Creating and optimizing a website used to be a real struggle before Elementor. People hired professional designers and developers to do even the simplest of tasks. With Elementor’s drag and drop designing and page building features, anybody can design and create websites like a pro.
Well, why is the design of your website so important?
Because it is the first thing users come to interact with when they land on your website. WebFX tells us around 94% of people judge your business or blog from its UX design.
So even if you’re not tech-savvy, using designing elements to make a website look visually appealing using WordPress’ design plugin Elementor will help big time.
Let’s dive into the details.
What is Elementor?
Elementor is a page builder on the WordPress portal. It helps users develop and design different websites just as they like. The page builder has various customization options and pre-built web content plugins that include everything from buttons to sliders. It covers everything under the design umbrella.
Why Do Designers Prefer Elementor?
Elementor solves all the designing problems by providing designers a drag-and-drop designing function with a dynamic, graphical builder–anybody using Elementor won’t need extensive coding.
When designing a page layout, you can preview it as website visitors will. This feature makes the process even easier for designers to make adjustments as necessary.
Elementor also lets you design a custom WordPress theme, including your header, footer, and so on, including specific blog sections and pages like a homepage sales page or anything that comes to your mind.
However, the page builder comes with free and paid versions.
Free Version
The free edition of Elementor doesn’t compromise on functionality, so it’s usually enough for an individual designer. It assists them with designing and creating pages from scratch. However, there are primary differences between the free and pro versions of Elementor.
Paid Version
Elementor’s paid version includes all that the free plan offers, so you can use the page builder’s famous ‘drag and drop’ functionality. What’s more, you won’t be tied to using the tool only within your site’s content regions like in the free version.
Elementor Pro’s theme builder feature allows you to use the plugin’s editor to customize practically any part of your website.
An outline of differences between Elemenetor’s Free and Paid Versions:
This is a brief overview of what free and paid versions of Elementor offer users. Elementor is fine for designing, but if you want an extra pinch of professionalism in your website designing and development, Elementor Pro is the way to go.
Restrictions of Free Version of Elementor:
Elementor Pro is more for professionals who prefer staying updated with top-notch features to stand out from their competition and set an example.
According to Elementor, this is all that you will miss out on if you go for a free version:
| Forms | X |
| Slides | X |
| Posts | X |
| Portfolio | X |
| Embed Anywhere | X |
| Global Widget | X |
| Custom CSS | X |
| Pro Templates | X |
| Price Table | X |
| Price List | X |
| Countdown | X |
| WC Products | X |
| WC Elements | X |
| WC Categories | X |
| WC Add to Cart | X |
| Flip Box | X |
| Masonry Layout | X |
| Blog Pagination | X |
| Ken Burns Effect | X |
| Share Buttons | X |
| Form Integrations | X |
| Login Widget | X |
| Animated Headline | X |
| Facebook Widgets | X |
| Blockquote | X |
| Nav Menu | X |
| Media Carousel | X |
| Testimonial Carousel | X |
| Call to Action Widget | X |
| Custom Fonts | X |
| Header & footer builder | X |
| Dynamic single post & archive page design | X |
| ACF & Toolset integration | X |
| Scrolling Effects | X |
| Popup Builder | X |
The free version is more for designers, while the Elementor Pro addresses developers’ needs. But not every developer will relate to this since there are an awesome set of free plugins included in Elementor’s unpaid version.
Top 6 Free Plugins for Elementor (Free Version)
The free plugins that we will talk about now are all FREE, but you can also sign up for the pro version. All of these are ‘Elementor’ specific.
Here’s a list of what we are going to cover in this section:
- Elementor Header & Footer Builder
- HT Meta Tag for Elementor
- Premium Addons for Eelemnetor
- Prime Slider
- Sticky Header Effects for Elementor
- Unlimited Elements for Elementor
The listing criteria are based on the plugin’s responsiveness, ease of use, and variety in a user’s experience.
1. Elementor Header & Footer Builder
Elementor’s header and footer builder offers free templates to play around with interesting header and footer designs. You can also design independent blocks using this plugin and place them anywhere. You can also enjoy this flexibility with the header and footer of your website. With 1million plus installation, it’s a hands-down user’s favorite plugin.
What Free Header & Footer Plugin includes:
- Website widget integration (Search, tagline, menu, logo, and whatnot)
- Attractive design creation
- Specific and random locations to place designs
- Canvas templates
- Flexible to go with any WordPress theme
Many WordPress themes have this plugin activated while others leave the choice on you, so you manually have to go into settings and enable it.
2. HT Mega – Absolute Addons for Elementor Page Builder
HT Meta has 90,000 installations for its features which includes all that you can see on the picture attached above. It’s loaded with design variations, HT Meta elements, and more than a hundred blocks for you to use. With Elementor, the HT meta tag comes free.
What HT Meta Tag Includes:
- Theme or template builder
- Header footer builder
- Menu builder
- Free Woocommerce themes for free
- Sales Alerts for businesses
HT Meta Tags enable numerous features like the plug-in especially to display a sales alert or real/fake transactions. HT Meta Tag also has a premium too but there’s a fairly good amount of functionalities that are free.
3. Premium Addons for Elementor
Premium Addons excel when it comes to providing you with a solid solution to handle your website content with custom specs. Advertisers love this free plugin for its flexibility. This plugin is completely compliant with WPML, and you can easily create multilingual websites using Premium Addons for Elementor.
Premium Add Ons for Elementor cover:
- Display
- Product listing widget
- Floating effects
- Equal height features
- Animation integration
- 60 plus customizable widget
- Responsive browsers
Premium Addons for Elementor are like the cherry on the top for WordPress users. It makes your website look great, but it also makes it pleasant for users to stay on the website due to the amazing functionality.
4. Prime Slider
As the name suggests, Prime Slider is a slider with prime features with endless variations to it. It has been integrated with the latest code standards, logo management, and responsive types. Even a rookie designer can try out these sliders and have a perfect-looking website.
Benefits of Prime Sliders:
- Featured widgets
- Appealing content layouts
- Custom sliders to fit website sections
- Unique sliders that are responsive
Prime slider is a broader class for sliders with a great aesthetic because they are simple. Using any of the Prime Slider widgets draws attention to your main message, and the general slide slider is the ideal slider for your website.
5. Sticky Header Effects for Elementor
Elementors Sticky Header effects are revised from Elementor’s Pro version, which means this plugin has more missing information. They mainly help designers and developers make the website responsive and adjust the design’s size according to the user’s screen. So whether you are using a mobile or tablet or the desktop, with sticky header effects, you won’t get annoyed trying to figure out the website.
Features of Sticky Header Effects:
- Design adjustment
- Logo size adjustments
- Browser compatible
- Makes the header more responsive fro user experiences
Suppose you are using the Sticky Header Effects plugin on your Elementor projects. In that case, you will witness blurred background for header and interface, changed bottom line color, and more of what adds to ‘responsive’ user experience.
6. Unlimited Elements for Elementor
Unlimited Elements for Elementor stands for its name by providing users with 100+ free widgets for your Elementor website. This widget is simple to use, keeping novice designers in mind. It is based on the Widget Maker Platform framework.
Anyone can use these free widgets or have a little extra upgrade to the pro version to get access to 200+ customized Elementor plugins.
Features of Unlimited Elements:
- Templates
- Extensions
- Support
- Live widget library
- Advanced custom fields
And a lot more.
The Elements include a plethora of choices for controlling every possible miss-outs. Even if your design or the page lacks anything, you can quickly add it by using the Unlimited Elements plugin with Elementor.
Takeaway
Elementor has undoubtedly refined the designing and developing processes for most of us. With dozens of easy Elementor Plug-ins and innovative widgets that expand the customization options of your webpage, you can overtop any website functionality challenge.
The good part is everything is FREE, so you may effortlessly build and adjust any page/website included in the relevant extension and make it beyond the ordinary.
Explore Elementor and Elementor Pro as it has more to offer with high-quality results, and share your experience with us in the comments.
