Visual editing for non-developers.
WHAT THEY GIVE YOU
Building layouts without code, which for many site owners is the difference between maintaining their own site and not.
WHAT THEY COST
Significant page weight. Builders load substantial code on every page.
Lock-in: content built in one builder is difficult to move to another, or to plain content.
Complexity when updating, since builder and theme must remain compatible.
PRACTICAL ADVICE
Use it for the pages that benefit: homepage, landing pages, about
Leave standard content as ordinary pages Check whether the builder loads on pages that do not use it, and limit it if so Test performance on a builder page, not just the homepage
ON SHOPS
Avoid rebuilding cart and checkout in a builder. They are functional pages, and builders frequently conflict with them.
THE LOCK-IN POINT
Content built with a builder is stored as builder markup. Deactivate the builder and the content becomes unusable.
That is a long-term commitment worth making deliberately.
THE ALTERNATIVE
Modern block editors handle much of this natively, with less weight and no lock-in.
