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Beaver Builder vs. Elementor – Which is the Best WordPress Page Builder?

Page builders are incredibly popular tools among WordPress users. In fact, there are many fantastic page builders you can use to put WordPress sites together quickly. For some, it can be hard to decide between all the available options.

A lot of page builders share a similar approach, but they all offer different user experiences. Beaver Builder, for example, is all about ease of use, whereas Elementor provides a wide range of options for maximum customization potential.

In this article, we’re going to compare Beaver Builder versus Elementor, discussing pricing, ease of use, features, and more. That way, you’ll have all the information you need to decide between the two page builders. Let’s get to it!

Beaver Builder vs Elementor: A Quick Introduction

These days, WordPress page builders are everywhere. However, Beaver Builder and Elementor remain two of the best-known options.

Beaver Builder was born in 2014. Back then, a group of web developers realized the potential of WordPress page builders to deliver websites that clients could easily customize on their own:

The Beaver Builder homepage.

Elementor hasn’t been around as long as Beaver Builder, but that doesn’t make it any less of a competitor. This page builder quickly rose through the ranks and became one of the most popular page builders, due to its sleek interface and wide array of elements:

The Elementor homepage.

In the next sections, we’ll dig into what makes both of these plugins unique, and help you decide which one to use. Let’s get to it!

Beaver Builder vs Elementor Compared: 5 Key Aspects

To get a good idea for what each of these page builders offers, we’ll break their offerings down into five areas. Let’s start with what it’s like to use these tools.

1. Ease of Use and User Interface (UI)

Page builders are primarily about enabling people who don’t know how to code to build professional-looking websites. However, they can also be great allies to developers who need to create simple sites quickly. To meet both of those needs, a page builder has to be easy to use. That largely depends on its User Interface (UI).

To illustrate, let’s take a look at Beaver Builder first. Once you activate the plugin, a new Beaver Builder tab will show up within the editor. Inside, you’ll see the page you’re editing, and you can make changes to any element by using the options that appear when you mouse over it:

Editing a Beaver Builder element.

As for adding new elements, you can insert them by hitting the plus sign at the top of the screen, which will show you all the modules the builder offers:

Some of the Beaver Builder's modules.

If you’ve ever used a page builder before, then picking up Beaver Builder should only take you a few minutes. It’s intuitive, and it features a very clean UI that’s easy to navigate.

Like Beaver Builder, once you activate Elementor, a new tab will appear in your editor enabling you to use it. Right off the bat, you’ll notice that the interface is very different from our previous pick, featuring a much more modern design:

A quick look at the Elementor editor.

From a functional standpoint, adding and editing new elements works much the same. When you mouse over existing elements, you get the option to edit them. However, Elementor also includes right-click options:

Editing Elementor modules.

Overall, the Elementor UI is modern, easy to navigate, and includes a lot of options to play with. If we had to put both page builders toe-to-toe, we’d say that Beaver Builder is easier to pick up, because it doesn’t pack as many features at first glance. From a UI standpoint, however, Elementor rises to the top.

2. Elements and Modules

These days, most page builders use a very similar approach to enabling you to ‘design’ websites. You first create a page structure based on rows and columns. Then you fill those columns using a selection of pre-built elements or modules, which you can customize.

Beaver Builder and Elementor also adhere to this approach. That means whichever page builder offers you a better selection of elements has a clear advantage. After all, the more elements and modules you have access to, the more types of websites you can build.

Beaver Builder includes five elements out of the box. That doesn’t sound like much, but those cover all the basics you need for a simple website, including audio, images, text, video, and HTML:

The default Beaver Builder modules.

On top of that, you can also add traditional WordPress widgets using Beaver Builder. Combine those with the above, and you have quite a decent selection:

Adding WordPress widgets using the Beaver Builder.

Now let’s talk about Elementor. Out of the box, this page builder includes a whopping 30 modules. That’s a lot, but that’s because they include highly-targeted options such as star ratings, image galleries, icon boxes, and more:

Some of the modules Elementor offers.

Just like with Beaver Builder, you also get access to all the default WordPress widgets. In this case, it’s clear that Elementor has the advantage thanks to all the module options it includes.

3. Template Options

There are two types of templates you can use when it comes to page builders. The first one involves saving pages you’ve designed to use as templates for other projects.

A lot of page builders also enable you to import professional templates, which means you can use other people’s designs to help you kickstart your website. Some templates are free and others are premium. For this section, we’re going to analyze both Beaver Builder and Elementor’s selection of built-in templates and options you can import.

Right off the bat, you’ll notice that Beaver Builder includes a Templates tab next to Modules and Rows. However, templates are only available for premium users. That means you can’t save or import templates unless you get a license:

Using templates in Beaver Builder.

To add a template in Elementor, go to any of your columns and hit the Add Template button. A window will pop-up displaying all the free templates available in the Elementor Library:

Part of the Elementor template library.

The selection here is quite broad, but keep in mind some of these templates require a purchase. In any case, Elementor’s free template collection is great, and there are a lot of websites that feature their own templates either for sale or for free.

On top of that, the free version of Elementor also enables you to create and use your own templates. Overall, this round of Beaver Builder versus Elementor goes to the latter plugin as well.

4. Theme Support

Since we’re talking about WordPress page builders, you still need to use a theme, even if you’re designing pages from scratch. The problem is that not all themes play nicely with page builders. So you have to make sure yours does, or choose a new one.

According to the Beaver Builder knowledgebase, the page builder fully supports around ten themes, including Genesis, GeneratePress, and Storefront. We use the term ‘fully’, because those are only the themes Beaver Builder guarantees will work correctly with the plugin. However, in our experience, this page builder can work well with a lot of other themes, as long as they allow their header, footer, and page layouts to be removed using hooks.

Elementor, on the other hand, boasts that it works great with most themes that follow WordPress coding standards. That’s a bold claim to make, considering the sheer number of themes there are. Elementor also provides you with a list of themes it works flawlessly with. There are around ten of those (not including premium options).

In our experience, both Beaver Builder and Elementor are  neck-in-neck when it comes to theme support. In any case, you can test both plugins with your theme before committing to one. However, before you buy a premium theme to use with either tool, we’d recommend that you Google around for potential compatibility issues.

5. Pricing

So far, we’ve been focusing only on the free versions of Beaver Builder and Elementor. However, both plugins also offer premium options that pack more features.

Beaver Builder and Elementor both offer three premium tiers. With each tier, you get a one-year license, access to support, and updates. The basic Beaver Builder Personal plan, which starts at $99 per year, supports unlimited websites and gives you access to more modules and the template system.

Elementor’s basic plan, on the other hand, starts at $49 per year and includes a lot more widgets and template options. The problem is that it only supports one site. Beaver Builder offers slightly more value here if you’re working on several projects.

That trend holds for the rest of the plans. Beaver Builder continues to support unlimited sites with its $199 and $399 tiers. Those also include multisite support and white labeling features, making this plugin perfect for agencies.

The other Elementor plans are only different in that they add support for more websites. The plugin’s $99 tier supports up to three projects, and when you go up to $199 per year, you get unlimited sites. Overall, the most expensive tier is ideal for agencies, but it lacks white labeling functionality to re-brand your site.

Which pricing plan works for you will depend on your situation. Agencies will save on multiple sites and have access to important branding features with Beaver Builder. On the other hand, individuals can do just fine with Elementor’s features and lower starting price.

Beaver Builder vs Elementor: Which One Is Best for Your Site?

We’ve covered a lot of information in this article, so let’s summarize it quickly:

  1. Beaver Builder: This page builder is ideal for beginners who need to create simple sites. Its module selection isn’t that broad, but the options you do get are enough even for professional websites.
  2. Elementor: With Elementor, you get access to a wide range of modules and templates. That means you can use it to build almost any type of website you can imagine. Plus, it features a gorgeous UI.

Both page builders have their niche, so neither of them is a perfect fit for every project. Plus, there’s no accounting for style, so you may prefer one over the other due to personal taste.

Conclusion

Without a background in web development, building anything more complicated than a simple static site can be tough. However, page builders put creating gorgeous-looking websites within anyone’s reach.

There are many page builders on the market, but in this article, we’ve looked at two of our favorites. Beaver Builder is a fantastic tool if you’re looking for an easy-to-use solution. Elementor can be a bit harder to pick up, but its broad range of modules and versatility make up for the learning curve.

Author

Will Morris

Will Morris

Will Morris is a staff writer at WordCandy. When he's not writing about WordPress, he likes to gig his stand-up comedy routine on the local circuit.

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