Why are so many sites using Elementor?
Let's give credit where credit is due: Elementor democratized WordPress website creation. Before it, designing a beautiful homepage required coding skills or purchasing a rigid theme. With Elementor, you simply drag and drop, and see the result in real time. Millions of websites have been built this way by freelancers, agencies, and business owners who wanted to maintain control over their online presence.
Its ecosystem is vast: thousands of templates, add-ons, and tutorials. For a quick showcase website, it was often the most sensible choice. The problem isn't Elementor itself, but what the sites become over time.
Signs that an Elementor site is nearing the end of its lifespan
- He is slow, especially on mobile, despite good hosting and a cache extension.
- The extensions are piling up : Elementor Pro, plus two or three additional widget packs, each with its own license and updates.
- Every update is a gamble. : a layout that jumps, a widget that disappears, a form that no longer sends.
- Nobody dares to edit a page for fear of breaking everything, and the small touch-ups end up with the service provider.
- You pay a license fee every year for functions of which you only use a fraction.
If you check one or two boxes, there's nothing to worry about: a good cleanup is often enough. Beyond three, the question of a complete overhaul becomes a serious one.
My experience: why I left Elementor on tulipemedia.com
Most of my sites (Libshop, Blooness, auptitg8…) and a good number of my clients' sites still run on Elementor, and they're doing very well. Tulipemedia.com also ran on Elementor Pro for a long time. But in 2026, I decided to switch it to the native WordPress editor (Gutenberg), with a "block" theme (what's called Full Site Editing, or FSE). There were two reasons for this: its complexity and the cost. Between the builder, its settings, its style layers, and its plugins, I was spending more time struggling with the tool than actually developing the site. And I was paying for that complexity every year.
Let's be honest: the switchover wasn't a walk in the park. A page built with Elementor doesn't simply convert to the block editor with a single click. You have to rebuild the layouts, find equivalents for the widgets used, and fix everything that was hidden behind the scenes: in my case, a formatting library to rewrite, and display settings to adjust on the WooCommerce store side. It took a few weeks of work, spread out over time. But today, the site is lighter, I can modify it without hesitation, and I no longer have a builder license to renew.
Elementor hasn't had its last word.
It would be dishonest to stop there, because Elementor is evolving, and definitely in the right direction. Its version 4, known as "atomic," fundamentally changes how it works. Instead of adjusting the style of each element individually, you define classes and variables (colors, fonts, spacing) that can be reused across the entire site: change a color in one place, and it changes everywhere. This is exactly what was needed to maintain a consistent website over time.
According to The Plus Addons, As the developer closely monitors these developments, these features are now considered stable, and new Elementor sites have been launching with version 4 by default since April 2026. Pages built with the older version continue to function without forced migration. Elementor also leverages artificial intelligence, with a built-in assistant capable of generating sections or content.
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In short, if your Elementor site is healthy, version 4 can give it a new lease on life. However, it doesn't solve everything: older pages aren't automatically converted, and some widgets or add-ons take time to implement.
Elementor, Gutenberg, Webflow, or AI: a comparison
| Option | For whom | Benefits | Boundaries |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keep Elementor and clean it up | A healthy site that generates revenue, with few problems. | Inexpensive, nothing to relearn | It does not solve the underlying problems |
| Upgrade to Elementor version 4 | Elementor site is expected to evolve significantly | Consistent styles, a tool that is progressing | Existing pages to be gradually updated, extensions to be checked |
| Migrate to Gutenberg (FSE) | A showcase website or blog that wants to last, without a license | Lightweight, free, sustainable, integrated with WordPress | Page reconstruction, a less "all-in-one" tool« |
| Go to Webflow | A very design-oriented site, without a complex shop | High-quality finish, accommodation and security included | Monthly subscription per site, platform dependency, limited export |
| AI-generated site | Simple page or prototype to launch quickly | Fast, initially inexpensive | Uncertain maintenance and upgrades, SEO to monitor |
And what about Webflow?
Webflow is attracting more and more companies that want a polished website design. It's an excellent tool, on one condition: you have to agree to rent your site rather than own it. You pay a subscription per site, plus space for your editors, and switching to another solution later on isn't easy. For an online store or a site that relies on specific WordPress plugins, I'm more hesitant.
And a website entirely generated by AI?
The question is now being seriously considered: how can you describe your business to an AI and get a website in minutes? For a launch page or a prototype, it's impressive. But for a site that needs to last for several years, evolve, be well-ranked, and remain editable by someone who isn't a developer, I'm more cautious. The generated site is just a starting point: someone will have to maintain it. My intuition is that AI will primarily be a powerful accelerator for a robust tool like WordPress, rather than a replacement.
My method for deciding
- Take inventory How many pages, which widgets, which additional extensions, which license. We often discover things that were forgotten.
- Measuring performance with PageSpeed Insights, especially on mobile. A poor score doesn't always come from Elementor: hosting, images, and third-party scripts also play a role.
- Identify who modifies the site on a daily basis, and what's blocking it. The best tool is the one you'll actually use.
- See what the site reports Visits, contact requests, sales: a commercially successful website is developed with care.
- Compare the cost over three years, not just the price of the overhaul: licenses, subscriptions, time spent troubleshooting.
Frequently Asked Questions
Elementor or Gutenberg: which one to choose for a new website?
For a simple, license-free website or blog, Gutenberg with a "blocks" theme is a great choice these days. Elementor remains more convenient if you want highly detailed layouts without having to touch the code, or if you're already familiar with its interface.
What happens if I don't renew Elementor Pro?
Your site continues to function, and your pages display normally, including any existing Pro elements. However, you lose Elementor Pro updates (and therefore security patches), support, and the Pro template library, and your use of Pro features becomes limited. Over time, the gap between the free version, which continues to evolve, and your static Pro version can lead to incompatibilities. According to The Plus Addons, If you deactivate the Pro extension, the Theme Builder headers and footers, forms or popups will stop displaying, but will return as soon as you reactivate it.
Can an Elementor site be automatically converted to Gutenberg?
Not really. Some tools promise conversion, but the result almost always requires manual intervention. The content (text, images) is easily recovered; the layout, however, needs to be rebuilt.
Should we upgrade to Elementor version 4 right away?
No rush. Your existing pages will continue to function. You can use the new elements on the new pages and gradually return to the old ones after verifying that your add-on extensions are compatible.
Does Elementor necessarily slow down a website?
No. A well-built Elementor site, with few extensions, optimized images, and good hosting, can be fast. It's primarily the accumulation of extensions and very complex layouts that slow it down.
How long does a redesign take?
For a basic website with around ten pages, allow three to four weeks between the audit, reconstruction, testing, and launch. A website with an online store or extensive content will require more time.
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