How does the Gutenberg editor compare to Elementor?
And do I need Gutenberg if I am already using Elementor?

If you manage a WordPress website, these are typical questions that you will have to deal with sooner or later.

Given our field of expertise (web design), we frequently come across both of these tools. To some extent, we’re competitors to page builder plugins.

If you want to learn the ins and out of Gutenberg vs. Elementor, keep on reading!

Elementor and Gutenberg – does it even make sense to compare the two?

Absolutely!

After all, both tools are made to simplify the process of setting up and designing WordPress websites.

To make sure everything is fair and objective, we’ve structured this article into different categories that provide a side-by-side comparison of Gutenberg and Elementor.

Before the battle starts, however, let’s make one thing clear …

Let’s not fool ourselves: If compared to the classic WordPress editor, Elementor is the clear winner.

And to be honest, comparing the two isn’t fair at all, given the limited options that the classic editor has to offer.

This is why we decided not to include the classic WordPress editor in our comparison – as the title says, it’s all about Gutenberg vs. Elementor.

By the way: If you’d like to see our comparison between Elementor and Divi, we suggest you read this article here.

Gutenberg is a block editor, which means all elements are inserted as individual blocks. You can quickly add new blocks (e.g. text, images, buttons, etc.) or remove existing ones.

Individual blocks can be adjusted later. For example, you can center or align certain text, or you can set an image to span the entire width of the screen.

Elementor works similarly at first glance, but in reality, it is quite different.

It is a “WYSIWYG” editor (short for “What You See Is What You Get”). As the name suggests, you’re able to see the precise final appearance of your page on the display during the entire editing process.

However, the Elementor editor doesn’t work with blocks. Instead, you can add various features (e.g. text, images, buttons, etc.) to your page using drag & drop.

In terms of overall options, Gutenberg cannot yet keep up with Elementor – not even with the standard version of the Elementor page builder.

To get the most out of the WordPress editor, you would have to install additional plugins that let you expand Gutenberg’s functionalities.

This round goes to Elementor – at this point.

CoBlocks from GoDaddy is designed to elevate your Gutenberg experience by giving you more features. You can use CoBlocks to customize your individual Gutenberg blocks in more detail.

Let’s take pricing tables, for example. This kind of table design is commonly used on websites for service providers. We’ve all seen it a hundred times:

With Gutenberg alone, elements like this would take elaborate work – you would have to manually rebuild it. With additional plugins, however, all you have to do is add them to your website.

These are some other popular plugins for the Gutenberg Editor:

It is questionable how long these plugins will stay relevant: Gutenberg is getting better and better, offering more and more features. In the future, this could render CoBlocks & Co. redundant.

But what about Elementor Blocks for Gutenberg?

Of course, Elementor had to react to the changes. They brought out the plugin Elementor Blocks for Gutenberg as a last resort to connect the best of both worlds – but the fact that users just don’t seem to download the plugin speaks for itself.

Put simply: Gutenberg has far better page speed than Elementor.

Here’s why:

In contrast to the WordPress Editor, Elementor is an external plugin. This means more code to clutter the CMS.

And as always, additional code slows down your website.

Gutenberg, on the other hand, is an out-of-the-box WordPress feature. In terms of page speed, it’s the best solution

When it comes to page speed, it’s easy to see why Gutenberg is the clear winner.

Page speed is a major indicator of a website’s success. Poor page speed means loss of traffic and, potentially, sales revenue. If a website doesn’t load within 3 seconds, most users just leave and move on.

It comes as no surprise that Google ranks those websites higher that deliver their content to their users as quickly as possible.

This round goes to Gutenberg.

Let’s be honest: Not every website operator is a professional web designer or would like to pay for one.

In that case, website templates are an ideal solution. In many cases, these templates are created by professionals who know exactly what they’re doing – and what users expect from modern websites.

Elementor has a huge template library, covering a wide range of topics and designs.

If you opt for the paid version of Elementor (Elementor Pro), you get an even bigger range of templates.

Gutenberg is still lagging behind when it comes to templates. This is partly because the WordPress editor is still in its early stages.

The more Gutenberg is used by professional web designers, the more templates will be added.

If you want to use Gutenberg with beautiful templates, you can opt for plugins like the Otter Template Library or the Redux Library.

By offering these templates, they complement Gutenberg – and make it ideal for newbies.

Both Gutenberg and Elementor are available for free. Gutenberg is completely free, including regular updates and new features.

With Elementor, things are a little different.

The Elementor plugin is available for free as well. There is a paid license (Elementor Pro) that can be purchased on the company’s website.

Of course, Elementor Pro offers a lot more options than the free version – after all, you get what you give, right?

The Pro version of Elementor is available from $ 49 per year up to $ 999 per year.

Depending on your needs, this could be affordable or expensive.

With Elementor Pro, you get significantly more widgets and templates compared to the free version. Especially the additional contact form builder is quite popular among users.

Read here why we don’t recommend the form builder.

Due to Elementor’s strong price increase in March 2021, many users will be opting for cheaper alternatives.

Especially since they need to use additional plugins to create and maintain a professional website, many of which are likely coming with a premium price tag.

This is simple. Gutenberg.

With the Gutenberg Editor, you can easily add new blog articles to the backend of your website. Even the classic WordPress editor has made it very easy for us users to publish new content – which is not a big surprise, considering the story of WordPress.

Elementor lets you build beautiful static pages, but adding an article with images, bullet points, tables, etc. takes time.

This might not be an issue for small businesses that don’t engage in content marketing.

For larger companies – especially online shops – organic (unpaid) traffic via Google search plays an important role in acquiring new customers.

These companies need an efficient workflow when it comes to putting out fresh content.

WordPress is an open book (pun intended!) about Gutenberg’s future.

Elementor, on the other hand, keeps things more private. Fair enough, from a business point of view. You wouldn’t want your competition to know all of your next steps.

Of course, users would prefer a bit more information to see how Elementor will react to the constantly changing world of WordPress.

In the future, Gutenberg will be the main focus of WordPress.

Elementor can only observe this as an outsider and adapt its features accordingly. At the moment, that doesn’t seem like too much of a challenge. But we strongly recommend that you keep an eye on the development of both editors.

You now know the biggest differences between WordPress Gutenberg and Elementor. While Gutenberg still has some catching up to do in terms of design and features, Elementor is lagging behind in terms of page speed, blogging, and costs.

Gutenberg just keeps getting better, gaining more and more features that will soon render external page builders like Elementor obsolete. Sure, Elementor is evolving too. But considering the current developments of WordPress and the Gutenberg project, Elementor will most likely be useless at some point.

If you don’t want to design your website from scratch, you can use ready-made templates. Elementor and Gutenberg (with additional plugins) both offer great options that will save you a lot of work.

Both of these options only work with static pages. With GREYD, templates are dynamic, which offers a completely new way of working in WordPress.