Elementor Pro Review 2019: All you need to know

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March 26  

Welcome to my full review on Elementor and Elementor Pro for 2019! My goal online is to help you find the perfect tools for your next project, and Elementor is a web design behemoth that absolutely cannot be missed.

In this tutorial we are going to go through all the best (and worst) features of Elementor, compare it to the stiff competition in the page builder space, and help you decide if this is the right page builder for you.

And I have a very special bonus offer worth $1,291 if you purchase using my link. Read to the end, or jump to the bonus offer here.

Ready to roll? Let's go!

More...

What is Elementor?

Elementor is a WordPress Page Builder plugin. That means its entire job is to help you design beautiful pages with as little coding as possible.

It does this through an intuitive drag and drop interface where you can see exactly how your content will look for the visitor... while you are building it!?

Page builders like Elementor have allowed non-coders to become incredibly successful web designers, and choosing a page builder for your website is a huge decision (because you'll use it just about every day!).

Check out Elementor Pro

What is Elementor Pro?

Elementor has both a free version and a paid pro version

This makes it perfect for beginners to dip their toes in the waters before committing to making the small investment to go pro.

While the free version will allow you to build nice looking landing pages by itself, the true power of Elementor is reserved for its pro version.

At the time of this writing, the pro version is $49 per year for a single site, up to $199 per year for unlimited sites (Discounts also apply, read on!).

Elementor Free vs Pro Features

Elementor is an extremely full-featured page builder, so you may wonder if it is even necessary to upgrade to the pro version.

Below is a feature-by-feature comparison of the Free vs the Pro versions of Elementor. I'll go through some of the notable differences between each version below.

Click to see feature by feature comparison of Free vs Paid Elementor

Wow... that's a serious list... I hope you didn't get lost on the way down here!

Here are some of the must-have features of the Pro version that I think justify the upgrade fee:

  • Elementor Theme Builder (Header and Footer)
  • Elementor Pop Ups
  • Form Integrations (to collect leads and do other actions)
  • Pro Templates to speed up the design process
  • Blog Post Grid (if you are a blogger)

The features above are really a must-have if you want to have full design freedom and increased functionality in your websites. We will cover these features more throughout this post.

Elementor Page Builder Widgets

Elementor includes dozens of widgets to help you efficiently build your pages:

Free Elementor Widgets

Even the free version of Elementor gives you plenty of power

And the Pro version adds even more interesting and useful widgets like the Pricing Table and Blog post list widgets:

Elementor Pro Widgets

Elementor Pro gives you some extremely powerful (and fun) widgets to play with

Every widget can be easily dragged onto the canvas and edited on the front end.

They will all have their own unique style properties that you can adjust from the left hand toolbar:

Elementor Review Adding widgets to canvas

Every widget has 3 types of settings to adjust:

Content Settings: This is the actual words / images / major aspects of the widget itself.

Style Settings: Set and adjust your typography, color settings, alignment, and other aspects of your widget's style.

Advanced: Don't be afraid! The Advanced section isn't too scary - but you get to adjust your margin / padding settings here, as well as a control more fine tuned controls like mobile responsiveness and custom CSS.

Elementor Pop Ups

Pop ups are often thought of as annoying distractions to a website, but successful digital marketers know that pop ups are one of the most effective list-building tools we have in our arsenal.

Until Elementor released their pop up feature, I would have said that Thrive Leads was the reigning champion of lead generation.

Elementor's Pop up feature has added full design customization to all parts of your marketing opportunities - social sharing / email capture / call to action buttons...

They can all be added in seamlessly with pinpoint accuracy with the Pop ups extension.

Elementor Pop Ups vs Thrive Leads

Because these two tools are in direct competition (Thrive Themes and Elementor), I decided to do a complete comparison of their lead generation tools to help you make a better decision:

As you can see, both tools are extremely capable, and deciding between the two of them will be a bit of personal preference (although I will definitely give my recommendations below... oooh the suspense!)

Elementor Theme Builder

Have you ever had theme envy? You know that feeling when you come across an incredibly beautiful blog and you just don't know how to make your site look the same way?

Well, Elementor takes that feeling away once and for all with their Theme Builder feature.

With Elementor Pro, you unlock the ability to fully customize your website's look and feel without touching a line of code!

What's the difference between a Theme and Page again?

Page Builder vs Theme Builder

The quick way to understand Page builder vs Theme Builder

Most of the page builders on the market only focus on the actual content of the blog post or page that you are building.

Theme Builders like Elementor allow you to bring the same level of customization to every aspect of your website, including:

  • Headers
  • Footers
  • Sidebar
  • Archive Pages (search results, blog categories)
  • Woocommerce Product pages
  • ...you get the idea

The theme builder is one of the most impressive features of Elementor Pro.

It starts to make you wonder when "themes" will become completely irrelevant in the world of WordPress...

Theme Building is the future

Most page builders (Divi, Thrive Architect, Brizy) are all working on their Theme building functionality, but Elementor has a huge head start on them. They've done a great job implementing. It is smooth and logical. Kudos!

Elementor Integrations

Integrations should be a big consideration for anyone considering a new page builder. In this section of the review I want to talk briefly about Elementor's openness to 3rd party plugins, as well as their built in integrations with Email providers.

3rd Party Development for Elementor

Elementor is extremely open to outside development efforts to add additional functionality to their tool.

A quick search for Elementor in the WordPress repository shows 475 plugin results for "Elementor":

Elementor Integrations Example

Elementor is a very open platform for development. A blessing and a curse...

This is a both a blessing and a curse:

The Blessing. Due to its popularity and widely adopted free version, there is a big incentive for developers to build their own plugins that sit on top of the Elementor platform. So if there is some functionality that you wish Elementor had but just can't find, there's a good chance someone has already built it for you!

The Curse. You need to be cautious when adding a bunch of 3rd party plugins to your website. Each additional plugin creates opportunities for conflicts and website slowdown. This is especially true when Elementor goes through a major update.

Personally when I build websites with Elementor for clients, I limit myself to the official plugins and try to achieve everything I want. If I simply can't, I'll add additional functionality slowly.

Email Marketing Integrations for Elementor

Now that Elementor has their Pop ups feature, they are becoming a full-featured lead generation suite.

So it's important that they integrate with the most common and powerful email marketing platforms out there. Do they?

Elementor Pro Email Marketing Integrations

Elementor doesn't have the most integrations out there (I think Thrive Leads holds that title), but they capture a good majority of the market share.

One special note is that because Elementor integrates with WP Fusion, it allows you to connect with basically any marketing tool on the planet, but it comes with a hefty additional price tag.

It's best to make sure Elementor will work your email provider before you decide to make the plunge. Or switch email providers... just sayin'!

Elementor Templates

I keep telling myself that one day I'll be a professional designer... but that day has not yet arrived!

Elementor helps the design-challenged out by providing tons of useful templates that we can import and adjust to our needs:

Elementor Pro Import Templates

You can also save your favorite designs as favorite items for later reuse. A great, simple way to keep your content on brand!

Elementor Pro Tutorial

I recently ran a head-to-head comparison of my personal favorite page builders:

  1. Elementor
  2. Gutenberg
  3. Divi
  4. Brizy
  5. Thrive Architect

I wanted to build the same landing page with each builder to understand which would be the right tool for most people. You can check out the entire series here. Be sure to subscribe to the channel while you're there, hint hint nudge nudge...

At the end of the day, Elementor was an incredibly intuitive page builder that rarely gives me a struggle when trying to achieve the look I wanted.

Can't ask for more than that!

Now let's compare Elementor to the competition:

Elementor Pro vs Divi

Elementor Pros
  • Great Free version so you can try before you buy
  • Powerful Pop up builder so you can capture leads throughout your site easily
  • Intuitive workflow for their theme building
  • Your licenses can be used for personal or client sites
Elementor Cons
  • No lifetime deal (although they discount each year you stay on
  • I prefer Divi's quick actions and general building experience (but this is personal preference)

Bottom Line:

Elementor is a great choice for beginner or advanced marketers to build powerful, design-focused websites for their own sites or for clients.

90%
Elementor Pro
Divi Pros
  • Very reasonably priced lifetime unlimited license
  • Divi also comes with Bloom and Monarch plugins which are decent solutions for lead generation and social sharing
  • Very nice and fluid build experience. I like that you can search for almost anything easily while you are building
Divi Cons
  • Divi is a shortcode-based builder, which means that if you ever want to change themes / page builders, all your content will need to be rebuilt
  • Divi's road map is a bit of a mystery and it's not clear when their Theme builder is coming out.
  • Divi has grown a bit bloated over the years and lighterweight themes like Astra load much quicker

Bottom Line:

Divi was the first page builder that my wife and I used when building our initial online business so I'll always love it. But other builders have made better progress in critical areas like theme building.

75%
Divi


Elementor Pro vs Thrive Architect

Elementor Pros
  • Great Free version so you can try before you buy
  • Powerful Pop up builder so you can capture leads throughout your site easily
  • Intuitive workflow for their theme building
  • Your licenses can be used for personal or client sites
Elementor Cons
  • No lifetime deal (although they discount each year you stay on
  • I prefer Divi's quick actions and general building experience (but this is personal preference)

Bottom Line:

Elementor is a great choice for beginner or advanced marketers to build powerful, design-focused websites for their own sites or for clients.

90%
Elementor Pro
Thrive Architect Pros
  • Fully front-end editor, which makes it my favorite for writing blog posts (like this one!)
  • Thrive Architect has a focus on conversion optimization, so it includes unique features like content reveals, Guarantee boxes, and other marketing focused elements which is extremely helpful
  • Every tool that Thrive offers comes complete with a data and analytics package so you can truly see how your efforts are resulting in better conversions.
  • Thrive's membership allows you to perform the easiest split tests, launch courses, and do a ton of other useful things. The entire package works well together
Thrive Architect Cons
  • Thrive Architect is extremely powerful, but it can take a bit longer to build a good looking page. More clicks and menu hunting to accomplish the goal.
  • Thrive's Landing page templates are very funnel-focused, and they do not offer much in terms of complete website packs like Elementor or Divi does.
  • Thrive's licensing model is weird. You need to upgrade to an agency license to work on client sites.
  • Thrive still hasn't launched their Theme builder, but it is in beta and should arrive soon.

Bottom Line:

Thrive Architect is an extremely powerful page builder, but isn't yet a theme builder. If you are more focused on building conversion business than a fully-customized theme, I think Thrive is a great option as well.

90%
Thrive Architect

Elementor Pro vs Brizy

Elementor Pros
  • Great Free version so you can try before you buy
  • Powerful Pop up builder so you can capture leads throughout your site easily
  • Intuitive workflow for their theme building
  • Your licenses can be used for personal or client sites
Elementor Cons
  • No lifetime deal (although they discount each year you stay on
  • I prefer Divi's quick actions and general building experience (but this is personal preference)

Bottom Line:

Elementor is a great choice for beginner or advanced marketers to build powerful, design-focused websites for their own sites or for clients.

90%
Elementor Pro
Brizy Pros
  • Fully front-end editor
  • Stunning library of block templates to build great looking sites.
  • Extremely intuitive workflow for building out pages. It is built on React which makes the entire process buttery smooth
  • Limited Lifetime deal for unlimited use on your own and client sites for a great price.
Brizy Cons
  • One of the newest players in the page builder space so it has a long way to catch up
  • Doesn't currently have Theme Building capabilities but it is on their public roadmap
  • Too early to tell how Brizy will find a home in the competitive page builder space.

Bottom Line:

Brizy is an exciting gamble right now. There is fierce competition in the market, but for the price of the unlimited license, it may be the most efficient client building page builder sometime in the future.

70%
Brizy


Elementor Pro vs Gutenberg

comparison still coming

Does Elementor work with any WordPress theme?

Absolutely Elementor is designed to work with any WordPress theme, but they do recommend and integrate with Astra very nicely. Using the Astra theme (free or paid), you can quickly import entire websites with a few clicks of a button using their Astra sites feature. read more about it in my full Astra review post.

Elementor Pro Pricing

Alright, the time has come to talk brass tax (is that a phrase anymore?)

Here are Elementor Pro's pricing options:

Elementor Pro Review Pricing Options

You have 3 options, $49 per year for 1 site, $99 per year for 3 sites, or $199 per year for unlimited sites.

If you build websites for clients, I think the unlimited sites option is an excellent way to go. You will pay for the membership with a single client and some of the time saving tools of Elementor will continue to come in handy.

But if you are just starting out, I think the 1 site for $49 is a very reasonable price.

The Best Bonus Offer For Elementor Pro

I want you to be successful as you get started with Elementor, so if you decide to use my affiliate link below to make your purchase, I'll give you:

  • Access to my complete Elementor Hero Course - Over 35+ step-by-step tutorials, templates, and strategy to make you a professional web designer using Elementor ($97 value)
  • 30 days unlimited support from me in getting your Elementor site up and running ($997 value)
  • Priority Access to new products and templates that we create ($197 value)

The total value of these bonuses is at least $1,291 but if you sign up using the link below you can get access to all if it for free!

How to claim bonuses: Simply click the link below and complete your purchase of a professional Elementor Pro plan.

Once you receive your receipt in your email, forward that email to john (at) unbeatabletech.com and mention that you would like to claim your affiliate bonuses.

I'll get you taken care of within 48 hours!

Conclusion - Should you buy Elementor Pro?

The decision to buy Elementor Pro is largely personal preference. It is undoubtedly one of the most advanced page builders available today, and it will allow you to build anything your mind can think up.

Every page builder has its own focus, so I'd advise you to purchase the top 2 or 3 on your list to truly test them side by side, and feel free to return the one(s) that just don't make the cut!

About the Author

John Whitford is an entrepreneur who has built over 12 profitable online blogs and businesses. He's also the founder of Unbeatable Tech, a data-driven digital marketing company that specializes in sales funnel implementation for both his own businesses and clients alike. John loves to be a beach bum while brainstorming new ideas for marketing strategies, but he's always excited to take on another project!

John

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