Divi 5 has officially been released, and if you have been building sites with Divi 4, you are probably wondering how to make the jump. Elegant Themes has built a migration tool right into Divi, so you don’t have to rebuild anything from scratch. The migration takes your existing Divi 4 content and converts it to the new Divi 5 format.
But migrating isn’t just a matter of clicking one button and walking away. A little preparation goes a long way, and doing things in the right order will save you a lot of headaches. Here is a step-by-step checklist you can follow to migrate any Divi 4 site to Divi 5 with confidence.
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Divi 5 Migration Checklist at a Glance
- Set up a development site
- Check your server resources
- Enable Divi 5 updates
- Update from Divi 4 to Divi 5
- Migrate to Divi 5
- Clear all cache and save permalinks
- Review the result in the frontend
- Fix broken layouts
- Deploy Divi 5 in production (when it feels solid)
Let’s walk through each step.
1. Set Up a Development Site
Never migrate a live site with real visitors. This is the single most important rule of the whole process.
There are two reasons for this. First, if something breaks during migration, you don’t want your real visitors to see it. Experimenting in public is never a good idea. Second, if you migrate directly on your live site, you have nothing to compare against. You will only have one version of the site, so you can’t put the old and new versions side by side to spot the differences.
The cleanest approach is to create a staging site or a subdomain, then clone your live site there. For example, you might set up something like divi5.yoursite.com and run the entire migration on that copy. Your live site stays untouched while you work, and you can compare the two versions in real time.
All major web hosts offer some kind of interface for adding staging sites or custom subdomains. You can also use plugins like Duplicator or All-in-One Migration if you want to do it yourself.
2. Check Your Server Resources
A migration can get stuck halfway through if your hosting environment doesn’t have enough resources, so it’s worth a quick check before you begin.
In your WordPress dashboard, go to the Divi tab and open the Support Center. At the top you will see the system status. You want a message telling you that all system checks have passed and your hosting configuration is compatible with Divi. If you see any red flags here, fix those issues first before starting the migration.
3. Enable Divi 5 Updates
By default, Divi 4 installations don’t automatically offer the Divi 5 update. You have to opt into the Divi 5 upgrade path first.
Head over to the Divi dashboard and look for the option to enable Divi 5 updates. Once you switch to the Divi 5 upgrade path, you will start receiving Divi 5 updates in your WordPress dashboard. Click the button to check for updates, and you should now see an available update that takes you from your current Divi 4 version up to the latest Divi 5 release.
4. Update from Divi 4 to Divi 5
This step updates the actual theme files. With the Divi 5 update now visible, update the theme just like you would any normal theme update.
Here is something important to understand: updating to Divi 5 and migrating your content are two separate things. After you update the theme, you are technically running Divi 5, but your content is still in the old Divi 4 format. You are running two parallel systems until you complete the next step. Your unmigrated content won’t benefit from the Divi 5 performance improvements until it has been converted.
Don’t expect a big celebratory wizard after the theme update. The process is quieter than you might think, which is exactly why this checklist is useful.
5. Migrate to Divi 5
Now you convert your content. In the Divi dashboard you will find a section that invites you to migrate your website. If your site contains content built with Divi 4, the migrator will convert it to the Divi 5 format.
When you open the migrator, it shows you how many modules are ready to be converted and flags any warnings. Starting the migration converts all your Divi 4 modules to the Divi 5 format, which means the old shortcodes are removed across your entire site. This is a sweeping, site-wide change, so make sure you have a backup and that you are doing this on your staging site (see step 1).
Once you confirm, the migration runs. On a small, simple site this only takes a few moments. Larger and more complex sites will take longer.
6. Clear All Cache and Save Permalinks
This step fixes a surprising number of visual issues, so don’t skip it. After migrating, three quick actions will clean things up:
- Clear and preload your caching plugin. Whether you use WP Rocket, LiteSpeed Cache, or any other caching plugin, clear the cache and preload it again so visitors are served the fresh, migrated version.
- Clear the Divi CSS cache. In the Divi Theme Options you will find a button to clear the static CSS file cache. Click it.
- Save your permalinks. Go to Settings and then Permalinks, and click Save Changes. This flushes the rewrite rules.
Together these three actions resolve a lot of design and styling quirks that can otherwise appear right after a migration.
7. Review the Result in the Frontend
With the migration done and the caches cleared, it’s time to compare. Open your original Divi 4 site and your migrated Divi 5 site side by side and go through them carefully.
A few tips for reviewing:
- Always check while logged out. Use an incognito window so you see the site the way your real visitors do. Things can look different when you are logged into WordPress.
- Go page by page. Check your homepage, your inner pages, your blog, your single post templates, and your contact page.
- Check both desktop and mobile. Responsive behavior can differ between the two versions, so preview your pages at mobile sizes too.
Take your time here. This review is where you catch anything that didn’t carry over perfectly.
8. Fix Broken Layouts
Even on a clean migration, you may find a handful of small differences that need attention. Some settings don’t always carry over exactly as they were in Divi 4, so plan to spend a little time adjusting things.
Most of these fixes are quick, and Divi 5 gives you far more control than Divi 4 did. If you used presets in Divi 4, you can update the equivalent element presets in Divi 5 to fix many elements at once rather than editing them one by one. The new responsive settings, flexbox, and grid options in Divi 5 also make it easier to get your layouts looking exactly how you want, especially on mobile.
Work through your review notes from step 7 and tidy up anything that looks off. Because you are on a staging site, you can take as long as you need without any visitor ever noticing.
9. Deploy Divi 5 in Production (When It Feels Solid)
Once you have reviewed everything and fixed the layouts on your staging site, and you are happy with how the Divi 5 version looks and behaves, you are ready to go live.
There is no rush. Elegant Themes has committed to supporting Divi 4 for at least 12 months, so you can take the time to get your migration right. Only push Divi 5 to production when it feels solid and you are confident in the result. If you are building a brand new site, starting directly in Divi 5 is a great choice, since you get the improved builder experience and all the new features from day one.
Make It Easier: The Free Divi Migration Helper Plugin
The built-in Divi migrator does the job, but it gives you a single screen with very little guidance. You are largely left to figure out the preparation, the compatibility checks, and the review process on your own.
This is where the Divi Migration Helper plugin from Pee-Aye Creative comes in. It doesn’t replace Divi’s migration system; it builds on top of it by wrapping the whole process in a structured, guided interface that walks you through each stage in the correct order, from preparing your site and checking compatibility to running the migration and reviewing the results.
In practice, the plugin guides you through many of the same steps in this checklist, but with helpful context at each stage. It walks you through verifying server readiness, creating backups, and setting up a staging site for testing, and it prompts you to review third-party plugin compatibility so you can spot potential conflicts before you migrate. Instead of running the migration blind, you can see what will happen before you begin and understand the results afterward.
It’s worth knowing what the plugin does and doesn’t do. It uses Divi’s built-in migration system behind the scenes and doesn’t replace or modify the underlying migration process. It won’t resolve compatibility issues or convert unsupported modules for you; instead, it helps you identify and understand them so you can make informed decisions. And it’s free (with an option to donate), so there’s no reason not to try it.
If your site is more complex, or you simply want a calmer, more guided experience, installing the Divi Migration Helper before you start is a smart move.
Final Thoughts
Migrating from Divi 4 to Divi 5 doesn’t have to be stressful. The key is preparation: work on a staging site, check your server, and take the process one step at a time. Update, migrate, clear your caches, review carefully, fix what needs fixing, and only then go live.
Follow this checklist, lean on the free Divi Migration Helper if you want extra guidance, and you will be running on Divi 5 with confidence.
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