Divi is the theme most people install the moment they join Elegant Themes. It is the flagship product, the one with the biggest community, the most third-party plugins, and the most tutorials. So why does Extra exist, and more importantly, why would you ever use it instead of Divi?
The answer is specific but important: for a particular category of website, Extra does things out of the box that Divi genuinely cannot do without significant extra work. This guide explains exactly what those things are, who they matter to, and when choosing Extra over Divi is the smarter call.
Both Divi and Extra are included in the same Elegant Themes membership at no extra cost. You are not choosing which one to buy. You are choosing which one to install on a given project. That changes how you should read this guide: not as a question of which is worth paying for, but of which gives you a better starting point for the site you are about to build.
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Divi 5 is already released and included in every plan at no additional cost. Both Annual and Lifetime plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
The Category Builder Gives You Magazine Homepage Layouts That Divi Cannot Match Natively
This is the single biggest reason to choose Extra over Divi, and it alone justifies the switch for the right project type. The Category Builder is an extension of the Divi Builder that works specifically on homepage and archive pages. It gives you a visual drag-and-drop interface for designing how your posts appear in lists, grids, and feeds rather than just how individual pages look.
In a standard Divi setup, your blog archive page and category pages are controlled by the theme’s default post listing template. You can customize them using the Theme Builder, but the modules available to you are the same standard Divi modules used for any page. You do not have dedicated post-feed modules that understand post categories, pull featured images automatically, and display post metadata in structured grid or carousel formats.
Extra’s Category Builder adds an entirely separate set of post-based modules that are specifically built for this purpose. You use them only inside the Category Builder, and they do things that standard Divi modules do not:
Each of these modules lets you specify which post category to pull from, how many posts to display, which post data to show (title, excerpt, date, author, featured image), and how to style them. You can place multiple modules on the same homepage to display posts from different categories in different visual formats in the same layout. A homepage might show a featured slider from one category, a masonry grid from another, and a horizontal carousel from a third, all built visually without writing a line of code.
This is what separates Extra from Divi for publications and magazines. Building this kind of homepage in Divi without Extra requires either a specialized plugin or significant custom PHP and CSS development. Extra makes it as simple as dragging modules onto a page.
Building a multi-category magazine homepage requires third-party plugins, custom post modules, or developer work. The standard Blog module shows posts in a basic list or grid but does not offer the category-specific multi-format control that Extra provides natively.
Drag a Featured Posts Slider module for your lead story category, a Masonry grid for your secondary category, and a Carousel for trending posts. Configure each to pull from different categories. The whole homepage is built visually in minutes.
You also get the ability to assign different Category Builder layouts to different categories on your site. Your technology category page can look different from your lifestyle category page. Every layout is built visually and every category can have its own design. Divi’s Theme Builder can create category page templates, but the module set available to work with is not as specialized for post-feed design as Extra’s Category Builder modules are.
Who this matters to: Anyone building an online magazine, news site, blog with multiple content categories, or any site where the homepage is primarily a curated view of posts rather than a marketing or landing page.
Seven Post Formats Make Every Piece of Content Display Differently Without Manual Customization
WordPress has supported post formats as a core feature since version 3.1, but most themes implement only a few of them, and many themes treat all posts identically regardless of format. Extra takes post formats seriously and builds a distinct display style around each one.
When you publish a post in Extra and assign it a format, the way that post appears in your feeds, on archive pages, and in the post itself changes to match the format type. You do not need to manually design each post. The format drives the presentation automatically.
A Video post surfaces the embedded video as the primary visual element in the feed. Instead of showing a thumbnail, it shows a playable or preview video. A Gallery post displays a rotating gallery of images in feed listings instead of a single featured image. A Quote post pulls the excerpt out and formats it as a large pull quote in the feed layout, giving it typographic emphasis. A Map post is useful for travel or location content, embedding map context directly into the post display.
From an editorial workflow perspective, this means your writers or editors can signal the content type at the post level and the theme handles the visual differentiation automatically. A video review post, a written analysis, a quoted opinion piece, and a gallery roundup all look appropriate for their format without anyone needing to build a custom layout for each type.
Divi supports basic WordPress post formats but does not style them distinctively in feed listings. Every post tends to appear with the same featured image and excerpt treatment in archives and blog pages. Creating format-specific visual differentiation requires custom development or plugins.
Each post format produces a different visual display automatically. Video posts show embedded video in the feed, gallery posts show image sliders, quote posts emphasize the pull quote typographically. No custom development required for format-specific presentation.
For publications that cover a mix of content types, post formats are not a minor feature. They are the mechanism by which a site maintains visual variety and editorial identity across hundreds of posts without manual layout work on each one. Divi can be made to do this with custom work. Extra does it out of the box.
Who this matters to: Bloggers and publishers who regularly produce mixed content types: written articles, video content, photo essays, opinion pieces, travel posts, and product roundups. Sites with a single content format will not notice the difference.
The Built-In Review System Saves You from Plugin Dependency for Review Content
Review sites are among the most common blog formats, and they have a specific set of display requirements that standard WordPress does not handle well on its own. A review needs a structured score, criteria for judgment, a visual rating display, and ideally a way for readers to submit their own ratings. Getting all of this working in Divi requires a third-party review plugin, integration with your design, and ongoing management of plugin compatibility.
Extra includes a native review system that covers both the editorial and the reader side without any additional plugin.
Editorial Review Box
When you create a post in Extra, you get a dedicated Review Box section in the post editor. You can add as many individual review criteria as your format requires, each with its own score. For a tech product review you might have criteria for design, performance, value, and ease of use. For a restaurant review you might have food quality, service, atmosphere, and price. Each criterion gets a score and the review box generates a formatted summary display automatically.
The review box appears within the post content in a structured, styled block that is visually distinct from the regular body text. It does not require any shortcode or builder module to place. It appears where the theme expects it based on the post settings.
User Rating System
Below every post, Extra displays a user rating widget that allows readers to submit their own star ratings. These aggregate alongside the editorial review score, giving posts a community rating dimension that keeps readers engaged beyond a single read. You can enable or disable user ratings on a per-post basis if some content does not benefit from open rating.
Review functionality requires a third-party plugin. Options include WP Review Pro, Taqyeem, or similar. Each requires installation, activation, styling to match your design, and monitoring for updates and compatibility with Divi. If you switch away from the plugin, review content stored in its custom fields may not transfer cleanly.
Review criteria and scores are added directly in the post editor. User rating widgets appear automatically without configuration. Everything is styled to match the theme by default. No plugin installation or compatibility management required.
One thing to be aware of: Extra’s review data is stored in a format tied to the theme. If you ever switch away from Extra, that review data will not automatically transfer to a plugin-based system. For sites where review content is central to the business, this is worth factoring into your long-term planning. If you are committed to Extra for the long term, the built-in system is a genuine convenience.
Who this matters to: Tech blogs, product comparison sites, restaurant or hospitality review sites, app review publications, and any content operation where review formatting is a recurring need rather than an occasional feature.
Post-Based Mega Menus Turn Your Navigation into a Content Discovery Tool
Navigation design is often treated as a purely structural concern: organize your categories, label your links clearly, and make sure the menu works on mobile. Extra goes a step further and makes the navigation itself a content engagement feature.
Extra ships with three types of mega menu configurations. The first is a standard list-style mega menu that consolidates multiple dropdown links into organized columns, which most well-designed sites use for complex category structures. The second and third are unique to Extra: post-based mega menus that display actual site content inside the dropdown when a reader hovers over a category link.
Featured Articles Mega Menu
When this menu type is enabled for a category, hovering over that navigation item opens a dropdown that shows three large article previews from the selected category. Each preview includes the featured image, headline, and post excerpt. Readers get a preview of what they will find in that category before clicking through to it. This format works well for main content categories where showing recent high-quality content encourages click-through.
Article List Mega Menu
This format shows two larger posts and four smaller post previews in the dropdown, fitting more content into the same space. It functions like a mini-feed inside the navigation, giving readers immediate access to recent posts without navigating to the category page first.
Mega menus in Divi are built through the Theme Builder and support column-based link lists. They do not natively pull and display dynamic post content inside the navigation dropdown. Adding live post previews to a Divi mega menu requires custom development or a third-party navigation plugin.
Select a menu item, assign it the Featured Articles or Article List mega menu type, choose the category, and the dropdown automatically pulls and displays recent posts. Updates automatically as new posts are published. No custom code or plugin required.
For a publication that publishes multiple times per week across several categories, post-based mega menus are a meaningful engagement feature. Readers who hover over “Technology” see what was published this week before deciding whether to visit the category. This reduces the bounce rate for navigation interactions and surfaces content that readers might not have found through the homepage alone.
It is also worth noting that Extra’s mega menus have a default styling and underline animation that looks polished out of the box. The navigation does not require custom CSS to look intentional. For a smaller team or solo publisher, this saves design time that would otherwise go into styling navigation interactions from scratch.
Who this matters to: Publications with frequent publishing schedules and multiple content categories, where surfacing recent posts directly in the navigation adds genuine discovery value. Less relevant for small sites with infrequent publishing or simple category structures.
Author Tools, Related Posts, and Sharing Are Built In Without Plugin Management
On a well-run content site, every post ends with the same set of elements: who wrote it, what else to read, and how to share it. These three features are so standard on professional publications that their absence is more noticeable than their presence. Getting all three working well in Divi requires at least two separate plugins and styling work to make them match your design.
Extra includes all three natively at the post level. They appear consistently on every post without any setup beyond activating them in the theme options.
Author Box
Below every post in Extra, a formatted author box displays the writer’s name, biography pulled from their WordPress user profile, and their social media links. On sites with a single author, this builds trust and personality into each post. On multi-author publications, it is essential for reader familiarity with contributors and for building individual writer followings.
Setting up an author box in Divi requires either a third-party plugin or a custom template in the Theme Builder. Extra’s author box is automatic, styled to match the theme, and requires no additional setup.
Related Posts
At the end of each post, Extra displays a grid of related posts pulled from the same category or based on shared tags. This is one of the most effective ways to increase session depth on a content site. A reader who finishes a post and immediately sees three relevant articles they have not read is far more likely to continue browsing than a reader whose post ends with nothing to engage with next.
Related post plugins exist for WordPress, and Divi sites can use them. But each plugin adds to the maintenance load, requires compatibility monitoring, and needs styling to match the design. Extra includes it at the theme level, which means it inherits the theme’s typography, spacing, and visual language automatically.
Social Sharing Buttons
Extra displays social sharing buttons on each post, allowing readers to share directly to their networks. The sharing integration is built into the post display and does not require a separate social sharing plugin. For publications that rely on social distribution to grow their audience, having sharing buttons that appear naturally within the post design is a better experience than a plugin bolted on top.
Author box, related posts, and social sharing each require a separate plugin or a custom post template built in the Theme Builder. Each plugin needs installation, configuration, and styling. Plugin updates must be monitored for compatibility with Divi and with each other.
All three appear on every post by default. Enable or disable them in theme options. No plugins required. All elements are styled to match the theme automatically. Zero maintenance overhead for these standard publication features.
Who this matters to: Any site that publishes regular blog content and cares about reader retention, content discovery, and social distribution. These features matter less for sites where posts are rarely published or where each post is a standalone piece rather than part of an ongoing content stream.
Get the Best Divi Deal Available
Divi 5 is already released and included in every plan at no additional cost. Both Annual and Lifetime plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
The 5 Reasons Summarized
| Reason | What Extra Does That Divi Does Not | Who It Matters To |
|---|---|---|
| Category Builder | Visual homepage and archive layouts using post-based modules with category-specific feeds | Magazines, news sites, multi-category blogs |
| Seven Post Formats | Distinct visual display for video, audio, gallery, quote, link, map, and text posts in feeds | Mixed-content publications, media-rich blogs |
| Built-In Review System | Editorial scoring with criteria and user star ratings, no plugin required | Product review sites, tech blogs, comparison sites |
| Post-Based Mega Menus | Navigation dropdowns that display live post previews from selected categories | Publications with frequent posting and multiple categories |
| Author Tools and Post Features | Author box, related posts, and social sharing built into every post without plugins | Any content site focused on reader retention and growth |
When You Should Still Choose Divi Instead
Extra’s advantages are specific and they matter deeply for the right project. But there are situations where Divi is clearly the better starting point, and understanding them makes the choice straightforward.
- You are building a business website, portfolio, or agency site. Extra’s content tools are overhead you do not need. Divi’s design flexibility serves these project types better.
- You need a blank page template for landing pages. Divi includes a blank template. Extra does not. If you are building conversion-focused pages with completely custom layouts, Divi is the cleaner starting point.
- You need multilingual support or RTL layout. Divi has been translated into 30-plus languages and includes RTL support. Extra does not have the same breadth of translation coverage.
- Your blog publishes infrequently or has a simple structure. If you post once a week in a single category, Extra’s Category Builder and post format tools are not going to be used enough to justify the slightly different starting point.
- You rely on community support and tutorials. Divi has a significantly larger community. Tutorials, troubleshooting threads, child themes, and third-party plugins are overwhelmingly built around Divi. If you anticipate needing community help, Divi is easier to find answers for.
Remember: You have access to both themes with any Elegant Themes membership. The cleanest workflow is to use Divi for general-purpose projects and switch to Extra specifically when a project is a blog, magazine, news site, or review publication where Extra’s built-in content tools give you a genuine head start.
Is Extra Right for Your Next Project?
Use this checklist to make the call. If you answer yes to three or more of these, Extra is probably the right choice for your project.
- The primary purpose of the site is publishing articles, reviews, or editorial content
- The site will have multiple content categories that need distinct homepage presentation
- You want a homepage that curates posts from different categories in different visual formats
- The site will publish regularly, at least several times per week
- You want review functionality with editorial scores and user ratings built in
- Author attribution and writer profiles are important to the site’s identity
- You want navigation that surfaces recent posts directly in the menu dropdown
- Social sharing and related post links need to appear consistently on every post
- You publish mixed content types: articles, videos, galleries, quotes
The Bottom Line
Extra is not a lesser version of Divi. It is a different tool built for a different purpose, and within that purpose it is genuinely superior to Divi in ways that matter. The Category Builder alone is worth choosing Extra for any project where the homepage needs to work as a content curation engine. The post formats, review system, mega menus, and built-in post features round out a complete set of tools for anyone running a publication seriously.
The reason most people default to Divi is not that Divi is always the right choice. It is that Divi is the theme everyone knows about. Extra tends to be overlooked simply because it is marketed less heavily and has fewer tutorials. That is a gap in awareness, not a gap in quality.
If you are building your next blog, magazine, or review site and you have not yet installed Extra, it is worth taking a serious look. You already have access to it. The only cost is the time to try it. And for the right project, it will save you far more time than it costs to evaluate.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does switching from Divi to Extra break existing page layouts?
No. Because both themes are built on the same Divi Builder, pages designed in Divi continue to work exactly as they did after you switch to Extra. The builder content is stored the same way in both themes. The visual transition is seamless for all pages and posts built with the Divi Builder. What changes is the surrounding theme chrome: the header, footer, and any theme-level defaults that differ between Divi and Extra.
Does Extra cost more than Divi?
No. Both themes are included in every Elegant Themes membership at the same price. The annual membership is $89 per year and the lifetime plan is $249 as a one-time payment. Both give you access to Divi, Extra, and all other Elegant Themes products. There is no premium tier required to access Extra.
Can Extra handle ecommerce with WooCommerce?
Yes. Extra is fully compatible with WooCommerce and includes the same WooCommerce module support as Divi. A blog or magazine that sells products alongside its content can run the store through Extra without needing to switch themes. The practical consideration is that Extra’s design philosophy prioritizes content presentation, so heavy ecommerce customization may require more deliberate effort than it would in Divi.
Is Extra supported with Divi 5?
Yes. Extra receives updates alongside Divi from Elegant Themes and benefits from the same core framework improvements. Both themes are part of Elegant Themes’ product roadmap and receive continued development support.
Can I use Extra with child themes designed for Divi?
Child themes built specifically for the Divi Theme are not directly compatible with Extra because the two themes have different base structures. However, there are child themes available specifically for Extra from third-party developers. Standard Divi Builder page layouts transfer between themes cleanly since they rely on the shared builder layer rather than the theme-specific layer.
Get the Best Divi Deal Available
Divi 5 is already released and included in every plan at no additional cost. Both Annual and Lifetime plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
