Looking for a drag and drop page builder for your WordPress site?
Considering using Elementor on your WordPress site?
We will review Elementor, the most popular drag and drop page builder with over 5+ million downloads for you.
Elementor: An image builder that allows you to create and edit WordPress websites with drag and drop. Elementor site builder is at your fingertips, allowing you to add advanced styling, versatile layouts and professional design elements to your website with no coding knowledge required.
You can use Elementor for free. Or you can upgrade to the Pro version of the WordPress page builder Elementor. Then you can design your WordPress templates and make your dream design come true without writing a single line of code!
Even for beginners you don’t need to know PHP/CSS/HTML to start building a beautiful website this page builder is great and very easy to use.
What is Elementor?
Elementor is a free drag and drop site builder plugin for WordPress. It basically gives you a drag and drop face that you can use on WordPress, allowing you to create your site in no time.
Basically, it lets you design complex pages using drag and drop while working on a live visual preview of your site. This approach has several benefits:
Elementor: Overview
Elementor was created in 2016 by a group of web professionals, like myself, who were fed up with the extremely slow process of designing websites using WordPress.
Since then, Elementor users have grown to 2 million worldwide, including content writers, marketers, businesses and developers. It just goes to show how easy it is to use.
Elementor has a free and a paid version. Unlike the free versions of many other page builders, Elementor free version has powerful enough features to help you turn your boring website into a professional looking one.
So if you’re just starting out and don’t have the budget to spice up your website, Elementor free version is a great tool for you. However, if you’re looking for more advanced features and an all-in-one solution for your website design needs, you may find more value in the Pro version, which we’ll talk about later.
Elementor Key Features
1. Front End Page Builder
Elementor is a front-end page builder that is much better than a backend builder.
If you’re not familiar, the backend page builder looks like this:
With a backend page builder, you won’t be able to instantly see what your changes look like.
So for every little change you make, like changing the color of a header, you have to hit the “Update” button and wait a few seconds and then display your website. for each. Single. Change.
This extremely slow process makes building WordPress websites very tedious and that’s why I prefer front-end page builders like Elementor .
As a front-end builder, Elementor offers a real-time preview of the changes you make. Whether you need to add a button and tweak it to get it right, or switch from a single column layout to a multi-column layout, you can immediately see the changes you’ve made. For me, this way is much more fun and allows me to use my time more efficiently.
Elementor, a front-end page builder, looks like this:
On the left side of the screen, you will see a list of modules or things you can add to your website such as headers, images, text, videos, buttons, spacer and more. All you have to do is literally drag and drop the module to your preferred area on the website, edit it and you’re ready.
2. Templates and Blocks
A. Page Templates
Page templates are a huge time saver. It allows you to create a specific type of page in just a few clicks. For example, if you want to quickly create a landing page for a tech brand, there is a landing page template that you can install on your website in a matter of seconds.
Templates can be found by clicking the Folder icon at the bottom of the page. After clicking the Folder icon , a new window will open showing a list of page templates you can use.
When you find the template you want to use, hover your mouse over it and click “Add”. Wait a few seconds and you will see that the template is fully loaded on your page.
These templates are fully editable and you can do a number of things to enhance them. First, you can set it to full width:
Or change the partition background:
B. Blocks
Blocks are preset sections that you can quickly load into your page, like page templates. About us has blocks for all kinds of sections like calls to action, testimonials, FAQs, features list, and more.
To add a block, the same as it was before the Folder icon and click and “Blocks” a click . If you are looking for a specific block type, simply click on “Category” ; you should see a drop down list of available categories.
Once you’ve finished the layout of your page, you can save it as your template that you can reuse for similar pages you create. To do this, click the arrow next to the green “Publish” button and click “Save as Template”.
A new window will open where you have to name your template. Type the name and click “Save”.
When you want to use this template, you can access the template by clicking on the Folder icon and “My Templates” .
3. Mobile Compatible
As more website visitors use their mobile devices to access the Internet, it is more important to have a mobile-friendly website.
Once you start customizing your website in Elementor, it’s easy to get carried away and do all sorts of things like adding margins or padding to your sections. All good, but you should make sure to check if the layout still looks good on mobile.
You can do this quickly by clicking the Desktop icon next to the “Cast” button and then “Mobile” and then “Tablet” .
Note that changes you make in one mod do not affect other mods . For example, if you change the range in Mobile mode, it will not affect the range in Desktop mode, so your original desktop formatting will be preserved.
4. Editing Inline Text
You can also edit the texts in the preview area. It’s an added touch that makes the experience simpler and faster.
There are many customization options for texts, including changing the font family, enabling text shadows, changing color and size, enabling uppercase letters, and more.
5. Works with Any WordPress Theme
Elementor is flexible enough to work with any WordPress theme, but the 4 WordPress themes people generally agree with are the ones most compatible with Elementor. These:
- Astra
- GeneratorPress
- Bridge
- The7
- BeThme
- and much more…
For a full list of Elementor themes, please click here .
Elementor: Pricing and Licensing Plan
The PRO version of Elementor comes in three packages: Personal, Plus, and Expert. Each package offers the same features, so the difference really comes down to how many websites you need to build.
The Personal package is required if you own a small bakery business and want a website for your bakery business.
But if you are a web design freelancer and create a lot of websites for your clients, the Expert package is the best option.
There’s a lot of confusion around when it comes to licensing, but it’s actually pretty simple. When the license expires because you decide not to renew, you lose access to future updates, support, and professional templates and blocks.
But still you can use Elementor Pro’s modules, popup features, theme builder features etc. you can use. You can also upload the latest version you have to new websites you create.
They offer a 25% renewal discount to active members and a 30-day money-back guarantee for new purchases.
Should You Upgrade to the PRO Version?
All of the features mentioned above are what I consider to be the bare minimum for one to build a good website. But if you want to take it one step further, you may need to get the Pro version.
While the free version of Elementor packs a powerful set of features, the Pro version is more suitable for those who want to do more with their website.
Here are the main reasons you might want to consider upgrading to the professional edition:
1. Pro version allows you to customize every part of your theme.
With any free page builder and any theme, you will be limited to editing only the content area of your page.
Certain areas, such as headers, footers, archives, and search results pages, are almost always off limits and require coding to edit. This is extremely limiting if you want your website to stand out but don’t know how to code.
Elementor Pro version lets you create your own:
- Title (you can create multiple Titles and assign them to different pages on your site)
- Footers
- archive page
- Single blog post page (create a blog post template and use it for different categories, pages or taxonomies)
- 404 pages
- Search results page
2. Additional modules will make your life easier.
Elementor Pro has an additional 30 modules to help you quickly create important parts of a website such as:
- Forms (registration, contact and login forms)
- Pricing tables
- Grid blog posts
- Price list
- Countdown
- WooCommerce features (products, categories, add to cart)
- flip box
- Form integrations
- block quote
- when the media rides
- Share buttons
- Reviews
3. You will get access to professional templates and blocks.
Elementor Pro also offers more professionally crafted templates and blocks to help you create stunning websites in no time.
These templates and blocks allow you to create websites with animated headers, slides, gorgeous-looking forms, and more advanced website features.
4. Allows you to change role access.
A common problem for developers is when customers take matters into their own hands and start changing the design or moving here and there between modules. This clutters the website and adds to the developer’s workload.
This issue is also experienced by webmasters who hire content developers such as writers and editors. You don’t want them to move items without your permission!
So a quick workaround here is to change what each role can edit on your website. To do this, click on “Elementor” in the left-hand panel and select “Role Manager” .
For each role, you have the option to give them full access to everything or limit their access to edit content or do nothing.
5. Access to professional updates and 24/7 support.
Elementor team updates frequently to fix issues and add more features. 24/7 support is also available to Pro subscribers only. Although they have an extensive knowledge base on their website, getting support from their team can save you valuable time and money.
6. Elementor Pro integrations make marketing easy.
Integrations with other apps like Zapier, MailChimp, HubSpot, ConvertKit, and GetResponse will come in handy if you want to implement an aggressive marketing strategy with your website as a central tool.
These apps will help you build your email list and increase your conversion rates without ever leaving the Elementor interface.
Elementor: What I Love About
I literally love almost everything about Elementor. It completely changed the way I create websites. It is very easy to learn and use. After uploading, you can use it immediately to create new posts or pages.
The editor is user friendly as it is easy to find where the objects are. The drag-and-drop front-end page creation experience is so easy that even a 9-year-old can create a stunning website.
There is also a Help Center where you can find an extensive knowledge base , tutorials and a list of FAQs . This is available to both free and paid users.
You also have the chance to join their huge community on Facebook and GitHub and possibly get help or new tips from other Elementor users.
Elementor: What I Don’t Like About This
That said, there are a few things Elementor could improve on to make the lives of its users even easier.
Free and Pro templates and blocks are displayed together with no way to filter the results to make them look free or professional only. Life will get a little simpler when this option is offered.
There have also been cases where users were unable to open Elementor renderers after the upgrade, but this is usually not caused by Elementor itself. The usual culprits are outdated PHP version, incompatible Cloudflare settings, outdated hosting, or an incompatible caching or performance plugin. It would make things easier if Elementor could detect the incompatibility and issue some kind of warning to users.
Elementor Review: Final Thoughts
I can think of less than a few things I dislike about Elementor because it’s honestly the best WordPress page builder I’ve ever used . It’s rare to find a page builder that allows you to create amazing websites in minutes and still manage to maintain your website performance. The free version will suffice if you’re just starting out, and you can always upgrade to Pro if you want.
Elementor is a powerful Premium WordPress page builder that does its job and lets you push the limits of your imagination without learning to write a single code.
Elementor Review: Summary
Elementor is the most powerful page builder currently available. They constantly release new features that match current design trends. This means you can keep your website up-to-date.
Elementor Pro is an incredible value considering all the additional modules and power features it includes.
If I was starting a new website project today, Elementor would be the page builder I would choose. I think it should have a fun WordPress page builder to use.