Elementor, Divi and Gutenberg in China

Check both the public page and the editor when preparing an Elementor China site. Elementor has controls for serving Google Fonts locally, but its 4.3.4 editor registers a Google-hosted font outside those controls. Divi documents font switches; core Gutenberg adds no Google Fonts request to the public page by default. Your theme and add-ons still need checking.

We checked the source and documentation on 19 October 2026. The version numbers below identify what we inspected. Network evidence comes from published third-party tests of individual hosts; we haven’t measured a speed ranking of the builders.

Where the requests come from

A builder gives your team a place to choose fonts and add widgets. Each choice can create a request outside your own website. For a font, follow the stylesheet request through to the file that supplies the letters on screen. Check the page where that font is used.

Separate what a visitor downloads from what an editor needs to work. A marketing team can see a clean public page while its editing screen still contacts a font service abroad. Check the published page’s asset URLs even when editing works.

Our WordPress in China overview covers hosting. For the builder, start with the font settings and follow the requests they create. Keep a record of your installed version before changing anything, so another developer can repeat the check after an update.

Elementor China settings: two controls to inspect

In Elementor 4.3.4, go to Elementor > Settings > Advanced > Google Fonts. Its default in the inspected version is Enable. This control decides whether Elementor’s generated public pages use Google Fonts. Disable it when you supply fonts through another route, such as your theme’s local files.

Under Elementor > Settings > Performance, the separate Load Google Fonts Locally setting defaults to Disable. Inspect this option if you want to keep Elementor’s Google font choices while serving the files from your site. Don’t assume a previous installation’s setting describes a new installation.

Elementor announced the disabled default for Load Google Fonts Locally on 18 September 2025; the 4.3.4 source retains that default. Source: Elementor, September 2025; versioned source checked October 2026. https://github.com/elementor/elementor/issues/32838 https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/elementor.4.3.4.zip

Keep a copy of the original settings so you can restore them if a page’s typography changes unexpectedly.

Use a staging copy of a page your team edits regularly, with its real headings and body text, to check the chosen font delivery plan. After changing the settings, clear generated styles and caches, then reload a page with the browser cache disabled. Inspect both the stylesheet URL and the font file URLs it contains. A stylesheet served by your domain can still point at a font file elsewhere. Confirm that the local font files finish downloading before accepting the change.

Headings need their own check. A page-level choice or an added widget can differ from the site’s global typography. Test the Chinese version too: the font that draws Latin headings may leave Chinese characters to a fallback. That can change line breaks even when every request completes.

The editor still asks Google for Roboto

The public-page settings don’t cover the whole editing environment. In the version inspected, register_base_styles() registers google-font-roboto against fonts.googleapis.com without checking the Google Fonts option. The elementor-editor stylesheet lists that handle as a dependency.

Elementor’s own admin top bar also enqueues Roboto from Google. A developer who checks only the homepage will miss this second context.

Elementor 4.3.4 registers the editor’s Roboto stylesheet without the font setting condition; its admin top bar has a separate Google stylesheet call. Source: Elementor, version 4.3.4, source checked October 2026, core/editor/loader/editor-loader.php and modules/admin-top-bar/module.php. https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/elementor.4.3.4.zip

Next, open an existing page in the editor. Search the browser’s Network panel for fonts.googleapis.com and fonts.gstatic.com, then identify the stylesheet that initiated each request. If you replace an editor stylesheet, keep its registered handle pointing to the replacement file so dependent styles can still load. Test the editing controls before deploying the change.

Check the editing workflow too. Save a change, reopen the page and use the font selector. Ask the colleague responsible for content to repeat that workflow on their usual connection.

Elementor’s bundled icons are local

Font Awesome and eicons ship inside the Elementor package. The inspected source builds these plugin-supplied paths from Elementor’s asset location. Check those local paths before replacing an icon CDN mentioned in a generic troubleshooting guide.

Elementor 4.3.4 includes Font Awesome and eicons in its local assets and registers them using the plugin’s asset paths. Source: Elementor, version 4.3.4, source checked October 2026. https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/elementor.4.3.4.zip

Leave the bundled icons in place if their requests complete. An add-on can bring its own icon service, and site-wide asset rewriting can change delivery URLs. Use the browser’s request initiator to find which component owns an external call before removing it.

Our guide to WordPress plugins in China covers that wider dependency review. Take the same care with scripts: a theme’s library URL can be unrelated to the builder you are trying to repair.

Why the font host matters

Read 21YunBox’s cloud and home-line results together. They describe the same font host on different networks and dates.

21YunBox measured fonts.googleapis.com from Alibaba Cloud (阿里云) cn-zhangjiakou every ten minutes for twelve hours on 28 August 2026, with a 30-second timeout: 72 of 72 requests completed, median time to first byte 111ms. Its Beijing China Mobile (中国移动) home-line run on 30 August, covering 264 page loads across 88 sites with a 60-second page ceiling, recorded 54 requests to that host and no responses. Source: 21YunBox, A Chinese Cloud Probe Is Not a Chinese Visitor: The Same Hosts, Opposite Answers, August 2026. https://www.21cloudbox.com/a-day-of-third-party-requests-from-inside-china.html

Self-hosting removes that outside font request. Record any template-cloud or editor-service host you find as untested unless dated third-party evidence covers it; we give no mainland reachability verdict here for my.elementor.com or assets.elementor.com.

Google Hosted Libraries is a separate check if a theme or add-on uses it.

GreatFire records https://ajax.googleapis.com as blocked, with one failed conclusive test, last tested 22 August 2026. It names no city or carrier. Source: GreatFire, August 2026, rechecked October 2026. https://en.greatfire.org/api/url/https/ajax.googleapis.com

Use that verdict only when your request list includes the library host. Find which component adds it before deciding what to replace.

Divi: use the controls your version documents

Divi is closed source and we did not inspect its code. Elegant Themes’ 2023 Theme Options documentation names Use Google Fonts under General and Improve Google Fonts Loading under the Performance sub-tab. The latter is described as caching Google Fonts and loading them inline.

Its separate Divi 5 documentation confirms Use Google Fonts under General. Check your version before following an older settings screenshot. We haven’t verified a complete Divi runtime host list or whether the older caching control removes every remote font-file request.

Elegant Themes documents Use Google Fonts and Improve Google Fonts Loading in its older Theme Options guide; its Divi 5 guide documents Use Google Fonts. Source: Elegant Themes, 31 December 2023 and 18 September 2026 respectively. https://help.elegantthemes.com/en/articles/8626158-using-the-divi-theme-options https://help.elegantthemes.com/en/articles/12958885-divi-5-theme-options

Before changing Divi, save its typography settings. If you disable Google Fonts, check the resulting type on representative pages before rollout. Inspect a logged-out page and the visual editor separately, with caches cleared. Write down the requests you see so the next developer can check them.

Core Gutenberg keeps public fonts simple

WordPress core’s block editor adds no Google Fonts load to a public page by default. In WordPress 7.1.3, the Open Sans and Noto Serif registrations in script-loader.php remain for compatibility with themes and plugins. Registration and loading are separate steps; a theme or plugin can request those registered styles.

WordPress 7.1.3 labels both Google font registrations as retained for themes and plugins rather than current core use. Source: WordPress core, version 7.1.3, source checked October 2026. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/WordPress/WordPress/7.1.3/wp-includes/script-loader.php

The Font Library has a separate installation path. Its Google collection comes from s.w.org. After the editor grants permission, their browser fetches the font files from Google and uploads them to your site. Installed fonts are then served locally. A failed installation can therefore happen before a visitor ever opens the page.

WordPress 7.1.3 defines the Google collection in fonts.php and uses downloadFontFaceAssets in the browser before uploading font files. Source: WordPress core, version 7.1.3, source checked October 2026. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/WordPress/WordPress/7.1.3/wp-includes/fonts.php https://raw.githubusercontent.com/WordPress/WordPress/7.1.3/wp-includes/js/dist/editor.js

Gutenberg also lives inside a wider WordPress installation. A block theme has its own font choices. Core can request avatars from secure.gravatar.com and emoji images from s.w.org when those features are used. Themes and added blocks can introduce more calls.

WordPress 7.1.3 builds avatar URLs on secure.gravatar.com and defines emoji image URLs on s.w.org. Source: WordPress core, version 7.1.3, source checked October 2026. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/WordPress/WordPress/7.1.3/wp-includes/link-template.php https://raw.githubusercontent.com/WordPress/WordPress/7.1.3/wp-includes/formatting.php

Choose around the work your editors do

For a new site with ordinary content layouts, start by assessing core blocks and a theme that supplies local fonts. An existing Elementor or Divi site needs a request review before you budget for a rebuild. Ask who will maintain the layouts and how much existing content would need to move before committing to a different builder.

Our guide to WordPress speed in China covers the wider performance work. Keep the builder review focused enough that the person inheriting the site can repeat it after a plugin or theme update. Assign that check to the person who approves updates. Keep the date and installed versions with the request records beside the settings.

Frequently asked

Does Elementor work in China?

Elementor has settings that let you change public-page font delivery. The 4.3.4 source also shows separate editor font requests, so a clean homepage doesn’t settle the editing question. Record the installed version and inspect the requests your widgets make. Then try editing a real page. We haven’t measured a builder-wide mainland success rate.

Does disabling Google Fonts in Elementor cover the editor?

The inspected 4.3.4 editor registers Roboto from Google without checking that setting, and the admin top bar makes another call. Treat the public page and editor as separate checks. If you change the editor stylesheet registration, keep its dependency intact and verify that editing and saving still work.

Which Divi font setting should we check?

Start with Use Google Fonts under General in the documentation for your installed version. The older Theme Options guide also names Improve Google Fonts Loading under Performance. We haven’t inspected Divi’s code, so check the resulting stylesheet and font-file URLs before treating the setting as proof of local delivery.

Is Gutenberg faster than Divi or Elementor in China?

This review establishes no speed ranking. Core Gutenberg avoids a default public Google Fonts request, but the theme and added blocks still decide much of what a page downloads. Compare the actual layouts and request lists you intend to ship. Their loading time depends on the files and services each page requests.