In the past, building websites hosted on WordPress was a difficult task. You would not only have to create whatever you wish in the editor’s very limited interface, but you’d also need to know HTML and code to create sophisticated layouts and styles.
Drag-and-drop page builders plugins have made page editing much more simple. This makes it even easier for newbies, even those with no coding experience.
You might think of Elementor as one of the new page builders. There are so many options, and it can be difficult to decide which one is right for you. This article will help you find your ultimate page builder that works better for your needs.
For those of you who prefer a more visual experience, here is a video review from Daniel on his YouTube channel Design Break. You can still read our article to get an overview of Elementor.
Elementor in a Nutshell Elementor Footer At Bottom
Before we get into the meat of the story, let’s take a short look first at what Elementor is.
Elementor is one of the most popular free page builder plugins for WordPress. It is well-known for its intuitive user interface and rich features. Users have unlimited access to many customization and design options. It was created to simplify page building for both experienced web designers and beginners.
Elementor’s drag-and-drop editor is one of its highlights. Users can drag any object onto a workspace or canvas that’s large enough to fit the majority of their screen. You can view your page in the same way potential customers see it with the workspace. Another of its highlights is the vast range of design element options, with a total of over 200 templates, widgets, and blocks built into Elementor’s storied library.
The Key Features
Elementor’s basic version has more than enough tools that you will need to build eye-catching pages. It has an advanced settings section that allows you to fine-tune all your content elements to be as pixel-perfect as possible and incorporate custom coding onto your page.
Elementor understands that convenience is key. That’s why it offers many helpful features. Want to retrieve previous versions of your page without having to click ‘undo’ multiple times? Revision History is your friend. Struggling with searching for something that may be difficult to find? You can use the Finder feature to help you. You want to make changes to your mobile page? You can do so right away with Switch View.
It doesn’t stop there, as Elementor has more tricks up its sleeve with Elementor Pro. This gives you more handy features, such as the Theme Builder that lets you create full-page templates for WordPress, the pop-up builder, and e-commerce widgets in collaboration with WooCommerce.
The Downsides
Elementor has many benefits for people of all skill levels. However, it is not without its drawbacks. Firstly, most of the Elementor Pro features are obviously, not accessible to those who use the plugin for free. Second, the dashboard may need to be more responsive sometimes. Lastly, editing refinements might not work exactly as you expected.
Pricing
The core version of Elementor gives you enough page design tools to use for free. However, if you want to gain access to additional features that are otherwise limited to Elementor Pro users, you may need to subscribe first to any of its five annual plans.
These prices range from $49 per year for the Essential plan to $999 for the Agency plan. The best thing about these subscriptions is that you can access any upgraded tool without limitations – the only limitation is the number of activations and website licenses.
We now have a better understanding of Elementor and the potential benefits it offers. Let’s then compare it with other page-builder platforms in this list. There are eight of them, all of which enjoy a huge following and high critical esteem.
These are Divi, WPBakery, Beaver Builder, WordPress’s newest editor Gutenberg, Webflow, the Thrive Architect plugin, Brizy, and Oxygen. Let’s start with Divi!
Elementor vs Divi
The Divi builder from Elegant Themes is also a very popular page builder plugin. In terms of the amount it offers, it’s on par with Elementor.
Both interfaces are easy to use, yet powerful and feature a variety of design tools. Divi is a WordPress theme, but not a plugin. It also doesn’t offer a free plan and has more useful features like split testing.
General Interface
Divi’s editing dashboard has a drag-and drop interface. However, if you look at it alongside Elementor, you will notice some differences. Divi’s editing dashboard has all the options in the sidebar. However, Divi has a collapsible floating screen menu at the bottom that gives off a minimalistic look.
Customization and Page-Building
While Elementor offers only single-page templates, Divi allows users to use full-website packages. It is also known as Layouts and has a much larger collection than Elementor.
Both plugins offer the same styling options and don’t require you to code. Both plugins have similar features for theme-building. Divi may have it added in 2019, but Elementor had it available long before that.
The Key Features
Divi is more than just a WordPress plugin – it also comes bundled with the Divi theme, which has been dubbed over the years as the “most popular WordPress theme in the world.”
Divi’s split-testing feature is one thing that makes it stand out from Elementor. This feature is especially useful for marketing professionals as they can identify which pages’ elements are most effective in driving higher conversion rates.
Pricing
Divi is not like Elementor which offers powerful features for a free version. Divi does not offer a free plan, except for a 30-day trial. However, the two pricing plans offered by Divi are more cost-effective and valuable than each other.
Individuals may either opt for a yearly access plan at $89 or a lifetime access tier at a one-time fee of $249. You will be able use Divi on unlimited sites and you will have access to all Elegant Themes products including the Divi theme.
Elementor vs WPBakery
WPBakery is another popular page-building plugin, and it was also one of the first to be released. WPBakery, which was previously known as Visual Composer before the introduction of the website-builder under the same name is now called WPBakery. It offers page creators nearly the same user-friendly and convenient features as Elementor.
Its standout feature is the option to choose between a front end interface for site editing or more advanced back-end design editing. While Elementor may be packed with a wide range of widgets, WPBakery has twice the size of its offerings.
General Interface
Some page builders allow you to view your page exactly as your customers do while editing. Some offer a more detailed experience. If one WordPress plugin can accommodate both simultaneously, then WPBakery lives up to the challenge. It is ideal for both novice and expert web designers.
There have been some concerns about how slow the front-end editor is compared to other editors. Regardless, you’ll have enough tools to create a good-looking page.
Page-Building and Customization
WPBakery offers over 100 pre-made templates, but this is a far cry from Elementor’s 300+ choices. While the former may lack in abundance, it catches up with an otherwise larger scale of design element offerings in the form of widgets and add-ons, giving it a huge boost ahead of the latter.
When it comes to customization, both WPBakery and Elementor are packed with the same level of optimized and diverse tools, though one of them may be too overwhelming for some people than the other.
Key Features
WPBakery is known for its multilingual support, which makes it more accessible to non-English users. The Role Manager function lets you manage who has access to certain sections of the interface.
The plugin’s integrations list and supply of add-ons may not be a big deal for plenty, but we consider it unique enough to stand out among the rest.
Pricing
Much like the previously-mentioned Divi, WPBakery does not have a free version, but it does offer two pricing plans. Unlike the former, though, both tiers use a one-time payment system, giving you uninterrupted updates regardless of your choice.
The regular version intended for single-site use costs $56, while the extended plan at $299 is intended for one SaaS application.
Elementor vs Beaver Builder
Beaver Builder plugin offers visually fluid drag-and drop page-building capabilities, similar to Elementor or Divi. Beaver Builder, unlike the other plugins, is designed for developers who are skilled in website stability.
With the inclusion of clean coding capabilities, well-documented PHP, CSS, and JS options, and more handy features to help make your page run as smoothly as possible, it’s no wonder why Beaver Builder has amassed a large following among WordPress developers.
General Interface
Beaver Builder’s editing interface is similar to Divi’s: Your workspace occupies almost the entire screen with only a generously-sized horizontal bar on top. Elementor Footer At Bottom
To add any column, row or module/widget, simply click the + button in the bar. The plugin’s dashboard has been highly praised for its fast, glitch-free, and very customizable capabilities. Don’t like pop-up windows while you edit? Drag it to create sidebars. Simple!
Page-Building and Customization
Beaver Builder offers a variety of core design tools. Its advanced settings, however, don’t have the same energy as Elementor – for one, the former lacks motion effects options and custom CSS for individual page elements as the latter is readily equipped with.
Beaver Builder manages to make each page responsive on all devices, despite this. The Beaver Builder offers two types of templates: full templates (pages) and rows (rows).
The Key Features
Beaver Builder allows developers to add custom code, as we have mentioned. Another of its key features is white-labeling, which is ideal for those who build pages or websites for multiple clients for a living.
As for theme-building, Beaver Builder requires you to purchase and integrate with a separate Beaver Themer extension. Although it may seem cumbersome, this extension is still able to integrate with Elementor’s built in theme builder. Elementor Footer At Bottom
Pricing
Beaver Builder’s pricing structure is very similar to Elementor’s. It includes yearly subscription plans starting at $99 for the Standard tier and ending at $546 for Ultimate. There’s also a 30-day money back guarantee. The plugin can also be downloaded for free, although it is less flexible than Elementor.
Elementor vs Gutenberg
Gutenberg is WordPress’s newest standard block editor. It has replaced its predecessor, The Classic Editor. Gutenberg’s new standard block editor is much easier than the old version. It requires you to complete tedious and complex processes. Gutenberg was designed with beginners in mind, using drag-and-drop interfaces.
With the rising popularity of user-friendly page builders like Elementor, it’s no wonder that WordPress has decided to keep up with the changes by giving its flagship editor a much-needed facelift. Nonetheless, Gutenberg offers users swift block-building capabilities and additional features to make blogging and post-writing much easier.
General Interface
WordPress’s previous editor required you to write everything you need on a page inside a big, rectangular text field. This process has proven difficult for many as they may need to learn shortcodes to create various shapes, fonts, and layouts. Elementor Footer At Bottom
Gutenberg makes editing easy for anyone with no coding skills. You will see that the interface borrows many of the same features found in most page builders plugins such as the large preview screen and collapsible sidebar widgets.
Customization and Page-Building
Gutenberg comes with all the essential design tools you need, including blocks and columns as well as text headings and paragraphs. Still, the range fares less than popular page builders like Elementor, where there are additional choices to explore.
Gutenberg may not have theme-building capabilities, but its block-based traits make it compatible with multiple WordPress themes – it does not fully override your theme styles and settings. Additionally, you can incorporate custom CSS elements for a more personalized feel.
Key Features
Unlike Elementor, which happens to be a page builder with a front-end interface, Gutenberg is primarily a back-end block editor. While you won’t have the ability to create a site that is completely unique with a theme of your choice, you can arrange design elements on any page within any theme. It’s compatible with multiple WordPress themes.
With Gutenberg, you get to embed uploaded files and posts from many sources to your page, from social media sites like Twitter and Tumblr to media-sharing sites such as YouTube and Soundcloud.
Pricing
Since Gutenberg is WordPress’s default editor, you can explore and use all of its features completely free of charge! There is not one paid plan included in this list like all the other editors. Elementor Footer At Bottom
Elementor vs Webflow
Unlike Elementor and the rest of our page builder plugins in this list, Webflow is a standalone website-building service that lets you create full-scale designs that work across multiple devices. It has the same level of capabilities as other popular website builders like Squarespace.
Webflow is designed to be a one-stop solution, and a time-saver as its team does most website administration duties on your behalf, like web hosting. Although WordPress may depend on plugins to make eye-catching websites, Webflow offers everything in one platform.
General Interface
We must tell you firsthand that, as Webflow offers a wide range of users a fun and flexible way to build a website, it is not for the faint of heart, especially those who are new to web design. Webflow’s editing interface should be richer with essential tools for website building.
Although it may seem a bit daunting for those with basic skills, professionals will likely find the platform useful. The platform’s interface can also be as straightforward as it gets.
Page-Building and Customization
With Webflow, you can either opt to start from the ground up or choose from its collection of 500+ website templates, with about 100 of them offered for free. It spans multiple categories ranging from portfolios to full-on blog themes. Webflow is different from Elementor which allows you to change the entire page’s template in one go. Instead, you will need to create a new website for those changes.
As for customization, you get many reliable web design options and flexible integrations with many third-party platforms.
The Key Features
Webflow has the potential to be a competitor to WordPress in the CMS market. With that being said, while one is not yet on the same level as the other, its blogging and SEO capabilities are still impressive enough that they may be worth trying.
Webflow’s vast knowledge base through Webflow University, the blog, and its exceptional customer service team are testaments to how deeply it cares about its users. Elementor Footer At Bottom
Pricing
For those who want to learn how to create a website, Webflow offers a free starter package. From there, you’ll find a versatile range of subscriptions. You can choose from the basic Site plan starting at $12/month, team-based Workspace plans starting at $19/month and e-commerce plans starting at $29/month. There is also a custom Enterprise plan.
Elementor vs Thrive Architect
Some WordPress page builders cater to designers (as in Elementor), web professionals (like Beaver Builder), and both, but there are a few that cater more towards marketing professionals, such as Thrive Architect.
This plugin provides them with top-notch features that are guaranteed to make impressive sales turnouts on top of the essential page-building tools they should already be familiar with. While both platforms offer the same level of design and customization capabilities, Thrive Architect makes it a more suitable choice for creating high-converting landing pages and other similar market-optimized websites.
General Interface
Like Elementor, Thrive’s editing dashboard involves a front-end interface, letting you see what your potential customers will get. As the former accomplishes this with a huge workspace and a single feature-rich sidebar, the latter approaches it with two, each on either side of the screen.
In addition, two taskbars similarly surround the space, with one for the page structure and the other for multi-device previews. Thrive attempted to include all basic tools within one dashboard. However, some users have complained about the interface being a bit clunky.
Page-Building and Customization
Elementor and Thrive both offer excellent templates and widgets. Still, considering the latter’s concentration on the marketing niche, the range may not be as flexible as the former. Regardless, its library of landing page templates surely looks more deserving for marketers and businesses alike.
With customization, Thrive is relatively at a similar level as well. An apparent silver lining, though, has to be its top-performing in-line text editor and a more diverse range of global elements.
The Key Features
As far as marketing-focused features are concerned, Elementor is surely miles behind what Thrive is committed to offering. To begin, it comes with a list of Smart Landing Pages designed for a more optimized conversion turnout. Elementor Footer At Bottom
Thrive Architect believes better conversion rates lead to the flourishing of sales. It can integrate seamlessly with specialty applications such as split testing, testimonial collections, automation, and more.
Pricing
If you work in marketing and are looking for more efficient ways to convert leads into sales, you may get the entire Thrive Suite alongside Thrive Architect for only $299/year. The plugin is available at $97 per year.
Elementor vs Brizy
Though two years younger than Elementor (2016), Brizy has been slowly climbing to the top and gaining critical acclaim for its simple and intuitive functions. The interface is comparable to Elementor. The only thing that separates them is the ecosystem.
While Elementor allows you to import third-party add-ons, in Brizy, you can only make use of its default content elements. Despite the limitation, the latter does have a cloud service that not only gives you access to premium designs and integrations but also lets you sync your works across any domain, WordPress or otherwise.
General Interface
While Brizy has the all-familiar drag-and-drop features, its editing dashboard is praised by many for having one of the most user-friendly interfaces, even beating out all other page builders on this list. Elementor Footer At Bottom
Its super light design is one of the main reasons it is so popular with web designers of all levels. Compared to other dashboards, particularly from Thrive Architect, Divi, and even Elementor, it doesn’t feel very bulky; instead, it’s welcoming.
Page-Building and Customization
As with most WordPress page builders, Brizy supplies its users with plenty of design and customization options. Given its limits, it doesn’t have as many widgets as Elementor has, but it still manages to offer a handful of e-commerce web elements powered by WooCommerce.
Template-wise, Brizy’s packed with tons of individual blocks and full-page layouts that are a bit more diverse than Elementor, most of which you can use for free.
The Key Features
One standout feature Brizy has that Elementor doesn’t is its integrated mega menu builder. Though we know now that Brizy doesn’t support third-party add-ons, the idea of a feature to create large-scale website menus is a plus.
Brizy also offers the BrizyCloud service which includes hosting and other helpful website tools. However, remember that it is a completely different platform, which means you won’t be able to use WordPress – you are immediately given a custom domain.
Pricing
You can also download the WordPress plugin version Brizy free of charge, similar to Elementor. For those who are specialized in website and page-building, pricing subscriptions are available. These include Agency, Personal, and Freelancer plans.
You can choose to pay annually ($49 to $199), or to pay a one-time fee ($149 – $399). Brizy Cloud offers many time-based subscriptions. Elementor Footer At Bottom
Elementor vs Oxygen
Oxygen, a WordPress theme that can be used with drag-and-drop plugins like the Divi builder, is similar to the Divi builder. It gives you full control of how you design your pages with whatever element you want to incorporate, as it’s one of the few page builders that can override any of your saved themes.
Oxygen has a wealth of marketing tools and stunning professional-looking templates to choose from. It is designed for freelancers and developers who are experts, as well as web agencies that are small and large. Although it might seem ideal for newbies in web design, it could be a weak suit.
General Interface
Oxygen’s user interface has a lot of tools and features that you can use immediately. For beginners, the sheer volume of features and tools available may seem overwhelming. Still, for those who are already familiar with the ins and outs of web development, they’ll be treated to a lot of functions waiting to be explored.
Elementor’s dashboard is suitable for both designers and average users. Oxygen’s version focuses primarily on making page building easier, more powerful, and more worthwhile for those who have firsthand experience.
Page-Building and Customization
We appreciate the ease of Oxygen’s customization capabilities. Coding pros, in particular, may surely enjoy the plugin’s easy-to-manage CSS editing capabilities – they wouldn’t have to worry much about going into the style sheets of any theme for long! Elementor Footer At Bottom
Each set is made up of all Oxygen’s templates. Although its widget library is not as impressive as Elementor, integrations with third party apps are made easier by the public API tool.
The Key Features
The loading speed of most pages that are built using Oxygen is significantly faster than the ones made through Elementor and similar WordPress page builders by a slightly improved margin.
Apart from the API, Oxygen can also seamlessly integrate with a diverse range of industries and platforms, including specialty apps like Airbnb, social media, SEO plugins, payment gateways, and more.
Pricing
Oxygen doesn’t offer a free plan due to its professional and advanced nature. It charges one-time fees for two of its current pricing plans. You will pay $129 for the Basic plan, and $349 for the Ultimate plan.
Our Final Thoughts Elementor Footer At Bottom
We recommend choosing between Oxygen and Beaver Builder if you are a web developer expert. Each of these comes with more flexible coding capabilities.
Brizy and Webflow both offer all the tools you need to specialize in website design as a freelancer, or as part of an established team. Brizy, in particular, has one of the most user-friendly interfaces out there, but if third-party add-on support is what you’re looking for in one, then it might be best if you find something else.
If you’re not too invested in web design or don’t mind using your current theme, Gutenberg may be your best bet, although most page builders on this list offer the same feature. Gutenberg is also the only plugin that’s completely free, which may make it a good choice if you have a limited budget.
While there are some page builders that offer templates for landing pages, none compares to the number of templates Thrive Architect offers. It integrates with many marketing tools including split testing and sales funnels. Divi is the only builder that can compete in a similar capacity to Divi.
If you’re planning on getting a plugin and a WordPress theme simultaneously, look no further than Oxygen and Divi. If you are a web designer who is looking for more templates and themes, the latter might be the best option.
Elementor and Divi are trusted and easy-to use page builders for WordPress. If a feature-laden free version of the plugin is what you’re more interested in, then Elementor is ready to supply you with that.