Beaver Builder vs Elementor – The One Thing That Matters The Most

The only thing that really matters in choosing Beaver Builder vs Elementor is You.

Yes, YOU.

What do you want exactly? What are your needs?

Do you want to build a website for yourself or clients?

Are you good at coding or totally suck at it?

Do you like having all fancy stuff to be part of the only ONE thing that you buy? Or are you someone who prefers to buy a plain vanilla product so that you can mould it the way you want to?

Do you like to buy things that keep getting updated frequently which means you need to learn all those things too? Or do you prefer to buy things that remain the same and stable for long periods of time?

Why am I asking these questions?

That’s because these questions matter when you try to decide between Beaver Builder vs Elementor.

There is no Go Right or Go Left approach while choosing one of these WordPress page builder plugins.

Both, Beaver Builder and Elementor, are fantastic plugins and there is no right or wrong between them.

So the only thing that matters is YOU!

What do you want to do with these plugins?

Let me dig a little more into this with 5 specific questions and try to help you choose between Beaver Builder and Elementor.

Here are 5 questions to help you pick between Beaver Builder vs Elementor:

1. Do You Want To Build A Website For Yourself Or Your Clients?
2. Are You Good At Coding Or Totally Bad At It?
3. Do You Like To Have All Fancy Stuff In One Plugin?
4. How Comfortable Are You With A Rapidly Evolving Product?
5. Do You Think About The Ecosystem Too?

But before we get to these questions…

Why The Heck Am I Not Comparing Beaver Builder and Elementor Features?

Because this is pretty much a useless activity.

If you are just interested in features, then go with Elementor.

Elementor has a lot of modules and page templates than Beaver Builder will ever have. It also has a lot of settings and features that Beaver Builder will never develop.

Yes, believe me, I have been using Beaver Builder for almost 3 years now and I can tell you right now that there is no way Beaver Builder team is going to build all features that Elementor has.

Is that a bad thing?

Absolutely no!

Both of these plugins seem to have entirely different philosophies to product development.

While Beaver Builder team seems to concentrate more on building a solid base plugin which can then be extended by 3rd-party developers like PowerPack and UABB, Elementor team seems to concentrate more on adding all the bells and whistles to Elementor itself so that there is not much left for 3rd-party developers to do.

Is that a good thing?

Heck, no!

I have been involved in enterprise grade software design for more than 15 years now and I can tell you upfront that adding more and more features to any software bulks it up over time and it starts to show as the technical debt increases.

To make a lean stable software, you need to build a strong foundation on which you can develop more features or 3rd-party developers can build their own solutions on top of your foundation.

Why do you think WordPress is built the way it is? Why does it have this fabulous Themes and Plugins architecture? So that other 3rd-party developers can build on top of WordPress, isn’t it?

Depending on the kind of person you are, I guess you have already made up your mind between Beaver Builder vs Elementor.

But Hold On! There’s more to it than just this.

Let’s talk about what you want by answering the below 5 questions.

Question 1: Do You Want To Build A Website For Yourself Or Your Clients?

If you are building a website for yourself then it comes down to what do you prefer to have? All features in one plugin or one plain vanilla plugin on top of which you can add whatever you want.

If you want all features in one plugin, then go with Elementor. At this point in time, you will not find a better page builder plugin than Elementor with all the features included in one plugin.

If you are good to have a vanilla plugin and add on to it, then go with Beaver Builder. It has PowerPack and UABB add-ons that take Beaver Builder to an entirely new level.

Can I not go with Elementor even if I prefer vanilla things?

Elementor is not vanilla, it is as simple as that.

The pace at which Elementor is getting developed right now is stupendous. Every release of Elementor just keeps adding more and more features.

Is Beaver Builder that vanilla?

When compared to Elementor, yes Beaver Builder is vanilla.

But that does not mean you cannot make a fully functional website with Beaver Builder. It is very much capable of creating a completely professional website on its own.

But still it cannot do everything that Elementor can do and that shows unless you use add-ons like UABB and PowerPack.

Now, if you are planning to build a website for your clients then again what do you prefer to have? A stable client website that doesn’t change frequently or a client website that gets updated with new features every now and then.

Is it that important to give your clients all new features very frequently?

I guess in a majority of the cases; the answer is no.

So in this case, I would opt for Beaver Builder right now.

Question 2: Are You Good At Coding Or Totally Bad At It?

Hey! Why does this question matter? Are we not talking about page builder plugins so that we can make a website without touching any code?

Well, yes and no.

Yes, we are talking about drag-and-drop page builders that should help in making a website without writing any code but that is not necessarily true in case of Beaver Builder.

There will be a lot of instances where you would need to write code if you are using Beaver Builder. For example, if you want to use Z-Index, Text Shadow, Margins and Padding in percentages instead of pixels, etc.

If you want a particular feature that would need you to code and coding is something that you do not want to do then just go with Elementor.

Elementor has many settings and features that help non-coders to build a website without having to write code.

Just keep in mind that you need to be very clear on the things that you want one of these page builders to do.

I have been using Beaver Builder for a good number of years now and never felt the need to code for anything that I wanted to do using Beaver Builder.

However, I know for certain that your case will be different from mine. You might want something I do not want and if that something can be achieved easily with Elementor, then just go for it.

There is no point in expecting Beaver Builder to add those features for you.

Question 3: Do You Like To Have All Fancy Stuff In One Plugin?

If yes, then you should choose Elementor. If no, then choose Beaver Builder.

As much as you would like to have all features in a single plugin, you will need to keep in mind that every new feature that gets added comes at a cost. And that cost might make the software bulky and buggy over time.

It hasn’t happened with Elementor yet, but the pace at which Elementor is adding features, I fear that over a period of time this will have a big impact on its stability.

I do not mean any disrespect to Elementor developers but it is difficult to keep bugs down and maintain backwards compatibility at the same time with a rapid development pace. But if they do manage to do it, then everyone who purchases Elementor is going to have the last laugh.

Beaver Builder on the other hand has absolutely no fancy stuff as such to boast of. It is a vanilla product when compared to Elementor and it seems it will stay that way for a long time.

The entire focus of Beaver Builder team seems to be on keeping the base Beaver Builder plugin stable and let the fancy features be added by add-ons like Beaver Themer, PowerPack and UABB.

So again it comes down to what you want?

Both teams, Beaver Builder and Elementor, seem to know exactly what they want to do with their respective plugins.

So it comes down to you. What do you want?

Question 4: How Comfortable Are You With A Rapidly Evolving Product?

This question is often overlooked. We all want new features to get added to every product that we buy.

But will you put all those new features to use? Are you ready to keep learning how to work with the newly added features very often?

If your answer to any of the above questions is yes, then go with Elementor. Else go with Beaver Builder.

In terms of new features getting added, Elementor keeps getting feature rich with each release and Beaver Builder has not added any new big feature as such for a long time.

Yes, I know, Beaver Builder has launched version 2.0, but it does not have too many new features added to it other than the major visual makeover of the user interface.

The entire focus of Beaver Builder has been to speed up the workflow of building a website while the focus of Elementor has been to add all possible features so that you can build whatever you want.

Both of these development philosophies are polar opposite to each other and neither one is right or wrong. So it really depends on you and what you want.

That is why the focus of this entire comparison of Beaver Builder vs Elementor is about You, your needs and your wants.

Take a moment to think about this and then choose between Beaver Builder and Elementor.

Question 5: Do You Think About The Ecosystem Too?

We all live in an ecosystem. Without the ecosystem in place, it is difficult to survive.

This is also true for everything related to WordPress. WordPress has managed to capture such a large market share as the platform of choice to build websites because of the ecosystem that has developed around it.

This is also true for both Beaver Builder and Elementor.

At this point in time, Beaver Builder has a good ecosystem around it with Beaver Theme, Beaver Themer, UABB and PowerPack all supporting the core Beaver Builder plugin well.

Elementor on the other hand has most of the features of Beaver Builder, Beaver Themer, UABB and PowerPack built right inside it. Additionally, you can also buy Ultimate Addons for Elementor and PowerPack Elements to make Elementor even more feature rich.

As for the Beaver Theme, I won’t give extra brownie points to Beaver Builder for this. Astra Theme does pretty much everything that Beaver Theme does and it does it better than Beaver Theme.

Also, the way in which the ecosystem around Beaver Builder has got built is not so ideal.

Beaver Builder team has left the work of adding extra features, modules, page templates etc. to 3rd-party developers. Some of these features are something that should have been included in Beaver Builder plugin itself, like Row Dividers, Gradients, Menus with more settings, etc.

This means more likely than not, you will end up purchasing UABB or PowerPack or both.

This quickly adds up cost when you try to buy add-ons like UABB and PowerPack to get the extra modules and layouts.

It not only adds cost, but it also means that you now have to deal with different development teams to get support in case something breaks.

Fortunately though, both UABB and PowerPack teams manage to co-ordinate well with Beaver Builder team. So this problem hasn’t been too much of an issue till now.

Elementor on the other hand has decided to keep adding all features, modules, page templates etc. in Elementor itself. So even if there are 3rd-party developers who would develop additional add-ons, you might not feel the need to use them.

This should definitely help to keep the cost down when using Elementor.

Now that we are talking about cost, let’s take a look at the pricing of these two plugins.

Let’s Talk About Pricing

As much as I would love to keep pricing out of this Beaver Builder vs Elementor comparison, I cannot.

This is another place where both these plugins have adopted entirely different strategies.

Beaver Builder has put out a very limiting free version of Beaver Builder plugin. This free version only has a limited set of modules and features.

In contrast to this, Elementor has put out a highly featured free version of Elementor which you can use to build almost any website that you want. It is by far the best free WordPress page builder plugin available today and we all owe a special thanks to the Elementor team for providing this much of value for free.

This one act of Elementor team to not hold too many modules hostage in its paid version is commendable. There are a lot of people out there who are just starting out with building their websites. All of them will greatly benefit from the free version of Elementor.

Now let’s talk about paid versions of Beaver Builder and Elementor.

Actually, there isn’t much to choose here between Beaver Builder and Elementor. All features of both these plugins and use on unlimited sites is available only in the $199 version of these plugins.

The renewal cost of Beaver Builder license is 60% and of Elementor is 50%, so in the long run Elementor will turn out to be the cheaper option of the two.

A Special Note On Elementor

As much as I love Beaver Builder, I am still in awe of what Elementor has managed to achieve in a short span.

Just take a look at how rapidly the popularity of Elementor is rising in Google Search Trends. The red line is for Elementor.

There is no denying that the Elementor juggernaut is rolling ahead at top speed.

Another interesting trend is Elementor’s popularity across the world. Again, the red color is for Elementor.

As you can see, Elementor seems to be far more popular than Beaver Builder across the globe.

And if you take a closer look, you will realize that Beaver Builder is only popular in English speaking countries while Elementor is growing in popularity across various countries speaking different languages.

Does this matter?

I don’t know but I was pleasantly surprised to see that the popularity of Elementor seems to be widespread and not as confined as the popularity of Beaver Builder.

But even with this widespread popularity, Elementor might not be a good choice for you since the Pro version of Elementor is not open source. This means that you do not have access to the source code of Elementor Pro.

If the team behind Elementor goes out of business, then you are out of luck. You cannot keep using Elementor because you will not be able to maintain Elementor Pro plugin on your own. And neither can any developer help you because even they will not have access to Elementor Pro’s source code.

If this bothers you, then Beaver Builder is the correct choice for you.

But whether Elementor Pro is open source or not and whether it remains stable and bug-free after 5 years or 10 years down the line is irrelevant when you look at the potential that Elementor has on offer today.

I think, Elementor has the potential to be one of the finest plugin ever developed in WordPress history that can touch lives of millions of WordPress users 5-10 years from now. And if Elementor team manages to keep Elementor stable in the long run than this potential can be easily realised.

Go check out Elementor…

Sadly, I cannot say the same thing about Beaver Builder.

Does Beaver Builder has the potential to touch millions of lives? I don’t think so.

Do I foresee wide spread adoption of Beaver Builder? No, I don’t.

Do you think otherwise? Let me know in the comments below.

A Special Note On Beaver Builder

As much as Elementor is developing at a rapid pace, there are two areas in which I have found Elementor lacking.

Those two areas are Stability and Security.

Every time Elementor releases an update, you have to wait for some time to make sure that other people are not reporting any major issues.

This is in stark contrast with Beaver Builder where you can upgrade to the next version without the fear of breaking your website.

But more than the stability, it is the security aspect that bothers me about Elementor.

Elementor has let security vulnerability creep in.

Beaver Builder on the other hand has never let this happen.

This is why I trust and use Beaver Builder more than Elementor even if it has fewer features as compared to Elementor.

Go take a look at Beaver Builder…

And finally…

Beaver Builder vs Elementor – How to Decide Which One to Buy?

Haven’t you decided already?

If no, then…

Depending on what you want to do with these plugins, here is how I would suggest you look at these two plugins:

1. If you want to build websites for clients and you are not so keen on providing all the latest features to your clients, then go with Beaver Builder.
2. If you want to build websites for clients and want to White Label your entire offering, then go with Beaver Builder. Elementor does not offer White Labelling.
3. If you want to build websites for clients and want to host their websites yourselves by charging your clients a monthly fee, then go with Beaver Builder. Elementor does not allow you to host your clients’ websites by yourself and use Elementor on them. Read this Support Ticket to know more about this.
4. If you want to build websites for your clients, then go with Beaver Builder because stability and security are more important and also because Elementor Pro is not open source.
5. If you are building websites for yourself or your friends and don’t care about jazzing up your website with various web design elements, then go with Beaver Builder.
6. If you want a particular web design effect on your website, then check out Elementor first. Elementor is more likely to have a feature to help you than Beaver Builder.
7. If you want all the bells and whistles in your page builder plugin, then choose Elementor. Beaver Builder is unlikely to have too many features.
8. If you are not comfortable using a rapidly evolving plugin, then choose Beaver Builder.
9. If you are looking for a free page builder plugin, then go for Elementor. It beats the crap out of Beaver Builder plugin and probably is the best free page builder plugin ever made in WordPress space. Go try it out.
10. If you are looking to get the paid versions of one of these plugins for your own website and want to invest in just one plugin that will give you tons of options to design the various parts of your website then again go for Elementor. The paid version of Elementor beats the crap out of paid version of Beaver Builder plugin too.
11. If you are looking to get the paid version of one of these plugins for your own website but you are open to buy additional add-on plugins, then buy Beaver Builder. Beaver Builder add-ons, UABB and PowerPack will give you pre-made Page Templates, Sections and extra Modules that will help you to build any kind of pages. You can check out the various things that UABB and PowerPack have to offer on their respective websites. This combination of Beaver Builder + UABB or PowerPack knocks the ball out of the park. Elementor’s paid version also comes with a lot of page templates but I have never found them to be more attractive than what UABB and PowerPack offer.
12. If you want total control over designing every part of your site, then go with Beaver Builder. It has this great add-on called Beaver Themer using which you can pretty much place anything anywhere. You can also do some really complex conditional logic to display something on a few pages but not the other or display something to some users only, etc. If you use Beaver Themer, then you pretty much do not have to rely on your theme at all. Elementor Pro has also added almost all of the features of Beaver Themer in Elementor Pro plugin but since Elementor Pro is not open source, you are always at risk if you do heavy customizations using Elementor Pro.
13. If you want a stable and secure plugin then simply go with Beaver Builder. Elementor has had security issues in the past and the pace at which it is adding features, there is always a risk of this happening again.

What Am I Using?

I am using Beaver Builder right now. Frankly, I haven’t yet found anything that I wanted to do and Beaver Builder has not been able to do it for me. Check out my Beaver Builder review after using it for many years now…

And the fact that Elementor Pro is not open source matters to me. Check out my Elmentor review…

I also prefer a stable, secure, and slow evolving plugin. So I have chosen Beaver Builder for now.

But I do keep a close watch on Elementor. I have decided to wait and watch at least for some more time to see if Elementor does remain stable, secure, and reliable over the coming year or two and if Elementor Pro is made open source. Until then, Beaver Builder is the plugin for me.

Your case might be different though, and that is why this entire blog post has revolved around you and your needs.

I hope you have got a good idea of the pros and cons of Beaver Builder vs Elementor and this blog post has helped you to choose one of these.

Even if it has not, ask your questions in the comments below and maybe I will be able to help you.