Elementor Interactive Demo
Explore a demo of Elementor, a WordPress page builder that lets you design and publish web pages visually without writing HTML or CSS.
What is Elementor?
Elementor is a drag-and-drop page builder plugin for WordPress, first released in 2016. It replaced the standard WordPress block editor for millions of sites by offering a visual canvas where you see layout changes in real time instead of toggling between editor and preview. By 2023 it had been installed on over 12 million websites, making it one of the most widely used WordPress plugins in existence.
The builder works through a widget system. You drag elements like headings, images, buttons, forms, and sliders onto a grid-based canvas and configure their appearance through a sidebar panel. Elementor Free covers the core layout and styling tools. Elementor Pro adds a theme builder for headers, footers, and archive pages, a form builder with CRM integrations, a popup builder, and WooCommerce support for designing product pages. The Pro tier is where most serious site builds end up.
Elementor also runs a cloud hosting product called Elementor Cloud, which bundles WordPress and Elementor Pro on managed infrastructure. This simplifies the setup for people who don't want to manage hosting separately, though most experienced developers still prefer pairing Elementor with their own hosting stack.
How to get started with Elementor
- 1
Install Elementor on a WordPress site
From your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins, search for Elementor, and install the free version. If you have a Pro license, install the Elementor Pro plugin separately after the free version is active. Most developers recommend pairing it with the Hello Elementor theme to minimize style conflicts from the start.
- 2
Create a new page and open the Elementor editor
Create a new page in WordPress and click the Edit with Elementor button. The canvas loads in a new full-screen interface with widgets in the left panel and the live preview on the right. Your first session is mostly about getting oriented with the structure: sections contain columns, columns contain widgets.
- 3
Build your layout with sections and widgets
Add a section, choose a column structure, then drag widgets into the columns. Elementor's sidebar shows the styling options for whatever you've selected, covering typography, spacing, color, and responsive behavior in tabs. Start with a simple single-column layout and add complexity once you understand how padding and spacing interact.
- 4
Set up global colors and fonts
Before designing individual pages, define your site's global color palette and typography in Elementor's Global Settings. This lets you apply brand colors and fonts consistently across the site and update them site-wide from one place later. Skipping this step early tends to create cleanup work when brand guidelines change.
- 5
Publish and configure the theme builder (Pro)
Once individual pages look right, use Elementor Pro's theme builder to design the header and footer and assign them site-wide. This is the step that moves Elementor from a page builder to a full site design tool. Set display conditions to control which templates appear on which pages, then publish and verify the output across desktop, tablet, and mobile.
Who is Elementor most useful for?
Freelance web designers and small agencies building client sites on WordPress. The theme builder in Pro means you can design the entire site structure, not just individual pages, which reduces the need for custom code on typical business website builds. Most designers find the learning curve manageable within a few days of use.
Marketing teams at small to mid-sized companies who want direct control over their WordPress site without waiting on developers for every landing page change. Elementor's visual editor makes it practical for a non-technical marketer to publish a new campaign page or update an existing one without touching a theme file. The fit gets murkier for teams running complex custom functionality, where WordPress development often needs to happen outside Elementor anyway.
WooCommerce store owners who need to customize product pages, category pages, and checkout flows beyond what default themes allow. Elementor Pro's WooCommerce builder covers most of the layout customization that would otherwise require a WooCommerce-specific theme or custom development. If you want to walk prospects or customers through a site-building workflow visually, Supademo lets you build an interactive step-by-step demo that captures the Elementor editing experience without requiring a live WordPress environment.
Alternatives to Elementor
Teams that consider Elementor usually also look at these tools, depending on whether they're staying in the WordPress ecosystem or open to alternatives.
A standalone design platform with its own CMS and hosting. Gives designers more CSS-level control and a cleaner build environment than Elementor, but requires leaving the WordPress ecosystem entirely. The learning curve is steeper, and the pricing model is per-site rather than a plugin license.
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Built specifically around marketing funnels rather than general websites. If the goal is building lead capture pages, sales pages, and checkout flows rather than a full site, ClickFunnels handles that end-to-end without needing WordPress at all.
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The closest direct competitor to Elementor Pro in the WordPress space. Divi is sold as both a theme and a builder plugin, and its pricing model offers lifetime licenses, which appeals to agencies building many client sites. The interface and widget set are comparable to Elementor, with stronger built-in A/B testing tools.
Favored by developers who prioritize clean output and stability over the widest feature set. Beaver Builder generates relatively clean HTML and has a reputation for fewer conflicts with other plugins, which matters on sites with complex plugin stacks. Less flashy than Elementor but reliable.
FAQs on Elementor
Commonly asked questions about Elementor. Have more? Reach out and our team will be happy to help.
Is Elementor free?
Elementor has a free version available in the WordPress plugin directory that covers basic page building with a solid set of widgets. Elementor Pro starts at around $59/year for one site and adds the theme builder, form builder, popup builder, WooCommerce support, and a larger widget library. Most full-site builds need Pro for header and footer control alone.
Does Elementor slow down WordPress sites?
Elementor does add overhead compared to hand-coded HTML, which is a common criticism. The degree of impact depends on how many widgets you use, what other plugins are installed, and how your hosting environment is configured. Sites built carefully with Elementor and a good caching plugin on quality hosting routinely pass Core Web Vitals, but it takes more intentional optimization than a lean static site.
How does Elementor compare to Webflow?
Webflow is a standalone site builder with its own hosting infrastructure, while Elementor is a WordPress plugin that runs on any WordPress host. Webflow gives more precise control over CSS and animations and is generally favored by designers who want a cleaner build environment. Elementor suits teams already committed to WordPress or WooCommerce who need the broader plugin ecosystem.
Can Elementor build a full website, not just landing pages?
Elementor Pro's theme builder covers headers, footers, single post templates, archive pages, and 404 pages, so you can control the entire site's design from within Elementor. The free version only lets you design the content area of individual pages, which means you're still relying on a theme for everything else. Most full-site builds use Pro for this reason.
Does Elementor work with WooCommerce?
Elementor Pro includes a WooCommerce builder that lets you customize product pages, category pages, cart, and checkout layouts visually. This is one of the more useful Pro features for ecommerce sites, since WooCommerce's default templates have limited design flexibility and custom theme development for WooCommerce can be time-consuming.
What themes work best with Elementor?
Hello Elementor is the officially recommended theme, built to be extremely lightweight and let Elementor handle all the design. Other popular pairings include Astra, GeneratePress, and OceanWP, all of which are designed to work well with page builders. Heavier multi-purpose themes can work but often create style conflicts that require extra work to resolve.