Elementor vs Beaver Builder: Choosing the Best Page Builder for WordPress
When you approach website creation on WordPress, a page builder is an indispensable tool that streamlines design and functionality. Elementor and Beaver Builder are two prominent page builders that enable you to craft responsive websites without delving into code.
Elementor: It’s a robust page builder favored for its intuitive interface. With a substantial user base, you find access to a plethora of widgets that facilitate the addition of complex features to your site. Elementor’s strength lies in its flexibility and ease of use, availing a free version equipped with basic widgets suitable for beginners.
Beaver Builder: This page builder stands out for its stability and clean code output. It offers a full-width preview of your design, keeping controls out of the way until needed. Beaver Builder is a solid choice if you manage multiple sites, offering better pricing for unlimited site packages.
Features at a Glance
- User Interface: Both builders use a drag-and-drop editor, but with different layouts. You get a full-page live preview in Beaver Builder, while Elementor provides a sidebar with elements and settings.
- Pricing: Elementor offers a more economical option for single site use, whereas Beaver Builder becomes cost-effective for multiple site management.
Here’s a brief comparison to help you understand their offerings:
| Feature | Elementor | Beaver Builder |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | Sidebar for elements | Top bar control, popups for edits |
| Pricing | Cheaper for single site | Cheaper for multiple sites |
| User Base | Over 5 million installations | |
| Themes | Cheaper for up to 25 sites with theme builder | More cost-effective beyond 25 sites |
| Widgets/Modules | Widgets for adding functionality | Modules for functionality |
Page builders elevate your web design process, offering flexibility and control that can cater to your specific needs, whether you are a beginner or an advanced developer.
Comparing Features
When you evaluate Elementor and Beaver Builder, you’re looking at two of the most user-friendly page builders available for WordPress. Your choice will depend on specific features like interface design, module options, theme customization, and how each tool implements responsive design for SEO.
Interface and Ease of Use
Both Beaver Builder and Elementor provide a sleek, intuitive interface that enhances your user experience when designing WordPress pages. Beaver Builder utilizes a top bar and pop-up editing for a cleaner full-width view, while Elementor offers a sidebar for options which is always in view. You’ll find that both allow for easy navigation and offer various styling options.
Design Capabilities
Beaver Builder and Elementor offer a range of design options, including numerous widgets and modules to enhance your layout. Beaver Builder offers a movable sidebar, which some users might find more flexible. Both come with extensive sets of templates and allow you to adjust typography, colors, and other style elements within your layout, albeit your experience might differ as Elementor presents a more comprehensive palette of styling options out-of-the-box.
Widgets and Modules
In terms of widgets and modules, Elementor provides a larger assortment by default, including basic and advanced elements like sliders, testimonials, and counters. Beaver Builder has a solid selection too, but if you require a wider variety, you might need an additional add-on package. It’s important to note that both builders support third-party widgets and shortcodes, adding to their versatility.
Theme Building and Customization
For theme building, Elementor Theme Builder and Beaver Themer let you create themes from the ground up. Elementor offers its theme builder with the Pro version, while Beaver Builder requires an additional purchase of Beaver Themer for this functionality. Both tools allow for deep customization options such as custom CSS and layout overhauls for headers, footers, and content areas.
Responsiveness and SEO Optimization
Responsive design is key for SEO, and both Elementor and Beaver Builder take this seriously. They provide responsive mode previews and adjustments, so you can ensure your WordPress site looks great on all devices. The performance of your site is also optimized as both builders create clean, efficient code that contributes to better SEO performance.
Remember to evaluate the specific needs of your website and consider how these features align with your goals for design and functionality.
Pricing and Plans
When considering Elementor and Beaver Builder, your budget and website needs are crucial factors. The pricing structures for the free and premium versions differ in important ways that can affect value for your projects.
Free vs Premium Versions
Elementor:
- Free Version: Offers a substantial widget library and flexibility to design a website.
- Elementor Pro Plans:
- Personal: 1 site – $49/year
- Plus: 3 sites – $99/year
- Expert: 25 sites – $199/year
Beaver Builder:
- Free Version: Provides basic features for website building.
- Premium Plans:
- Standard: Unlimited sites – $99/year
- Pro: Unlimited sites plus multisite support – $199/year
- Agency: Unlimited sites with additional features for agencies – $399/year
Additional Costs and Value
Additional features and functionality for both Elementor and Beaver Builder are often available through add-ons, impacting the total cost:
Elementor:
- The premium version itself comes with over 50 advanced widgets and features like theme builder and popup builder.
- No additional cost for theme building in Pro plan.
Beaver Builder:
- Theme builder (Beaver Themer) is an additional $147.
- Additional add-ons package available for $69.
When you choose the premium version of Elementor or Beaver Builder, you’re investing in advanced capabilities that can enhance your site design and management experience. Factor in the cost of potential add-ons to get the full picture of what you’ll be spending and the value you’ll receive.
Extending Functionality
When choosing a WordPress page builder, you should consider how each platform allows for expanding its core capabilities. The range of add-ons and the availability of developer tools define how much you can extend the functionality of your website.
Add-Ons and Plugins
Elementor offers an impressive array of add-ons and plugins that enhance its functionality. These extensions introduce new widgets and modules, giving you a plethora of design options. For instance, with Elementor, your ability to personalize your site is vast due to the comprehensive library of plugins available, ranging from form integrators to advanced sliders.
- Popular Elementor Add-Ons:
- Ultimate Addons for Elementor: Includes unique widgets and features.
- Essential Addons for Elementor: Adds a collection of creative elements.
Beaver Builder isn’t far behind with its extendability; it’s supported by several third-party add-ons which offer additional modules and templates.
- Key Beaver Builder Extensions:
- Beaver Themer Add-On: Offers deeper integration with themes and custom post types.
- PowerPack for Beaver Builder: Boosts your designing capabilities with over 55 custom modules.
Developer Tools and Custom Posts
Elementor and Beaver Builder both empower developers to create a tailored experience with custom CSS and HTML integration. If you’re inclined to write clean code, these page builders provide a developer-friendly environment.
- Elementor Developer Tools: Support for CSS and HTML, plus extensive documentation for developers.
- Beaver Builder Developer Features: A robust set of tools for applying custom CSS, and it works seamlessly with custom post types, often used for complex websites.
Both builders aim to simplify your workflow, allowing the use of their respective tools in conjuncture with WordPress’s native functionality to achieve a high degree of customization.
Remember to explore the range of plugins and add-ons, as they can significantly elevate the capabilities of your website, and choose a builder that resonates with your technical proficiency and desired level of control.
User and Community Support
When you’re tackling webpage building on your WordPress site, both Elementor and Beaver Builder offer avenues for user and community support to guide you through any hurdles you may encounter.
Elementor Support:
- Official Support: With an active license, you receive access to Elementor’s premium support, helping with plugin issues like bugs or technical queries.
- Community Forums: A vast community of Elementor users contributes to forums and Facebook groups, providing peer advice and shared experiences.
- Learning Resources: Elementor has extensive tutorials and resources that allow you to learn at your own pace.
Beaver Builder Support:
- Official Support: Beaver Builder also provides support to license holders, primarily for troubleshooting plugin-related concerns.
- Community Engagement: There are Beaver Builder user groups, particularly on Facebook, where insights and tips are exchanged among users.
- Documentation and Blogs: A variety of learning resources are available online, including step-by-step guides and blogs.
For both tools, the community aspect is invaluable as users often find solutions through shared knowledge and experience. Here’s a quick comparison:
| Feature | Elementor | Beaver Builder |
|---|---|---|
| Official Support | License holders only | License holders only |
| Community Forums | Extensive, active | Available, supportive |
| Learning Resources | Tutorials, videos, blogs | Guides, blogs, official docs |
| Renewal Discount | Not offered | 40% discount on renewals |
Remember, your experience with user and community support may vary, but both Elementor and Beaver Builder are known for their robust user communities and dedication to helping you successfully build and manage your WordPress site.
Comparative Performance and Speed
When choosing between Elementor and Beaver Builder, it’s vital that you consider their performance and speed, as these factors directly influence your website’s user experience and SEO rankings.
Elementor has been lauded for its speed optimizations and relatively fast loading times. It employs various techniques to minimize bloat and execute code efficiently. Its developers constantly update the plugin to ensure snappy performance, even when you use a multitude of widgets.
In contrast, Beaver Builder prides itself on being lightweight out of the box. The emphasis on clean coding practices lends itself to quick page loads. Your pages will typically weigh less, translating to speedier loading times—a critical consideration if you aim for high Google PageSpeed scores.
Here are key points related to performance and speed:
Elementor:
- Employs code optimization strategies.
- Offers speedy performance even with complex features.
- Regular updates for performance enhancements.
Beaver Builder:
- Known for its streamlined and efficient codebase.
- The focus on simplicity equates to faster performance.
- Can offer faster speeds with basic designs.
Overall, your choice will depend on the complexity of your project and your need for speed. If you demand rich features and can manage heavier pages, Elementor might be more suitable. For leaner pages with a focus on rapid loading, Beaver Builder could be preferable. Remember, your website’s theme and hosting environment also play pivotal roles in the real-world performance of these page builders.
Building Popups and Marketing Pages
Understanding the capabilities of creating popups and marketing pages will significantly enhance your marketing efforts on your website. Each tool provides unique features that cater to different user preferences and requirements.
Popup Builder Features
Elementor offers a robust Popup Builder that integrates with its page builder. This blend allows for the creation of popups that encompass a wide range of motion effects and advanced targeting options. You have access to a considerable template library to quickly deploy popups, which can be fully customized to fit your brand and design needs. Options include triggers, timing, and exit-intent functionality.
- Templates: Extensive collection with customization.
- Motion Effects: Add animations to make popups stand out.
- Triggers: Customize when popups appear to users.
Beaver Builder does not include a native popup builder but can integrate with third-party plugins to deliver this functionality. The emphasis is on simplicity and ease of use, focusing more on stability and performance rather than depth of features.
- Third-Party Integration: Pair with other plugins for popup creation.
- Performance: Prioritize loading times and responsiveness.
Landing and Content Pages
Elementor excels with its range of features for building landing pages. You can create full-width pages that leverage the entire screen real estate, with a variety of widgets to enhance your landing page design. The drag-and-drop interface ensures that you can construct both standard content pages and unique landing pages without much hassle.
- Design Freedom: Drag-and-drop content with full-width designs.
- Widgets: Numerous options to enhance your page.
In Beaver Builder, you have the option of constructing landing and content pages with a straightforward interface. While it may offer fewer built-in creative elements than Elementor, its clean design features still enable you to build professional-looking, effective landing pages and content pages.
- Simplicity: Focus on ease and clarity of design.
- Effectiveness: Pages designed to convert without overcomplication.
Both Elementor and Beaver Builder provide the tools you need for website design, but your choice may vary depending on whether you prioritize creative control and features or stability and performance.
Flexibility and Control
When you’re choosing between Elementor and Beaver Builder as your WordPress page builder, your ability to customize and retain control over the layout and design is pivotal.
Elementor provides an extensive array of customization options. You’ll find more design capabilities over Beaver Builder, such as:
- Advanced styling features
- Variety of widgets
- Greater selection of templates
The control extends across various aspects of web design including responsive design, allowing you to fine-tune the appearance of your site on different devices. Elementor’s variety means you can adjust nearly every element to suit your vision, from button styles to motion effects.
In contrast, Beaver Builder opts for a more streamlined approach. It offers a sufficient number of modules and pre-made templates to tackle most design tasks effectively:
- Simple interface
- Less learning curve
- Adequate customization capabilities
Beaver Builder’s layout functionality is robust and user-friendly, perfect if you’re looking for ease over complexity.
For a white label solution that allows agencies to brand the builder as their own, Beaver Builder has a distinct advantage. Your clients will see your brand, not the page builder’s, which is not as readily available with Elementor.
In summary, your choice hinges on your specific needs:
| Feature | Elementor | Beaver Builder |
|---|---|---|
| Customization | Extensive | Adequate |
| Layout | Highly flexible | User-friendly |
| Design Options | Advanced & varied | Streamlined & modern |
| White Label | Limited availability | Fully supported |
Your decision should align with the level of control and flexibility you require. Do you prioritize a vast range of design possibilities, or is a straightforward and efficient building experience more critical for your work?
E-Commerce Integration
For your online shop, choosing between Elementor and Beaver Builder requires an understanding of their e-commerce integration capabilities, especially with WooCommerce, the popular e-commerce platform for WordPress.
Elementor offers deep integration with WooCommerce. With its WooCommerce Builder, you can directly customize your product and archive pages. It allows you to visually manage your store by dragging and dropping elements.
- Product Pages: Customize designs with unique widgets.
- Shop Archives: Tailor the product grid and category layouts.
Beaver Builder supports WooCommerce but doesn’t offer the same level of integration out-of-the-box. With Beaver Builder, product page customization requires separate Beaver Themer add-on.
- Themes: Use WooCommerce shortcodes within Beaver Builder for standard customization.
- Customization: For in-depth customization, upgrade to Beaver Themer.
In summary:
| Feature | Elementor | Beaver Builder |
|---|---|---|
| WooCommerce Builder | Included | Requires Beaver Themer |
| Product Page Customization | Advanced widgets available | Shortcodes and Themer |
| Shop Archive Customization | Direct editing with Elementor | Depends on theme & Themer |
| Ease of Integration | High | Moderate |
When managing your e-commerce site, the choice comes down to the level of customization you need. Elementor empowers you with extensive visual tools for your WooCommerce shop right away, while Beaver Builder offers a more simplified approach, with advanced features gated behind additional plugins.
Advanced Design Features
When you’re working with Elementor, your advanced design options are extensive. You can enjoy a vast range of motion effects to enhance the visual appeal of your web pages. These include animations that can trigger on scroll, hover, or as part of the page’s loading sequence. Elementor also offers custom positioning, empowering you to place widgets with precision. Elements can be layered, aligned, and positioned exactly where you want them with a simple drag-and-drop interface and fine-tuning control options.
Beaver Builder, while more streamlined in its approach, also provides a solid foundation of design features. However, its focus on developer-friendliness may mean you find its advanced design capabilities a bit less extensive compared to Elementor.
| Feature | Elementor | Beaver Builder |
|---|---|---|
| Motion Effects | Extensive (including parallax) | Limited |
| Custom Positioning | Advanced with drag & drop | Basic drag & drop |
| Layering Elements | Straightforward layer management | N/A |
You can take advantage of Elementor’s styling options which allow for a range of custom positions, padding, margins, and global settings for colors and typographies. It’s designed to give you freedom and flexibility across various design elements to ensure your site stands out. Beaver Builder also offers styling options but with a focus on usability and less complexity, which might be more suitable for your workflow if you prioritize ease of use over a broad spectrum of design choices.
Media and Content Management
When you’re building a website, media and content management is pivotal to your user experience. Both Elementor and Beaver Builder offer a range of features to help you manage various types of media—whether it’s images, videos, or textual content.
With Elementor:
- You have access to a powerful text editor that allows you to easily format your content as needed.
- Managing images and videos is intuitive; you can swiftly insert, edit and size your media.
- Elementor includes a variety of widgets and modules that give you flexibility in setting up media-rich pages.
Beaver Builder also simplifies the process of media management:
- Just like Elementor, it provides capabilities for image and video integration but with a slightly simpler user interface.
- Its text editor is efficient for basic textual content management but might lack some of the more advanced styling options of Elementor.
Both builders allow you to handle your media and information seamlessly, each with a slightly different approach and set of tools. For instance, Elementor’s media widgets like the Image Carousel or Video Box might offer a bit more sophistication, while Beaver Builder’s no-frills approach can be perfect for straightforward content management tasks.
Your Choice depends on the complexity and style of media management you prefer. If you lean towards a rich set of features with a focus on flexibility, Elementor could be your go-to. For those valuing simplicity and ease of use, Beaver Builder will not disappoint.
History and Undo Features
In the context of WordPress page builders, your ability to revert changes can significantly impact your workflow efficiency. Elementor and Beaver Builder handle history and undo functionality distinctly.
With Elementor, you have access to a robust History feature. This utility allows you to view a list of actions you’ve taken during the design process. Moreover, you’re equipped with an Undo function, which can be incredibly handy if you make mistakes or change your mind about a design choice.
| Feature | Elementor | Beaver Builder |
|---|---|---|
| History Panel | Available | Not Available |
| Undo Capability | Yes | Limited |
| Revisions | Based on actions | Not Specified |
Beaver Builder, while lacking a dedicated history panel, provides a basic undo/redo functionality. However, this is not as extensive as Elementor’s offering; it doesn’t support a detailed log of your design actions.
In practice, when using Elementor, if you mistakenly delete a section or incorrectly alter a module, you can effortlessly navigate to the history panel and click on the specific action you wish to reverse. Beaver Builder requires you to use the standard keyboard shortcuts for undoing actions, which may not be as intuitive if you’re looking to revert multiple steps quickly.
Remember, in both builders, always save your work periodically to avoid loss of data. Regularly saving ensures that your revisions are up to date, and you can maintain a clear record of your design evolution.
Frequently Asked Questions
Before diving into the details, it’s essential to understand that both Elementor and Beaver Builder are popular page builders that offer different features, levels of customization, and pricing plans. Their ease of use and performance can vary depending on your specific needs and website goals.
What are the key differences in features between Elementor and Beaver Builder?
Elementor provides a full-featured free version with a wide array of designer tools and the option for a Pro add-on, enhancing the builder with additional developer features. In contrast, Beaver Builder favors simplicity with an easy-to-use drag-and-drop interface and includes full-width preview capabilities for designing your pages.
Can you compare the ease of use for Elementor and Beaver Builder for beginners?
For beginners, Beaver Builder is known for its user-friendly interface with minimal learning curve, featuring a top bar and pop-up editing for convenient module and row adjustments. Elementor’s depth of features is balanced with an intuitive design that helps novices create professional-looking pages with ease.
How do the pricing plans for Elementor and Beaver Builder differ?
Elementor offers a versatile free plan alongside its premium version, which adds advanced features for developers and designers. Beaver Builder’s pricing scales from a free lite version to various premium packages, catering to different user needs and budgets.
What are the customization capabilities of Elementor compared to Beaver Builder?
Elementor boasts a comprehensive range of styling options, from typography and backgrounds to motion effects and advanced CSS editing. Beaver Builder also allows for significant customization, with responsive editing and a moveable sidebar that can augment the design experience.
How does the performance of websites built with Elementor compare to those built with Beaver Builder?
Performance-wise, Elementor and Beaver Builder are relatively close; however, reports suggest that Elementor might have an edge with better Core Web Vitals scores. Specifically, Elementor has shown a faster Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) time compared to Beaver Builder.
What support and community resources are available for Elementor and Beaver Builder users?
Both Elementor and Beaver Builder offer robust support networks, including documentation, tutorials, and community forums. Premium versions of both tools provide access to dedicated support, and there’s an active user base for each that contributes to a wealth of communal knowledge and resources.
