Elementor is a plugin that allows you to edit your site interactively, easily, quickly, and enables you to create the most beautiful pages. Not to be confused with a theme, Elementor is solely a page builder plugin. In fact, confusion arises quickly since themes also have their own page builder integrated into the theme (visual builder). While Elementor has long been just a plugin used alongside other themes — most commonly Astra — it now has its own theme. We will discuss this later in this article.
Elementor is a must-have for creating a WordPress site.
The Disadvantages of Elementor
- I am sorry, but its free version is a drawback. It creates more disastrous sites for people who do not know what they are doing than good ones. Too many people contact me to optimise their Elementor site that takes 15 seconds to load and where I would need to rebuild the entire structure to make something of it (no, WP Rocket would not be enough). But we will come back to that later.
- In my opinion, its builder is not very UX-friendly, compared to Divi. And it is even more complicated to use with the free version.
- Elementor, Pro or not, and even when well used, is heavy! A very fast site with Elementor without using it alongside Kinsta, , and possibly also is not possible.
- The Pro version is the most expensive on the market. No lifetime deal, only $49/year or $89/year with its hosting. This plan will be for a single website only, paid for indefinitely.
Why You Should Not Use It for Free
Let us get to the heart of the matter. In fact, the free version of Elementor will not allow you to globally modify your site, your menu, or your footer. In short, you will download a theme to complement it. Yet Elementor was already quite heavy on its own. You will not have the impressive design features without the Pro version. In that case it is no longer the best page builder at all. You cannot modify the CSS of your pages. You will not have access to the popup module, so if you want popups you will download yet another plugin. Etc, etc. In 6 months your site will probably be unusable.
The Advantages of Elementor
This section will only discuss the advantages of Elementor Pro, i.e. the paid version of Elementor.
- It has the most advanced design and animation features on the market. Scroll effect, mouse effect, parallax, and more. There is nothing better out there (Divi is not as good).
- Just like Divi, it is very practical for doing almost anything.
- Elementor has its own theme; the Hello theme is the lightest of all.
- In my opinion, Elementor in its Pro version is better than all other page builders.
Hello, the Theme for Elementor
Hello is the official theme for Elementor. It is also the lightest WordPress theme of all. At the same time, there is nothing inside it. But since Elementor Pro can do everything in its paid version, if you couple Hello with Elementor Pro, you then get in my opinion the best structure and the best compromise for a very good WordPress site.
If you absolutely want a very fast site, Elementor, the plugin, will always be heavy. In that case, look towards GeneratePress instead.
Elementor Summary:
Elementor is the best WordPress page builder in terms of design features. It also has nothing to envy in terms of practicality compared to other themes, and is often better and more UX-friendly than others (except Divi). However, you will need to know how to use it well (use the Hello theme) and upgrade to the Pro version. Otherwise, in my opinion it would be better for you to move on.
I give it a score of 9.4/10 in its Pro version combined with the Hello theme.