22 Best Free Drag-and-Drop WordPress Themes for 2022
Are you looking to create a professional, custom WordPress website without having to learn how to code? Thanks to the rise of intuitive drag-and-drop page builders, it‘s never been easier for non-coders and WordPress beginners to design pixel-perfect websites. The best drag-and-drop WordPress themes provide the flexibility and functionality of custom code—no HTML or CSS knowledge required.
In 2024, the top WordPress themes come with visual, drag-and-drop editors baked in or offer seamless integrations with popular page builder plugins. This means you can create any layout you can imagine with just a few mouse clicks. Simply drag elements like text, images, and buttons exactly where you want them and customize everything to match your vision.
While the WordPress block editor introduced drag-and-drop functionality to the world‘s most popular CMS, page builders take things to the next level with more advanced elements, precision controls, and responsive design tools. Many premium themes also come bundled with huge libraries of pre-designed templates and website kits to make building your site even faster.
So which drag-and-drop WordPress theme is right for your new website? Here are a few key questions to ask yourself when comparing the options:
• Do you have a preferred page builder? Some themes only work with specific builders.
• What type of website are you creating? Ensure the theme has templates and features aimed at your industry or site purpose, such as ecommerce tools for an online store or a portfolio gallery for creatives.
• What‘s your skill level? While all of these themes are beginner-friendly, some offer more customization options aimed at advanced users.
• Do you want to start from scratch or with a template? Note how many pre-built designs and templates are included with each theme.
• What‘s your budget? Premium themes with more features cost anywhere from $50-200+ per year.
Best Drag-and-Drop Page Builders for WordPress
Before we get into the top themes, let‘s cover some of the most popular drag-and-drop page builders you‘ll see mentioned throughout this list. These all make it easy to build custom designs without code.
• Elementor – This free, open-source page builder has a highly intuitive frontend editor for designing pages with drag-and-drop. It includes 100+ basic and pro widgets, 300+ templates, and global design controls. Many developers have also built themes and addons specifically for Elementor.
• Divi – From Elegant Themes, this popular premium plugin works with any WordPress theme but is often bundled with the Divi theme. It offers 40+ modules, 800+ pre-made layouts, and 100+ full website packs, plus innovative features like scroll effects and shape dividers.
• Brizy – Another open-source page builder plugin, Brizy has a lightning-fast, visual frontend editor. It comes with 500+ pre-made blocks, 4000+ icons, and a handy popup builder.
• Beaver Builder – Arguably the easiest WordPress page builder to use, Beaver Builder has a minimalist drag-and-drop interface and works with any theme. The pro version adds themed templates and integrates with ACF and WooCommerce.
• Thrive Architect – Part of the Thrive Suite of marketing tools and themes, this conversion-focused page builder has 300+ prebuilt landing page templates optimized to boost signups and sales.
Most of the WordPress themes below work with all of these top page builder plugins or have their own proprietary builder built-in. Let‘s get into the best drag-and-drop theme options for 2024!
Top 8 Drag-and-Drop WordPress Themes for 2024
- Astra
Price: Free; Pro plans from $47/year
Astra is the most popular theme in the WordPress repository for good reason. This lightweight, highly customizable theme is compatible with all of the top page builders, including Elementor, Divi, Brizy and Beaver Builder.
The free version of Astra includes dozens of starter templates to quickly set up your site. With a Pro plan, you get access to more advanced features like mega menus, sticky headers, advanced typography and color controls, and a huge library of 180+ templates for complete website designs. The intuitive Customizer settings make it easy to tweak global styles and layouts without any code.
All Astra themes are highly optimized for SEO with clean code and fast load times. The theme is also WooCommerce-ready with online store templates and layouts.
While Astra works with any page builder, it‘s especially built for the native WordPress block editor. If you want to stick with WordPress‘s built-in Gutenberg editor rather than using a third-party plugin, Astra is an excellent choice.
- Divi
Price: $89/year or $249 lifetime (includes all Elegant Themes products)
Divi is often called the most powerful and versatile WordPress theme ever made. While most themes rely on third-party page builders, Divi comes with its own built-in drag-and-drop builder. The latest Divi theme and builder have been redesigned with faster performance and smarter features.
The Divi builder is available as a backend or visual frontend editor. It comes with over 40 customizable content modules and thousands of pre-made templates, layouts, and website kits. You can save and manage your own custom elements in the Divi Library.
One area where Divi stands out is its innovative design options, including scroll effects, shape dividers, text masks, animations, and video backgrounds. Global elements and styles make sitewide changes a breeze. And with WooCommerce support, you can design custom product pages and other online store layouts.
Divi and the Divi builder are included with an Elegant Themes membership, which also gets you access to the Bloom email plugin and Monarch social sharing plugin.
- Avada
Price: $60/year or $240 lifetime
Avada is the top-selling theme on the ThemeForest marketplace for its multi-purpose flexibility. It comes bundled with the Avada page builder (based on Fusion Builder) with a live drag-and-drop editor to customize any part of your site, header to footer.
This theme offers a massive library of 66+ pre-built websites and 300+ page templates covering a variety of industries, from agencies and architecture to health and travel. The Avada builder has an inline editing system for typing directly on the page, plus 100+ design elements, 30+ extensions, and WooCommerce support.
Other notable features in Avada include global color/typography controls, customizable headers and mega menus, a powerful blog post builder, animation options, lazy loading, and fast performance.
While Avada has its own page builder built-in, the theme is also compatible with the native block editor and Elementor if you prefer those.
- OceanWP
Price: Free; Core Extensions Bundle from $39/year
Another wildly popular free multipurpose theme with 700,000+ active installs, OceanWP is fully compatible with most page builders including Elementor, Divi, Brizy, Beaver Builder, Thrive, and more. It comes with a variety of pre-made starter templates and demo sites to kick-start your design.
The theme itself is highly extendable through a variety of free and premium plugins available as add-ons. The free Ocean Extra plugin adds template importing, metaboxes, and a panel to install demo data, while the premium Core Extensions Bundle provides a host of additional features like popups, sticky elements, and custom WordPress widgets.
The OceanWP theme integrates seamlessly with WooCommerce and provides templates for your online store pages. And with a focus on speed and SEO, your pages will load lightning fast.
Note that OceanWP does not have its own page builder, but rather relies on integrating with your favorite third-party builders. So be sure to factor in the cost of your preferred page builder plugin when using this theme.
- GeneratePress
Price: Free; Premium from $59/year
GeneratePress is a popular lightweight theme optimized for speed and performance. While it doesn‘t have all the bells and whistles of other themes on this list, GeneratePress offers easy customization options and cross-compatibility with popular page builders.
In the WordPress Customizer, you can easily tweak your site‘s colors, typography, and layout globally. The premium version of GeneratePress adds more style controls, page header options, sticky navigation, and advanced WooCommerce features. It also includes a small library of pre-made "Site Library" demos and individual page templates.
GeneratePress integrates with all the top page builders, including its own lightweight GenerateBlocks plugin. This free add-on provides a variety of basic blocks like containers, buttons, and headlines to build layouts with the native block editor.
With minimal bloat and clean code, GeneratePress is one of the fastest loading WordPress themes available. If you want a simple, highly customizable foundation to pair with your favorite page builder, GeneratePress is a top choice.
- Neve
Price: Free; Pro from $59/year
Neve is a multipurpose theme from ThemeIsle with a mobile-first design for top-notch performance. It works hand-in-hand with the native block editor and the most popular page builders like Elementor and Divi for smooth drag-and-drop designing.
The theme comes with 80+ free starter sites for one-click setup, plus more advanced Pro templates. You can easily customize your header and footer or choose from pre-built layouts. And with full WooCommerce compatibility, setting up your online store is a breeze.
Other features in Neve Pro include custom layouts for individual pages, advanced header controls, a blog booster module, and white labeling. The theme also has a unique focus on accessibility with full ADA compliance.
With a highly optimized codebase, sites using Neve load ultra fast, even with large page builders like Elementor. If you want a versatile yet lightweight foundation, Neve is a great choice.
- Blocksy
Price: Free; Pro plans from $49/year
Blocksy is a relative newcomer compared to other popular themes, but it‘s quickly making a name for itself. This speedily-coded theme is optimized to work with your favorite page builder for creating advanced layouts, paired with tons of customization options in the native Customizer.
The theme offers deep integration with Elementor, Brizy, Beaver Builder, and other mainstream page builder plugins. It also works seamlessly with Gutenberg, and even has its own Blocksy Companion plugin to extend the native block editor with extra functionality.
Blocksy has a respectable library of 20+ complete website demo templates and starter sites to choose from. The drag-and-drop header and footer builders make it easy to tweak your site‘s design, with 8 header styles and 5 footer styles to mix and match.
Blocksy is geared more at advanced users looking to have complete control over their site‘s appearance without code. With lots of fine tuning options, you can customize almost every pixel – but it does have a learning curve compared to other themes.
- Kadence
Price: Free; Pro from $55/year
Last but not least, Kadence is an increasingly popular theme that‘s built for speed and flexibility, making it an ideal foundation for your favorite page builder. It offers native integrations with the block editor, Elementor, and Beaver Builder, with more on the way.
Even the free version of this theme is packed with customization options, including a header and footer builder, custom fonts, 9+ navigation menu options, and advanced typography/color controls. Stepping up to the Pro version adds a variety of "Pro Addons" for custom post types, advanced galleries, animated text, and more.
Kadence also offers a growing library of starter templates, though it‘s not as extensive as other themes (yet). The developers are constantly adding new features and improvements based on user feedback.
While Kadence has an impressive array of options, they are thoughtfully organized to avoid overwhelming the Customizer interface. The theme strikes a nice balance of being beginner-friendly while offering more advanced controls for power users.
Which Drag-and-Drop WordPress Theme Is Right for You?
With so many great drag-and-drop WordPress themes available in 2024, you really can‘t go wrong. Consider your budget, skill level, and site goals to choose the best option for your needs.
If you‘re looking for a highly versatile theme with a built-in page builder, Divi and Avada are two solid choices. For a lightweight foundation to pair with your preferred builder plugin, check out Neve, GeneratePress, and Blocksy. And if you want a huge selection of pre-built templates and layouts, OceanWP and Astra should be on your shortlist.
No matter which drag-and-drop theme you choose, you‘ll be able to build a beautiful custom WordPress website without touching a line of code. Have fun designing and happy theme hunting!
