Is Elementor Pro Worth It?

Is Paying for Elementor Pro Worth It?

At Full Scope Creative, we use Elementor Pro on the websites we build because of the added tools and flexibility it gives us. For us, Elementor Pro is worth it because there are a number of features that make the yearly cost well worth paying, especially once a website needs more than the basics.

That does not mean the free version of Elementor is bad. Far from it. You can build a really great website with basic Elementor.

The difference starts to show when you want to do more.

Once you get into custom templates, special content, Advanced Custom Fields, listings, and other more advanced website features, Elementor Pro gives us a lot more options. It can also help us remove some other plugins that we may have needed otherwise.

Elementor Free Is Still a Very Good Website Builder

You do not need Elementor Pro to build a good website.

With the basic version of Elementor, you can build pages, add images and buttons, create columns and containers, add headings, and put together a really nice website. For a basic small business website, that may be everything you need.

Do you need Elementor Pro? Nope.

If the free version does everything your website needs, there is nothing wrong with staying with it.

But you can do a whole lot more with Elementor Pro.

For the added tools and options it gives us, we think the yearly license is easily worth the cost. We have another blog that goes into more detail about how much Elementor costs.

Elementor Pro’s Theme Builder Gives You Control of the Entire Website

One of my favorite parts of Elementor Pro is the Theme Builder.

With Theme Builder, we can build the header and footer of the website right inside Elementor. We do not need another header and footer plugin or have to hard code those areas of the site.

That is especially nice for our clients. If they want to make a change later, they can still use Elementor instead of having to learn how to edit code.

Theme Builder can also be used for blog post templates, archive pages, search pages, and custom post types.

If we have 50 staff members on a website, for example, we do not have to manually design 50 staff pages. We can design one template and have Elementor use that layout for every staff member.

We can even design the 404 page.

Hey, accidents happen. Someone might click an old link or type the wrong address. When they do, the error page can still look like the rest of the website and give them somewhere useful to go.

Dynamic Content Makes Elementor Pro Much More Powerful

As websites get more advanced, we start using more content that changes based on the page someone is viewing.

Elementor calls this dynamic content.

We might want a location page to automatically show that location’s phone number. A staff page might need to show that person’s job title. A custom page might need to display information from Advanced Custom Fields.

Elementor Pro makes a lot of this much easier.

We have used Dynamic.ooo on websites before and it is a great plugin. We still use it on some sites when we need some of its more advanced options.

But there are also cases where Elementor Pro can now handle what we need without adding another plugin.

A small five-page website design may never need much of this. Once a website starts getting more customized, though, these tools can give us a lot more freedom with the design.

The Loop Builder Is My Favorite Elementor Pro Feature

The Loop Builder is probably my favorite feature in Elementor Pro.

Got a number of posts of a certain type that you need to display? Blog articles, staff bios, case studies, press releases, manuals, locations, projects, or just about anything else?

That is where the Loop Builder is great.

We can create one template for how an item should look. Elementor then loops through all of the matching posts and displays each one using that same template.

A staff listing might have a photo, name, job title, short bio, and a button. We build that layout once. When a new staff member is added, Elementor automatically uses the same design.

If we want to change that design later, we change the Loop template once instead of editing every staff member.

We showcase a lot of these types of features in our Feature Forge. Many of those features use Elementor Pro, ACF, and Loops.

Even our Feature Forge page is a Loop.

Elementor Pro Can Replace Some Extra Plugins and Workarounds

Plugins are one of the things that make WordPress so useful. We use plenty of them.

But if we can accomplish something without adding another plugin, that is usually a good thing.

Elementor Pro can help with that.

We already mentioned Dynamic.ooo. It is a plugin we like and still use when needed, but there are some sites where Elementor Pro gives us enough of those features that we do not need it.

The same can happen with gallery plugins. Some advanced galleries still need a special plugin, but Elementor Pro gives us more gallery options that can work perfectly well for many websites.

We also do not need a separate Elementor header and footer plugin because Theme Builder handles that for us.

And when we are working with ACF, Elementor Pro can display those fields directly. We do not need another plugin just to get that information onto the front end of the website.

Every plugin is another piece of software that needs to be updated and maintained. More plugins can also mean more chances for conflicts, more code being loaded, and more possible security risks.

That does not mean plugins are bad. We just do not want to install one if the site does not need it.

Elementor Pro Works Great With Advanced Custom Fields

You might have picked up on this by now, but Elementor Pro works really great with Advanced Custom Fields.

We love using ACF for things like staff listings, locations, projects, resources, and other custom content.

Part of what makes it so useful is what we can do on the front end. Elementor Pro lets us take those fields and put them into custom templates, Loop Grids, and other areas of the website.

The other big benefit is how easy we can make it for our clients.

A staff member might have fields for their name, job title, phone number, email, photo, and bio. A location might have an address, phone number, hours, and services.

Our client simply fills out those fields.

They do not have to build the page or worry about where everything goes. We already took care of that part. Elementor Pro pulls the information into the design and displays it where it belongs.

That gives us some really great options on the front end while keeping the website very easy for the client to manage.

Another Benefit of Our Security Essentials Hosting

If your website is hosted with Full Scope Creative on our Security Essentials hosting plan, Elementor Pro is worth it even more because there is no extra cost for the license. We include Elementor Pro as part of the hosting plan.

We include the yearly license.

That means whether we are building one of our Custom Websites or a Premium Framework website, we can start using Elementor Pro features right away when they make sense for the site.

Security Essentials also includes an SSL certificate, dedicated IP, and Pro licenses for tools including Formidable Forms and Advanced Custom Fields, along with other tools we use.

We manage those licenses too.

You do not have to remember when Elementor Pro renews, make sure the license is still connected, or worry about updating payment information for it. We handle that as part of the hosting.

Is Elementor Pro Worth It for Your Website?

We have built many, many, many websites using WordPress and Elementor Pro. We can say pretty adamantly that Elementor Pro is worth it for the websites we build.

You can absolutely build a great website with basic Elementor.

But you can do a lot more with Elementor Pro.

The Theme Builder, ACF integration, the ability to remove some extra plugins, and all of the added options make it well worth having.

And, best of all, there is the Loop Builder.

If you are trying to decide if Elementor Pro makes sense for your website, send us a note. We would be happy to chat about what you want the website to do and whether Elementor Pro is actually needed to do it.