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Let's face it: code is not for everyone. Sure, coding your own website obviously sounds very cool and gives a lot of freedom of choice. In practice, however, coding yourself often means higher development time, higher budgets and perhaps some extra headaches. Fortunately, there are tools, such as Elementor with a very clear target audience: website builders, bloggers and entrepreneurs who have a good eye for design themselves, but prefer to skip the code.
These tools are also known as "page builders" and, as the name suggests, can be used to design pages and even entire websites, and set them up with useful widgets. The days when page builders were only interesting for hobbyists are long gone. Meanwhile, there are countless freelance designers who specialize in design, using page builders. Elementor has played an important role in this. Meanwhile, the plugin is even the most widely used page builder. A handsome achievement!
But is Elementor right for you? There is a good chance that you too can create beautiful pages faster and easier, but whether it really is a match depends on your individual goals or those of your company. There are quite a few advantages, but certainly also some disadvantages.
In this article, we will take a closer look at the alternatives to Elementor. Based on our comparison, you can then decide for yourself whether you would like to get started with Elementor or prefer an alternative.
A little more about Elementor
Elementor is a wonderful program. It is supported by a large community (more than 12 million websites have already been built with Elementor) and various extensions ("add-ons" and third-party plugins) can be found and purchased. Still, there are some important advantages and disadvantages to mention. Some of the advantages we have already revealed, but did you know:
1. The (basic) plugin is free for anyone to download from the WordPress plugin repository. The free version gives you access to more than 40 ready-made widgets and a large template library anyway, so you can get started right away and build a fully working page or website in no time. For Elementor Pro, you pay more.
2. Elementor includes a full drag-and-drop interface, which gives you a quick overview of your new page. There is almost no learning curve for beginners!
3. Should you still want to fall back on code, you can still 'tweak' a lot yourself using CSS. This will also future-proof your page should you want to tweak something later that doesn't work out-of-the box...
Sounds interesting, right? Unfortunately, there are drawbacks, too:
- Elementor is known for relatively high prices of the Pro version of the plugin. Currently, you pay $59 per year (license for a single website) for Elementor's 'Essential' plan, $199 per year (license for 25 websites) for the 'Expert' plan or $399 per year for the 'Agency' plan (license for 1,000 websites). You can quickly see that if you are a professional and develop websites for clients the prices may not scare you as much, but for a single landing page or website you are paying relatively high.
What do you actually get in return? If you pay for a plan from Elementor, at least you get to work with:
- More than 100 basic & Pro widgets
- More than 300 basic & Pro templates
- A Theme Builder
- A WooCommerce Store Builder
- A Landing Page Builder
- A Pop Up Builder
- A Form Builder
- Different marketing tools
- Premium support (by the way, limited support is available for the free version of Elementor)
2. Adding Elementor and any add-ons adds some extra loading time to your website. Nowadays, with most hosting packages being relatively fast, this need not be a problem, but everyone knows that a slow website is hugely frustrating for your users. So be warned! Some things will depend on the specifications of your hosting and installation.
3. While most sold WordPress themes today are optimized for use with Elementor, this is certainly not true of every theme you can buy for WordPress. Should you already be working with a specific theme, which may even include customization, you run the risk that small errors can still creep into the design. Fortunately, Elementor itself offers a number of default themes that obviously work perfectly with Elementor.
Elementor alternatives and our evaluation criteria
As you have read above, Elementor has both significant advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, we think it's high time for a comparison. Precisely because of the increased popularity of Elementor, a large number of interesting page builders have emerged in recent years. We evaluate the most important ones according to the following criteria.
1. Popularity
To do this, we looked at the major blogs and websites and surfed how often the major alternatives to Elementor were mentioned. In addition, we looked at the number of installations of the plugins.
2. User-friendly features
Popularity obviously stands for something, and often that is ease of use. What is the point of a page builder if it is not uncluttered and easy to use? A drag-and-drop editor is often the default in this regard. Also, completeness regarding widgets is an important consideration factor. You may not only want to build a website, but also a web shop. Then it is convenient if a page builder already has an integration with WooCommerce, for example.
3. Performance
A page builder should obviously be complete, but it should also work nice and fast. Both in the ease of use and the loading of pages and scripts, you should never feel like you're waiting anywhere. In addition, we naturally assume that everything also works responsively on tablet and mobile.
4. User Reviews
Perhaps the most important aspect of our comparison; what do other builders and business owners like you think? After all, they have gone before you and have already made the effort to post a comparison.
5. Price
Of course, whether something is expensive becomes a relative phenomenon the moment you get so much in return that it is well worth the price. But of course, we can do a good job of comparing the prices of all page builders. So we've done that for you, too!
1. Divi
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When you talk about important alternatives to Elementor, you are talking about Divi, among others. The team behind Divi once started simply building themes for WordPress, but over the years has expanded its services and put together a complete design framework with Divi.
In terms of popularity, Divi need not undercut. It is a popular option among developers and marketers. Divi also offers a large amount of widgets, design elements and templates. Still, Divi offers an important feature that Elementor does not. That is, for Elementor you will have to install an additional plugin for it.
With an annual price of $89, Divi is certainly not the cheapest either, but Divi does not do website limits. So you can get started without limits!
2. Beaver Builder
Beaver Builder may not immediately ring a bell with every WordPress user, but by now this builder is well known for reliable updates and extensive features for developers.
For everyday use, Beaver actually offers direct editing on the frontend, allowing you to immediately see the impact of your changes. A disadvantage is that Beaver scores a little less on the number of layouts and formatting options. On the other hand, it does offer a large number of integrations, so if you want to build a web shop, for example, Beaver is certainly a good choice.
Both a free version of Beaver Builder can be downloaded as well, but you can of course opt for a more extensive version, which will cost you about $99 for the first year.
3. Oxygen
Oxygen is a relatively new name, but one that stands for complete website design. With Oxygen you don't build single pages in the first place, so the tool is not really suitable for that. You can design headers and footers with Oxygen, which is more difficult with some other page builders.
Oxygen also targets a specific audience: WooCommerce users. It offers more than 20 e-commerce elements, so you can set up and customize almost every detail of your webshop to your liking. Still, are you somewhat at home with code and/or CSS? Then you'll be happy to get started with CSS Flexbox and Grid, bringing you one step closer to "clean" code.
That does make Oxygen a lot more expensive than the other page builders, with payment plans starting at the basic $129 version. Yes, you read that right. And that doesn't immediately get you ready to use with WooCommerce either, as this integration starts with the more expensive plans. In return, however, you get a lot of design freedom and a Gutenberg Block Builder.
4. Visual Composer
A name that has been around a bit longer is that of Visual Composer. Indeed, before Elementor came, saw and conquered, Visual Composer sat on the throne for a while. That probably had to do with the extensive functionality Visual Composer offers.
So you can create a design in detail with the Theme Builder or choose from the many, professional templates. You can work with more than 300 content elements and more than 500 add-ons(!). There is also a special API for developers, making the possibilities even greater.
The price for a premium subscription is even on the low side at $50, while the basic plugin is also free to download.
5. AdPage
At AdPage, you can get started building landing pages, which you can then segment and personalize through profile enrichment. AdPage is the product of a Dutch company and is known for its support.
An important factor in choosing AdPage is quality and speed. Landing pages load within a second, so your users and potential customers don't drop out, but click through. You can also get started with a comprehensive "multistep" questionnaire, where you can submit questions to your visitors and dynamically adjust them based on answers and data.
You will also find several options for creating pop-ups (which are still known to work very effectively). Working in AdPage is made even easier by the template management. Manage your own templates or those of your clients, but by no means lose the overview.
One drawback of AdPage may be that it is not a complete alternative to Elementor if you want to build a complete Web site (but that is not what it was designed for in the first place). AdPage is ideal for marketing agencies that want to increase conversion rates for clients through effective landing pages.
You can start with AdPage for a reasonable 39 euros per month, but a free trial can also be requested by mutual agreement.
Summary
Elementor is a wonderful program that offers many features for web designers and entrepreneurs. Nevertheless, Elementor has some major competitors that we have compared for you in this article.
Although we have come to the conclusion, that the differences between the main page builders are small, an important distinction can be made at the level of the user: you! Your specific goals will have to be the deciding factor when it comes to the most interesting alternative to Elementor. An important question here is: do you want to build only a few pages or are you looking for an alternative to develop a complete website and theme?
Would you like to get started building landing pages easily and conveniently? Then we recommend AdPage, our own tool from Dutch soil. AdPage offers, besides a user-friendly interface that allows you to build the most beautiful landing pages in no time, full support by our enthusiastic team members.
Curious? Are you curious about our software and also prefer to rely on professional support? Then don't hesitate to schedule a demo below, so we can show you how clearly and easily our software can work for you. We'd love to help you get started! Would you rather try AdPage free for 7 days? You can do that here!