Elementor Free vs Pro: Which Version Is Right for You? (2025 Comparison)

Introduction Elementor Free vs Pro

If you’re looking for a website builder that requires zero coding, Elementor is a great choice. This WordPress page builder offers a straightforward drag-and-drop interface, making creating a custom site from scratch easy. The best part? You can begin with the free version of Elementor and seamlessly upgrade to Elementor Pro whenever you need advanced features.

This article explores the newest Elementor features, compares the Free vs. Pro versions, and helps you decide if Elementor Pro is worth investing in your next WordPress project.

Is Elementor Good for Beginners?

Page builder plugins, in general, are popular for making website design accessible to non-developers through simple drag-and-drop interfaces—and Elementor stands out among these. It’s ideal for beginners who want to launch a WordPress site without touching any code. Elementor’s straightforward drag-and-drop editor and real-time preview let you see changes instantly, so you can experiment freely and learn as you go.

Newcomers significantly benefit from the vast library of pre-designed templates, which can be tailored to fit any style or niche. This ensures a professional look right from the start—no complexity required. Elementor’s extensive documentation and active community offer solid guidance if you run into challenges. It also plays nicely with a wide range of WordPress themes, allowing beginners to focus purely on design without worrying about technical constraints.

Because Elementor offers both a free and a pro version, you can get comfortable with the basics first and then upgrade if you need more advanced features. This flexibility makes it a standout page builder for anyone just starting out in web design. 

Elementor’s free version has over 10 million active installs and a super review rating from their user. Over 5000 users rated Elementor with five stars.

Source: WordPress.org / January 2025

Free Elementor (what’s included)

Elementor Flexbox (Container)

Elementor introduces Flexbox Containers, a foundational feature allowing infinite nested widgets. Containers mark a transformative shift in building websites using Elementor’s builder. With Flexbox Containers, you can easily create complex layouts.

Flexbox is one of the most important features introduced in CSS3, and all modern browsers support it.

What is an Elementor Flexbox Container?

Flexbox is a layout mode allowing you to create complex responsive layouts easily. Adding a container is easy. Click on the ‘+’ symbol in the editor or drag the Container widget to the editor. Once you have added a Container, you can start adding widgets. Widgets can be placed directly inside a Container.

Before Elementor Flexbox arrived, you had to create a layout with several widgets in a row; you had to set the width of each widget or create a section with four columns. You can now create a single container and add logos with Flexbox. You then have control over how they are justified using the justify-content property. This makes creating complex layouts much easier and faster.

The Elementor Flexbox Container replaces the traditional section and column setup. This innovative solution offers a substantial boost in performance by minimizing layout shifts. Embracing this feature enhances the overall user experience and contributes to a smoother and more efficient web design process.

Save as default

With the Save as a Default feature of Elementor’s widgets, you can save the settings and content of your widget as a default. When you create a new widget, it will automatically be set to the same settings as before, so you don’t have to reset them every time.

For example, if you have an Icon Box widget to display contact information, you can set up the font, font size, icon, background color, padding, and other settings as your default. Then, whenever you create a new Icon Box widget in Elementor, these settings will be pre-loaded for you, so you don’t have to set them up again.

It is a great way to streamline your workflow and ensure all widgets from the widget library look consistent.

Copy & Paste Between Websites

Elementor AI

Elementor AI is a revolutionary tool tailored for Elementor users that provides various benefits, including the ability to create professional text with AI, automate translations, generate code, and create custom code for particular uses. It is unlimited, subject to a fair use policy, and can be used on any number of websites.

Additionally, it can translate text into any language, and users can manage access to the Editor with the Role Manager feature. This tool is perfect for web designers, developers, marketers, agencies, small business owners, and more.

Elementor AI was launched with version 3.13; version 3.15 was enhanced with image creation, removal, and replacing the background in images.

Building on its innovative suite, the latest enhancement in version 3.19 introduces the ability to generate Elementor Containers using AI, allowing users to easily create intricate layouts inspired by any web design they admire. By simply entering the URL of an inspiring website and specifying which part of the page to use as a reference, Elementor AI can generate three variations of containers optimized for performance. This addition streamlines the design process, enabling users to bring their vision to life with minimal effort and maximal creativity.

Elementor AI is available for anyone as a free trial. After that, it has a subscription model.

Element Manager

Disable Widgets with the Element Manager: This feature allows you to customize your widget panel by disabling widgets that are not in use, contributing to a simpler workspace and a more efficient Editor. It also includes an overview of all widgets, searchable by name and filterable by usage frequency or plugin origin. The “Scan Usage” button helps ensure you are not removing widgets currently in use on your website.​

Manage Google Fonts in Elementor

Google Fonts is widely used, but due to GDPR concerns in Europe, website owners need better control over font usage. Elementor now offers two solutions: disabling Google Fonts entirely or loading them locally.

If you disable Google Fonts, the online font library will no longer be available in the Editor, and your site will only have access to seven system fonts. Any existing Google Fonts on your website will revert to these default fonts.

Alternatively, Elementor allows you to load Google Fonts locally, ensuring compliance with privacy regulations while still using your preferred fonts. This feature downloads the fonts to your server, eliminating external requests to Google’s CDN. You can enable it under Elementor → Settings → Features → Load Google Fonts Locally.

For even more control, Elementor’s Font Manager lets you upload custom fonts, giving you full flexibility while ensuring compliance with legal requirements.

What is the difference between Elementor Free vs Pro?

The Elementor page builder has free and pro versions. The free version includes essential tools for building a basic WordPress website, making it ideal for beginners. In contrast, the pro version unlocks powerful features like the Theme Builder, advanced widgets, custom CSS, and premium support, giving you far more creative control and flexibility.

Use Elementor Pro for WooCommerce Customization

To fully customize your WooCommerce store, you’ll want to use Elementor Pro. It unlocks WooCommerce-specific widgets and advanced styling options directly in the Elementor editor. You can design product pages, checkout, and account sections with full control—no coding required. Plus, with custom CSS support, it’s easy to match your WordPress website to your brand. Elementor Pro gives you everything you need to create a seamless, tailored shopping experience.

Elementor Pro vs Free – Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Powerful Visual Editor: You benefit from an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, making it easy to create complex layouts and designs without coding.
• Extensive Widget Library: Elementor Pro offers you a vast array of widgets and elements, such as forms, sliders, galleries, and more, enabling you to customize your website extensively.
• Theme Builder: With Elementor Pro, you can create custom headers, footers, and other theme parts, giving you full control over your website’s design and layout.
• WooCommerce Integration: If you have an e-commerce website, Elementor Pro seamlessly integrates with WooCommerce, allowing you to design and customize product pages and shop layouts.
• Global Widgets and Templates: You can create and save global widgets and templates, making it easy to reuse design elements across multiple pages on your website.

Cons:

• Learning Curve: While Elementor Pro offers a user-friendly interface, mastering all its features and functionalities can take some time, especially for beginners like you.
• Performance Impact: Excessive use of dynamic content and heavy widgets in Elementor Pro can sometimes lead to slower page load times, affecting your website’s performance.
• Dependency on Elementor: Your website heavily relies on the Elementor plugin, and switching to another page builder or theme in the future may require significant redesign work.
• Limited Theme Compatibility: Certain themes may not fully support Elementor Pro’s advanced features, leading to compatibility issues or restricted customization options for you.
• Cost: While Elementor offers a free version, subscribing to Elementor Pro comes with a fee, which might be a downside if you’re on a tight budget or don’t require all the premium features.

Elementor Free vs. Pro table comparison

I have a separate article with a chronological guide to Elementor’s latest features.

Upgrade to Elementor Pro – Features of Elementor Pro only

Mega Menu

Elementor offers users the Menu widget, which allows for more advanced design and customization than the WordPress Menu widget. With this new widget, users can create a Mega Menu that expands and includes any widget, content, and page link.

Additionally, the Menu widget provides customization options for menu items, links, styling, responsive settings, and menu toggle icons.

The Mega Menu is a welcome addition to the Elementor community.

Loop Builder

Elementor ships the Loop Builder in phases, allowing users to design and create a main item template for repeating content. This feature provides more flexibility and customization options than the Posts widget, enabling users to design and include additional dynamic content in their listings, posts, portfolios, and custom post types.

The first phase includes the ability to create a main item for posts, custom post types, and dynamic post content. Future updates will encompass full WooCommerce support and more capabilities for better website design.

Use Elementor Visual theme builder

Have you tried using the new Elementor Pro visual theme builder? It’s a more visually appealing alternative to the text-based theme builder under Templates in the WordPress dashboard. With the theme builder, click “Add new” and select which part of your website to create a template.

The types of Templates are:

• header builder

• footer builder

• single post

• single page

• archive

• search results

• loop item

• 404 page

Once you’ve selected, the visual builder opens up, and you can choose either a full-page template or a block. You can also use your previously saved customized template to create a new one or start with a blank template in the visual editor.

When you create a theme element, it will replace an element of the active theme. In the example above, if you make a header and publish it, the new header will replace the existing one. Before posting any theme element, you can set a display condition. Then, apply the header to the entire website or a specific page(s).

Popup Builder

Under Templates, there is an item called Popups. This feature can create any popup, from ad banners, subscription forms, announcements, exit intents, etc. Click “add new” to give your popup template a name, and choose premade popups. It’s convenient to get some ideas.

It is possible to display popups on some pages by setting specific parameters. For instance, you could display a popup right after the landing page has completely loaded. Another option is to trigger a popup, which can be displayed after your visitors have clicked a button.

I suggest using popups with caution. When the advertisement appears too prominent, visitors tend to leave the site.

Further, using the Advanced Rule tool, you can determine precisely when and where you want a popup to appear up to X number of times within a predetermined duration, such as a session, day, week, or month—depending on your preference.

Dynamic Content

Dynamic content in Elementor refers to a website’s ability to adapt and present content uniquely for each visitor, leveraging the power of custom posts, custom fields, and taxonomy.

Custom posts are specialized content types in WordPress that are different from standard posts or pages. They allow you to create unique content structures like portfolio projects, testimonials, or products. Elementor uses these custom posts to dynamically display different types of content based on user interaction or predefined conditions.

Custom fields add extra data to these posts. They can store information like location, user preferences, or past behavior. Elementor utilizes these fields to tailor the content on the fly. For instance, a custom field storing a user’s location could trigger the display of local events or weather specific to their area.

Taxonomy in WordPress is a way to group posts. It’s like categorizing content in a library. Categories and tags in WordPress are typical examples of taxonomy. Elementor leverages taxonomy to dynamically present content relevant to the user’s interests or search history. This means users can see a personalized set of blog posts or products based on the categories or tags they’ve shown interest in.

Elementor website – Integrates easily with most Themes and WordPress plugins

Elementor is a flexible WordPress tool compatible with many themes and plugins. You can seamlessly enhance your projects using your preferred tools. However, it is advised against combining Elementor with other page builders like Divi or Beaver Builder. Elementor has also introduced its theme, Elementor Hello, which can be used at no cost.

I recommend using Elementor with the Blocksy theme or Kadence theme.

Elementor Pro Pricing

There are different pricing plans: Essential, Advanced Solo, Advanced and Expert. The only downside is that you can’t get a Lifetime plan. The Pro Pricing plan includes a 30-day Money-Back Guarantee For New Purchases​. Renewal is 25% off.

The Essential plan for a single website does not encompass all Pro features. Features such as Popups or E-Commerce are no longer accessible in the Essential plan. Additionally, Elementor has indicated that certain forthcoming features may not be included in the lowest plan. The Advanced Solo plan is necessary to guarantee access to all current and future Pro features.

The following subdomains do not require an Elementor Pro license:

• dev.* (dev.example.com)

• local.* (local.example.com)

• test.* (test.example.com)

• staging.* (staging.example.com)

People post discount codes on blogs or websites. Sales of Elementor Pro will be available only on the company’s website. I also do not recommend a “nulled” version from a doubtful source. It could contain some harmful codes.

Do not waste time trying to find a discount code.

Elementor Support

Elementor has updated its support offerings, making premium support available only for Expert plans or higher. A valid license is required—support is not provided without an active subscription.

Before reaching out to support, Elementor Pro guides users through a troubleshooting process, which includes:

• Verify system requirements and ensure Elementor, WordPress, and themes are up to date.
• Check for plugin conflicts by deactivating all plugins except Elementor and Elementor Pro.
• Manage caching plugins and test them with a default theme like Hello Elementor to rule out theme-related issues.

For more complex issues, Elementor Pro support operates via support tickets, where users can provide detailed descriptions, relevant URLs, and system information. Understanding this process can help resolve issues faster and streamline communication with support.

Hiring a Web developer

Should you require additional support while implementing changes using Elemntor, you should explore hiring a freelance Elementor developer from Toptal. By leveraging their expertise and experience, you can achieve exceptional outcomes for your website projects.

With Toptal, you can choose a developer specializing in Elementor and complete your project within budget. This ensures you get maximum value for your money and access to skilled professionals who understand every aspect of Elementor.

Are you a web developer seeking job opportunities? You may want to search in Jooble.

Elementor Hosting, a new way for WordPress hosting

Elementor Hosting by Elementor is the perfect package for WordPress beginners looking for an easy start crafting their homepage. Elementor Pro is already included in the package.

You pay a yearly fee, including an Elementor Pro license, hosting, and premium support. Please read my Elementor Hosting review for more information.

Frequently Asked Questions

I would love to get your feedback. Was this article helpful? Please share your opinion with me in the comment section below. Or, if you prefer a more personal touch, feel free to email me directly at info@edywerder.ch. Your thoughts and insights are always appreciated.

Before you go …

I hope this blog post has helped you understand the differences between Elementor Pro and the free version and decide which one is better for your specific needs.

However, the world of page builders doesn’t stop at Elementor. To truly expand your knowledge and make the most informed decision possible, I encourage you to check out my other in-depth comparison: “Elementor vs Divi: The Ultimate Showdown“.

In this detailed review, I compare two of the most popular page builders in the market – Elementor and Divi. I explore their unique features, pros and cons, pricing plans, and more.