Over the last 6 years since it was launched in 2016, Elementor has shaped many WordPress webpages to look amazing and attractive. Currently, it has over 5 million active users because it provides an all-in-one solution that can help you seamlessly design websites straightforwardly without coding. Because of this, it is immensely popular for beginners or an individual without technical background knowledge in designing web pages. But, can you use WordPress without Elementor?
Yes. You can use WordPress without Elementor because WordPress is a standalone and complete website tool that can help you build a fully functional website from scratch. In other words, it comes with a browser-based editor, unlimited themes as well as supports both native WordPress plugins and third-party plugins to help you build a professional-looking site. Since Elementor is a webpage builder plugin, it cannot work without WordPress.
There are many reasons WordPress can work without Elementor, but before we look into that it would be helpful to understand the difference between WordPress and Elementor. The significance of understanding their difference is to help you get to the reasons for using WordPress without Elementor.
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What’s the Difference between WordPress and Elementor?
What is WordPress?
WordPress is not a website builder, instead is a content management system software {CMS} that comes with a complete website building tool. Initially, it started as a blogging platform and with time it evolved to become the world’s most popular CMS platform. Currently, WordPress powers almost 39% of all websites on the internet globally. That’s because it offers many possibilities with its unique features and tools to get you started as quickly as possible and effectively manage your website.
However, most of the functionality within WordPress is utilized by plugins like Gutenberg or Elementor to help you edit individual pages or posts. This means that you can maximally utilize the functionality of WordPress by installing WordPress plugins to help you build both attractive and professional-looking webpages. Better yet, WordPress itself is free or open-source except for premium plugins and themes. There are over 55,000 WordPress plugins that provide unlimited alternatives to choosing the one that is suitable for your website needs.
What is Elementor?
Elementor is a webpage builder software that offers a visual drag-and-drop page builder plugin for WordPress. That is, you can use Elementor to create and design a webpage that is visually attractive and professional-looking without using or needing to edit any code. This is by utilizing its drag-and-drop functionality to move around various design elements. Moreover, it has a collection of useful widgets called Elements to help you design and customize your web pages with full freedom.
Elementor provides a separate interface that allows you to create and design web pages. That is, you will get a 100% separate interface to work on posts and pages, instead of that work happening in the standard block editor that comes with WordPress. This makes it different from WordPress which allows you to use its native plugin like Gutenberg to create and design webpages on the same block interface.
Nonetheless, Elementor is available in a free version and premium version. But opting for a premium version will offer you more flexibility and versatility to create and design a fully functional website. Since it eliminates the need for coding each page, Elementor is an ideal tool for beginners or individuals with limited skills in designing web pages. However, how simplistic it may seem to use it restricts you to access certain functionality which we will focus on in the following header.
Why you don’t Need Elementor Page Builder for WordPress.
Initially, we have mentioned that Elementor cannot work without WordPress. That’s because WordPress is a standalone CMS system integrated with all functionalities that can help you build a website. Contrarily, Elementor is a page builder software plugin with functionalities that can help you build a website, but you must integrate/customize it with WordPress. Because you can’t use Elementor on its own, you will not need it depending on the aspects we would like to share with you. They include:
Usability
Usability refers to the ease of use which also depends on individuals’ personal preferences. Technically, when it comes to language WordPress it is more advanced than Elementor. This makes WordPress a little overwhelming for non-technical/beginners. That does not mean you cannot use WordPress because you will get acquainted over time. Most importantly, it comes with a standard block editor that offers you a straightforward solution to create, design, and customize each webpage.
Contrarily, Elementor offers a straightforward and seamless solution for creating and designing webpages without codes making it convenient for non-technical individuals. But it falls short of a block editor because it offers a separate interface to work on posts and pages, unlike WordPress’ standard block editor. This can be a plus or minus depending on your experience/preference because you will need to learn from a different user interface. In other words, using Elementor is like adding a powerful application on top of WordPress.
If you use WordPress with Elementor it increases the manual work because it will transfer you to a separate block editor making it cumbersome. To minimize that burden, it would be wise to use WordPress standard block editor which is also integrated with plugins for easy usability and execution.
Speed
Using WordPress with Elementor slows down WordPress uptime. This can be negative when it comes to Google browser search ranking because it consumes lots of time to load up and appear on the first page. Due to this, the site will get less traffic and perform poorly in Google searches. The reason it slows down WordPress is that it adds more file size to your site.
Flexibility
When it comes to flexibility, using WordPress offers much more flexibility and possibilities because it offers free and unlimited varieties of plugins/add-ons and themes. Meaning it has a large extension marketplace than Elementor making it easier to integrate with any other tools you might be using. Better yet, you can turn WordPress into more of a website builder while using plugins. Therefore, you don’t need Elementor if you utilize the free plugins and themes available. Although WordPress offers much flexibility and possibilities, it can be both more difficult and time-consuming to make custom changes.
Elementor is limited when it comes to flexibility because it comes with its add-ons onboard which might even be fewer. Sometimes you may not find the one that suits your need at the time and if you find there is a slim chance of getting an alternative. However, you should be very careful with WordPress Plug-ins because you need to configure them occasionally to work with your theme. Secondly, make sure you install the right one because the wrong one might harm your website.
Control/Manageability/Ownership
Using WordPress provides you 100% control over your site because is a self-hosted website that gives you the ability to retain the right to your content. Meaning that you can freely access your website’s database and the underlying code{s} and adjust every single part of your site with full freedom. Secondly, you can also access and utilize a plethora of features WordPress will offer you. Due to this freedom, using WordPress straightforwardly without Elementor makes it ideal for publishing a lot of content without limitations. Lastly, you can also export your website to another host if you like or choose to.
Contrarily, Elementor will also get your website up and running cheaply, quickly, and effortlessly, but you will be limited to a variety of options. Since Elementor is a hosted tool, you don’t have rights to your content. Meaning that every content or piece of your work belongs to the Elementor platform because you are using it to build your website on it. Or, that is to say, you don’t have the right to customize your content as you wish if you want to make changes to your specific vision. This is frustrating and intimidating.
Search Engine Optimization
Aside from providing more flexibility and possibilities, WordPress is also more versatile when it comes to search engine optimization than using Elementor. This is because it offers free and unlimited tools/plug-ins for optimization including automatic SEO titles and dynamic data. Elementor also provides free SEO add-ons but are more applicable to beginners and thus not ideal for professional users. Moreover, they are not as good as WordPress plug-ins and it can cost you more if you want to access advanced SEO tools.
Cost
Using Elementor adds up to more costs depending on bandwidth, storage, and access to more advanced tools and features. Furthermore, as your business grows you will also pay for a higher plan making it not stable at cost because it may include charges for additional services. On the other hand, WordPress is free to use and its premium packages are affordable and much more stable at cost despite your business growth. If you want to save up more money, substitute the Elementor plugin from WordPress and start depending on WordPress native plugins.
Dynamic Websites Creation and Designing
When it comes to webpage designing, WordPress excels even with dynamic website creation and designing. Dynamic websites include; blogs, job listing sites, event directories, eCommerce sites, membership websites, real estate directories, and many more. Dynamic websites are sites that provide custom fields and content that can be changed based on preference, user behavior, data, and many more.
With Elementor, creating and designing dynamic web pages with custom content can be a pain in the neck. That’s because Elementor struggles when comes to scaling and managing your site. In addition, it doesn’t offer superior plugins for creating and designing dynamic sites. Not unless you use the third-party services to embed JavaScript snippets to help you design dynamic sites. This will also add up to the cost which is also among the top reasons why you should not depend on Elementor as your webpage builder.
What are the Pros and Cons of Elementor?
Pros
Easy to Use
Elementor offers the ability to create and design webpages without needing to worry about coding it is ideal for beginners with the least technical knowledge. That means they can start from zero and build a website seamlessly in no time.
Cuts the Amount of Time it takes to create a Website
Since it eliminates coding, it provides a straightforward user experience that cuts down the amount of time it takes to create a website.
Easy to Maintain
Besides easy usability, maintaining your site with Elementor is very easy and time conscious; however, flexibilities and possibilities are limited.
Professional-looking Website
Elementor is integrated with themes and plugins that are designed by professionals with vast experience to help you design a professional-looking website.
Cons
Customization Limits
If you are a professional engaged in creating and designing dynamic websites, Elementor would be a complete turnoff. That’s because it offers limited customization, themes, and add-ons.
Inability to Export your Website to Another Host
Because Elementor is a plug-in product, your website will typically be tied to it making it unable to export it to another host due to the reasons we have mentioned earlier in the control and management section.
Your Website will look Similar to others
Unlike WordPress, Elementor provides limited add-ons and themes and thus many websites will have similar service or product that looks similar to yours. This is very dangerous when it comes to Google ranking and thus hurting your brand.
Hard to locate the exact Margin.
If by mistake you misalign or something misaligns the page, it can be difficult to locate the exact margin value that’s causing misalignment.
Difficult to add Custom Styling to Links
If you are not tech-savvy, Elementor may prove hard to add custom styling to links, unlike the way you expected or planned. Meaning that you may be stuck with color settings and default typography.
What are the Pros and Cons of Using WordPress without Elementor?
Pros
- It comes with a standard block editor that offers you a straightforward solution to create, design, and customize each webpage.
- Unlike Elementor, WordPress minimizes file sizes making it ideal for SEO.
- WordPress offers much more flexibility and possibilities due to unlimited varieties of plugins/add-ons and themes.
- Using WordPress provides you 100% control over your site because is a self-hosted website that gives you the ability to retain the right to your content.
- It offers unlimited SEO plugins and themes than Elementor.
- WordPress is free to use and its premium packages are affordable and much more stable at cost despite your business growth.
- It offers superior plugins and themes that are very effective in dynamic websites with custom content.
Cons
- To use WordPress requires technical knowledge and skills which makes it not ideal for beginners. But it provides a learning curve to help understand how to use it and how to set your website up.
- Sometimes updates may cause memory leaks or compatibility issues with the plugins which may harm your website.
Conclusion
Generally, don’t use WordPress with Elementor if you intend to create and design a dynamic website due to the aspects we have shared above. However, if you have a small business or you are not tech-savvy enough to handle WordPress UI, then Elementor is your best tool. If you intend to expand or grow your website it would be wise to start using WordPress and get acquainted with it as your business grow.
