Looking for a comprehensive Elementor review? WordPress builders like Elementor make getting started less complicated. So there’s no need for web design experience.
Today, we’ll review Elementor to see if it’s worth investing in for your business.
Elementor Review: Summary
Elementor is a powerful tool for anyone wanting to customize their website without code. It has an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, advanced customization, and styling options and is easy to use. However, Elementor may not be the best tool for everyone.
Here are the pros and cons we’ve found when reviewing Elementor:
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| You can use Elementor for free | Complicated advanced settings |
| Easy-to-use features | Fewer website templates than competitors |
| Build custom layouts without knowing any HTML, CSS, or PHP | Lacks split testing features |
| Large collection of widgets | 3rd party addons often cause issues |
| Multiple high-quality page templates | Can slow down your site |
| Can’t set many global styles without premium |
Before we dive into this review, let’s define what a WordPress page builder is.
What Is a WordPress Page Builder?
A WordPress page builder is a plugin you can use to customize WordPress without code.
They often have a drag-and-drop interface to make page building easier for beginners. This allows you to build pages visually and see your changes in real-time.
The best page builders for WordPress improve your WordPress site with page elements. There are elements like sign-up forms, contact forms, social media buttons, etc.
They also offer landing page templates to get you started with a professional design.
The most popular page builders include:
- SeedProd
- Beaver Builder
- Divi Builder
We’ll review Elementor’s features to see if it lives up to expectations in this post.
What Is Elementor Page Builder?
Elementor is a drag-and-drop page builder plugin for self-hosted WordPress.org websites. This means that you can:
- Create great-looking blog posts, post templates, pages, and layouts without writing a single line of code or pasting shortcodes.
- Use a separate interface other than the WordPress editor to design your posts and pages.
- Work on the front-end of your website and see the changes in real-time.
- Make any content or page layout regardless of what WordPress theme you use.
Our Complete Elementor Review
Elementor lets you create great-looking designs even if you have no experience. Despite page builders appearing on the market, it’s still one of the most popular choices for creating websites visually for marketers.
But is Elementor still living up to the hyper? Read the complete review below to find out.
Elementor Page Builder Features
Every Elementor WordPress plugin user can access tons of features, including:
- Elementor free use on unlimited websites
- Drag and drop page editor
- 30+ basic Elementor templates
- 40+ basic widgets and page elements
- Mobile responsive editing
However, by upgrading to Elementor Pro features, you get everything in the free version plus:
- Elementor Pro use on 1 website
- 300+ pro templates
- 50+ pro widgets
- 10+ full website kits
- WordPress theme builder
- WordPress form builder
- WooCommerce e-commerce builder
- Popup builder
- Customer upport and updates for 1 year
Elementor lets you build and adjust your designs freely and see how they look with templates and blocks in real-time. This means you’re not left guessing how your page will look.
So what is it like using Elementor to design your WordPress website? Let’s find out.
Designing Your WordPress Site with Elementor Editor
The Elementor WordPress page builder plugin has a simple drag-and-drop interface. It comes with a wide variety of page elements and global widgets for organizing your website content visually, with no code.
With the free version of Elementor, you can visually edit WordPress posts, post types, and pages using the Elementor interface. But, with the Pro version, you can use its WordPress theme builder to design entire websites.
Using the Elementor Page Editor
Elementor’s editor interface has 2 sections. On the left-hand side are the page elements. You can drag and drop these onto the live preview on the right.
The page elements have different categories:
- Basic – Simple elements like buttons, images, videos, columns, text, spacers, etc., which Elementor free users can access.
- General – Advanced page elements like star ratings, icon lists, social icons, etc.
- Pro – Page elements, including galleries, forms, reviews, and logins available to Elementor users with a Pro plan.
Clicking an element on the page allows you to control its’ content and style.
The Advanced tab lets you edit the elements’ motion effects, padding, positioning, attributes, etc.
This can be confusing if you’re just a beginner and don’t know what each setting means.
Elementor also has a template library that allows you to start with a customizable pre-made design. These templates are part of a complete website kit with matching designs for different page types.
You can add individual landing page templates or pre-designed page blocks to build pages a section at a time without using custom CSS. For instance, header, footer, and call-to-action sections.
Related: Elementor vs WPBakery vs SeedProd: Which Is Best?
Using the Elementor Theme Builder
Where Elementor stands as a complete WordPress website builder. The innovative theme builder allows you to build every section of your website visually.
This is where the Elementor pro templates and website kits come in handy. The Elementor team created these kits to make it easy to give your site a unified look and feel.
For example, we used the theme builder to create a homepage and menu page for our fictional sushi restaurant.
We then used the matching header and footer templates from the same website kit to make everything look uniform and professional.
This functionality gives any website owner the power to design their website in any way without seeking expert help. Yet, it’s a bit overkill if all you need is to create a simple landing page.
When using the plugin with our existing WordPress theme for this Elementor review, many design elements didn’t display correctly. This was mainly down to the theme not having a full-width page template. So if your WordPress theme doesn’t support full-width design, you may come across some issues.
Now that you know how to use Elementor for your website design, let’s explore the features you get for free and paid versions.
How Much Is Elementor?
Elementor Pro is the more attractive option for users wanting to create entire websites without hiring a developer.
But how much does Elementor cost? Let’s take a look.
Elementor Pro:
- Personal pricing: $49 per year for a single website.
- Plus pricing: $99 per year for 3 websites.
- Expert pricing: $199 per year for 1,000 websites.
Does Elementor Slow Down Your Site?
Elementor uses extra CSS and JavaScript, which could slow down your website. Plus, your site could become slower if you couple it with their premium plugins.
Want to see how Elementor’s speed compares to popular WordPress builder plugins? Check out our Beaver Builder vs Elementor vs SeedProd comparison.
Here are the results:
| Page Builder | Page Size | Load Time | Requests |
| Beaver Builder | 142.7 KB | 1.22s | 12 |
| Elementor | 312.2 KB | 1.57s | 30 |
| SeedProd | 124.1 KB | 1.18s | 11 |
While Elementor isn’t the slowest tool, it’s clear to see that there are faster alternatives.
What Is Elementor Good For?
When it comes down to it, what is Elementor good for, and who can benefit from using it?
Elementor includes many features that make building WordPress websites easy. But we found it confusing for beginners.
So if you don’t have much experience, you could find yourself stuck and frustrated.
It was hard to learn what each element did without searching the documentation for an answer. Plus, adding a template to a page often resulted in conflicts with our existing WordPress theme like this:
It wasn’t until much later that we learned you had to switch the page attributes to use a full-width template, which isn’t evident.
Is Elementor the Best Page Builder?
There’s no denying that we found Elementor to be a powerful website builder in the right hands during this review. But if you’re just starting, there are more straightforward solutions for beginners who need the power of a page builder without all the bells and whistles.
Elementor is worth it for website owners and developers who want to save time. The time needed to build websites and customize WordPress themes is often less. So if you have some experience with page builders, you should find Elementor a good choice.
Elementor Review: FAQ
Can Elementor be used with any theme? Elementor’s theme builder users can use any WordPress theme and customize its header, footer, posts, and archive pages. You can also download their free minimal Hello Elementor theme and customize it any way you like.
Who owns Elementor?
Elementor was founded in 2016 by Yoni Luksenberg and Ariel Klikstein.
Are Elementor templates free?
Elementor offers a variety of free templates you can use without any extra cost. However, the best and more advanced templates are reserved for paid users.
Where are Elementor templates stored?
Saved Elementor templates are stored in the Templates section of your WordPress dashboard. Templates that you haven’t saved can be found in the Elementor template library, which you can find in the Elementor panel.
What are Elementor addons?
Elementor addons are extra blocks, widgets, templates, and other elements that add more functionality to your website. The majority of addons are by third-party developers, with a mix of free and premium options.
Best Elementor Alternative
Do you find Elementor overwhelming for creating simple landing pages in WordPress? Has this review left you looking for something easier to use?
Luckily, there’s a landing page builder plugin that’s cheaper and easier to use: SeedProd.
SeedProd is one of the best website builders for WordPress. It lets you create custom WordPress themes, WooCommerce websites, and high-converting landing pages without code.
After installing and activating the plugin, you’re guided through making your first page every step of the way.
There’s even a video tutorial on the launch screen to familiarize yourself with the features.
Powerful WordPress Theme Builder
With SeedProd’s theme builder, any non-techy user can build a custom WordPress theme without code. You can choose from several pre-made theme templates and use the visual editor to customize them to your liking.
Or you can easily create all the individual parts that make up your theme one at a time with just a few clicks, including:
- Header
- Footer
- Single Post
- Single Page
- Archive (Blog Page)
- Home Page
- Sidebar
Complete WooCommerce Websites
You can also use SeedProd to create entire WooCommerce websites quickly and easily. It includes dynamic WooCommerce template tags that allow you to create product pages, checkouts, shopping carts, shop pages, and more.
Alongside that, you can import professional WooCommerce themes with a single click.
Responsive Landing Page Templates
Like its theme builder, even beginners can create landing pages in SeedProd with its landing page templates.
This includes responsive designs for:
- Coming soon pages
- Maintenance mode pages
- Sales landing pages
- 404 error pages
- Lead Squeeze pages
- Webinar registration pages
- Video landing pages
- Thank you landing pages
- Custom WordPress login pages
You can customize any template in the visual editor, and more templates are released regularly, providing tons of choices.
Easy Drag and Drop Visual Editor
The drag and drop page editor is lightning fast and clutter-free. It only includes the page elements you need for a successful landing page, with none of the extras you’ll never use.
In SeedProd, those elements are called blocks. They include lead-generating tools like:
- Optin forms
- Contact forms
- Giveaways
- Countdown timers
- Star ratings and testimonials
- Image carousels
- Login forms
- WooCommerce builder
- Progress bars
- Dynamic content
- Dividers
- and more.
Many blocks have custom templates so that you can switch between block styles with a few clicks. This saves messing around with color pickers, borders, etc.
What’s more, you can save and reuse blocks whenever you add new pages.
Although if you like, you can tweak those settings with handy sliders and drop-down menus.
You can also insert whole page sections using SeedProd’s ready-made landing page sections.
So if you need a header, call to action, features area, FAQs, or footer, you can add them with a single click.
Coming Soon and Maintenance Mode
SeedProd also has powerful Coming Soon, Maintenance Mode, 404 pages, and Login landing pages. You can switch the different modes on and off with a single click.
The coming soon page and maintenance modes also include robust access controls. This allows you to choose who sees your entire website and the landing page.
This is a fantastic way to hide your website while it’s under construction but still grant access to your clients for a preview.
Email Marketing Integration
Managing your landing page subscribers is also easy with SeedProd. You can integrate with popular email marketing services like Constant Contact, GetResponse, MailChimp, etc.
Anyone who subscribes to your landing page is automatically added to your list.
Don’t have an email list? No problem!
In SeedProd, your subscribers are stored on your WordPress website for you to view and manage in one place.
This is a great way to start building your list, even if you haven’t signed up for an email marketing provider.
Mobile-Friendly Design
Another fantastic SeedProd feature is the mobile-friendly landing page design and preview. With the mobile preview option, you can view your theme and landing page as it would look on mobile devices.
This allows you to edit your design, so it looks great for visitors browsing from desktops, mobile phones, and tablets of all screen sizes.
Your landing page also won’t conflict with your current website design.
So even if you don’t build your theme with SeedProd, your landing page works seamlessly with all WordPress themes. Unlike Elementor, you won’t need to worry about setting individual page attributes when launching a template. The whole design will adapt to whatever screen or theme you’re using.
Speed and SEO Optimized
There’s a common misconception that WordPress page builders are slow and bulky. While that’s true for some plugins, it’s not for SeedProd.
SeedProd is designed to be lightning-fast and bloat-free. The code used in the plugin is as minimal as possible. Plus, there aren’t any unnecessary bells and whistles taking up space and slowing down your site.
It’s also built with search engine optimization in mind. There are easy settings to control your WordPress SEO preferences with plugins like All in One SEO.
SeedProd’s pricing starts at only $39.50 per year.
We conclude that SeedProd is the best WordPress theme and landing page builder for beginners with all the above in mind.
SeedProd is perfect for people who want a simple, user-friendly alternative to the Elementor plugin.
So if you want to build high-converting landing pages in WordPress.
We hope you found this Elementor review useful. If you did, do follow us on Twitter and Facebook for more reviews, tutorials, and helpful WordPress tips.
