Divi 4 to Divi 5: What's Changing, What's at Risk, and How to Migrate Without Breaking Your Site
If you have a website built with Divi you may still have Divi 4 which has been replaced with Divi 5. In your WordPress dashboard you might see a warning that Divi needs upgrading to Divi 5. The deadline for this is 27th February 2027 but I am recommending the updates are carried out now.
This isn’t a routine update or an optional one, its the biggest design shift in Divi’s history and it is worth understanding the design changes and why we need to update now.
I am hosting a large vetinerary website and the after the latest update the pricing table stopped working.
What's actually changing
Divi 4 is an excellent website builder that I use it to design and create beautiful websites.
Websites are created using modules that can be modified and moved around and is a great tool for fresh and eye catching sites with additional SEO features built in and you can add forms and ecommerce to a Divi website.
Divi 5 replaces this entirely. Divi 5 is not just a change, but a completely new system.
The rebuild brings many benefits including a much faster, lighter system, better performance and core web vitals.
There are however some downsides. The upgrade may come with compatibility issues.
Not all third party Divi plugins and modules will work in Divi 5, many will require a rebuild.
I have found this recently with one of my websites, the table of prices stopped working after the upgrade. I was able to install a backup to carryout a full investigation.
The good news: nothing changes automatically
Updating your theme files to Divi 5 does not automatically change your websites layout. You website will keep running on Divi 4 formate until you actively run the migration tool and this needs to be done offline. But the updates now may break your website.
So installing the update isn’t the same as migrating — you get a safe window to prepare.
Once you’re ready, a “Divi 5 Migrator” tab appears in the Divi menu, and it walks you through a checklist to confirm your existing Divi 4 content is compatible before converting anything.
Potential impact on your website
Migration is generally described as low-risk when done properly, but there are a few things to watch for:
- Legacy and third-party modules compatibility. The migrator flags which elements convert cleanly to native Divi 5 and which may need to stay as legacy modules or require manual rebuilding — plugin authors are still catching up, so anything from a smaller third-party developer is worth checking individually.
- Responsive settings with css coding. After migrating, it's worth checking desktop, tablet, and mobile views and adjusting any responsive settings that carried over from Divi 4, since these don't always translate perfectly
- Global elements and templates may behave differently so document the changes since these can behave differently after conversion.
- Everything that touches the page, including contact forms, navigation menus, sticky headers, galleries, and WooCommerce pages, all deserve a dedicated check after migration rather than a quick glance at the homepage.
None of this is a reason to panic — it’s a reason to test before you touch a live site.
How to migrate without breaking your site
- 1. Never migrate directly on a live site so you can run the migration and on a staging site and check for issues without affecting the live website.
- 2. Make sure you have a full backup before any work is carried out. My hosting includes Jetpack so all backups are available. Divi 5 automatically stores a backup of your Divi 4 content during migration in case you need to roll back, but a separate full site backup through a backup plugin or your host is still recommended before you start.
- 3. Run the migrator compatibility scan first. The migrator's initial check identifies what will convert cleanly and what won't — and importantly, it doesn't change anything on the site until you tell it to.
- 4. Treat a large or complex site as a project, not a click. If you have a large library of Divi 4 pages, export a test page, run the upgrade on staging, check the frontend in Divi 5, and confirm modules still render correctly before rolling it out further.
- 5. Compare staging against live, side by side. Check the migrated site against the live Divi 4 version to catch differences before going live, then clear all caches and re-run performance tests once it's published.
- 6. Budget time to learn the new builder. The interface itself has changed meaningfully, so give your team (or yourself) time to get comfortable with the new workflow before you're relying on it under deadline pressure.
Why migrate before support runs out
Divi 4 will keep receiving security updates for the foreseeable future, but active development has moved to Divi 5 — and the longer a site stays on Divi 4, the further its architecture drifts from where WordPress and Divi are actually heading.
Some third-party coverage has reported a more specific window — Divi 4 support tapering off roughly six months after Divi 5’s official release — though I’d treat that as a figure to verify against Elegant Themes’ own current statements rather than a confirmed hard deadline, since dates like this can shift.
The practical risk isn’t a sudden cutoff — it’s compounding drift.
Plugin developers, theme builders, and the wider ecosystem are increasingly focused on Divi 5, so a site left on Divi 4 will gradually see fewer new modules, slower support responses, and a widening compatibility gap. Migrating on your own schedule, with a staging site and proper testing, is a far better position than migrating in a rush once something stops working.
Where I can help
If you’d rather not run this process solo, I can:
- Audit your current Divi 4 site and flag which modules, plugins, and custom code are likely to need attention before migrating
- Set up a staging environment and run the migration there first, so your live site is never at risk
- Go page-by-page after migration to check layouts, responsive behaviour, forms, and any WooCommerce or custom functionality
- Compare staging against live and handle the final cutover, backups included, with a clear rollback plan if anything needs it
I am happy to start with a no-obligation audit of your site so you know exactly what the migration involves before committing to anything. Get in touch today.