Convert a website to Divi 5?

Your website has been running on Divi 4 for some time, everything works and you mainly want to avoid hassle. At the same time, you are hearing more and more about the Divi 5 update: faster, more modern and Elegant Themes’ new standard. The logical question is: should you convert your website now, or is it better to wait a little longer?

At Webtify, we see that many entrepreneurs feel the same way. They do not want to switch too early if certain elements are not yet working smoothly, but they also do not want to be too late when Divi 4 is eventually phased out. The good news is: you will not be forced to switch today or tomorrow. Still, it is wise to know what is changing and what you should have in order before making the switch.

What exactly is the Divi 5 update?

The Divi 5 update is more than a normal version upgrade. Elegant Themes has largely rebuilt Divi from the ground up. According to the official Divi 5 announcement, Divi 5 officially left beta on 26 February 2026. This makes it the new main version on which further development will continue.
https://www.elegantthemes.com/blog/theme-releases/divi-5-official

That does not automatically mean that every existing Divi website should be converted immediately. Precisely because Divi 5 works differently under the hood, the platform first checks whether elements are compatible. Elegant Themes uses a migration system for this that checks existing content and partially converts it where necessary.

Should you switch already?

For many existing websites, the honest answer is: not necessarily yet. Especially not if your site runs stably, contains extensive custom work or depends on external modules. Elegant Themes’ guidance on migrating safely also clearly states that Divi 4 will remain fully supported for at least 12 months after the official release of Divi 5 on 26 February 2026.

Reken je dat door, dan weet je in elk geval dat volledige ondersteuning van Divi 4 nog loopt tot ten minste 26 februari 2027. Dat geeft ruimte. Niet om het onderwerp te negeren, maar wel om de overstap op een logisch moment te beoordelen.

Dat geeft rust. Je hoeft niet vanuit paniek te migreren. Wel is het verstandig om de ontwikkeling te volgen en alvast te kijken of je website technisch klaar is voor een latere overstap.

An earlier switch becomes more appealing when you are building a new website, are not heavily dependent on old modules or would like to use new features and performance improvements. If you already work with a relatively clean Divi setup, the transition is more likely to go smoothly.

If you use many older layouts, third-party extensions or custom work, then caution is often wiser. At Webtify, we regularly see that the technology seems compatible on paper, but in practice it is mainly about how a website has been built up over the years.

Are you being forced to use Divi 5?

Not yet. At the moment, there is no firm message from Elegant Themes that all websites will automatically be converted immediately. However, it is clear that Divi 5 is the future and that Divi 4 will eventually no longer receive active development. New improvements and features will mainly be added to Divi 5.

The more important point is not whether you will be forced to switch tomorrow, but that an endpoint is coming for Divi 4 as the main platform. The direction is clear: sooner or later, you will need to migrate. For now, however, you still have room to do so in a controlled way instead of under time pressure.

What should you have ready by then?

Preparation is often more important than the update itself. Elegant Themes’ migration system checks whether pages, templates and modules can be converted natively to Divi 5, or whether certain elements will temporarily continue to run with a form of backward compatibility. According to the documentation on the Divi 5 migration system, a page with unsupported modules can still fall back on the Divi 4 framework, which can affect performance.

It is therefore useful to be clear in advance about:

• which pages use old or external Divi modules
• whether your theme customisations and custom work are still structured logically
• whether your website first needs to be cleaned up technically
• whether your builder, plugins and templates are still properly maintained
• whether your website can be assessed in a test environment

This fits well with earlier topics such as what Divi 5 exactly is, the launch of Divi 5 and the differences between Divi and Elementor when you take a broader look at the future of your website.

What many website owners underestimate

The biggest pitfall is thinking that a Divi 5 update is the same as a regular plugin update. With a standard update, you expect everything to keep working seamlessly. With this switch, it also matters how your site has been built historically, which modules are still used and whether external extensions have already been fully adapted to Divi 5.

Elegant Themes has also published a compatibility check for Divi 5. It shows that not every element on every site will automatically migrate natively. That is precisely why being able to migrate is different from needing to migrate now.

Switching more calmly is often smarter than switching faster

The Divi 5 update is important, but for many existing websites it is still mainly a matter of good timing. You do not need to switch in a panic at this point, but it is wise to know that Divi 4 will remain supported at least until 26 February 2027 and that the switch will become increasingly logical after that.

Anyone who already understands how the migration works, which elements are sensitive and where the dependencies lie will be in a much stronger position later. And if you cannot work it out, we at Webtify are of course happy to think it through with you clearly. Not to push you, but to help determine when a switch truly makes sense.