Creating custom post types in Divi used to mean one of two things: writing PHP in a child theme, or buying ACF Pro and two more plugins to glue it all together. Neither is a good fit if you just want a team page, a property list or an events calendar that looks like the rest of your Divi site.

This guide shows you a third way. By the end you will have a working custom post type in Divi with its own fields, a grid on a page, and single and archive templates in the Theme Builder. No code. No ACF. It works in Divi 4 and Divi 5.

We also cover the two older methods, so you can pick the one that fits your site.

What Is a Custom Post Type and When Do You Need One in Divi?

WordPress gives you two content types out of the box: posts and pages. A custom post type is a third kind of content you define yourself. Properties, team members, events, jobs, courses, recipes, portfolio items. Each one gets its own menu in the WordPress admin, its own list of entries, and its own fields.

Why posts and pages are not enough

You could add team members as blog posts. But a blog post has a date, categories and a comment box. A team member needs a job title, a department and a LinkedIn link. If you force one into the other, your editors get confused and your layouts break the moment someone adds a real blog post.

A custom post type keeps each kind of content separate and gives it only the fields it needs.

What you need alongside the post type

The post type itself is only the first piece. A working directory in Divi needs four things:

1. The content type: the container, with its name, URL slug and admin menu.




2. Custom fields: price, date, location, phone, gallery. The data that makes each entry useful.




3. Taxonomies: the categories you filter by, like Property Type or Department.




4. A display and a template: a grid or list on a page, plus a single page design and an archive page design.

Most tutorials stop at step one. This guide covers all four.

The Three Ways to Add Custom Post Types in Divi

There are three routes. Each one is valid. The right one depends on how comfortable you are with code and how much you want to maintain later.

Option 1: Register the post type in PHP

This is the classic WordPress way. You add a few lines to your child theme's functions.php:

function my_register_team_post_type() {    register_post_type( 'team_member', array(        'labels'      => array(            'name'          => 'Team Members',            'singular_name' => 'Team Member',        ),        'public'      => true,        'has_archive' => true,        'supports'    => array( 'title', 'editor', 'thumbnail' ),        'menu_icon'   => 'dashicons-groups',    ) );}add_action( 'init', 'my_register_team_post_type' );

That gives you a Team Members menu in the admin. It does not give you a job title field, a department taxonomy, a grid layout or a single page template. Each of those is more code. If you later move to a new theme or forget to use a child theme, the content type disappears with the update.

Pick this route if you are a developer and want full control with no plugins.

Option 2: CPT UI, ACF and a display plugin

The common no code stack is three plugins. CPT UI creates the post type. Advanced Custom Fields adds the fields. A third plugin, or Divi 5's Loop Builder, shows the content on the page. For relationships, repeaters and galleries you need ACF Pro, which costs $49 to $249 a year as of 5 November 2026.

This works, and many Divi sites run on it. The cost is complexity. Three plugins to update, three places to configure, and a learning curve for each. On Divi 4, filtering and pagination need a fourth plugin. On Divi 5, the Post Filter module covers basic filtering.

Pick this route if you already own ACF Pro and know it well.

Option 3: One plugin that does the whole chain

The third route is a single plugin built for Divi that creates the content type, the fields, the taxonomies and the relationships, then shows them in Divi layouts and creates the Theme Builder templates. This is the route the rest of this guide uses, with Smart CPT for Divi from Divi Next.

Pick this route if you want no code, no ACF, and one place to manage everything.

Competitor facts checked 5 November 2026 against public product pages.

Divi 4 vs Divi 5: What Changes for Custom Post Types

If you are still on Divi 4, custom post types work the same way at the WordPress level. The difference is on the display side.

In Divi 4, you show a custom post type with a module from a plugin, or you build a layout in the Theme Builder and assign it to the post type. Divi 4's own Blog module shows only standard posts.

In Divi 5, Elegant Themes added the Loop Builder. Any module can now loop through a post type, and the dynamic content picker can pull custom field values into text, image and link settings. This is a big step. It also means the display part of custom post types in Divi 5 is more native than it has ever been.

What Divi 5 still does not do is create the post type or its fields. You still need a plugin or code for that part. The next section explains where the line is.

What Divi 5 Loop Builder Does and Doesn't Do

The Divi 5 Loop Builder is the best thing to happen to dynamic content in Divi. Before you pick a plugin, it helps to know exactly what it covers. Elegant Themes explains it in full in "Everything You Need to Know About Divi 5's Loop Builder".

What Loop Builder does

• Loops any module over posts, terms or users




• Picks posts by post type, category, tag and ACF meta




• Sets how many items to show, the order and an offset




• Lets you design the repeated item with normal Divi modules




• Since August 2026, adds a Post Filter module so visitors can search, filter and sort a loop on the page with text, select, radio, checkbox and order controls

What Loop Builder leaves to you

• Creating the custom post type and its taxonomies




• Creating custom fields




• Relationships between content types




• Saved queries you can reuse across pages




• Filter extras: a result count next to each option, number and date range controls, and filter forms you save once and reuse on any page




• Load more and infinite scroll

Elegant Themes says it plainly in its own Loop Builder query guide: for custom post types, budget an extra plugin. Checked 10 November 2026.

The practical takeaway: Loop Builder is the display engine. You still need something to build the content and feed it. A good Divi custom post type plugin should plug into Loop Builder, not fight it. Smart CPT for Divi does exactly that. A saved query from Smart CPT can be picked as the source of any Divi 5 loop, and Smart CPT fields show up in the dynamic content picker.

How to Create Custom Post Types in Divi Step by Step (No Code)

For the rest of this guide we build a Properties content type for a small real estate site. Swap the names and the same steps give you a team directory, a portfolio, an events list or a job board. The full version of this build, with every screen, is in the docs: Build a Property Listings Site with Smart CPT for Divi.

You need WordPress 6.0 or later, the Divi theme or Divi Builder plugin, and Smart CPT for Divi installed and activated. Divi 5 is recommended, but the steps below also work on Divi 4.

Step 1: Open the Smart CPT dashboard

After activation you get a Smart CPT menu in the WordPress sidebar with three groups: Build (Content Types, Fields, Relationships), Display (Queries, Filters, Templates) and Get Started (Starter Kits). The Dashboard shows a four step checklist: create a type, add fields, add your first items, show them on a page. This guide follows that checklist.

Step 2: Create the content type with the wizard

Go to Smart CPT > Content Types and click Create content type. The wizard has four steps.

1. Start. Pick a preset or start blank. Presets exist for Property, Job, Event, Team and Portfolio. Pick Property. The preset pre fills the names and suggests two taxonomies: Property Types and Locations.




2. Name. Set the singular name (Property), the plural name (Properties) and the internal name. Pick one of 33 menu icons for the admin sidebar.




3. Features. Turn on single pages and the archive page. Choose what each property has: Title, Main content, Short summary, Featured image, Author. The advanced panel lets you change URL slugs, enable comments or revisions, and make the type hierarchical.




4. Review. Check the summary and tick the boxes to create the preset taxonomies at the same time.

Click Create content type. You now have a Properties menu in the admin, with Property Types and Locations under it, and a success screen that points you to the next step: Add fields.

Step 3: Add taxonomies

If you used a preset, this is already done. If you started blank, open the content type and add the taxonomies you want to filter by. For properties: Property Type (house, apartment, villa) and Location (city or area). Taxonomies are what power the filter dropdowns later, so add them now rather than as custom fields.

Step 4: Add custom fields

Go to Smart CPT > Fields and create a field group called Property Details. Attach it to Properties. Then add fields. For a property listing, five fields are enough to start:

Smart CPT for Divi has 23 field types. Basic types cover text, numbers, email, URL, phone, dates, toggles and choices. Media types cover image, gallery, file and video. Advanced types add group, repeater, and links to posts, users and terms. Fields are saved as normal WordPress meta, so your data is not locked in.

Step 5: Add a relationship (optional)

Most directories connect two things. Properties have agents. Jobs have companies. Events have venues. Go to Smart CPT > Relationships, create one from Properties to Agents, and pick the cardinality. Many to one means each property has one agent and an agent has many properties. Editors can then pick the agent from the property edit screen, or the property from the agent screen.

Skip this step if your content type stands alone.

Step 6: Add your first entries

Go to Properties > Add New. You get the normal WordPress editor plus your Property Details fields and the agent picker. Add four to six entries with featured images so you have something to lay out. Publish them.

That is the content side done. No code so far, and no ACF.

Display Your Custom Post Type in Divi (Divi 4 and Divi 5)

Now the fun part. Open any page in the Divi Visual Builder and add the Smart CPT module.

Pick a layout

In the Content tab, set the post type to Properties. Then pick a layout. In Divi 5 you have 20: Floating Caption, Sticky Content, Horizontal Slider, Vertical Slider, Carousel, Split Screen, Full Screen, Scattered Content, Centered Content, Interactive Links, Vertical Interactive Links, Expanding Panels, Bento Grid, Timeline, Flip Cards, List, Cards, Table, Featured + Grid and Horizontal Scroll. Divi 4 has the first 15.

For a property grid, start with Cards. Set three columns, a 4 by 3 image ratio and the zoom hover effect. Turn on the title, terms and excerpt. In Divi 5 you can also add custom fields to each card, so Price and Bedrooms appear under the title with a currency or number format.

Choose what to show with a saved query

In the Query group, Posts To Show gives you All posts, By selected terms, Current archive query and, in Divi 5, a saved query.

Go to Smart CPT > Queries and create one called Homes for sale under $1M. Add two conditions: Listing status is For sale, and Price is less than 1,000,000. Order by price, lowest first. Save it. Back in the module, set the source to this saved query.

Saved queries also understand the page they sit on. Add the condition Agent is {current_post} and the same query shows every property belonging to the agent whose page you are viewing. One query, reused everywhere.

Use it inside Divi 5 Loop Builder

If you prefer to design the repeated item yourself, you do not need the Smart CPT module at all. Add any Divi 5 module, turn on the Loop with Post Type as the query, and pick your query in the Smart CPT Saved Query field that appears in the Loop settings. The saved query's conditions and order replace the loop's own. Then use the dynamic content picker to pull in Price, Bedrooms or the gallery. Smart CPT fields are grouped by content type in the picker, each with a fallback value for empty fields.

Add filters and pagination

For a real estate site, visitors expect to filter by location, type and price. Go to Smart CPT > Filters and create a filter called Property search with four controls: a search box, a Location dropdown, a Property Type dropdown and a Price range. Turn on result counts so each option shows how many properties match.

On the page, add the Smart Filter module above your listing, pick the saved filter and point it at your Smart CPT module's Listing ID. Filtering now happens without a page reload, and the current filter state is written to the URL, so visitors can share a filtered view.

For pagination, open the Smart CPT module and pick one of four types: Numbered, Previous and Next, Load More, or Infinite Scroll. Set the number of items per page and you are done.

Smart Filter, server side filtering and infinite scroll are Divi 5 features. On Divi 4 you get the built in filter bar and three pagination types.

Build Archive and Single Templates in Theme Builder

Click a property card and you land on its single page. By default it uses your theme's standard post layout, which is not what you want for a listing.

Go to Smart CPT > Templates. The screen lists every content type with three rows: single, archive and each taxonomy archive. Each row shows whether a template is custom, default or missing. Click Create template on the Single Property row and Smart CPT for Divi creates the Theme Builder template for you, assigned to the right post type. Do the same for Properties archive.

Open the template in the Theme Builder and design it like any other Divi layout. Use the dynamic content picker to place the price, bedrooms, gallery and agent fields where you want them.

Two tools make this safer than a normal Theme Builder session:

• Live Preview lets you step through real properties inside the builder, so you design against actual data instead of a placeholder.




• Fallback audit lists every Smart CPT dynamic value on the template for the record you are previewing, and shows whether it has a value, uses a fallback or is empty. You catch missing data before visitors do.

One click template creation needs Divi 5.12 or later. On Divi 4 you create the template in the Theme Builder by hand and assign it to Properties, which works the same way as any other post type.

Moving from Divi 4 to Divi 5 later

If you build on Divi 4 now and switch to Divi 5 later, existing Smart CPT modules convert automatically to the Divi 5 module. You do not rebuild your pages.

Skip the Setup with Starter Kits

If your project matches a common directory, you can skip most of the steps above. Go to Smart CPT > Starter Kits and install one. Each kit creates the content types, taxonomies, fields, relationships, a saved query, demo content with images, showcase pages and a Theme Builder template in one click.

• Real Estate. Properties linked to agents, with a search by location, type, sale or rent, and price.




• Team Directory. Leadership in expanding panels and the full team as cards by department.




• Portfolio. Featured work as flip cards and a full grid with a category filter.




• Events. Upcoming events on a timeline, a venues page and a single event template.




• Job Board. A jobs table with keyword, category, work mode and salary search.

The install rolls back if anything fails, and you can remove the demo content later while keeping the structure. Starter kit pages and templates need Divi 5. On Divi 4 the content types and fields install, and the pages are skipped with a note.

The real estate site in the screenshot above is the Real Estate kit with the demo content replaced. See it live on the Smart CPT for Divi demo site.

Common Mistakes When Creating Custom Post Types in Divi

Changing the slug after launch. The internal name and URL slug of a post type are baked into every URL. Change them later and every link breaks. Decide them in the wizard and leave them alone.

Forgetting the archive template. The single page gets all the attention, but /properties/ is the page Google indexes as the hub. Create both templates before you publish.

Using custom fields for things that should be taxonomies. If you will ever filter by it, make it a taxonomy. Property Type as a text field cannot power a dropdown. Property Type as a taxonomy can.

Hardcoding the post type in PHP on a live site. If you go the code route, use a child theme and keep a copy of the code outside WordPress. A theme update without a child theme removes your post type and hides all its content.

Buying ACF Pro when you only need fields and a display. ACF Pro is excellent, but if your goal is a directory in Divi, a Divi custom post type plugin that includes fields saves you a licence and two plugins.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I create custom post types in Divi without a plugin?

Yes. Add a register_post_type call to your child theme's functions.php, as shown in Option 1 above. You then need more code for fields, taxonomies, layouts and templates. It is the right choice for developers who want zero plugins.

Do I need ACF to use custom post types in Divi?

No. ACF is one way to add fields, but it is not required. Smart CPT for Divi includes 23 field types, relationships and a query builder, so you can build and display custom content without ACF.

Does Divi 5 support custom post types natively?

Partly. Divi 5's Loop Builder can display any public post type and read custom fields. It does not create post types or fields. You still need a plugin or code for that part.

What happens to my content if I deactivate the plugin?

Your entries stay in WordPress as normal posts, meta and terms. Deactivating changes nothing in the database. Deleting the plugin removes its settings but keeps your content type and field definitions, unless you turn on the delete all data option first. While the plugin is off, the post type is not registered, so the entries are hidden from the admin until you activate it again.

Can I show custom post types in Divi Theme Builder templates?

Yes. Create a template in the Theme Builder and assign it to your post type. Smart CPT for Divi creates single, archive and taxonomy templates in one click on Divi 5.12 or later.

Next Steps

You now know the three ways to create custom post types in Divi, what Divi 5 Loop Builder handles on its own, and how to go from an empty site to a filtered, templated directory without writing code.

If you want the no code route, Smart CPT for Divi is the Divi custom post type plugin built for this job. It creates the content types, fields and relationships, shows them in 20 native Divi layouts, and works with Divi 4 and Divi 5. Start with a starter kit and you will have a working directory in a few minutes.

Read the full property listings walkthrough in the docs, or open the live demo to see the layouts and filters in action.