What is Wrong with Elementor?

This blog post reflects my experiences, and everything I write here is based on facts and proven realities about Elementor.

I have built/coded many websites using Elementor. I say ‘coded’ because I write a lot of PHP, CSS, and JS when creating websites. Instead of installing 10+ or 20+ plugins per site, I code my own elements or components to keep my sites lightweight and running better in the long term. Check my public child theme.

I’ve made over 100 websites using both Elementor and Bricks Builder.

I knew Bricks Builder since 2022 but I had to wait for some major features until start of the 2024 and after that never looked back.

Elementor has multiple problems. Honestly, I don’t know where to start, so let’s make a short list:

1. Plugin Problem

Elementor will always be inferior to almost any theme or theme-based builder because of its over-abstraction and layers. Being a plugin, Elementor suffers inherently more requests have to be made in PHP to do anything. Everything has to be hooked, filtered, and creates extra requests by nature. Themes or theme based builders don’t have this problem, but Elementor does.

2. Two Plugin Problem

Elementor Free and Elementor Pro add complexity. Instead of one plugin, you’re forced to deal with two, which increases the chances of unforeseen breakdowns during updates. Despite years of development, the Elementor team continues to create new bugs, and the platform remains unstable due to this flawed two-plugin structure. Complex codebases are harder to test, often leading to more errors or bugs. This is a proven fact.

3. Old Codebase

Elementor’s codebase is old, and despite having a strong budget, they refuse to rewrite it for better performance. When they do rewrite new features they just copy paste slap features from other modern builders. Being a plugin already hurts its performance, but the outdated CSS; JS and HTML generation codebases need a major overhaul. In 2023 and 2024, they started making small improvements, but it’s too little, too late and not enough. Without a big rewrite and a better lead and vision, Elementor will always be crippled by its outdated foundation, vision and thinking.

4. Poor Semantic Choices and Ecosystem Traps

Elementor’s UX has improved significantly over the last 3-4 years, but they still ignore web developer-friendly semantics and naming conventions. They do this intentionally, prioritizing ease of understanding for casual users. However, this traps users in Elementor’s ecosystem. Once you get used to Elementor, it’s hard to leave, forcing you to keep paying for your subscription. While this is good for Elementor, it’s bad for users, agencies, and the broader ecosystem.

5. Insufficient Testing

Almost every major release or even after a couple of minor releases Elementor introduces bugs because they don’t test thoroughly. Poor development practices lead to frequent bugs. Sometimes they release breaking bugs without warning users. Other times, new features are shipped with bugs, causing frustration. If you skip 5-6 versions and update directly to the latest version, you’ll often find a ton of broken components and styles. This is very common with Elementor and extremely annoying. The fact is, they just don’t test enough.

These are my top 5 reasons for leaving Elementor. Like I said at the beginning, I have tons more to write but dont have time for it. Time is limited and elementor doesnt worth my time to write a very long blog anymore. Why tell anything if they are deaf to me…

Because of these reasons I switched to Bricks Builder almost 2 years ago.

And oh boy, am I happy! 😍

Bricks Builder is faster, smart, optimized, and web developer-friendly. It uses industry-standard semantics for elements and options, so once you learn something, you can apply that knowledge to any other web developer-friendly builder.

Trust me, this is important. We are in the age of visual coding and AI. We will write less code because AI will write for us but we will use visual tools and build logics. You can build almost anything with visual builders and coding tools, and learning proper web development semantics and jargon will be the most valuable knowledge long term.

I mean, just this reason alone shoud lbe enoguh to leave Elementor, but people don’t know what they don’t know.

Cant blame anyone but I can try warning some lucky people 😉. Maybe someone starting can read this blog post and save its time and money.

Does Elementor Have a Future?

It’s already the most used and downloaded builder, which gives them some time to bounce back. They will exist and stay on top long time as well.

But do I have hope?

Nope.

I neither have hope for Elementor nor time to waste on it. I even tried giving them TONS of feedback, but they either don’t listen, listen to the wrong people, or only focus on what suits their own goals.

Without good vision and a proper understanding of web developers and agency needs, I don’t see Elementor becoming the best builder anytime soon and BEST never is most used. 😉

If you would like to add or ask anything please dont hesitate to comment.