How to Use Elementor in WordPress for Free

Last modified: August 12, 2026

Elementor

Elementor is one of the most popular page builders for WordPress, and its free version is more capable than many people realize. You can build full pages, set up layouts, add widgets, and publish a polished site without spending a cent. That said, the free version does have real limits, and knowing exactly what you get (and what you don’t) saves a lot of frustration before you start building.

What Elementor Free Actually Includes

The free version of Elementor gives you a visual, drag-and-drop editor that works directly inside your browser. You see changes in real time as you make them, without needing to switch between a preview and an editing panel. It also includes responsive controls so you can adjust how your pages look on desktop, tablet, and mobile separately.

Elementor Free ships with over 40 widgets. The core set covers most common page needs: Heading, Image, Text Editor, Button, Image Box, Icon Box, Basic Gallery, Image Carousel, Icon List, Counter, Progress Bar, Testimonial, Tabs, Accordion, Toggle, Social Icons, Video, Map, Divider, Spacer, and the Section and Column containers. More recent versions also include the Container element, which uses CSS Flexbox and gives you cleaner, more flexible layouts.

You also get access to Elementor’s free template library, which includes hundreds of pre-built page templates and section blocks. These are a fast starting point if you don’t want to build from scratch.

How to Install Elementor for Free

Installing Elementor is the same process as any WordPress plugin. Here’s how to do it:

Log in to your WordPress dashboard.
Go to Plugins > Add New.
In the search box, type Elementor.
Find “Elementor Website Builder” (by Elementor.com) and click Install Now.
Once installed, click Activate.
Elementor will prompt you to run a quick setup wizard. Work through it to configure basic settings and connect your account (a free account is enough).

After that, any page or post will have an “Edit with Elementor” button. Click it to open the visual editor and start building.

Pair It With the Hello Theme

Elementor’s own Hello theme is worth installing alongside the free plugin. It is a minimal, lightweight theme that adds almost no styling of its own, which means Elementor has full control over how your pages look. Many themes add their own CSS that conflicts with Elementor’s output, causing spacing issues or unexpected font overrides. Hello avoids all of that.

You can install Hello the same way as any theme: go to Appearance > Themes > Add New, search for “Hello Elementor,” and activate it. It’s free and maintained by the Elementor team.

What You Can Build With Elementor Free

The free version is well-suited for building individual pages. Common use cases include:

Landing pages: service pages, lead capture pages, product announcements
Homepage layouts: hero sections, feature grids, testimonials, call-to-action blocks
About and contact pages: bios, team sections, contact info (though you’ll need a separate form plugin for the actual form)
Portfolio pages: image galleries, project showcases, client work displays
Blog post templates: within limits (see below)

The realistic expectation: Elementor Free controls the content area of individual pages. It does not control your site’s header, footer, sidebar, blog archive, search results page, or 404 page. Those are handled by your theme unless you upgrade to Elementor Pro.

What Elementor Free Does Not Include

This is where most people get tripped up. The free version intentionally leaves out a set of features that Elementor sells as part of its Pro plan:

Theme Builder: you can’t edit headers, footers, single post templates, archive pages, or the 404 page
Popup Builder: no built-in tool for creating modal popups or slide-in notifications
Form widget: the free version doesn’t include a native form builder
WooCommerce widgets: beyond very basic product displays, WooCommerce-specific widgets require Pro
Loop Builder: no way to create custom query loops for posts, products, or custom post types
Dynamic tags: you can’t pull in dynamic content like post titles, custom field values, or author names automatically
Flip Box and Slides widgets: these are Pro-only

Free Add-On Plugins That Extend Elementor Free

A whole category of third-party plugins exists specifically to add extra widgets and features to Elementor Free. Plugins like Essential Addons for Elementor, ElementsKit Lite, and HappyAddons are well-known examples. They add things like advanced sliders, post grids, WooCommerce product widgets, and more, all without requiring an Elementor Pro subscription.

These can be genuinely useful, but treat them as supplements rather than replacements. Each plugin adds its own CSS and JavaScript to your pages, which affects load speed. Pick one that covers your specific gaps rather than installing several.

Tips for Getting the Most From Elementor Free

A few practical habits make a real difference when you’re staying on the free plan:

Use the Container element instead of Sections and Columns. Elementor’s newer Flexbox Container gives you more layout flexibility and produces cleaner HTML than the older Section/Column system. Enable it under Elementor > Settings > Features.
Add a separate form plugin for contact forms. WPForms Lite and Contact Form 7 are both free, work well alongside Elementor, and let you drop a form anywhere on a page using a widget or shortcode.
Use the free template library early. Browse available section blocks when you’re setting up a page. Many of them are well-designed and save hours compared to building from a blank canvas. You can import a section and then swap out the content for your own.
Keep your page count reasonable. Elementor stores each page’s layout data in the database. On shared hosting, very large numbers of Elementor pages can slow things down. Focus Elementor on your key pages and use your theme’s default templates for simpler posts.
Stick with the Hello theme to avoid CSS conflicts. Even if your current theme claims Elementor compatibility, Hello is the safest choice if you’re building custom layouts.

Elementor Free vs Pro: When It’s Worth Upgrading

The free version handles individual page building well. If you only need to design specific pages (a homepage, a services page, a landing page or two), free is enough for the long term. Many small business sites run entirely on Elementor Free without any issues.

Upgrading to Pro makes sense when you need control over your entire site’s structure. If you want a custom header with its own layout, a footer that matches your brand, a consistent single post template for your blog, or WooCommerce product pages that match the rest of your design, those features require Pro. The same applies if you need the Popup Builder, dynamic tags for custom fields, or the Loop Builder for custom post type archives.

A useful benchmark: if you’re editing your header in your theme customizer and wishing you could use Elementor there instead, that’s the clearest sign Pro is worth the cost. If you’re happy leaving the header to your theme and just want control over page content, the free version will take you a long way. You can also read more about Elementor in WordPress to understand how the plugin fits into a full site setup before deciding.

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Why Use Elementor?

Elementor is one of the most widely used page builders for WordPress because it solves a real problem: WordPress themes give you a layout, but they rarely give you design control. With Elementor, you can place any element anywhere on a page and see the result instantly, without writing code.

Here is what that means in practice for different types of sites:

Small business sites: Instead of being locked into your theme’s contact page layout, you can build a custom layout with a map, business hours, and a contact form in a grid that matches your brand.
Freelancers and agencies: You can deliver custom-looking pages to clients without writing HTML for every project. Once you build a section you like, Elementor lets you save it as a reusable block and drop it into future projects.
Landing pages: You can move a call-to-action button above the fold, adjust spacing on mobile separately from desktop, and test different layouts without touching CSS. These changes affect conversion rates, and Elementor makes them accessible without a developer.
Bloggers: The free version handles static pages well. If you only need to design your homepage, about page, and a few landing pages, you may never need to upgrade.

The visual editing also has a practical benefit for site owners who update their own content: Elementor’s interface is much easier to work with than raw HTML, so non-technical users can make routine edits without breaking the layout.

How Much is Elementor?

The core Elementor plugin is free and stays free. You can install it from the WordPress plugin repository, activate it, and use the visual editor with all 40+ free widgets without paying anything or entering a credit card. The free version does not expire and does not limit the number of pages you can build.

Elementor Pro is the paid upgrade. It adds the Theme Builder (for editing headers, footers, and single post templates), the Popup Builder, the Form widget with email integrations, WooCommerce-specific widgets, dynamic tags, and the Loop Builder for custom post type archives. Pricing for Elementor Pro has been in the range of $59 per year for one site, with higher tiers for multiple sites. Check the Elementor website for current pricing, as it has changed over time.

When is the free version enough? If you are building a site where your theme handles the header, footer, and blog layout, and you only need Elementor for designing specific pages such as your homepage, services page, and landing pages, the free version covers everything. Many small business sites run entirely on Elementor Free for years without any issue.

When does Pro become worth the cost? When you want your entire site’s design to come from Elementor, including a custom header, custom footer, a consistent single post template, or WooCommerce product pages that match the rest of your design, that is when Pro pays for itself quickly compared to hiring a developer for one-off changes.

How to Get Extensions for Free

A large category of third-party plugins exists specifically to add extra widgets and features to Elementor’s free version. These are sometimes called add-ons or Elementor addons, and several well-maintained options are available at no cost:

Essential Addons for Elementor: One of the most popular, with 90+ widgets including post grids, filterable galleries, countdown timers, advanced tabs, and WooCommerce product carousels. The free tier alone adds significant capability. Available in the WordPress plugin repository.
ElementsKit Lite: Adds a header and footer builder, sticky columns, advanced nav menus, and a number of layout widgets. The header and footer builder makes it worth installing for sites that want some template control without Elementor Pro.
HappyAddons (HappyElementor): Includes scroll effects, advanced tooltips, a clone widget, and several layout widgets not available in Elementor Free. The free tier has a solid widget set.
Unlimited Elements for Elementor (Free): A widget marketplace approach. You browse and install individual widgets rather than getting a full bundle. Useful if you only need one or two specific things rather than a large widget set.

The practical approach: identify the one or two specific gaps you have in Elementor Free, for example a post grid widget or a filterable portfolio, then install the add-on that covers those gaps specifically. Installing multiple add-on plugins with overlapping widget sets adds unnecessary page weight and complicates future updates.

Problems with Free Extensions

Every Elementor add-on plugin you install adds CSS and JavaScript to your pages. Most of these plugins load their assets across the entire site rather than only on the pages where their widgets are actually used. On a page with no ElementsKit widgets, ElementsKit’s CSS still loads. The more add-on plugins you run, the heavier your pages become, and page load time is a real factor in both search rankings and visitor experience.

Here is how to manage this:

Install only what you actually use: If you installed three add-on plugins but only use widgets from one of them, uninstall the other two. Inactive widgets still load code on your pages if the plugin is active.
Check asset loading settings: Some add-on plugins include a setting to disable loading their scripts on pages where none of their widgets are used. Essential Addons, for example, has an “Optimized Asset Loading” option in its settings. Enable it.
Test with a caching plugin: WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, and similar tools can minimize and combine the CSS and JavaScript from add-on plugins, which reduces the practical performance cost of having multiple add-ons active.
Benchmark before and after: Use Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix before and after installing an add-on to see what the actual performance cost is. Some plugins are well-optimized; others are not. Testing removes the guesswork.

Free extensions are not inherently problematic. The risk comes from installing too many without checking whether you are actually using their widgets, and from plugins that load all their assets everywhere regardless of page content.

Final Word: How to Use Elementor in WordPress for Free

Elementor’s free version covers a lot of ground: drag-and-drop layouts, 40+ widgets, and the ability to build full pages without code. For a straightforward informational or portfolio site, the free version handles most of what you need.

The free version also includes entrance animation controls for every widget, section, and column. Under the Advanced tab, the Motion Effects panel lets you add scroll-triggered fade-ins, slide-ups, and zoom effects without any add-on plugin. For the full step-by-step, see our guide on how to add scroll effects in WordPress.

Where you’ll hit limits is with WooCommerce stores, dynamic templates, and marketing features. The WooCommerce Single Product builder, for example, lets you design custom product page layouts that apply across your whole store. That’s an Elementor Pro feature. See our guide on editing WooCommerce product pages in Elementor if you’re evaluating whether to upgrade. For popup triggers, the Form widget with email integration, and role-based visibility, Pro is also required. Think about which of those you actually need before deciding.

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