Divi has long been known for making WordPress website building easy. With the release of Divi 5, the team at Elegant Themes is going even further by reinventing the entire layout engine around flexbox. This isn’t a minor tweak—it fundamentally changes how you build pages, opening up endless design possibilities. Below I break down what’s new and why it matters. You can also watch the official demo video below.   

At the heart of this release is a brand‑new flexbox‑based layout system. Traditional rows and columns are gone; instead, every layout is now built with flexbox rows that can be nested, grouped and endlessly customized. The update also introduces a library of multi‑row templates to get you started, but these templates are only guidelines. You can add as many columns as you need, adjust their widths, and even nest rows within columns to achieve complex structures.

This flexibility means you’re no longer constrained by preset column counts or awkward workarounds. You can design magazine‑style grids, marketing sections with variable column widths or creative asymmetrical layouts without writing custom CSS.

Flexbox isn’t just about more layout options—it also brings deep control over how elements behave. Each row and module now exposes settings for layout direction, wrapping, spacing and ordering. You can adjust the flow of elements and reposition child modules without hacks or JavaScript. This makes it much easier to achieve precise alignment and spacing, even in complex designs.

Responsive design is also baked in. At every breakpoint, you can assign a different structure to the same row—rearranging columns, changing their widths and even re‑ordering individual modules. Want a three‑column layout on desktop that becomes a stacked single column on mobile? It’s a few clicks away. You can change the order of elements for each device too, ensuring your most important content always appears first.

Positioning child elements—such as centering a button vertically within a column—is finally straightforward. Flexbox’s alignment settings make it easy to unify the heights of columns or modules and to center content precisely.

To simplify the builder, Divi 5 removes the concept of specialty and fullwidth sections. Don’t worry—existing sections will still work, but you can no longer add new ones. Instead, the capabilities of those sections have been absorbed into the new flexbox rows. Fullwidth modules have been renamed and are now usable anywhere. For example, the Fullwidth Header module is now called Hero, and the Fullwidth Portfolio module is now Post Carousel. The Post Carousel module also adds a new post‑type setting, so you can populate it with any content type

The flexbox update isn’t just about new features—it also brings meaningful performance gains. Editing complex layouts with deeply nested rows is now noticeably faster. Grid modules like Gallery and Portfolio gain new column options, letting you specify different column counts at each breakpoint. These enhancements make it easier to design photo galleries or product grids that look great on any device.

Divi 5’s flexbox system is available today as part of the Divi 5 Public Alpha. Elegant Themes describes this stage as “Divi 5 Lite”—it’s ready for new sites but still missing a few features, so they recommend keeping older sites on Divi 4 for now. Updates are released every two weeks, and the roadmap includes features like a Loop Builder and enhanced WooCommerce modules.

The team also recently introduced Interactions, a robust system for pop‑ups, toggles, scroll‑based effects and more. They promise that 2025 will be the year of Divi 5, with continuous feature announcements and a public beta on the horizon. To stay up‑to‑date, they encourage users to subscribe to the Divi newsletter and follow their YouTube channel.

Divi 5’’s flexbox‑based layout system marks a big leap forward for the popular WordPress builder. With a completely reworked layout engine, designers can craft sophisticated, responsive layouts without code and with greater performance. If you’re planning a new Divi site, now is a great time to experiment with the Public Alpha, provide feedback and get ready for the full launch later this year. 

I will be taking a deep dive into Divi 5 Public Alpha to discover all of the new features and share my thoughts and opinions. Stay tuned for more Divi 5 content. 

Let me know in the comments if you’ve tried Divi 5’s flexbox layouts or plan to use them on your next project!