lost shortcodes — some Elementor-specific shortcodes won't work; test thoroughly
• Image link breakage — your media library should be untouched, but double-check
• Keeping both builders active — remove Elementor once Divi is fully live

How Long Does Migration Take?

Rough estimates:

• 5-page brochure site: 1–2 days
• 10-page business site: 3–5 days
• 20-page site with blog: 1–2 weeks
• 50+ page site with shop: 2–4 weeks

The bottleneck is visual rebuild time, not technical complexity.

FAQs

Will my content disappear when I migrate?

No. Your WordPress posts and pages stay intact. Only the visual layouts (saved by Elementor) need rebuilding in Divi.

Can I run Elementor and Divi at the same time?

Yes — during migration, both can coexist on different pages. Once migration is complete, remove Elementor.

Will I lose my Yoast / Rank Math SEO settings?

No. SEO plugin data is stored separately from page builders. Yoast and Rank Math settings, meta tags, and schema all remain.

Do I need to redo all my Elementor templates?

Yes — Elementor and Divi templates aren't compatible. You'll rebuild them in Divi's Theme Builder instead.

What about my Elementor Pro forms?

Replace with Divi's Contact Form module (free), Caldera Forms, WPForms, or Fluent Forms. All work seamlessly with Divi.

Should I hire someone for the migration?

If your site is over 15 pages or has complex layouts, a professional migration is often worth the cost. We handle Elementor-to-Divi migrations at Nicada Digital — typical projects from £500 depending on size.

Conclusion

Migrating from Elementor to Divi is more about patience than complexity. With your content preserved, URLs intact, and Divi's powerful Theme Builder ready, the actual switch is straightforward — if you follow this guide.

The payoff: lower long-term cost, faster site, better Theme Builder, and unlimited future sites under one Divi licence.

Get Divi 5 with 30-day money-back guarantee here and start your migration risk-free.