No matter what kind of project you’re working on, choosing the right technology stack is one of the most important things to consider, even before you start developing anything. In this article, I’ll showcase two page builders: Beaver Builder vs Elementor to help you decide on the best one for your next project.
Each project of yours has different needs, so it’s really not enough to choose once and for all. Examining your demands and deciding on a page builder is an excellent start to any new challenge. Even if you end up using the same tool 99% of the time, you’ll find that single special one that’d be better off with a different one.
There are a lot of page builders for WordPress. Choosing one is not as easy as it looks, and it’s a big decision. Sure, you can always switch it halfway or even after launch – but it’s risky. This way, you’ll probably spend at least twice as much time trying new solutions and recreating your initial work.
That’s why I’m here with a comparison that will help you decide which page builder would be the right decision for you right now. As I said, there are a lot of page builders out there. It’s impossible to compare them all, so this time I’ll focus on Elementor and Beaver Builder, as these two seem to be the wisest decision to me.
Beaver Builder vs Elementor: Popularity
Elementor advertises itself as a “#1 Page Builder for WordPress”. I wanted to see if this information is even close to being true, so I checked the number of active installations on WordPress.org. I have to say that these numbers shocked me a bit.
While the Beaver Builder has 300 000+ installations, more than 5 000 000 websites are running on Elementor. This is not a typo – the Elementor is unbeatable!
The Interface
Personally, the interface is an essential part to me, as I see it every time I open the website I’m currently working on. I like it to be easy to use and intuitive.
When comparing Beaver Builder vs Elementor, they both have a nice interface with drag-and-drop features and ready-to-use modules that you can also customize. But here, Elementor just got me again. It has more useful modules.
In the end, both of them have the HTML module, so even if Elementor has more modules, you can still achieve a similar result with Beaver Builder. Bear in mind that you’ll have to code them yourself though. On the other hand – this tool allows you to save an entire row or even a full page layout. Doesn’t it sound great?
I don’t want to favor anybody, but Elementor’s interface seems to be more compact. The “Edit with Elementor” button is a one-stop place to change everything that can be changed. Beaver Builder doesn’t have this ability. When I first built a website using Beaver, it took me some time to find out where I could make the changes required by the project. It’s not that big of a deal, though – you won’t even notice when you’ll start moving around the plugin automatically.
Maybe it’s just my feelings, but I think Beaver Builder’s interface is faster. It’s also easier to apply shadows and gradients.
On the other hand, Elementor has better customization options. Especially in the premium version, it’s simple to create fully customized headers and footers.
Definitely, one of my favorite features available in both page builders is saving modules. When I create a repeatable component, I can save it and use it on another page. It saves loads of time!
The Performance
No one likes to wait long until the website renders. That’s why the performance aspect is so crucial to my end-users and to me.
I decided to perform a little experiment. I created two identical simple websites with Elementor and Beaver Builder, respectively. I didn’t use any website optimizer or cache – just a neat page builder. Then, I ran both through the Pingdom test. The numbers were pretty similar to each other:
With an identical performance grade and just one KB difference in size, the only contrast here is the load time. Amazon has noted a 1% sales drop with every 100 milliseconds delay of load time as early as 2009, while a 2017 study proves that an equal delay can now hurt conversion rates even by 7%. Year by year, UX becomes more critical to the end-users. When choosing a page builder, you should take load time into account as well.
Beaver Builder vs Elementor: Code Quality
Some of you may think this is boring. You might even ask yourself: “why should I be worried about the code generated by the page builder?”. Personally, I want the generated code to be as perfect as possible.
Elementor’s code looks human-written. It’s pretty and easy to customize. In contrast to Beaver Builder, Elementor doesn’t style the elements by ID.
Speaking of Beaver Builder: I don’t like to say it, but I think its code is just ugly. It seems heavier and contains many random-generated IDs and many divs that could be wrapped and minimized.
The Cost of Beaver Builder vs Elementor
Elementor and Beaver Builder are available for free, with limited, basic modules that should be enough to create a nice website.
When it comes to premium versions, the pricing model is different in both cases. With Beaver, you pay once and can create unlimited sites, but with Elementor, the cost depends on how many websites you want to build.
But the major difference is that while Beaver Builder includes one-time payments, Elementor works with a subscription-based model, charging you once a year.
Premium Plans
Elementor pricing tiers start with $49 a year per one site, $99 per three, and go up to $199 per a thousand. Within this price range, you’re getting yearly support and updates. Also, you’d be happy to use 50+ premium widgets and 300+ well-designed premium templates. The premium version supports Theme Builder, Form Builder, Popup Builder, and what’s important to me – WooCommerce Builder.
Beaver Builder also provides world-class support for one year within their Standard price offer ($99). After purchasing the pro version ($199), we also unlock its premium modules and templates. I couldn’t find the information about the number of premium modules so I can’t compare it to the Elementor. Beaver Builder features an Agency price model that includes a white labeling option for $399.
I found that other plugins can extend beaver Builder functionality, but it requires an extra fee in most cases. Elementor also can be extended, but I think it has everything you’ll ever need already installed.
Beaver Builder vs Elementor: Which One To Choose?
I’d say both Beaver Builder and Elementor are worth their prices. Each of them has a ton of advantages and can make your website great. Just to summarize:
- Beaver Builder has excellent results in the performance tests. Also, it has a nice, user-friendly interface and can be used on an unlimited number of sites.
- Elementor generates a good-quality code. Also, it supports inline CSS that can be easily added to each module. It has more components than Beaver Builder and a super-easy interface.
In this place, I should say which Page Builder is winning this comparison, but I decided not to do that. I hope I’ve introduced to you so many details so you can decide which page builder you should use for your next project.
