After years of experience working with WordPress users and a detailed comparison of Gutenberg vs Elementor, we came to some final conclusions.
Here are the takeaways:
Gutenberg’s features are simpler than those from Elementor. They’re great for the basics of web design, but power users will want the advanced style settings and content blocks from Elementor.
Gutenberg’s user interface is built into WordPress, whereas Elementor’s will always be a third-party plugin. However, the user experience is seamless in Elementor, and it’s much harder to simply drag and drop an element in Gutenberg.
Performance-wise, both Gutenberg and Elementor perform well. Our tests showed that. Regardless, you may encounter page speed slowdowns. The primary way around that is with a quality host like Kinsta.
Gutenberg is always free, but you’re stuck with what’s there. Elementor has a powerful free version with the option to upgrade for more features and real customer support.
Gutenberg and Elementor are compatible with a wide range of WordPress themes and plugins.
The backend editing in Gutenberg provides a visually pleasing interface with quick styling options. Frontend editing doesn’t exist. You can, however, see a live frontend view in the backend editor. Elementor only offers backend editing as well, but with a real preview that shows everything from the frontend.
Gutenberg has section templates but nothing else. Elementor is packed with section, website, page, header, and landing page templates, all of which require a premium plan.
Customer support for Gutenberg is contained in user forums and whatever blog posts you can find about it. Paying WordPress.com users can get assistance with Gutenberg. Paying Elementor users receive human support, while free users gain access to many online resources, including a knowledgebase.