The Ultimate Review of Elementor: The Most Powerful WordPress Website Builder
Last updated on September 21st, 2023 at 02:00 pm
You used to have to know how to code to create a good WordPress website.
Then platforms like Elementor came around and completely changed the way web designers approach WordPress web creation.
With Elementor, you can create dynamic WordPress websites without having to write a single line of code.
Have we mentioned that you can do so for free?
Elementor: A Brief Rundown
The ultimate free WordPress drag-and-drop builder, Elementor empowers web creators to design the perfect WordPress websites. Ecommerce website owners can leverage its WooCommerce website builder features, as well. You get to do this all while seeing the outcome of your design while you assemble your page.
There’s no need for CSS or HTML knowledge whatsoever.
But that’s just the beginning.
Elementor offers countless design options and dozens of pre-built content widgets; Buttons, forms, sliders, and pricing tables – you’ll find them all on Elementor.
Core features
1. Drag and drop editor
Elementor provides users with a clean, clear, and intuitive environment in which to create and update landing pages, blogs, and other pages.
Here’s what it looks like:
On the left, you’ll see the widget panel. Offering more than 90 dynamic widgets and 300+ templates, Elmentor empowers you to create your dream website. Elementor’s editor accounts for responsive design, custom positioning for all site elements, and global fonts and colors.
2. Workflow optimization
Elementor Pro’s Global Settings feature helps you create and manage your site’s design system so that you can ensure consistency across your entire site and speed up your workflows.
Whenever you create a new design, it will automatically inherit its settings from your Global Settings. And if you change something in Global Settings, that change will automatically apply across your entire site.
Of course, you’re never locked in – you always have the option to fully customize a design on a page-by-page basis. But with Global Settings, you can ensure that your default designs look exactly the way that you want them to and are consistent across your site.
3. E-commerce
Elementor is the ideal solution for those looking to build an e-commerce store powered by WooCommerce. WordPress’ premier eCommerce plugin, WooCommerce is used by millions of SMB owners and online store runners.
You can leverage Elementor’s drag-and-drop interface to design your single product page templates and your shop archive pages (the pages that list all of your products or the products in a certain category).
In addition to designing your store’s templates, you’ll also get dedicated WooCommerce widgets that you can use to insert WooCommerce content anywhere on your site.
4. Lead capturing
There’s a reason marketers place such a heavy premium on getting prospects to land on their website. Once there, visitors can be met with a variety of powerful tools and features designed for one ultimate objective: Converting visitors into customers.
Elementor offers powerful features geared towards lead capturing and other marketing objectives, including:
- Features such as fully customizable forms and smart popups enable site owners to considerably grow their audience.
- Elementor users can leverage customizable templates and set triggers to target their visitors at the right moment.
Elementor also integrates with all your other powerful marketing tools, so you can engage with your customers on all fronts.
5. Kits Library
Elementor’s Kits Library contains dozens of complete, designer-made website kits. These kits include all the elements and attributes a website needs in one single kit. All you have to do is click import.
Kits eliminate the need to tackle each page component (e.g. header, footer, color palettes) individually.
With just a few clicks, you can customize a kit to fit your needs and vision, and, voila, you’re up and running with a complete website!
The true power of this feature, however, lies in its replicability:
Templates, content, site settings, header, footer, 404 error page, pop-ups, color scheme, fonts, theme style, and landing pages; all the website attributes are packaged into a single kit for more convenient implementation.
How much does Elementor cost?
Elementor includes both free and paid versions.
The core Elementor plugin is 100% free and available at WordPress.org.
If you want to add more advanced features and capabilities, you can extend the free core plugin by purchasing Elementor Pro, which starts at just $49 for use on a single site. You can view the full pricing details here.
What are the main differences between Elementor free and Pro?
Elementor Free Version
With just the free version of Elementor, you’ll already get access to the visual, drag-and-drop editor and a wide selection of widgets and style options that you can use to design your content.
You can use it to design individual blog posts and pages – all you need to do is launch the Elementor editor when you’re editing a post or page.
In general, you might be fine with the free version of Elementor if you just want to design some basic landing pages or add some style to your blog posts.
However, if you want to use Elementor to design your entire website, you’ll probably want the powerful new features, design options, and templates in Elementor Pro.
Elementor Pro
Elementor Pro builds on the features in the free version to create a more high-powered tool for web designers and professionals.
With Elementor Theme Builder, you’ll be able to design your entire theme using Elementor’s interface, including your header, footer, blog post templates, 404 pages, and more. You can also create global settings that let you easily control the design palette for your entire site.
If you have a WooCommerce store, Elementor WooCommerce Builder gives you that same flexibility for your shop and single product templates.
Elementor Pro also gives you access to powerful new features that you can use in all of your designs. Here are some of the core added features:
- A visual form builder.
- Lots of new widgets including sliders, post lists, portfolios, pricing tables, and more.
- New design options including scroll effects and custom positioning.
- Support for dynamic content from plugins like Advanced Custom Fields, Toolset, and Pods.
Here are the full subscription options:
Elementor for US$49 per year
The paid options come with more templates and more detailed website features across several different plans. The Essential package costs $49 per year, can be used on a single website, and includes over 300 Pro templates (which offer more detail than the free options), over 90 widgets, and over 10 website template kits.
The Advanced plan costs $99 per year and lets you install it on up to three websites, while the Expert plan covers $199 for up to 25 websites.
More professional businesses might eye Studio ($499/year) or Agency ($999/year) which include VIP live chat support, and expand the number of websites Elementor can be used on to 100 and 1,000 respectively.
Elementor: The Solution for Modern Web Designers
Web designers no longer have to compromise on their dream of a WordPress website even when they have no coding chops. With its dynamic, intuitive user interface, Elementor can be leveraged to create your dream site.
If you’re ready to get started with Elementor on your WordPress site and join a community of more than 8 million professionals leveraging the website builder’s powerful features, go ahead and install the free version from WordPress.org today.