SiteOrigin and Elementor are two well-known page builders, but which one will be better for your website and landing pages?
At Siteefy, we love comparing page builders to find the best. This time, we’re taking a closer look at Elementor vs. SiteOrigin to see which one stands out.
Comparison Table
| Comparison Point | SiteOrigin | Elementor |
|---|---|---|
| ✨User Interface | Back-end and front-end editing | Front-end drag-and-drop with split-screen view |
| 📝Inline Editing | ❌No | ✅Yes |
| ⬇️ Active Installations | 600,000+ | 10+million👏 |
| 🏆 Trustpilot Reviews | ❌No | 3.9 |
| 🏆WP.org Reviews | 4.8 | 4.6 |
| 💫Free To Use | ✅Yes | ✅Yes |
| 💰Pricing | Premium add-ons starting at $29/year👍 | Elementor Pro plans start at $59/year |
| ✳️ Free Widgets | 26+ | 32+ |
| 🌌 Free Templates | 26 | 38+ |
| ⭕ Shortcode/Code Behavior | Some widgets generate shortcodes | Reverts to WordPress editor, no leftover code |
Elementor vs SiteOrigin Page Builder Overview
👉 SiteOrigin
Pros:
→ Plenty of add-ons (Premium)
→ Regular updates (Premium)
→ Email support (Premium)
→ Compatible with a lot of WP themes and plugins
Cons:
→ Few front-end editing options, requiring back-end editing
→ Complex UI for beginners
→ SiteOrigin’s editor looks dated compared to others
SiteOrigin is a WordPress theme and plugin creation studio from South Africa.
With 600,000+ active installs on WordPress.org, SiteOrigin Page Builder is one of the most popular WordPress page builders out there.
👉 Elementor
Pros:
→ Feature-rich WordPress page builder
→ Intuitive UI and design and easy to learn
→ Plenty of customization options
→ Mobile friendly & completely responsive
→ Works with almost every WordPress theme and plugin out there
→ Additional tools like Elementor Popup Builder and Elementor Form Builder
→ Active community & support resources
Cons:
→ Learning curve
→ Some users report speed issues in the free version
→ Essential plan has increased from $49 to $59
Elementor has been on the market since 2016 and can today boast an impressive 10+ million active installs on WordPress.org.
This puts it on the same page with the most popular WordPress plugins like Yoast, WooCommerce, and Akismet for instance.
So, Elementor is insanely popular today.
You can create websites without having any coding knowledge with the Elementor page builder. It’s easy to use and has many features that will allow you to get what you are looking for quickly!
Elementor Pro Showcase
See the real websites built with Elementor Pro
User Interface: Elementor vs SiteOrigin Page Builder
The user interface is one of the most important things in a WordPress page builder since you’re going to spend a lot of time in the content editor interface alone. Let’s see what SiteOrigin and Elementor have to offer here.
✨ SiteOrigin User Interface
SiteOrigin has both back-end and front-end editing functionalities.
The back-end editor allows you to design pages by moving boxes and placing them on your page using the drag-and-drop functionality the page builder offers.
On the front-end editor, the SiteOrigin Page Builder screen has two parts.
On the left side, you can drag and drop elements while the right side serves as the live preview. You can’t drag and drop elements on this side.
Compared to Elementor, live editing on SiteOrigin feels quite basic.
✨ Elementor User Interface
Elementor is a front-end drag and drop editor that also divides your screen in two.
Unlike SiteOrigin though, you can take elements from the left side and place them where you want on the right side.
Since Elementor is a real-time visual page builder editor, you can see a live preview of your design as you’re editing. So, it’s a 100% WYSIWYG WordPress front-end editor.
Elementor also has real-time “inline editing”, which allows you to click on the text in the live preview and edit it. SiteOrigin doesn’t have this feature.
Widget Comparison of Elementor and SiteOrigin
Every plugin needs a good widget or two. Let’s take a look at what widgets Elementor and SiteOrigin page builder plugins include.
🟪 SiteOrigin Page Builder Widgets
SiteOrigin has its own Widget Bundle which includes 26 different widgets, including a video widget, a widget for social media buttons, or a price table widget, just to pick a few.
In addition, SiteOrigin Page Builder supports WordPress core widgets.
🟪 Elementor Widgets
On the other hand, Elementor offers over 30 widgets in the free version and 100+ more in the Elementor Pro, so considerably more than SiteOrigin does.
⚡See the full list of all Elementor widgets here ➜
Layouts & Design Options: SiteOrigin vs Elementor
Creating visually stunning sites and web pages is hard without some page templates and layouts, so here’s what SiteOrigin and Elementor have to offer when it comes to design options:
✳️ SiteOrigin Templates, Layouts, and Design Options
SiteOrigin Page Builder offers 26 pre-built templates that you can import and edit. However, when we last tested the templates (for the purpose of writing this article, as a part of our testing process) – many of the templates loaded incorrectly or did not work at all!
In the SiteOrigin Page Builder, you have Rows and Columns. Each row can include one or more columns. In addition, you can use the drag and drop interface to adjust how wide you want your content elements to be.
Unfortunately, there’s no option to save your customized pages as templates, but you can clone a page built with the WordPress page builder instead.
✳️ Elementor Page Builder Templates, Layouts, and Design Options
🔥See all Elementor Templates (live demos) here ➜
Elementor offers 100+ full website kits compared to that. Most of these are available only in the Elementor Pro. That leaves around 30+ templates in the Elementor Free.
Just like SiteOrigin, Elementor has two layout elements that you can use – Sections and Columns and you can adjust the width of the columns using the drag and drop functionality of Elementor.
Code Quality
Some page builders don’t follow the best practices when it comes to source code, so you’ll see a lot of web developers avoiding them.
However, a lot of WordPress page builders today are making big steps in improving their code quality and that includes SiteOrigin and Elementor.
So let’s take a look at what they’ll leave behind if you deactivate them.
Unfortunately, some specialized widgets will leave a code behind on SiteOrigin. For example, this includes the SiteOrigin Editor widget.
For most widgets, SiteOrigin will leave no shortcode behind.
On the other hand, Elementor leaves no code behind when you deactivate it and instead reverts to the regular WordPress editor.
⚡ Check also: Divi vs Elementor
SiteOrigin vs Elementor: Price Comparison
Are SiteOrigin and Elementor the best page builders for your wallet? Both offer a free version with a few basic features, but for more, here are the prices for premium versions of both WordPress page builders.
💰 SiteOrigin Premium Pricing
SiteOrigin Page Builder offers three premium version plans to choose from. They have a yearly subscription or a single-year license:
- Single – $29
- Business -$49
- Developer -$99
SiteOrigin Premium has a 60-day full money-back guarantee.
💰 Elementor Pro Pricing
Elementor has a few more premium version plans (Elementor Pro) to offer compared to SiteOrigin:
- Essential – $59
- Advanced – $99
- Expert – $199
- Agency – $399
Elementor also has a free version (Elementor Free) and a 30-day money-back guarantee on all Elementor Pro plans. Learn more about Elementor’s refund policy here.
Why Elementor Edges Out SiteOrigin: Our View
Which one is the best WordPress page builder? SiteOrigin or Elementor Page Builder?
It depends on what kind of website or landing page you want to create.
SiteOrigin offers:
→ Front-end and back-end editor
→ The custom post-type builder
→ Ability to use custom CSS
Elementor offers:
→ More templates, layouts and design options
→ Better front-end editor, with an inline text editor
→ Many more widgets (especially with the Elementor Pro)
Our vote goes to Elementor. Here’s why:
Let’s say I’m a beginner trying to choose between SiteOrigin and Elementor, and I’m having a hard time deciding which one to use.
Outdated Information on SiteOrigin
If I’m just starting out, I want the most current information to help me learn. Unfortunately, SiteOrigin feels a bit outdated. The design seems old, and finding new tutorials is tricky.
For example, most of the videos on their YouTube channel are from 7-8 years ago, which doesn’t help much when you’re new and need the latest guidance.
User Reviews Comparison
When I checked user reviews, I noticed SiteOrigin has over 1,000 reviews on WordPress.org, but only a few are recent. Most are from 3 years ago or more, so it’s hard to know what people think about it today. As a beginner, this makes it tough to get a clear picture of its current strengths and weaknesses.
Elementor’s Active Development
On the other hand, Elementor seems much more up-to-date. They keep adding new tutorials and have even introduced an AI website builder feature. Our research shows that, despite a learning curve, many users find Elementor one of the easiest builders to use—great news for beginners.
Popularity and Preference
Elementor’s popularity, with over 10 million installations compared to SiteOrigin’s 600,000+, suggests that more people are choosing Elementor. This makes me think it might be the better option for beginners, but of course, that’s just my opinion.
I’d really like to hear from others, especially if you’ve tried both. Which page builder do you prefer—SiteOrigin or Elementor?
And what’s your experience been like? 🙂
⚡ Check also:
Can pages created with SiteOrigin Page Builder be edited using Elementor, and if so, how?
Yes, pages created with SiteOrigin Page Builder can be edited using Elementor. To do this, follow these steps:
– Install and activate the Elementor plugin if you haven’t already.
– Open the page you want to edit in your WordPress dashboard.
– Click on the “Edit with Elementor” button, which should appear near the top of the page editor.
– Elementor will attempt to convert the existing SiteOrigin content into its own format. This process may not be perfect, so you may need to make some adjustments to ensure the layout and design are preserved.
– Edit the page using Elementor’s visual editor, and save your changes when you’re finished.
Please note that switching between page builders can sometimes cause issues with formatting and layout, so it is recommended to create a backup of your page before editing with a different builder.