You just want to move a button two pixels to the right.
That’s it. Just two pixels. A five-second fix, right?
Twenty minutes later, your footer has vanished, your mobile menu is showing up on desktop, and somehow your contact form is now displaying in Portuguese. You didn’t even know your site had Portuguese language settings.
Welcome to WordPress page builders.
If you’ve ever felt like editing your website requires a computer science degree and the patience of a monk, you’re not alone. We’ve built hundreds of WordPress sites at Web321, and we’ve watched countless business owners struggle with the same question:
“Why is this so hard? I just want my website to look professional without breaking every time I touch something. I really should change over to Squarespace!”
The truth is, your page builder is probably the problem.
Today, we’re going to settle this once and for all. We’re comparing the three major players in the WordPress builder arena:
Let’s get this out of the way upfront: this isn’t a neutral comparison.
We’re Web321. We’ve built hundreds of WordPress sites. We’ve debugged thousands of page builder disasters. We’ve migrated clients from every platform imaginable, and we’ve seen what works and what makes grown adults cry into their keyboards.
After all that experience, we’ve chosen a clear winner: Breakdance.
In fact, we’re so confident in this choice that we’re listed as Certified Experts on the official Breakdance website. We didn’t just learn this tool—we’ve mastered it, and we’ve even built our own comprehensive Breakdance Knowledgebase to help others do the same.
But we didn’t always use Breakdance. We’ve been in the trenches with Gutenberg and Elementor (and Divi, and Beaver Builder, and every other builder that promised to make WordPress “easy”). We know their strengths, their quirks, and their frustrating limitations.
So let’s break down what actually matters: which builder lets you build a professional website without wanting to throw your laptop out the window?
When WordPress introduced Gutenberg in 2018, the pitch was compelling:
Gutenberg is like being handed a box of mismatched LEGO bricks and being told to build the Taj Mahal.
Sure, technically, you can build something. But will it look professional? Will it match your vision? Will the backend editing experience remotely resemble what visitors see on the frontend?
Spoiler: No, no, and absolutely not.
Here’s what actually happens when you try to build a real business website with Gutenberg:
Gutenberg forces you into a paradox: to keep it “lightweight,” you have to install plugins that make it heavy.
Ever tried to create a custom header in Gutenberg? Or build a complex pricing table? Or make your homepage look like anything other than a basic blog?
You’ll quickly discover that Gutenberg’s idea of “design freedom” is:
Gutenberg is great for exactly one thing: typing blog posts.
If you’re running a simple blog with minimal design needs, Gutenberg works fine. You type, you publish, you’re done.
But if you’re running a business website—if you need professional layouts, custom headers, product showcases, or literally anything beyond “text with an image”—Gutenberg will frustrate you daily.
It feels like beta software that never grew up. It’s the promise of simplicity that delivers complexity in the worst possible way.
Let’s be fair: Elementor became popular for good reasons.
When it launched in 2016, it was revolutionary. Drag-and-drop editing that actually worked! Visual feedback! A massive template library! An ecosystem of add-ons that could do literally anything!
Elementor is the Windows of page builders—it has the biggest market share, the most tutorials on YouTube, and the largest community of developers building add-ons and extensions.
But just like Windows, it carries a lot of baggage.
Here’s a dirty secret about Elementor that most people don’t understand until it’s too late:
Elementor wraps everything in layers of unnecessary code.
Every time you add a section, you’re adding a <div>. Every time you add a column, you’re adding another <div>. Every time you add inner sections or custom positioning, you’re adding more <div>s.
Before you know it, your simple “About Us” page has 47 nested <div> containers, all wrapping each other like Russian nesting dolls.
Why does this matter? Two reasons:
<div> soup makes it harder for Google to understand your content structure.We’ve migrated dozens of Elementor sites to Breakdance, and the pattern is always the same:
The old Elementor site:
The new Breakdance site (same design, same content):
The Elementor sites aren’t slow because the developer did something wrong—they’re slow because Elementor’s code is inherently heavy.
If you use Elementor Free (which most people do), you’re subjected to constant upselling:
It’s like using the free trial of software that constantly reminds you you’re using the free trial. It works, but it’s exhausting.
Elementor’s strength is also its weakness: its ecosystem is massive.
Want a better testimonial widget? There’s an add-on for that.
Want advanced forms? There’s an add-on for that.
Want better WooCommerce integration? There’s an add-on for that.
Before long, you have:
Each one adds CSS files, JavaScript files, and their own update cycle. Your plugins page becomes a graveyard of “for Elementor” extensions.
Elementor is the Windows Vista of WordPress builders.
It works. Millions of people use it. It has the biggest ecosystem and the most third-party support. But it’s heavy, slow, and starting to show its age compared to modern tools.
If you already have an Elementor site and it’s working fine, there’s no urgent need to rip everything out and start over. But if you’re starting fresh, or if your Elementor site feels sluggish and bloated—there are better options now.
Full transparency: Breakdance is our preferred tool at Web321.
We didn’t arrive at this conclusion casually. We spent years building sites with Elementor. We gave Gutenberg multiple chances. We tested Divi, Beaver Builder, Oxygen, and every other builder that promised to solve WordPress design problems.
Then we tried Breakdance, and everything clicked.
Breakdance was built in 2021 by developers who learned from the mistakes of Elementor, Divi, and the other legacy builders.
They asked the right question: “If we could build a WordPress page builder today, knowing everything we know now, what would we do differently?”
The answer was Breakdance.
No 10 years of legacy code. No backward compatibility with deprecated features. No bloat from trying to be everything to everyone.
Just clean, modern, performant code that does exactly what you need.
Here’s the difference in philosophy:
Elementor’s approach: Build the features, then optimize later if you have time.
Breakdance’s approach: Build the features to be fast from day one.
The result? Breakdance sites consistently score 90+ on Google PageSpeed Insights without needing specialized caching plugins or performance optimization wizardry.
When we migrated one of our clients from Elementor to Breakdance—same design, same content, same hosting—their Core Web Vitals scores went from red to green overnight. Their bounce rate dropped by 23%. Their conversion rate increased by 18%.
The only thing that changed was the builder.
One of WordPress’s biggest promises in recent years has been “Full Site Editing”—the ability to design your entire site (headers, footers, templates) visually, without touching code.
Gutenberg tries to do this. It’s… not great.
Elementor added it later as Theme Builder. It works, but it feels like duct tape on an old foundation.
Breakdance was designed for full-site editing from the ground up.
Want a custom header that looks different on your homepage vs. your blog? Easy.
Want a footer with different content for logged-in users? Done.
Want dynamic post templates that pull in custom fields? Built-in.
All of it is intuitive, visual, and—here’s the kicker—actually works the way you’d expect it to work.
If you sell products online, this alone might convince you:
Breakdance’s default WooCommerce pages look incredible.
No joke. Install WooCommerce, activate Breakdance, and your shop pages, product pages, cart, and checkout all look professionally designed—without touching a single setting.
Compare that to Elementor, where you need:
With Breakdance, it just works.
We’ve saved literally dozens of hours on client projects by not having to custom-style WooCommerce pages from scratch.
Here’s what you don’t need with Breakdance:
❌ Essential Addons for Breakdance
❌ Premium Addons for Breakdance
❌ Happy Mega Ultimate Addons for Breakdance
The core tool has everything you need:
One license. One plugin. One interface to learn. No add-on hell.
Look, we’re developers. We can figure out any interface if we have to. But we shouldn’t have to.
Breakdance’s editing interface is logical:
No hunt-and-peck through nested menus. No wondering if a setting is in the “Advanced” tab or the “Layout” tab or hidden under “Custom CSS.”
The interface gets out of your way and lets you design.
| Feature | Gutenberg | Elementor | Breakdance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ease of Use | Frustrating | Good | Excellent |
| Site Speed | Fast (if simple) | Slow (bloated) | Blazing Fast |
| Design Freedom | Low | High | High |
| Full Site Editing | Technically yes | Add-on (Theme Builder) | Built-in & intuitive |
| Code Quality | Clean but limited | Heavy divitis | Clean & semantic |
| WooCommerce | Basic | Requires Pro + styling | Beautiful out of the box |
| Learning Curve | Steep for design | Moderate | Gentle |
| Frustration Level | High | Medium | Near Zero |
| Ongoing Plugin Bloat | Very High | High | Low |
| Cost | Free | $59-$199/year | $149/year (lifetime available) |
| PageSpeed Scores | Good (simple sites) | 40-60 typical | 85-95 typical |
When we say we know Breakdance, we’re not exaggerating.
Web321 is listed as an official Certified Expert on the Breakdance website. We’re not just users—we’re recognized specialists who’ve mastered every aspect of the platform.
We chose Breakdance because it makes our jobs easier and our clients’ sites better.
Since making the switch, we’ve noticed:
We believe in Breakdance so much that we’ve built an entire Breakdance Knowledgebase to help others master the platform.
Free tutorials. Step-by-step guides. Real-world solutions to common problems.
Why? Because when our clients succeed with Breakdance, everybody wins.
We’ve migrated dozens of sites from Elementor and Gutenberg to Breakdance. Here’s what typically happens:
Before (Elementor):
After (Breakdance):
Same design. Same hosting. Same content. The only variable was the builder.
If we’re going to recommend a tool, we use it ourselves and stand behind it.
Every site Web321 builds in 2024 and beyond is built with Breakdance (unless there’s a specific client requirement for a different tool).
Why? Because we know it works. We know it’s fast. We know our clients can manage it without calling us every time they want to change a headline.
And when they do need help, we’re experts—not just “familiar with it.”
Let’s make this simple:
✅ You’re running a simple blog with minimal design needs
✅ You literally only need to write and publish text posts
✅ You have zero budget and zero design ambitions
✅ You like frustration (kidding… mostly)
✅ You already have an Elementor site and it’s working fine
✅ You need a specific third-party add-on that only exists for Elementor
✅ You don’t mind slower load times in exchange for a massive ecosystem
✅ You’re willing to manage multiple plugins and updates
✅ You want a fast, professional website that ranks well in Google
✅ You want design freedom without the code bloat
✅ You want full-site editing that actually makes sense
✅ You sell products online and want WooCommerce pages that look amazing
✅ You want one tool that does everything instead of 12 add-ons
✅ You value your time and your sanity
If you’re starting fresh or ready to upgrade from an aging Elementor site, Breakdance is the clear winner.
If you’re comfortable managing your own site:
If you’d rather have experts build your site (or migrate your existing site):
We offer comprehensive Breakdance services:
Our $321/month WordPress support plans include:
📞 Call us: 1-844-4-WEB-321
📧 Email us: [email protected]
🌐 Learn more: web321.co
Life’s too short to fight with clunky page builders.
You deserve a website that:
Breakdance delivers all of that. And Web321 knows how to make the most of it.
Stop pulling your hair out. Start building with Breakdance.
About Web321: We’re a Canadian WordPress development and support company specializing in Breakdance page builder websites. As official Certified Breakdance Experts, we’ve built hundreds of fast, beautiful WordPress sites for businesses across North America. Based in Saanichton, BC, we’re proud to offer Canadian data hosting with full PIPEDA compliance. Explore our Breakdance expertise at web321.co
