Whenever we talk about website building, one of the easily available tools that we can use is WordPress. WordPress is an open-source platform for creating websites. It is known for its features and flexibility, making it perfect for both beginners and old-school users.
A WordPress website is any website that utilizes the WordPress ecosystems for managing its content. As such, WordPress becomes the backbone of the website by powering both the backend and the front-end of the said website.
WordPress websites can come in many forms. Some of the more common examples of a WordPress website include:
- Blogs
These websites are based on the author’s interests and likes. These websites can feature thoughts, photos and reviews as well as tutorials, recipes, and even videos. Oftentimes, a blog is structured in a way that the most recently-published content is shown first.
- E-Commerce website
These websites are primarily focused on online business. These are usually geared to showcase products and services that the website owner intends to sell. These sites can also be used to collect payments for the goods and services.
- Business website
These might appear to be E-Commerce websites at first glance. However, they are very different in terms of function. While E-commerce websites can sell, Business websites are geared toward introducing users to a company and what they offer. Think of them as a business profile except online.
- Sites for members
Content creators (i.e., Youtubers, Online Artists, etc.) They might offer something more for their most loyal followers or supporters. They may want to offer extra, exclusive content they are willing to pay a fee for.
A WordPress membership website is a good way to go about this. Content creators can make a website where users need to log in or pay for the said content. WordPress has enough tools to handle the things needed to set this up.
- Portfolio Website
For many, websites are a good avenue to show off their work to prospective employers. This is especially true for artists, both traditional and digital. A website allows artists to showcase their work. It is similar to owning a museum.
- Forum website
Forum websites are an online community where the number of topics for discussion is unlimited. Forums were the king of the Internet before social media. Nowadays, specialized forums are few and far between.
Nowadays, larger websites are the most popular sites for discussion. Reddit, Quora and other forums are the most popular. It does not mean forum websites are no longer relevant. Forums are crucial for niche topics.
A content creator, a blogger, or even a book author, can host their own Forums through WordPress. These forums offer a more personal feel than the vast reach of most websites.
- Websites for events
An event website is a simple website that advertises events. An event website allows the public to view and verify details about events such as seating and dates. They can also check ticket prices. Speaking of ticket prices, you can even sell tickets through these websites.
- E-Learning website
After the 2019 COVID Pandemic, online classes and electronic courses became a common term. Even then, E-learning websites have already existed during the BC (Before COVID) era.
E-learning websites allow students to take an online course, track how they are doing, download their research materials, and much more. Though putting up an e-learning website through WordPress takes a little more work, it is still rewarding for those with the drive to share their knowledge with the world.
- Invitational websites
Even invitations can now be sent online. Thanks to the power of the internet, you can create websites for that personal event of yours. You can create a website for any occasion, including a birthday or christening. WordPress has many resources that make it easy and fast to create a website.
Daniel has posted a video review on Design Break that will give you a more visual experience. You can still check out the article below to get an overview of Elementor II. It also compares it with some other products.
WordPress Plugins: Enhancing WordPress to be the Best WordPress Astra Elementor
Among the reasons for WordPress’ longevity and relevance is because of the support it gets from its community of users. Some of this support comes in the form of WordPress Plugins.
WordPress plugins are an additional code package that can be uploaded to a website to improve its functionality and integrate with other sites.
WordPress Plugins can take on multiple forms. They can be in the form that focuses on a website’s SEO or for use in analytics. WordPress Plugins can also be used for payment modes and marketing integrations. There are even plugins that can help to build websites a cinch.
You can choose between premium and free plugins. The main difference between them could be in the quality of their function or the extent to which they are available. Of course, this does not mean that free plugins are always inferior. Heck, there are even some free plugins which function better than their premium counterparts.
These plugins often play nicely with the heart of WordPress, more or less. There will be occasions when a premium plugin is worth the cost. Support is the strongest reason to pay for premium plugins.
WordPress plugins are generally well-behaved. However, there are times when these plugins malfunction and do not work as intended. As such, the value of customer support service can never be replaced
Your List of Must-Have WordPress Plugins
There are certain types of plugins that WordPress websites should prioritize over others. These WordPress plugins are recommended for all WordPress websites:
- WordPress Backup Plugin
By its nature, WordPress does not have a built-in backup function. Having no backup is a potential headache waiting to happen, and a huge one at that. Backup plugins are a great solution to these potential headaches.
Backups are also important in case of a security breach or hack. As it allows you to easily replace data that was deleted or at least bring your website back to a previous save state before the attack happened.
- WordPress Security Plugin
The ubiquity and popularity of WordPress make it a lucrative target for hackers. Hackers create malicious programs to attack WordPress sites, access all their data, and do something nefarious.
These are where WordPress Security plugins can help. They offer multiple solutions to prevent these attacks. To stop brute force attacks, some limit the number of login attempts on a website. Some offer more sophisticated and comprehensive protection against these attacks.
Whatever your preference, the key to finding the best WordPress security plugin is security and convenience.
- WordPress SEO Plugin
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. SEO is the process of making your website more visible to many people. With proper SEO settings, your website can be found easier in searches through search engines such as Google and Bing!
SEO is a business. The competition for Google’s top pages is fierce with the sheer number of websites popping up every day. A great SEO plugin can help your website gain more traffic.
SEO plugins are able to give you tips and automate repetitive tasks such as content creation.
- WordPress Form Plugin
WordPress Form Plugins enable you to create robust forms for your website. These forms can come in the shape of contact forms, surveys, donation forms, and file uploaders.
Basically, forms let your site visitors enter personal information. The information is then sent to the correct place (database, mailing list).
Forms can be used to collect sensitive information and should not be spammed. These forms should also fit depending on the customer (most websites that use forms are e-commerce websites).
It is important to choose a WordPress form plugin that is secure, yet easy to set up and customize.
- WordPress E-commerce Plugin
Speaking of business, for WordPress E-commerce, it would be a no-brainer to an e-commerce plugin. E-commerce websites are designed to sell products. However, your website won’t be able to do this if it doesn’t have the right plugin.
An E-commerce plugin allows you to turn your website into a store. It can provide you with a lot of tools and resources. Some e-commerce plugins even come with online payment capabilities integrated.
- WordPress Design Plugin
In terms of website building, WordPress is a beast. WordPress allows you to do just about anything, provided you can code. HTML, CSS and other coding languages allow you to customize your WordPress Page to the max.
That said, not all have the knowledge to code. This might seem like a high barrier to entry for WordPress users. But, WordPress wouldn’t be as popular if it had a high barrier to entry.
WordPress regained and even grew its user base by removing this so-called barrier of entry. WordPress Site Design Plugins like page builders allowed website building, in general, to become an easier and faster process.
Many of these plugins remove the need to code in order to build websites. Through their drag-and-drop interface, almost everyone and their mum can build a website over at WordPress, with little to no coding knowledge. (although knowledge of coding still offers a lot of advantages).
These plugins also sped up the process of making websites, and thus, WordPress users (or at least sites that use WordPress as a platform) quickly grow in number day by day.
Now those are only a few types of plugins that we recommend adding to your website. Of course, there are many more types of plugins, but their use can be situational and optional.
WordPress currently has over 60,000 plugins, but you can choose from many more.
Installing WordPress Plugins
WordPress plugins can be installed very easily. It is quick and easy to do.
After logging in to your WordPress website, you can find the Plugins menu on your WordPress Dashboard. Click on it to Expand this Menu.
There will be a page called Installed Plugins. This is where you can find the currently installed plugins on this particular WordPress Site. Even if you haven’t added some plugins, or if this is your first time looking at this page, you might notice plugins already installed.
Because some plugins are included with WordPress Installations, this is possible.
Click on the “Add New” link to upload a plugin. This will let you search for plugins in the WordPress.org Plugin directory. There are also links you can click to look at featured, popular, and latest plugins available. You can also mark your favorite plugins here.
After you’ve found your plugin of choice, click on the “Choose File” button. After this, you must locate your plugin zip file and click on Install Now
Once the plugin has finished installing, click Activate to turn the plugin on.
Lastly, there is a menu item beneath Plugins in the WordPress Dashboard called the Editor. This is a built-in WordPress Plugin editor used to make changes to your installed plugins’ individual PHP files.
ONLY TWEAK OR MAKE CHANGES TO THIS SECTION IF YOU UNDERSTAND PHP. Tweaking any of the things found here can overwrite your customizations. Of course, you probably don’t need to edit any of your plugin’s PHP code.
Elementor: One of the best page builders plugins WordPress has to offer
Elementor is a WordPress Site Design Plugin that is among the best. To begin with, it is a drag-and-drop page builder which allows users to make their webpage in a fast and easy way. As such, even characters who are not tech savvy enough can carve themselves a place on the internet.
Elementor was released in mid-16, and it has been available in the WordPress Plugin Library since then. Although it is a recent addition to WordPress’ ecosystem, this is still quite a significant time period by Internet standards.
Still, “age” does not matter to Elementor. It quickly became one of the most widely used visual page builders on the platform at the time. Elementor didn’t let this success stop them. They continued to grow and create new ways to keep Elementor current with the latest trends.
Elementor’s core functionality is still drag and drop builder. And it does that function very well. It works in an “what you see, is what you get” manner. This makes it easy to see the final website design while you’re still editing.
Elementors allows you to bypass the need to open WordPress’s standard editors. With all that said, coding is still welcome, and people who prefer using their own custom HTML, CSS, and PHP, along with other current coding languages, are free to do so.
Elementor is also known for its flexibility as a plugin. It can be used anytime with whatever current WordPress theme you are using. It even comes with its own theme builder that allows you to make your own WordPress themes that suits your taste and needs.
And speaking of themes, it does work with other themes that are available in the WordPress library, and as such, there is little worry about themes bugging out. If they bug out, however, Elementor’s customer service is always open to help you fix the issues.
Elementor Features
While Elementor might bill itself as just a drag-and-drop page builder, the number of features that come with it makes that an understatement.
Elementor would not be a top-ranked website builder for WordPress if it could only do so much.
As such, here are some of Elemetor’s best features:
- Content Elements Galore
Elementor uses building blocks to create a webpage. These so-called blocks or elements can be arranged depending on the user’s whims to form a compelling website layout and design.
To explain the blocks a bit more, they are the elements that make up the web design. Each element might contain a widget, a written content, or anything that can fit in each element.
These elements are what make Elementor today.
- Responsive Design
All web pages created with Elementor’s page builders are responsive by default. This means that they not only look elegant and pretty when viewed through a personal computer and laptop,
Because of the responsive design, you can even look at the design through your phone, and still it would look great, comprehensive, and functional.
Responsive design doesn’t just mean translating your website to look better on a smartphone. Elementor allows users to customize the look of their website.
You can view the page through various platforms and gadgets by simply touching another button. From there, you can do further edits, such as deleting and adding certain elements to take the page to the look that you want.
- Available templates
No page builder would be complete without templates. After all, templates are the best examples to inspire when building anything from scratch (web pages included).
For beginners, templates can be a good starting point for page developers. This is especially true if the templates are professionally designed. Templates make it easier to develop new websites faster than sites with the same look.
All templates in Elementor are editable. This includes their styling options. So you do not have to worry about websites looking the same when utilizing templates in your work.
Elementor offers many professionally designed templates. Both novice and experienced users can use these templates. As stated above, beginners can use these templates as their starting point when making websites. As for veterans (i.e., page devs), they can use them to speed up their work.
- Style Options
Of course, if you want a sleek and cool website, you would be remiss if there weren’t any styling options available. Elementor makes these styling options available to everyone. What’s more, there is no need to have coding knowledge to do this.
- Convenience
The multitude of tools, Elementor makes web page building accessible to many. Even better, support is available in just one click. Then there is also a quick find tool that can help in finding a specific topic of help.
- Dynamic Content
You can use elementor to add dynamic content using custom fields and plugins like ACF, Pods and Toolset. Through dynamic content, you can have your pages up to date consistently and constantly. This ability will keep your website current and fresh.
- WooCommerce Builder
WooCommerce, an open-source plugin for e-commerce, is mainly used with WordPress. Most of its customer base includes merchants that use WordPress as their main site. This includes online merchants of all sizes.
WooCommerce and WordPress have an almost symbiotic relationship, so it is very simple to integrate WooCommerce into WordPress.
With Elementor, you could enhance your WooCommerce store through its customizability options. Some functions even allow you to show your product and prices and integrate said products into the design of your store.
- Popup Builder
Popups are one of the most disliked forms of advertising. Popups are so disliked that their creator had to apologize for all the problems it caused.
Popups can be a great lead conversion tool if used correctly. Elementor Pro users have access to a popup creator that can be used as a lead conversion tool.
Elementor’s popup creator allows you to create your popup with the same tools as the webpage builder. You can also set triggers to control when and how popups are displayed.
Elementor Price
If you are already impressed by Elementor’s features, you will be even more impressed by its price. Elementor allows users to enjoy at least 80% of the plugin’s capabilities at the low price of FREE!
That’s right! Most of Elementor’s functions and features are free to use if you install them on your WordPress site.
That said, Elementor also offers Pro plans with some features, such as the Popup builder behind a paywall. If you are interested, the Elementor Pro consists of three types of plans. Each plan has its advantages. These plans can be viewed as follows:
| Essential Plan | Expert Plan | Studio Plan | Agency Plan |
| $49 per Year | $199 per Year | $299 per year (1st year only).
$499 |
$999 per Year |
| 1 Pro Website Activation
More than 100+ basic and pro widgets
300+ Basic and Pro Templates
60+ Pro Website Kits
Theme Builder
WooCommerce Store Builder
Landing Page Builder
Premium Support |
25 Pro-Website Activations
100+ Basic and Pro Widgets
300+ Basic and Pro Templates
60+ Pro Website Kits
Theme Builder
WooCommerce Store Builder
Landing Page Builder
Premium Support
Elementor Expert Profile |
100 Pro Website Activations
More than 100+ basic and pro widgets
More than 300+ Pro and Basic Templates
60+ Pro Website Kits
Theme Builder
WooCommerce Store Builder
Landing Page Builder
VIP Support
Elementor Expert Profile |
1000 Pro Website Activations
100+ Basic and Pro Widgets
300+ Basic and Pro Templates
60+ Pro Website Kits
Theme Builder
WooCommerce Store Builder
Landing Page Builder
VIP Support
Elementor Expert Profile |
Elementor Pros & Cons
Pros
- Elementor’s core product does not cost a single dime. There is no need to get the Pro plan to use Elementor’s full potential.
- Elementor offers many features that will help you create the best WordPress website. These tools are very simple to use.
- Elementor’s page builders are an upgrade to the WordPress Builder in terms of functionality and accessibility
- Elementor allows you to build pages without the need to learn HTML, CSS, or PHP coding skills.
- Elementor’s “what do you see is what you get” approach to building websites speeds up the process by eliminating the need for previews.
- The Elementors pages can be redesigned automatically to be responsive. They work with all devices. If you want, you can even fine-tune the design for each device.
- Speaking of fine-tuning, Elementor provides the ability to modify alignments, margins, and padding values
Cons
- There are times when the custom styling (especially for links) gets buggy
- There are times when Elementor’s default typography and color settings remain persistent and cannot be staged
- The different margin values can make it difficult to fix misaligned elements.
- There is a possibility of Elementor slowing down the loading times of different websites.
Elementor Versus Divi
Divi Builder: The Crowning Jewel of Elegant themes
Among the multitude of Themes available in the WordPress theme shop is “Elegant Themes.” Throughout the years, Elegant themes have built up an active user community and a growing ecosystem, transforming it into one of the biggest players in the WordPress World.
Among their products is the Divi Theme, which is their flagship product. Divi’s functionality in the drag-and-drop website creator is key to Elegant Theme’s success.
It was only a matter time that Elegant Themes provided the builder as an additional plugin.
They did. The Divi Builder plugin was released. This means that anyone can access the exact same builder that helped Divi Theme become one of the most popular WordPress themes. Divi made sure the plugin was available regardless of which theme you used.
Divi Features
Divi Builder has “gained independence” and is now a standalone plugin. It can be used with any WordPress theme, even if it’s not from Elegant Themes. It also has multiple features that make it more attractive to users.
- Drag and drop visual content editor
The Divi builder started as a back-end page builder tool from the Divi Theme. However, since being turned into a plugin, it is now a legitimate front-end visual full-site editor.
Divi’s interface now works in a “what do you see is what you get” mode. This eliminates the problem of back-end developers who don’t know how Divi will look until you make a switch to preview.
Divi’s Visual Content Editor continues to be upgraded. The latest version provides a more accurate picture of the visitor’s point of view when viewing your content.
This implies that website developers will be able to work faster as it removes the need for switching to previews. It also removes the frustration of discovering inaccurate layouts.
Those used to playing with the site’s backend might find themselves lost or missing some of the features available when using that mode. All is not lost, however, as Divi Builder allows you to switch into Wireframe mode.
This wireframe mode effectively hides the content of each module and focuses more on the page’s structure. This provides a good overview of what the page looks like and which modules are used.
Effectively, Divi offers a flexible way to work on your website, depending on your comfort and preference.
- Theme Builder Functionality
Divi Builder 4.0 included Divi’s theme builder feature. This made it a complete on-site editor and not just a page builder.
This effectively gave Divi Builder the ability to customize your entire website. Headers, footers, category pages, product templates, and other parts of the site can now be customized depending on the user’s whims.
Templates can be used to customize blog posts. These templates can be applied automatically to all blog posts, or a select few. You can also use the Display rules feature to automatically format and create templates for posts based on their category.
This functionality allows for dynamic content to be added to existing static content. It can also enhance interaction with WooCommerce content.
Most surprisingly, the Divi Theme Builder feature allows users to make custom 404 error pages and search results pages.
- Helpful Content Modules
Divi builder includes 40 customizable content modules. These modules can be inserted into columns and row layouts, each with its own function.
These modules can be used to replace functionality on WordPress pages that use other plugins. Using these modules, you turn almost all of your website’s services into pure Divi or Elegant Themes.
It doesn’t matter if one developer has this idea for all your plugins or “apps”, it still has its benefits. Chief among them is that it reduces load times for your WordPress page.
This also results in a reduction of costs, especially if you use commercial plugins.
A few examples of these modules include “call to action” buttons, countdown timers, maps, pricing tables, email opt-in forms, videos and their sliders, social media, and even a search module.
You can also find different versions of these modules. This adds spice to your website design. You won’t have to risk having the same module appearing from different parts of the internet.
- Growing Library of Pre-made websites and Page Layouts
Divi would be remiss to not offer ready-made, ready-to-use web pages and layouts. These layouts can be thought of as their own version of templates.
Templates are great for web designers who don’t have the design skills to create them. These high-quality templates can be used to begin their design process or, if satisfied, can be used as-is.
They have between 200 and 400 options. However, this is in terms of website layouts. That means each layout contains more than one page.
These can also target specific types of websites, such as websites for agencies, freelancers, eCommerce stores, and construction companies. That said, these layouts are entirely customizable.
So if you find a law-affirm website layout, some pictures may look out of place, or the layout just doesn’t do it for you. Get your tools out and start editing until you get the website that you desire.
- Divi Builder A/B Testing Tool
One unique feature of Divi builder is the ability to hold A/B testing on your page layout. You can compare two layouts on your page layout to see which is more effective.
While freedom in design is always a plus, too much freedom could be detrimental, especially when it is misguided. A/B testing can help you to determine which version is best. Comparing different layouts of a webpage can help you determine if the design decision should be made.
An A/B-tested website will ensure that it is optimized for its intended purpose.
- Divi Role Editor
Some websites are run by different people. While this makes for efficient job division, it also multiplies the risk of accidentally changing the website’s main setting. As the saying goes, “Too many cooks may spoil the broth.”
Luckily, Divi has a Role Editor that you can use to limit other people’s access to the backend of your webpage. Through this role editor, you can still let your co-authors do their thing, such as writing for your blogs, while preventing them from doing unnecessary stuff.
Divi’s role is also granular as an editor. It’s not a binary choice. By choosing a role, you can define which parts of the plugin they can access and make use of.
This is particularly important for web designers who have clients who could break custom designs. Through the role editor, the chances of custom design breaking are reduced to a minimum.
- Full-Width Content
Images can make your web pages stand out. They can even complement the look of your website. Sometimes, you just want to place an image and plaster its full resolution to a part of your site.
Divi offers a feature that lets you do exactly that. Divi allows you to add a full width and a module to your builder. You can then add any content that breaks the post container.
What’s more is that this full-width is not only limited to images. Videos, text, headers and menus can all be included.
Divi Price
Since Divi Builder was originally part of the Divi Theme, and you cannot get this plugin separately. Access to Elegant themes will require a yearly payment. One plan is a yearly access, and the other is a lifetime access.
| Yearly Access | Lifetime Access |
| $89/Year | $249 1 Time |
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Divi Pros and Cons
Pros
- Divi has a clean and slick, intuitive interface.
- Divi offers tremendous value for the money (they even offer a lifetime deal)
- Divi can be used on an unlimited number of websites and without limitations
- Divi is very beginner friendly, with the drag and drop page builder which is very easy to use
- Divi gives veteran web designers with the right coding skills the chance to create amazing things.
- Divi is available with an additional WordPress theme
- Divi offers more than 100 stunning templates. WordPress Astra Elementor
Cons
- Longer pages are more difficult to work with.
- Divi’s inline editing options can be better
- Divi has a few bugs. This usually manifests when making more complex layouts
Elementor Versus WPBakery
WP Bakery: The Builder Formerly Known as Visual Composer
What we now know as WPBakery was once called Visual Composer. It gets even more confusing, because there is another WordPress plugin called Visual Composer. Let’s move on to WPBakery now that we have that out of the way.
This plugin, like all other page builders allows you to create unique pages. The building blocks in this example are called “Content Elements” and have the same function as modules and widgets.
WPBakery has around 40 content elements that can be used to design your page layout. Samples of these include text blocks, social media buttons, video players, and other blocks that are standard fare for page builders. WordPress Astra Elementor
WPBakery also uses a drag-and-drop page builder to style your pages. This builder allows you to style both the front and back ends of your website. You have the option to design both front and back ends, or choose to style them separately, depending on what you prefer.
WPBakery Features
WPBakery doesn’t offer much, unlike many of the other WordPress Page Builders. The following is what they offer:
- Interface is simple and lightweight
- Frontend and Backend Editor
- Multilingual ready
- Templates that can be saved for later use
- Responsive websites that work on mobile and PC
- Very own set of “content elements”
- Object-oriented code
- Huge addon support
WPBakery is more difficult to use than you might think. Even if you are a technical person, it is not very user-friendly. It is built on a shortcode architecture that can be a massive liability.
It has some help text, but they are not well executed. WordPress Astra Elementor
It’s also just plain unreliable. It is plagued by inaccurate previews, randomly missing features, and buggy. Working with it is just a nightmare, especially when working on a website.
WPBakery Price
WPBakery offers 2 price plans if you still want to avail of its services. These are:
| Regular | Extended |
| $56 | $299 |
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WPBakery Pros and Cons
Pros
- WPBakery lets you save your templates to be used later
- It can be used with almost all themes
- It has a multilingual interface
- Includes various content blocks to help you build your website
- You can integrate it with various add-ons that will enhance its functionality WordPress Astra Elementor
- It allows users to access the control panel via their role.
Cons
- It is difficult to use the page builder and takes some time to learn. Even experienced website designers know this.
- It may not be compatible with all plugins, and can sometimes cause conflicts with them.
- Shortcodes are lost when this plugin is deactivated.
- This plugin may slow down download speeds and impact your age speed.
Elementor Versus Beaver Builder
Beaver Builder: The Most Efficient Beaver-Themed Builder
Beaver Builder is one of the most well-known names in the WordPress page builders space. Beaver Builder is a popular choice because of its drag-and-drop page builders and simple-to-use interface.
Beaver Builders has a lot of great products and services for its customers.
Since it is a page builder, it allows you to build custom posts and pages through a drag-and-drop user interface. It eliminates the need to code your website. Users don’t even need to have a knowledge of HTML to have a functioning website with the help of Beaver Builder.
Despite having a theme of its own, Beaver Builder (the plugin) is compatible with any WordPress theme. As such, you can keep using your current WordPress theme and carry on developing and designing your site. WordPress Astra Elementor
Beaver Builder’s greatest strength is its simplicity and efficiency. Beaver Builder boasts that it makes working with existing website content and creating websites from scratch much faster and more efficient.
Beaver Builder Features
BeaverBuilder is a powerful page builder with many features that can be called the best. Let’s not list everything, but let’s just focus on the highlights. Efficiency is the key to Beaver Builder.
Beaver Builder’s essential features include:
- The main page builder features a full drag-and-drop interface. This builder allows you to place content elements, such as text and images, wherever you want.
- Beaver Builder offers full front-end editing. This allows you to view your work while you are working on it. This is akin to the “what you see is what you get” approach of other page builders.
- Beaver Builder also removes the need for coding when building your websites. Beaver Builder doesn’t require HTML or CSS. WordPress Astra Elementor
- Beaver Builder is compatible with most themes in WordPress. Thus, you can combine Beaver Builder with any theme, and it would be like nothing significant happened.
- Beaver Builder can be used for any type of page, post, or custom type of post.
- Beaver Builder plans include more than 50 pre-made templates. This includes templates for pages that have a specific purpose. Be it a landing page, a welcome page, or a normal comment section; Beaver Builder has got you covered.
- Beaver Builder offers 30 content elements and modules for working with pages. These content elements and modules will be the key to your pages’ construction. Each will have its own function. Some of these modules include (headings, buttons, galleries, and much more)
- Beaver Builder guarantees that your websites will work on any screen. Your website will therefore be responsive.
- Beaver Builder is also compatible with WooCommerce. As such, you can develop your WooCommerce content through the special content elements Beaver Builder offers. WordPress Astra Elementor
- Beaver Builder is also not stingy. Beaver Builder allows you to export and import features. This allows you reuse and share your designs with the larger community.
Beaver Builder Prices
| Agency | Pro | Standard |
| $399 | $199 | $99 |
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Beaver Builder Pros & Cons
Pros
- Beaver Builder empowers users to be creative in building their webpages
- There is no learning curve when using Beaver Builder
- Beaver Builder’s full drag-and-drop builder offer front end editing support.
- Beaver Builder is flexible and lenient. Beaver Builder allows you to use default WordPress widgets within its Content blocks WordPress Astra Elementor
- Beaver Builder has lots of page templates that are perfect as a starting place whenever one is making pages.
Cons
- Beaver Builder has a very high price point. The cheapest plan costs $99. They do offer a Lite version which costs 0$.
- Beaver Builder is only capable of working with the theme that you choose. If there are things that the theme cannot do, then Beaver Builder will not be able to achieve them.
- Beaver Builder doesn’t allow users to add custom CSS codes to their content modules. Beaver Builder is limited in its customization.
Elementor Versus Webflow
Webflow: A page builder beyond WordPress
Despite WordPress having the lion’s share of Internet blogs, not everyone likes using it. As such, there are alternatives for people who are uncomfortable using WordPress. Webflow is one of these alternatives.
Webflow’s primary focus is on design. Its main target is to let web designers build websites as easily as possible. Using webflows allows web designers to build responsive websites through browser-based visual editing software. Webflow allows you to write the code as you work on your website. WordPress Astra Elementor
When compared to WordPress, Webflow claims to have more advantages over it. Among these are an appeal for more creative freedom, a more secure website, and easier user usage.
Webflow Features
Webflow is a page builder that does everything. Webflow’s features allow it to focus on becoming a service that caters first to designers.
- Over a thousand templates are available on Webflow, with 45 of them being free. These templates can be used to build websites as you would with most websites.
These templates can also be accessed via Webflow. They are grouped and categorized according to the type of website they are geared to (portfolio, blogs, SaaS, etc.). You can also search them using popular tags, languages, and other methods.
- Although Webflow is not as user-friendly for first-time users, it provides a great onboarding tutorial that allows users to familiarize themselves and explore the Webflow Environment. It might take getting used to, but Webflow provides a great user experience once you learn it. WordPress Astra Elementor
- Webflow also has a well-laid-out interface. Its main builder is divided into three sections for ease of access. You will be able to produce web pages faster and more efficiently the more you become familiar with Webflows workflow.
- Webflow has great Search Engine Optimization Capabilities. This is made even easier by the fact that you don’t need to install another plugin to make sure your website is SEO-optimized. Webflow even guides non-SEO experts to optimize their website’s SEO ranking for more traffic and conversion.
- Webflow has impressive eCommerce features that can be used to build a functional and attractive online store. It is simple to build a page, and there are templates that can help you get started. These templates are both free and paid.
Webflow also provides detailed instructions on how to build the site from its initial setup until its launch.
- Webflow provides a Content Management System that allows users to group the content they present to their audience. Basically, this CMS organizes resources, especially when making blog posts WordPress Astra Elementor
Webflow makes blogging easier and more efficient by organizing it in a more structured way.
- You can be sure that your data will remain safe and secure with Webflow. Webflow has integrated hosting plans with Amazon Web Services, one of the most secure web hosting services. You will receive a one-year free SSl certificate to encrypt sensitive data.
Aside from that, Webflow is also SOC-2 compliant, which means that the builder can meet high standards of security, confidentiality, and privacy.
Lastly, Webflow automatically updates your files and stores backups of them. Webflow automatically updates your files and stores backups of them so that you are confident, if something goes wrong, you’ll be able to quickly get your files back.
Webflow Price
As for price, you can choose to avail webflow with their free plan. This allows you to use webflow on two projects with full designing and can publish said projects on their website of Webflow.io. Of course, their free plan is free forever.
Webflow has a variety of plans that can be used to reduce the price. These paid plans are divided into two types.
There is the Site Plan, and then there are the account plans. WordPress Astra Elementor
The Site plan includes everything you need to create a basic website. Webflow offers 2 types of these plans. You can choose from four options in the basic plan. The cost starts at $12 per month. You will have to contact Webflow Customer service to get the exact amount for each plan.
| Basic | CMS | Business | Enterprise |
| Best for simple sites which do not need CMS | Best for blogs and other content-driven websites | Sites that have higher traffic are best | This product is ideal for businesses and includes exclusive features |
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As for the Ecommerce plans, the are three types of plans
| Standard (29 USD) | Plus ($74 USD) | Advanced ($2112( u) |
| A new business starting from scratch | Important additional resources are required for higher volumes of business. | For businesses aiming to breach and grow |
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Account plans allow for more advanced website development with additional features. There are two types: The Individual and Team plans.
There are three payment options available for individual plans. The first includes the free plan mentioned above, and the second two are paid plans. WordPress Astra Elementor
| Starter Plan (Forever Free) | Lite ($16). | Pro ($35) |
| Includes everything you need to start building with Webflow. | Export your code and unlock more pages for unhosted projects | Best for freelancers, designers, and people who need more projects and premium features |
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There are two types of Team plans available. Mostly, they offer almost the same features, but one offers a more customizable plan. Here they are:
| Team ($35 per person) | Enterprise (situational) |
| Work on projects with a team through a collaborative, shared dashboard | Contact customer support to inquire about the plan packages |
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Webflow Cons and Pros
Pros
- It includes everything you need to build a website. This includes simple blogs and eCommerce websites.
- It has a very strong visual design tool that can rival everything that you can do with code
- Very flexible pricing plans, which are also customer friendly. WordPress Astra Elementor
Cons
- There is limited code customization
- The number of plans and variations may be confusing and, if not careful, might make you choose the wrong plan
- It is quite a learning process due to the fact that WordPress is a completely new environment. There are also new, powerful features.
- Some plans include traffic limits.
Elementor Versus Thrive Architects
Thrive Architect: A WordPress Page Designer
Thrive Architect is a WordPress page builder plugin bundled with Thrive Themes. This is their new flagship page builder, replacing the “Thrive Content Creator”. WordPress Astra Elementor
As with the usual “modern” website builders, Thrive architect is also doing the drag-and-drop gimmick. As such, it is geared toward beginners and helps veterans speed through making websites.
Thrive also offers an impressive library of templates for users to help them get started or get inspiration for what they’re going to do.
Surprisingly, Thrive Architects focus on building websites that are geared toward conversions. As such, most of the templates mentioned earlier have the purpose of lead generation and conversion to your WordPress Page.
Thrive Architect Features
Thrive Architect, like most modern WordPress page builders has many features. However, for this overview, we will focus mainly on the main ones.
- Thrive Architect is a plugin that works with all WordPress themes. This is despite Thrive Architect coming with its own WordPress Theme called Thrive Suite. Therefore, you can use Thrive Architect in combination with the thousands of themes available in WordPress.
- Thrive Architect also has a massive library for plugins. The Thrive architect team ensures that all of these templates are kept at a higher quality. These templates are editable and can be used to speed up the process of creating web pages. WordPress Astra Elementor
Thrive Architect and Thrive Themes focus on lead conversion and sales. Most of these templates are just as focused on sales. So expect a lot of sales-focused landing pages and webpage designs.
- Thrive Architect has its own intuitive drag and drop page editor. This interface gives you a real-time, accurate view of the page’s design.
With the WYSIWYG approach, builders can save a lot of time as they remove the need for previewing your website. Your workflow gets faster as you don’t have to save multiple times and ensure you are doing right or wrong.
With WYSIWYG, you always know where your bearings are.
- Since we have already talked about Thrive’s fixation on conversions, you wouldn’t be surprised that they also have a lot of conversion and sales-focused elements.
Thrive cannot boast of being conversion-focused if they don’t provide the right and appropriate tools.
- Thrive can also integrate with a lot of third-party services. This includes the usual suspects of Mailchimp, Facebook, and even Zapier.
- Thrive also provides beginners with educational content and tutorials to teach them about content-making focused on sales
- Thrive Architect’s lightbox feature allows you to create pop-up overlays. WordPress Astra Elementor
- Thrive Architect lets you create an auto-scrolling web page. Somewhat situational in use, but with enough creativity, you can make a novel website based on this feature.
- Thrive Architect supports coders by adding custom HTML to your pages.
Thrive Architect Price
It used to be that you could avail of Thrive Architect individually; however, Thrive Themes have recently changed that. To use Thrive Architect, you will need to buy their Thrive Suite bundle.
Thrive has 2 payment plans available: Quarterly and Yearly:
| Thrive Suite Quarterly | Thrive Suite Yearly |
| $99 per Quarter | $299 per Year |
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Pros and cons of Thrive Architect
Pros
- Features an intuitive design that is easy to use. You can even visualize your designs in real time.
- Helps you create content that is unique on the Internet
- It comes with high-quality templates for landing pages as well as webpages. Because they are organized in sets, it is easy to find the perfect template.
- It is focused primarily on conversion and sales, making it the ideal website builder for online marketers and businesses.
- Many websites are responsive to mobile devices, so you can rest assured that your website will be compatible with smartphones.
- It is a lightweight plugin that will not noticeably slow down the pages’ loading times.
- It has good and attractive pricing
- It can be integrated with a large amount of email service providers.
- You can use Gutenberg (WordPress’ latest page builder) with Gutenberg blocks. WordPress Astra Elementor
Cons
- Not available individually, You have to buy the whole Thrive Suite to use it. If you already own a WordPress Theme, this will double your cost.
- Aside from that, You need to download Thrive Product Manager before you can even begin to plant a single element on the builder.
- Thrive does not offer a lifetime payment option.
Special Mentions
Brizzy
Brizzy, another WordPress builder, allows you to create web pages with amazing design. It is also another drag-and-drop builder that requires zero coding knowledge. As such, you can compare it with the big three of Elementor, Beaver Builder, and Divi.
Like most of the other builders, Brizzy fairs well as a plain builder; however, there are a few areas that it could work with.
For one, Brizzy does not have a developer APi. Third-party extensions are not possible with Brizzy. This severely cripples Brizzy’s potential. Brizzy is limited in its flexibility and cannot reach the heights at Beaver Build, Elementor, or Divi.
Brizzy is also lacking in the documentation department. While this is not a huge deal breaker, it does make it inferior to the other builders, which have complete and robust documentation.
Furthermore, the documentation that exists for Brizy also is not as comprehensive. Brizy documentation is not as comprehensive, so people who are looking for help or asking for it might be left scratching their heads.
Brizzy pricing is as follows:
| Personal | Freelancer | Agency |
| $49 per year | $99 per annum | $199 per annum |
Perfect for Personal Work |
Ideal for working with clients |
Ideal for white-label solutions |
Oxygen Builder
The Oxygen builder has a similarity to Webflow in nature. Although it may look similar to WordPress, it is not WordPress. Non-techies should not use oxygen because it is complex.
Most website builders are more inviting to a wider audience. This includes people who have no idea how coding works or just how the works in general. Oxygen seems to be the exception to that rule.
Despite this, Oxygen allows both designers and experienced users to create amazing websites.
Basically, Oxygen should only be used by people who want to learn website development. It features a huge learning curve. This makes it a great challenge.
Oxygen is also a great tool for web developers and designers who need to fine-tune every detail. Oxygen gives you the tools to control all aspects of your website, including its pieces.
As for beginners and those looking for an easier user experience, it’s best to stay away from this one. WordPress Astra Elementor
As for the Price, Oxygen is not free. You don’t get a demo. What it has is a 60-day money-back guarantee. If you are not up to Oxygene’s challenge, you can always return it.
| Basic Plan (99 USD One-time Payment) | WooCommerce Plan ($149 once-off payment) | Agency Plan ($169 once-off payment) |
| WordPress’s most flexible and powerful visual builder | Visually build websites as well as WooCommerce stores | The ultimate for building websites for clients while using Oxygen |
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Gutenberg Builder
Although this is the main WordPress builder, most online consensus is unifying. WordPress Astra Elementor
Simply, NO.
It’s very annoying.
It is difficult to write in because you have to break up each paragraph into its own blocks. It is a self-sufficient tool.
Lastly, despite significant efforts to improve its performance, it still lags considerably, especially when creating massive posts.
WordPress page builders plugins were made. And that is to avoid using the default one.
Verdict WordPress Astra Elementor
Your choice of WordPress page builder is entirely up to you. Of course, they might specialize in one field or another.
It’s a smart idea to choose a WordPress theme that you like and then use the page builder that comes along with it. This is a great way for you to save money and still get high quality work.
That said, you should keep in mind Elementor, which offers the best features while maintaining its free status.
However, if there is one thing that you can learn from this review, let it be this:
Avoid Gutenberg, WordPress’ default developer, and save yourself the hassle.