Elementor

What Elementor actually is

Elementor was founded in 2016 in Tel Aviv by Yoni Luksenberg and Ariel Klikstein. The plugin grew rapidly to become the dominant third-party WordPress page builder, reaching 5 million+ active installs by 2024 and ~9M total downloads cumulatively. Elementor is now a public company (listed on NYSE in 2022 via SPAC, ticker ELMT) and the core team is roughly 700 employees.

The product has two tiers: free Elementor (basic widgets and templates) and Elementor Pro ($59-$399/year depending on site count and tier). Pro adds theme builder, popup builder, form builder, motion effects, custom code, dynamic content, and 100+ Pro widgets.

How it fits in the broader stack

Elementor sits between native Gutenberg (lighter, faster, less feature-rich) and Divi (heavier with bundled theme). It works with any WordPress theme but has its own theme (Hello Elementor) optimized for builder use. Elementor's ecosystem includes 100+ third-party widget packs and addons that extend the core feature set.

The competitive position: Elementor is the safe default for non-technical teams who need a visual builder. Performance has improved meaningfully in recent versions, but compared to Bricks or Breakdance the rendered output is still heavier. For brands prioritizing site speed and Core Web Vitals, Bricks or Breakdance often win; for brands prioritizing team autonomy and broad widget availability, Elementor wins.

Key features and capabilities

Core features: visual drag-and-drop editor with live preview, 100+ widgets in Pro (form, posts, gallery, video, pricing table, etc.), Theme Builder for header/footer/single/archive templates, Popup Builder for modal and slide-in content, Form Builder with integrations to Mailchimp/HubSpot/etc., Dynamic Content (display ACF or other custom field data), Custom CSS at element level, Motion Effects (parallax, sticky, scroll animations).

Recent additions: AI Site Planner (generates initial site structures via AI), AI Copy and AI Image features, container-based layouts (flexbox replacing the legacy section/column system), Performance Hub for optimization recommendations, and tighter integration with WooCommerce.

Pricing and tier comparison

Pricing: free tier sufficient for basic sites. Pro Essential at $59/year (1 site), Pro Advanced at $99/year (3 sites), Pro Expert at $199/year (25 sites), Pro Agency at $399/year (1000 sites). Pricing comparison favors Elementor over Divi for single-site use but Divi's lifetime deal can be competitive at multi-site scale.

Trade-offs vs alternatives: Elementor is heavier than native Gutenberg or modern performance-focused builders (Bricks, Breakdance). Migration away from Elementor is significant work because Elementor-built content doesn't translate cleanly to other builders or Gutenberg.

When we recommend it (and when we don't)

We recommend Elementor for: marketing teams that need autonomy from developers, sites with under 100 pages where the performance overhead is manageable, brands that value the large widget ecosystem and template library. We recommend against Elementor for: large content-heavy sites where Core Web Vitals matter, sites with heavy custom development needs (Bricks fits better), or teams who can work in native Gutenberg.

RGM Experts Say: We've migrated dozens of Elementor sites to Bricks or Gutenberg for performance reasons over the past 18 months. The migration itself is significant work but the page-speed lift consistently runs 30-60% on Core Web Vitals. If you're committed to Elementor, the discipline that compensates: container-based layouts (not sections), aggressive WP Rocket configuration, image optimization via ShortPixel or Imagify, and minimizing the third-party widget pack count.

How we work with this technology

We use the tools that fit the job. If our approach feels aligned with your business, apply for an engagement.