Deciding When to Use Lightning App Builder or the Page Layout Editor

To determine which tool is better suited for you, consider whether you're working in Salesforce Classic or Lightning Experience. If the answer is Salesforce Classic, then the page layout editor is the right tool for you. Lightning App Builder can customize only Lightning record pages, not Classic record pages.

If you’re in Lightning Experience, the next thing to consider is how the fields on the record page are being delivered. For example, let's say you’re on an object record page, and you want to reorder or change the fields that appear on the page. You go to Setup () and select Edit Page, and the record page opens in the Lightning App Builder. Take a close look at where the record fields are located on the page.

• If the page uses the Record Detail component to show record fields, those fields come from the object’s page layout in one big block. The only way to adjust the presence or placement of the fields inside a Record Detail component is by using the page layout editor.
  

  Note If you select the Record Detail component on the Lightning App Builder canvas, you see an option in the component properties to upgrade the page to use Dynamic Forms instead. By upgrading to Dynamic Forms you can manage the record fields right inside the Lightning App Builder.
• If the page uses Dynamic Forms, where the record fields are present as individual components on the canvas, then you can adjust them right in the Lightning App Builder without having to go to the page layout.

When You Want To...	Page Layouts	Lightning Record Pages
Get real-time page performance feedback	—
Support non-LWC-enabled objects		Some dynamic features of Lightning record pages, such as Dynamic Forms, aren’t supported on non-LWC-enabled object record pages. For a list of LWC-enabled objects, see LWC Migration for Record Home Pages.
Set page visibility based on record type or user profile
Set page visibility based on app	—
Set page visibility based on form factor (desktop or phone)	—
Customize page structure using standard templates Some dynamic features of Lightning record pages, such as Dynamic Forms, aren’t supported with custom page templates.	—
Put page elements such as related lists, record fields, and highlights anywhere on a page	—
Add custom Lightning components (LWC and Aura)	—
Spread page elements across multiple tabs	—
Hide section headers and collapse the space between two sections		—
Show or hide individual fields and page elements based on criteria you set	—
Add blank spaces to align fields
Make fields required or read-only
Add cross-object fields	—
Add conditional formatting to record fields	—
Display fields in two columns in narrow regions		—
Indicate which fields can be inline-edited in object home list views To support inline edit, a field must be present on at least one page layout, and that page layout must be assigned to the user's profile.		—
Customize actions and fields in the Highlights Panel
Customize the buttons and actions that appear on the page
Add or remove related lists
Customize related list columns and buttons		You can use the Dynamic Related Lists component in the Lightning App Builder to add, remove, and reorder related list columns, and to add related list buttons. Not all related lists are supported for use with Dynamic Related Lists, however. See Create Dynamic Related Lists in Lightning App Builder.
Add custom links		—