Interface and user experience (UI/UX)
Speed and performance
Built-in features and tools
Extensibility and third-party add-ons
Compatibility with WordPress themes and plugins
Load speed and optimisation
The free version against the paid one
Support, updates and the user community
Which is better?
As one of the most popular content management systems in the world, WordPress offers a great many capabilities for designing and building web pages. For many users, though, writing HTML and CSS is not straightforward. Plugins for designing pages by drag and drop were therefore developed. Among them, two have attracted more attention than the rest: Visual Composer and Elementor. Visual Composer is one of the first page builder plugins in the WordPress world, offering a graphical interface that made it possible to build custom pages without writing code. In the past it was installed by default alongside many popular themes and was something of a pioneer in the field. Over time, the team behind Visual Composer released a newer, more advanced version, distinguished from its predecessor (WPBakery Page Builder).
Elementor, by contrast, was released in 2016 and found its place among WordPress users remarkably quickly. Focusing on ease of use, live editing and a high degree of compatibility with themes and plugins, Elementor became one of the most popular page builders in the world. It has both a free version and a professional (Pro) version offering more advanced capabilities. At present both plugins are serious options for designing custom pages in WordPress. Choosing between them depends on your needs, on the user experience and on the features you are looking for. In what follows we compare these two page builders from a number of angles so that you can finally choose the best option for your project.
Interface and user experience (UI/UX)
One of the most important factors in a page builder's success is a simple interface and a smooth user experience. Both Elementor and Visual Composer have tried to make designing pages simple, fast and enjoyable, but there are fundamental differences in how they are designed and how they interact with the user.
Elementor's interface
Elementor is known for its live editing approach: every change you make to a page is visible on it immediately. That gives users a fuller sense of control over the design and removes any need for a preview or a page reload.
Elementor's interface is clean, orderly and minimal. All the tools and widgets sit in a panel on the left, and dragging them onto the canvas adds the various parts quickly. Text can also be edited in place, which speeds design up.
Visual Composer's interface
Visual Composer also uses drag and drop, but its interface is not as modern or as smooth as Elementor's. Users generally move between the front-end view (the live site) and the back end (editing within the WordPress admin). That can be confusing for some users, beginners in particular.
Visual Composer's tool panel opens at the top of the page or as a pop-up and is graphically more complicated than Elementor's. In some versions, delays in loading or slight lag have been observed, which makes working with it less smooth than with Elementor.
An overall UI/UX comparison
If you are after a simple, lag-free and entirely visual experience, Elementor is the better choice. Elementor focuses more on fast, immediate design, while Visual Composer still relies on an older structure. Some professional users, though, may make good use of Visual Composer's more complicated tools for finer settings.
Speed and performance
A site's load speed is one of the most important factors in the user experience and in search engine optimisation (SEO). Using page builder plugins, particularly those with heavy graphical capabilities, can affect a site's speed. In this section we look at how Visual Composer and Elementor perform in terms of speed and efficiency.
Elementor's performance
Elementor performs reasonably well in code optimisation and resource management, particularly in the newer versions where a good deal of optimisation has been done to the CSS and JavaScript structure. Overusing widgets and complicated graphical elements can still increase page weight, however.
Lazy loading, fewer HTTP requests and the ability to disable certain scripts in Elementor Pro let users control and refine their site's performance considerably. Using caching and a CDN can also improve Elementor's performance effectively.
Visual Composer's performance
Because of its more complicated structure, Visual Composer usually adds more HTML and more CSS/JS files to a page. In many cases, pages built with Visual Composer have longer load times than those built with Elementor, particularly where a page uses a large number of graphical elements or animations.
Some studies have found that pages built with Visual Composer score lower in speed tests such as Google PageSpeed or GTmetrix than pages designed with Elementor. That difference can vary depending on the theme, on server settings and on other active plugins.
A conclusion on performance
Compared directly, Elementor performs better than Visual Composer in page load speed and code optimisation. To reach good performance in either, though, optimisation techniques such as compressing images, using caching and removing unnecessary plugins have to be applied. Professional users for whom performance is the priority usually prefer Elementor.
Built-in features and tools
One of the main criteria in choosing a page builder is the features and tools it offers by default. By built-in tools we mean the widgets, the design elements, the editing capabilities and the settings for responsive and advanced design. The more of these there are, and the more flexible they are, the more precisely a user can design without needing third-party add-ons. In this section we compare Elementor's and Visual Composer's built-in features.
Elementor's features
Elementor's free version offers more than 30 useful widgets, including basic elements such as button, image, text, icon, contact form, tabs, slider, Google Maps and others. In the Pro version that set extends to more than 90 widgets and includes more advanced tools such as a professional form builder, advanced sliders, portfolio displays, a newsletter sign-up form, pricing tables, WooCommerce product filters, animations and more.
Elementor also makes it possible to design headers, footers, archives, 404 pages and bespoke templates for posts through its Theme Builder. That lets users design a whole site without writing code.
Visual Composer's features
Visual Composer likewise comes with a wide set of modules. The free version has a more limited set of tools, but the professional version gives the user more than 100 design elements and widgets. They include advanced galleries, counters, charts, tables, forms, progress bars and particular elements for social networks.
Visual Composer also has a tree view for managing a page's structure and advanced tools for responsive design. Users can also draw on a great many ready-made templates, design patterns and an internal library for saving and reusing designs.
An overall comparison of features
Broadly, both page builders offer a variety of features, but Elementor gives a better user experience where built-in features are concerned, thanks to live editing, quick access to widgets and wider scope for customisation. Visual Composer, with a more orderly structure for managing a page's elements and finer settings for some modules, may be more appealing to professional users who need a high level of control.
Extensibility and third-party add-ons
A powerful page builder is not defined by its built-in features alone; it also has to be highly extensible. That means being able to add new capabilities through third-party add-ons or through bespoke programming by developers. In this section we look at the extensibility of Elementor and Visual Composer.
Elementor's extensibility
Elementor has a large community of developers, and hundreds of third-party add-ons have been built for it. These add professional widgets, advanced animation, pop-up design, WooCommerce product filters, custom galleries and dozens of other capabilities.
Well-known add-ons such as:
Elementor Pro
Essential Addons for Elementor
Crocoblock JetPlugins
PowerPack for Elementor
are among the tools that extend Elementor's power and flexibility to those of an all-purpose page builder.
Elementor also provides a very good API for developers, so that they can design bespoke widgets or align Elementor with a theme and other plugins.
Visual Composer's extensibility
Visual Composer is also highly extensible, and many third-party add-ons have been designed for it, among them:
Ultimate Addons for WPBakery
Composium
Templatera
These tools give users a set of custom modules, animations, complex layouts and particular capabilities.
One point worth noting, though, is the difference between the new Visual Composer and WPBakery Page Builder (the older version). Similar as their names are, the two follow separate development paths and some add-ons are compatible with only one of them. That can make choosing third-party add-ons a challenge.
An overall comparison of extensibility
On the whole, with its larger developer community, better documentation, wider range of third-party add-ons and steadier development, Elementor has a marked advantage over Visual Composer in extensibility. The greater compatibility of add-ons with Elementor's various versions also makes things simpler for users.
Compatibility with WordPress themes and plugins
One of the fundamental factors in choosing a page builder is how compatible it is with different themes and with other widely used WordPress plugins. If a page builder does not sit well with the rest of a site, problems such as a broken design, slow performance or even complete incompatibility can arise. In this section we look at how compatible Elementor and Visual Composer are.
Elementor's compatibility with themes and plugins
Since its introduction, Elementor has been made to work with many of the leading WordPress themes: Astra, Hello Elementor, OceanWP, GeneratePress, Neve and other light, well-optimised themes. Some themes have even been designed specifically for Elementor so that users can make full use of the page builder without restriction.
On plugins too, Elementor is fully compatible with most popular WordPress plugins, among them:
WooCommerce
Yoast SEO
Rank Math
WPML
Contact Form 7
Mailchimp
LearnDash
and many others. That makes using Elementor easier in shop, education, news and other kinds of website project.
Visual Composer's compatibility with themes and plugins
Visual Composer is also compatible with many WordPress themes, particularly those that used to be supplied with the WPBakery version. Some themes, though, need a particular version or supplementary add-ons in order to use Visual Composer.
On plugins too, Visual Composer is compatible with most widely used tools, but in themes with a more complicated structure it may run into limits in designing parts such as footers or archives.
One point to bear in mind is that Visual Composer has split into two separate branches: the newer version (Visual Composer Website Builder) and the older one (WPBakery Page Builder). That can leave some users unsure whether a particular theme or plugin is compatible.
A summary on compatibility
In this comparison, Elementor has wider, simpler and more trouble-free compatibility with popular WordPress themes and plugins. Theme developers also generally treat Elementor as the main page builder for their sites, which shows how well established it is in the WordPress ecosystem.
Load speed and optimisation
One of the main concerns for anyone running a website is page load speed. No user wants to wait several seconds for a page to open, and search engines regard slowness as a negative factor in ranking. Choosing a page builder that does not weigh a site down therefore matters a great deal.
Load speed in Elementor
For all its wide range of features and its live editing, Elementor adds more code to a page than some simpler page builders. That can affect load speed in some cases, particularly where a page uses a large number of widgets. In recent versions, though, the Elementor team has tried to make it more efficient by adding features such as load on demand (loading modules only when they are needed).
Elementor also works well with plugins such as WP Rocket, Autoptimize and Perfmatters, and with a little configuration the speed can be improved considerably. Well-optimised themes such as Hello Elementor likewise help make a site lighter and faster alongside Elementor.
Load speed in Visual Composer
Compared with Elementor, Visual Composer produces relatively simpler code and sometimes performs better on simple pages. That advantage is only felt, though, where complicated and numerous elements are not used. On projects with a heavy design or a lot of animation, Visual Composer can also slow down.
At the same time, its back-end structure works better for some customised themes or enterprise websites and gets less caught up in heavy graphical layers.
A final comparison on speed
In practice, both page builders perform much the same on light projects. On more complicated projects, though, Elementor may be slightly heavier because it loads more code. That can readily be optimised with caching, compression and a CDN.
Broadly, if load speed is vital to you, using light themes, well-optimised images and a limited number of widgets (in either page builder) is the main key to keeping a good speed.
The free version against the paid one
Many users like to try a plugin's free version before buying the premium one, in order to become acquainted with what it offers and how it performs. In this section we look at the differences between the free and paid versions of Elementor and Visual Composer, to see at what level each answers users' needs.
Elementor's free version
Elementor is one of the most generous page builders in its free version. In it, users have access to:
Live design (drag and drop)
More than 30 useful widgets (text, image, button, video, divider and so on)
Support for responsive design
Free ready-made templates
For many simple or personal websites, the free version alone can be enough. To use more advanced capabilities such as a bespoke header and footer, an advanced form builder, WooCommerce or a pop-up builder, though, you have to buy the Pro version.
Elementor's paid version
Elementor Pro offers a wide range of capabilities:
More than 90 advanced widgets
Theme Builder (for designing a whole site)
Professional capabilities for a WooCommerce shop
Designing custom forms
Animations, effects and more interactive capabilities
Dedicated support
Its price is around $59 a year for one site, which many users consider good value given what it offers.
Visual Composer's free version
Visual Composer also offers a free version providing the basic capabilities for designing a page, but compared with Elementor it has fewer widgets, and some key capabilities such as designing theme parts or custom modules are available only in the paid version.
Visual Composer's paid version
Visual Composer's premium version provides the following:
More than 300 ready-made elements
The ability to design a header, footer and sidebar
Integration with e-commerce and multilingual plugins
Advanced responsive design
Professional templates and blocks
Its price starts at $49 a year for one site, with different plans depending on the features and the support.
If you want to use the free version, Elementor is the better option, because it gives the user more. In the paid version, both page builders are powerful and professional, and the final choice will depend on the project's needs, the design style and the user's experience.
Support, updates and the user community
Important as technical capability and user experience are in choosing a page builder, strong support, regular updates and an active community are also key factors in users' long-term satisfaction. In this section we look at Elementor and Visual Composer in terms of support and community.
Support and updates in Elementor
Since its release, Elementor has issued regular updates and added new capabilities in successive versions — the Loop Builder, Flexbox support and advanced settings for SEO and responsiveness among them. Its updates are implemented very carefully, both for security and for technical features.
Elementor Pro users have dedicated support by ticket and email. A large body of documentation, tutorials and guides is also available on Elementor's official site, which makes learning easier.
Elementor's user community
Elementor's user community is very active. There are official forums and many unofficial groups on social networks, Telegram, Facebook and YouTube where users share their experience, tutorials and third-party add-ons. Many add-ons extending Elementor's capabilities have also been designed by independent developers, which is a sign of the tool's popularity and vitality.
Support and updates in Visual Composer
Visual Composer also offers dedicated support to its paying users and regularly releases updates to improve performance, add new elements or fix technical problems. The interval between updates is sometimes longer than Elementor's, however.
Visual Composer's user community
Visual Composer's community is not as large as Elementor's, but it still has many loyal users, particularly those using the WPBakery version on older projects. Its official documentation is complete and understandable, but unofficial learning resources are less varied and less extensive than Elementor's.
In support and in its relationship with users, Elementor is in a stronger position — in how quickly it answers, in learning resources, and in having a rich ecosystem of add-ons and an active developer community. That helps users become familiar with the tool in less time and use it across a range of projects.
Which is better?
Given all of the above, it is now time to consider which of the two page builders, Elementor or Visual Composer, suits you better. The answer depends on your project's particular needs and on your level of experience.
Elementor: best for modern designers and advanced websites
If you are after a modern page builder with live editing, advanced capabilities and a great deal of scope for customisation, Elementor may be the right option. With more than 90 advanced widgets, responsive design, professional tools for WooCommerce shops and wide capabilities for designing headers, footers and other parts of a site, it is an ideal choice for an advanced website. Its active community and abundant learning resources also help you make use of what it offers readily.
Visual Composer: suited to simple projects and to existing themes
Visual Composer, by contrast, is a good option for those who need a simpler page builder with less code. If your site does not need complicated design features, or if you are using a ready-made theme already compatible with Visual Composer, this page builder may be the better choice. If you are after speed and simplicity in design, Visual Composer can give you a good experience.
A final conclusion
If you want a complicated design and professional capabilities for an advanced site, Elementor is certainly better. If your site is simple, or you are using a ready-made theme compatible with Visual Composer, Visual Composer may be the better option. In the end, choosing between these two tools depends on your needs and your preferences. Both have their own characteristics and advantages and can perform well on different projects.
