I am a junior WordPress developer currently responsible for maintaining my client’s website, which was built by somebody else who is no longer in contact with the client.
The website is using the theme **”Xtra child”** which comes with **WPBakery Builder**.
Now, WP Bakery builder requires an updates, but it is impossible to do so as I don’t have purchase code for the Xtra theme or WPBakery’s Paid License. I have attempted to contact with the theme owner and WPBakery, but unfortunately both requires me having a proof of the purchase of the theme / the license.
**My questions are:**
1. Does it work if I purchase the license for WPBakery builder directly? Are there any potential issues with maintenance without access to the Xtra dashboard in the future?
2. Would purchasing the WPBakery’s license worth trying? I am afraid it would break some parts or even the whole website because the current version is 5.5.2. and the latest is 7.7.2.
3. What issues possibly arise upon the update? I have only used block editor and Elementor before so not that familiar with WPBakery Builder.
4. Would you suggest building the whole website with a free page builder rather than purchasing the license to see how it goes?
I don’t mind how much time I spend as I have just started my career as a developer and doing this as a volunteer to gain my experience. Your advices are much appreciated.
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I am sure you can purchase a license for WPBakery independently, and this should allow you to update WPBakery, but you might miss out on theme-specific integrations or features that the Xtra theme provides, I am afraid, and without access to the Xtra dashboard, you may face limitations in theme customization and updates.
Updating WPBakery from 5.5.2 to 7.7.2 is a quite a jump and could potentially cause issues.
Major updates often include changes to element structures or deprecated features, and it’s risky to update without thorough testing on a staging site first.
Potential issues upon update could be layout breakages (due to changes in element structures or CSS), deprecated shortcodes or elements may not function correctly, custom elements added by the Xtra theme might not be compatible with the new version, and performance issues (if the new version isn’t optimized for the current setup).
Rebuilding a site with some other page builder could be a long-term solution, especially if you’re more comfortable with other builders, but you know that would require significant time and effort to recreate the entire site, plus you’d need to ensure all functionality and design elements can be replicated.
Some of these questions you can only answer by doing. Can you take a site backup, restore it locally and apply the WPBakery update and test? That would give you the conclusive evidence you need. Unless you are actually looking to fully rebuild the site from scratch. I would also ask your client if they would be willing to pay for WPBakery before doing any of this; you should not pay out-of-pocket.
The update should be fine. I’ve done some similar updates before and there’s been no issues. But always take a backup for good measure. Check the change log you can often tell if there is a major overhaul that can cause issues. Most authors will clearly indicated that there is a change in something that needs to be migrated. Sometimes in this case you’ll just need to do a sequential update to the point of change and then jump to normal. Kind of like a stepping stone. You could also always just ask WordPress Bakery support they should tell you if anything could potentially be an issue.
100% recommend redoing the site instead of wasting money on a license. Hone your skills on the workflow you feel comfortable with. I would ask for some compensation for redoing it.