Can I use Elementor for free?

In this article I’m going to answer the question “Can I use Elementor for free”?

In general there’s a bit of confusion about the page builder Elementor. What is paid feature and what is free? So when do you have to pay when you use Elementor?

What’s in the free version of Elementor

Anyone can download and use the free version of Elementor. And you do so from within a WordPress website.

More specifically, the plugin section of a WordPress website, because as far as I can see you can’t actually download the plugin from the Elementor site itself.

Alternatively you could download the plugin from the WordPress repository.

When this free version of the Elementor plugin is activated on your site you have access to page builder functionality within the main content area of any page.

Not the header. Not the footer. Not the sidebar.

Now let’s answer the question “Can I use Elementor for free?”. And to be able to answer that question we’re first going to look at what’s in the free version of Elementor and what comes with Elementor Pro.

Free Elementor Features

So let’s see what Elementor Features are free:

Inner sectionBasicUsed
HeadingBasicUsed
ImageBasicUsed
Text EditorBasicUsed
VideoBasicUsed
ButtonBasicUsed
DividerBasicNever used
SpacerBasicNever used
Google MapsBasicUsed
IconBasicUsed
Image BoxGeneralUsed
Icon BoxGeneralUsed
Star RatingGeneralUsed
Image CarouselGeneralNever used
Basic GalleryGeneralUsed
Icon ListGeneralNever used
CounterGeneralNever used
Progress BarGeneralNever used
TestimonialGeneralUsed
TabsGeneralNever used
AccordionGeneralUsed
ToggleGeneralNever used
Social IconsGeneralNever used
AlertGeneralNever used
SoundcloudGeneralNever used
ShortcodeGeneralNever used
HTMLGeneralNever used
Menu AnchorGeneralNever used
SidebarGeneralNever used
Read MoreGeneralNever used
PagesWordPressNever used
CalendarWordPressNever used
ArchivesWordPressNever used
AudioWordPressNever used
ImageWordPressNever used
GalleryWordPressNever used
VideoWordPressNever used
MetaWordPressNever used
SearchWordPressNever used
TextWordPressNever used
CategoriesWordPressNever used
Recent PostsWordPressNever used
Recent CommentsWordPressNever used
RSSWordPressNever used
Tag CloudWordPressNever used
Navigation MenuWordPressNever used
Custom HTMLWordPressNever used

Then there are a number of other site settings features I always use

  • Global Colors
  • Global Fonts
  • Typography

Pro Elementor Features

And these are the pro Elementor elements

PostsProUsed
PortfolioProNever Used
GalleryProUsed
FormProUsed
LoginProNever Used
SlidesProUsed
Nav MenuProUsed
Animated HeadlineProNever Used
Price ListProNever Used
Price TableProNever Used
Flip BoxProNever Used
Call to ActionProNever Used
Media CarouselProNever Used
Testimonial CarouselProNever Used
ReviewsProNever Used
Table of ContentsProNever Used
CountdownProNever Used
Share ButtonsProNever Used
BlockquoteProNever Used
Facebook ButtonProNever Used
Facebook CommentsProNever Used
Facebook EmbedProNever Used
Facebook PageProNever Used
TemplateProNever Used
Nav MenuSiteNever Used
Table of ContentsSiteNever Used
Search FormSiteNever Used
Author BoxSiteNever Used
Post CommentsSiteNever Used
Post NavigationSiteNever Used
Post InfoSiteNever Used
SitemapSiteNever Used
BreadcrumbsSiteNever Used
Menu CartSiteNever Used
Site LogoSiteUsed
Site TitleSiteNever Used
Page TitleSiteNever Used
Post TitleSiteUsed
Post ExcerptSiteNever Used
Featured ImageSiteNever Used
Archive TitleSiteNever Used
Archive PostsSiteNever Used
Archive ProductsWooCommerced.n.a.
Archive DescriptionWooCommerced.n.a.
ProductsWooCommerced.n.a.
WooCommerce BreadcrumbsWooCommerced.n.a.
Custom Add To CartWooCommerced.n.a.
WooCommerce PagesWooCommerced.n.a.
Product CategoriesWooCommerced.n.a.
Menu CartWooCommerced.n.a.
Product TitleWooCommerced.n.a.
Product ImagesWooCommerced.n.a.
Product PriceWooCommerced.n.a.
Add To CartWooCommerced.n.a.
Product RatingWooCommerced.n.a.
Product StockWooCommerced.n.a.
Product MetaWooCommerced.n.a.
Short DescriptionWooCommerced.n.a.
Product Data TabsWooCommerced.n.a.
Additional InformationWooCommerced.n.a.
Product RelatedWooCommerced.n.a.
Upsellsd.n.a.

These are other Elementor Pro features I literally always use:

  • Custom Header
  • Custom Footer
  • Custom Sidebar
  • Custom Archive
  • Custom 404

Third Party Plugins to enhance Elementor

There’s one plugin I often use to add a single extra element to the sidebar. This is the free version of Essential Addons for Elementor.

The only reason I use this plugin is for the table element which is missing for both Elementor and Elementor Pro.

It’s definitely a unwieldy element to create something as as simple as a table, but it does the job.

Concluding remarks on “Can I use Elementor for free?”

The quick answer to this question is obviously “yes”. Elementor offers a free version of their plugin for anyone to use.

I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether or not it’ll get you far in building the website you want for yourself or your client.

As of now you can see that apart from e-commerce sites, which I haven’t built yet, I always use Elementor Pro features. Especially since I want to rely on as little theme functionality as possible and also want to use as little plugins as possible.

Being able to do basically everything I want to do within Elementor and an interface I’m familiar with is a tremendous advantage worth the premium.