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Troubleshooting Common Conflicts Between Speed Optimizer and the Divi Theme

14 threads Sep 16, 2025 Plugin → Speed optimizer – the all-in-one performance-boosting plugin

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Users of the popular Divi theme from Elegant Themes sometimes encounter conflicts when also running the 'Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin'. These issues often manifest as broken visual builders, missing styles, or strange layout behavior. This guide outlines the most common problems and their proven solutions, compiled from community reports.

Why Do These Conflicts Happen?

The core of the issue lies in feature overlap. Both Divi and Speed Optimizer have powerful optimization features for CSS and JavaScript, such as minification, combination, and lazy loading. When these features are enabled in both systems simultaneously, they can process the same files in different ways or in the wrong order, leading to conflicts that break site functionality. The Divi Builder's frontend editor is particularly sensitive to these conflicts.

Most Common Issues and Their Solutions

1. Divi Visual Builder Not Loading or Timing Out

Problem: The Divi Builder gets stuck in an endless loading state or fails to load entirely when Speed Optimizer is active.

Primary Solution: This is most frequently caused by the Combine JavaScript Files feature. Disable this option in Speed Optimizer under Frontend Optimization. Many users have reported this single step resolves the builder loading issue.

2. Missing or Broken CSS Styles

Problem: After enabling optimizations, parts of your site—such as contact forms, header colors, or blog modules—lose their styling or appear incorrectly.

Primary Solutions:

  • Exclude Divi's CSS: Within the Speed Optimizer's Combine CSS Files settings, use the exclude dropdown to prevent specific Divi stylesheets from being processed. The most commonly excluded files are:
    • /themes/Divi/style.css
    • /themes/Divi/style.dev.css
  • Configure Divi's Settings: In your Divi Theme Options, navigate to Divi → Theme Options → Builder → Advanced. Ensure that Output Styles Inline is turned OFF and that Static CSS File Generation is turned ON.
  • Disable Lazy Load for Media: If blog modules or other elements are disappearing, try disabling the Lazy Load Media option in Speed Optimizer's Media Optimization tab.

3. Popups or Overlays Not Working for Logged-Out Users

Problem: Interactive elements like popups created with Divi Overlays or similar plugins work correctly when you are logged in but fail for visitors.

Primary Solution: This is another common conflict with the Combine JavaScript Files feature. Disabling this option typically resolves the issue for logged-out users.

General Best Practices

  • Avoid Duplication: Do not enable the same type of optimization (e.g., CSS minification) in both Divi and Speed Optimizer. Choose one tool to handle each task. Community consensus often leans towards using Speed Optimizer for these functions.
  • Test Incrementally: When configuring performance plugins, enable one feature at a time and test your site thoroughly, especially the Divi Builder, after each change.
  • Clear All Caches: After making any configuration changes, always clear Speed Optimizer's cache, your browser cache, and any other caching layers (like Cloudflare) to ensure you are seeing the latest version of your site.

By methodically testing these settings, most conflicts between Speed Optimizer and the Divi theme can be resolved, allowing you to maintain both a high-performing and fully functional website.

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