Here’s the most awaited Elementor free vs Pro comparison for you. So often, people get confused that whether they should buy the Elementor pro or the free version that can satisfy their requirements. So, to make the process a bit easier for you, we have come up with the most actionable explanation from experts for you.
If you are dealing with WordPress CMS, you have heard the name Elementor. You might be confused about choosing between the pro version and the free version. Elementor free page builder is the most popular one available in the WordPress plugin store.
Are you good with the free version, or you need the pro features?
We are going to have a detailed look into that in our elementor free vs pro comparison. It will help you to choose one that is suitable for your need.
Elementor is a famous visual page builder for WordPress sites. It gives the flexibility to see the changes you make in your pages in real-time.
A novice or an expert, anyone gets comfortable using this builder. It is considered one of the most versatile page builders available in the market.
There is a free version of the Elementor page builder available in WordPress. It lacks some features. Although it has a lot of modules, the pro package comes with a ton of them.
You can create distinct layouts for different page types. Additionally, You can use the drag and drop visual feature to make changes in the design to create simple designs.
But as the design gets complex, the free version has its limitations.
Elementor Pro is the premium version of Elementor page builder.
It comes with loads of features. Pro features are for complex designs.
Almost everything is available here that you will need on any website category. It has features to create your design look stunning.
It comes with a pack of pre-made templates, which you can easily use to make a page or a section.
We will look at the aspects that distinguish the pro and free features.
It will be the ultimate comparison, helping you to decide whether you should pay for the additional features or you should stick with the free version.
When it comes to widgets, they are significant to make your site look gorgeous.
Widgets can eliminate the need for any third-party plugins. The less plugin you use on your site, it is easy to maintain and faster to load.
These widgets also add more functionality to your site.
The free version comes with a few widgets for you to get simple things done.
More than that requires purchasing the pro package.
Elementor Pro adds additional 30 widgets to your stock, including WooCommerce specific widgets. Elementor is a WooCommerce friendly page builder.
So we can use WooCommerce specific widgets on our online stores.
Canvas is a native blank page element in Elementor. It lets you create landing pages in Elementor.
You get your very own canvas to create a unique-looking design. There is no header or footer which lets you create good landing pages.
Both the free version and the pro version enables you to change the page layout from the settings. You can switch among default, Elementor full width, Elementor Canvas, and theme.
However, when it comes to editing WooCommerce cart, checkout, my account and order emails, Elementor seems to be a little restrictive. An Elementor plugin extension such as CoDesigner tremendously helps in these cases.
To make a website cross-platform, we need to make the site mobile responsive. The screen ratio is not the same on every device. The visitors will be coming to our website from different devices.
We must think about making the design responsive. The responsive feature allows you to switch to tablet and mobile mode to see and change. It gives you a fully functioned site design for all platforms.
Both the free and pro version of Elementor lets you use the responsive feature.
In the case of RTL support, Elementor is a fully functional page builder. Elementor has a multilingual feature and has full support for RTL (Right to Left) and LTL (Left to Right) languages.
It supports translation to more than 23 different languages.
Both the Elementor Pro and the free version has RTL and translation ready feature.
The background option is available in both versions of the package.
You can change the background to gradients style, put an image, put video.
The background option gives you a broader capability to make your site’s background.
When you need access to all the sections of your website, you require the theme builder.
Theme builder comes in handy while creating a custom header and footer, customizing the sidebar, creating a custom layout.
Theme builder is a pro feature. You cannot customize your header and footer if you are using the Elementor lite version.
The header, footer, sidebar design will remain as they are. If any changes are needed, you have to use third-party plugins on your WordPress site. (which we don’t recommend).
Or you have to unlock the pro feature.
Elementor is well known for its tons of professional templates and block sections.
The benefit of professional blocks and templates is they are easily customizable. There is no hassle of making them from scratch when you can choose whichever you like the most.
Some templates and blocks come free with the lite version. You can use this benefit if you don’t need complex designs.
The Pro package unlocks all the professional and gorgeous-looking templates and blocks. Now making a website or section of a page is like using a magic wand. Just import the templates, change the images and text. Now you are ready to go.
The designers have done the complex part. Now, you can make a website by just importing the pre-made pages.
Every website requires a contact form. You may want to generate leads, create a subscriber list, and send promotional emails.
Then contact form is a must-have section for your website.
Website visitors may want to contact you. The contact form will do that job for you.
The Elementor lite does not come with a contact form builder. You have to install a third-party plugin to make a form. Using a third-party plugin may decrease the overall speed of your site, so we don’t recommend doing that.
On the other hand, the Elementor Pro comes with a very impressive form builder. You can create any form very quickly. In Elementor, you can inspect whatever you are doing. So you can make a form look more impressive.
The global widgets are those which appear on every page of your website.
In Elementor free version, you don’t have access to the global settings.
Elementor pro enables you to use the global settings feature. You can customize a widget for a particular location, and it will appear on every page.
There are also options for saving the customized ones.
The comfort here is you don’t have to make changes to every page for global widgets. Change in one will appear on all pages.
Global settings save time and effort for you.
Elements are something that can make anything more resourceful. The more the Elements, the more options we have to choose from the variations.
The elements are limited in the lite version of the builder.
The pro version adds 30+ more widgets with the free ones. It gives us more rooms to work with and a variety of choices to select.
More elements bring you the freedom to do more. It is your ultimate designing independence.
The drag and drop feature may not always come in handy. You might need to make some changes that are incapable for the builder to do.
Adding custom CSS may solve the problem.
It is not something that you have to deal with every day, but this feature is sometimes a savior.
The Lite version does not allow you to add custom CSS, but you can change it from the WordPress default dashboard. The grey area here is that you cannot see the changes in real-time.
The Pro feature includes a live CSS editor. You can see the changes you make in real-time and fix them according to visual inspection. This live editor diminishes your chance of making mistakes. It saves a lot of time and lowers the number of procedures.
This feature allows you to insert templates using simple shortcodes. You can use these shortcodes to allocate the widgets and templates anywhere on your site.
It helps you by saving your time. You can display widgets in the footer, header, or sidebars using this simple process.
Elementor is one of the WooCommerce friendly page builders.
WooCommerce store requires widgets specially made for online stores.
Elementor free version lacks this feature.
If you want to integrate e-commerce functionality into your WordPress website, nothing can beat the WooCommerce plugin. The Elementor Pro comes with WooCommerce specific widgets to give your website more functionality.
There are widgets for pricing, product page, ratings, and so on so forth.
You may achieve an eye-catching design by putting in a lot of effort.
Or you may have customized a complex widget, might not want to lose your creation. You want to store those for further uses.
The saving option comes in handy in this situation.
The free version helps you to save some sections of a page but not the widgets.
In the pro version, you can save your customized widgets for future uses.
There is no price tag for the elementor pro free version.
But for unlocking the elementor pro features, you have to purchase a package.
The personal package cost you $49 for one website with one year of support.
The business package is for three sites, including one year of updates and support at $99.
And finally, the unlimited package offers unlimited sites at $199 with one year of free updates and supports.
Our pick for a beginner is the Elementor Lite/Free.
A beginner should not purchase the pro package at the very beginning. One should get comfortable with the WordPress environment first. Then they should work with the Elementor free version to understand the page builder.
It will make him comfortable with Elementor’s user interface. Once someone gets comfortable with the Elementor ecosystem, then he should unlock the premium features.
Elementor Pro is for professional designers. They make complex designs, but the beginner doesn’t deal with complicated design elements. Beginners have to start with creating a simple site, which is easily doable by Elementor’s free version.
So, a beginner should choose Elementor Free.
Check our take on: Best Elementor Addons
Here are some frequently asked questions on elementor vs elementor pro.
Yes! Elementor Pro is worth paying for loads of features. Elementor free has limited resources to make a premium-looking design. Pro feature includes them all.
Yes! Elementor Pro is an add-on to the Elementor free version. You must have the free version for the pro version to work.
Astra Pro has Elementor as its default page builder. Astra Pro gives more design elements along with the ones from Elementor Pro.
Yes, you can.
You can upgrade your package anytime from the official website.
If you don’t renew the package, there will be a total lockout to the pro features. You will not be able to use the premium elements anymore.
One might choose the premium package if only he requires those features. Otherwise, there is no need to spend money.
Elementor Pro will not make your site faster. It is some addition to the available features.
Gorgeous designs also can be created with the free version.
We are hoping that by reading about elementor free vs pro, you have got the differences between them.
Choose them according to your need. If the design is simple, go for the free version.
Pro is for a complex and more professional design.