Are you a WordPress user who has experienced the frustration of a slow-loading website, or wondered why perfectly designed pages are not climbing search rankings as they should? Many website owners and developers struggle with optimizing their online presence for both speed and visibility.
Elementor is a hugely popular WordPress page builder. It has drag-and-drop visual design features and a rich template library. It lets anyone create custom pages without coding by dragging in widgets (text, images, forms, etc.) and arranging them freely on the page.
Even the free version of Elementor comes with 40+ widgets and a template library, while Elementor Pro adds 100+ widgets, theme-building, and advanced effects.
While Elementor offers impressive design flexibility and ease of use, its architectural approach can lead to performance issues. For these reasons, users seek an alternative to Elementor.
Fortunately, many strong alternative page builders can give you a similar drag-and-drop design power but with different strengths in speed, cost, or features. In this article, we’ll explore what to consider in an alternative to Elementor page builder.
Picking the right page builder matters. It affects how your website looks and how well it works. In 2025, there are more choices than ever. But what makes one stand out? Here are the things that really matter.
Speed and Performance: Speed comes first. A good builder keeps your website fast. It should use simple, light code. Fast websites make users happy and help with Google rankings. Builders that create clean HTML, efficient CSS, and smart JavaScript are the best. The faster, the better, even though no builder is as light as hand-coding.
Core Web Vitals: Google looks at three things: how fast the page loads (LCP), how quickly it reacts (INP), and how stable it looks while loading (CLS). These are called Core Web Vitals. The best builders help you score high in these right away. This is key for good SEO and user experience.
Clean Code Output: Clean code is important. The builder should not fill your site with messy or extra code. Simple code makes it easier for Google to understand your site. That helps your SEO and keeps things tidy.
SEO Features: SEO plugins for WordPress help, but your page builder should not get in the way. It should let you set titles, descriptions, and use schema markup easily. Good builders don’t block Google from reading your content. It should also work well with WordPress SEO plugins, sitemaps, and CDNs.
Easy to Use: A good page builder is easy. Drag and drop. No coding needed. It should work smoothly, even for big or complicated pages. This means anyone can build a website without any technical skills.
Design Flexibility: You should be able to change layouts, spacing, fonts, and make your site look good on any device. Good builders let you set global styles so everything matches, saving time and effort.
Theme Building: Want full control? The best builders let you design everything: headers, footers, blog pages, and even WooCommerce shops. This keeps your whole site looking consistent.
Works With Other Tools: Your builder should play nicely with other plugins, like WooCommerce, SEO plugins, and WordPress form builder plugin. Easy integration makes your site more powerful.
Support and Community: Good support is a must. You need clear guides, tutorials, and help when you’re stuck. A strong community means you can learn from others and find answers fast.
Pricing and Value: Look at the price. Some builders are one-time purchases; others need yearly payments. Check what’s included and what costs extra. Think about long-term value, not just the first price.
Choosing the best page builder depends on your project and workflow. Here are some tips:
Assess Your Project Needs: Are you a blogger who needs a simple, fast site with a few pages? A marketer building landing pages? An agency doing many client sites or eCommerce stores? For example, a conversion-focused site may benefit from Thrive Architect’s marketing widgets, while a developer might get more benefits with Bricks or Oxygen for total control.
Prioritize Speed vs. Flexibility: People search for alternatives for speed and performance. If absolute speed and minimal code are your priority, choose builders like Oxygen, Bricks, or Breakdance, which optimize performance. If ease and features matter more, Divi or Beaver are user-friendly, though a bit heavier.
Consider Pricing and Scale: Calculate how many sites you need to build. Builders like Divi and Beaver have unlimited-site licenses from the start, which can be cost-effective for agencies. Oxygen’s one-time fee might appeal to long-term projects. If budget is tight, free/core builders like Brizy or Breakdance’s free tier.
Test the Interface: Since you’ll spend hours in the editor, try the free versions or demos. Notice if the UI feels intuitive. Users love Brizy for its clean inline editor, while some find Oxygen’s UI more technical and less WYSIWYG.
Check Compatibility: Make sure it works with your theme and plugins. Oxygen is a full theme replacement, so it doesn’t use your active theme, whereas Breakdance and Divi work with any theme. If you use multilingual plugins, membership systems, or heavy eCommerce, verify that there are integrations or third-party addons.
Read Reviews: Look at user reviews and performance tests. For speed, see if the builder achieves high PageSpeed scores.
Ultimately, the right choice matches your skillset and goals. I will break down each top Elementor alternatives below.
Below, I look at the leading Elementor alternatives one by one. For each, I describe what it is, its unique features (vs. Elementor), and list key pros and cons from user feedback.
Bricks Builder is a relatively new theme+builder combo designed for speed and flexibility. Most builders are plugins; Bricks is a theme that you use in place of another theme. It provides a visual drag-and-drop interface to design every part of your site.
Bricks is built with performance in mind. It generates clean code, optimized for speed, so sites load very fast. Developers also love that it optimizes semantic markup and accessibility. Its editor is highly flexible, letting you use dynamic data tags and custom CSS for full control.
Notable Features compared to Elementor:
Why consider it: If speed and clean code are high on your list, Bricks is a strong choice. Its lean output helps SEO and page load times. It’s also developer-friendly. If you are looking for a lightweight Elementor alternative for SEO, Bricks can definitely replace Elementor if you don’t mind learning a bit of its unique interface.
| Sites | 1 Website | 3 Website | Unlimited | Unlimited* |
| Plans | $79 / Year | $149/ Year | $249/ Year | $599/ Lifetime |
Oxygen is a powerful visual site builder aimed at advanced users. It’s actually a plugin that takes over theme building entirely. You can design headers, footers, and all page templates using Oxygen’s editor.
Oxygen is obsessed with speed. Its code is extremely lightweight: Oxygen claims its output is 50× leaner than Divi, 25× leaner than Elementor, and 10× leaner than Beaver Builder on a blank page. Oxygen sites often achieve 95 %+ scores on PageSpeed tests.
It also offers deep developer features, uses full CSS Grid or Flex layouts, writes custom PHP or query loops, and integrates ACF for dynamic content. For WooCommerce sites, Oxygen provides 20+ eCommerce elements to fully customize product and checkout pages.
Notable Features compared to Elementor:
Why consider it: Oxygen is the go-to choice for performance geeks and developers. If you need absolute control over design and speed, and plan to handle the learning curve, Oxygen can be the fastest site builder. It’s clean markup really helps SEO and load times. For agencies building custom sites where loading speed is the main factor, Oxygen is a valid alternative to Elementor.
| Basic | WooCommerce | Ultimate | Lifetime Bundle* |
| $129 / Lifetime | $149/ Lifetime | $179/ Lifetime | $199.50/ Lifetime |
Breakdance is a newcomer from Soflyy (the Oxygen team) that aims to be a complete visual page builder (plugin) with modern features. It keeps the performance focus of Oxygen but presents a more familiar plugin interface so you can keep using your own theme. Breakdance is rapidly evolving and has established itself as a fresh and fast builder.
Breakdance offers a fast, smooth editor. Breakdance editor loads fast and has a very clean UI that feels like a native WP tool. It bundles many premium features such as a popup builder, dynamic data, and a WooCommerce builder. The core builder is free and covers unlimited sites.
Notable Features compared to Elementor:
Why consider it: Breakdance is a solid choice if you want a middle ground between performance and polish. Its free version lets you build and speed-test without risk. If you like the idea of an all-in-one builder like popups, conditions, and form builder in one plugin, Breakdance is worth trying.
| Sites | 1 Website | Unlimited Website |
| Duration | $99.99 / Year | $199.99/ Year |
Thrive Architect is a conversion-focused, faster WordPress page builder from Thrive Themes. It’s used by bloggers, marketers, and online businesses who want to build landing pages, sales pages, and content quickly, with built-in conversion elements.
Thrive Architect puts lead generation and marketing tools front and center. It comes with dozens of conversion elements like call-to-action buttons, testimonials, countdown timers, opt-in forms, etc., and 350+ conversion-optimized templates. Its editor is extremely beginner-friendly and super easy to use. It also has handy features like easy revision history, mobile toggles, and global colors.
Notable Features compared to Elementor:
Why consider it: If your main goal is creating high-converting content and landing pages quickly, Thrive Architect is hard to beat. It’s built with speed and marketing in mind. It’s a valid Elementor alternative for bloggers, course creators, and small businesses who want conversion tools built in, without sacrificing page speed or ease of use.
| Plans | 5 Websites | 5 Websites |
| Duration | $149 / Quarterly | $299/ Yearly |
Brizy is a modern WordPress page builder plugin that offers a clean editing experience. It has a free core plugin and a Pro add-on for more features.
Brizy’s notable feature is its decluttered interface. Instead of a sidebar packed with widgets, Brizy shows only what you need; you only see what’s needed. Brizy comes with 500+ pre-designed blocks and 100+ templates. Which makes it easy to build pages quickly.
Notable Features compared to Elementor:
Why consider it: Brizy is a great Elementor alternative if you want something very easy and quick, especially for marketing pages or portfolio sites. It won’t give you every advanced feature, but for basic to intermediate sites, it covers a lot, and it’s fun to use. Its light user interface and strong mobile responsiveness make the design work feel optimized.
| Plans | Personal | Freelancer | Agency | White Label |
| Duration | $59 / Year | $99/ Year | $199/ Year | $299/ Lifetime |
Ultimate Blocks isn’t a traditional page builder; it’s a Gutenberg (WordPress Block Editor) plugin designed to supercharge the native editor with powerful custom blocks. If you want to avoid the performance overhead of heavy page builders but still enjoy advanced design and content elements, Ultimate Blocks is a perfect fit.
Built with speed and SEO in mind, Ultimate Blocks adds 25+ unique blocks such as Content Toggle (Accordion), Testimonial, Call to Action, Review (Schema Enabled), Tabbed Content, and more. Instead of reinventing the wheel, it extends Gutenberg in a lightweight way, letting you build engaging layouts directly inside the editor without relying on third-party builders.
Notable Features compared to Elementor:
Why consider it: If you prefer to keep your site lean and SEO-friendly but still need advanced design and marketing elements, Ultimate Blocks is a strong Elementor alternative. It’s especially ideal for Gutenberg users who want fast-loading, conversion-focused pages without the bloat of a full page builder.
| Yearly | $49 (1 Website) | $99 (10 Websites) | $149 (100 Websites) |
| Lifetime | $149 (1 Website) | $299 (10 Websites) | $449 (100 Websites) |
Divi (by Elegant Themes) is one of the oldest and most famous visual builders. It comes both as a standalone builder plugin and as part of the Divi Theme package. Divi offers a full design framework for building entire websites visually.
Divi shines with sheer variety and polish. It has a huge library of layouts: over 800 templates and 2000+ layout packs. Divi’s design capabilities are extensive: global colors and fonts, advanced hover and animation effects, and a built-in split-testing module. Marketers often love its conversion-focused modules and its WooCommerce elements.
Notable Features compared to Elementor:
Why consider it: Divi is ideal if you want an all-in-one powerhouse that can handle anything from blogs to eCommerce, and you don’t mind investing the time to learn it. Its lifetime license option is also attractive if you plan on using it for years across many projects.
Many designers and agencies rely on Divi’s rich ecosystem. As an alternative to Elementor, Divi matches it feature-for-feature, some even say it offers more in some areas, while often being more cost-effective for multi-site use.
| Plans | Divi | Divi Pro | Divi Lifetime | Divi Lifetime + Pro |
| Duration | $89 / Year | $277/ Year | $249/ Year | $297/ Lifetime |
Beaver Builder is a long-standing drag-and-drop page builder plugin known for its reliability and developer-friendly approach. It works with any theme and emphasizes a white-label friendly design.
Beaver Builder focuses on stability and performance. It has a very clean codebase, which makes it lighter than most page builders. In one head-to-head test, Beaver’s page size was only ~84KB (with 12 requests) versus Elementor’s ~170 KB. Its editor is fully front-end and visual. You drag modules (text, images, sliders, etc.) and see changes instantly without separate editing windows.
Notable Features compared to Elementor:
Why consider it: Beaver Builder is a safe, solid choice, especially for agencies and clients. Its code quality means fewer conflicts and faster sites. It’s easy enough for beginners but also beloved by developers for its hook system and template overrides ability. If you want something that just works with minimal afford, and you appreciate top-tier support, Beaver Builder is a strong Elementor alternative.
| Plans | Starter | Plus | Professional | Unlimited* |
| Duration | $89 / Year | $179/ Year | $299/ Year | $546/ Lifetime |
Choosing the best builder depends on your project and workflow. Here are some tips:
Assess Your Project Needs: Are you a blogger who needs a simple, fast site with a few pages? A marketer building landing pages? An agency doing many client sites or eCommerce stores? For example, a conversion-focused site may benefit from Thrive Architect’s marketing widgets, while a developer’s portfolio might lean on Bricks or Oxygen for total control.
Prioritize Speed vs. Flexibility: If fast speed and minimal code are your priority, go with builders like Oxygen, Bricks, or Breakdance, which increase performance. If ease and features matter more, Divi or Beaver are user-friendly, though a bit heavier.
Consider Pricing and Scale: Calculate how many sites you need to build. Builders like Divi and Beaver have unlimited-site licenses from the start, which can be cost-effective for agencies. Oxygen’s one-time fee might appeal to long-term projects. If budget is tight, free/core builders like Brizy (with a free starter plan) or Breakdance’s free tier may suffice.
Test the Interface: Since you’ll spend hours in the editor, try the free versions or demos. Notice if the UI feels intuitive. Users love Brizy for its clean inline editor, while some find Oxygen’s UI more technical and less WYSIWYG.
Check Compatibility: Make sure it works with your theme and plugins. For instance, Oxygen is a full theme replacement (so it doesn’t use your active theme), whereas Breakdance and Divi work with any theme. If you use multilingual plugins, membership systems, or heavy eCommerce, verify that there are integrations or third-party addons.
Read Reviews: Look at user reviews and performance tests. For speed, see if the builder achieves high PageSpeed scores out of the box. For example, WPBeginner found Thrive Architect producing a 99/100 GTmetrix score and outpacing competitors.
Ultimately, the right choice matches your skillset and goals. We’ll break down each leading alternative below, then provide a comparison and a quick decision guide at the end.
Elementor is a fantastic page builder, but it’s not the only tool in town. As we’ve seen, many smart alternatives may give you faster performance, more flexible pricing, or specialized features.
For example, Oxygen and Bricks are speed demons thanks to their ultra-clean code; Thrive Architect and Beaver focus on ease and conversions; Divi and Beaver stand out with unlimited-site plans; Brizy and Breakdance pack modern, user-friendly interfaces and generous free levels.
Whatever you choose, remember that performance and SEO should be priorities. A fast, well-coded site can give you real results in search rankings and user satisfaction.
Consider Elementor alternatives not as a rejection of Elementor, but as options: each has its strengths. By picking the right one for your project, be it for optimizing speeds, smarter pricing, or ease of use, you can build a better, more SEO-friendly website.
Elementor can make websites slow. Alternatives offer faster performance and better SEO. They can improve user experience and search rankings.
An SEO-friendly builder creates clean, lightweight code. It helps with fast loading times. It also integrates well with SEO tools.
Bricks Builder and Oxygen Builder are known for exceptional speed. They generate very clean and light code. Breakdance is also a strong performer.
Yes, builders like Oxygen and Bricks are designed to help you score high on Core Web Vitals. This is important for Google rankings.
Yes, Breakdance offers a free core builder. Brizy also has a free core plugin. These allow you to start building without cost.
Yes, Bricks Builder, Oxygen Builder, and Divi Builder offer lifetime license options. Brizy also has a lifetime plan. This can save money long-term.
Switching requires some effort and learning. However, many alternatives have intuitive drag-and-drop interfaces. They are designed for beginner-friendly use.
Yes, for certain needs, there are better options than Elementor. Builders like Bricks, Oxygen, and Breakdance can offer superior speed and clean code. Thrive Architect is better for conversion-focused websites.
The ‘best’ website builder for WordPress depends on your specific needs. For speed and SEO, Bricks or Oxygen are top contenders. For ease of use, Brizy is strong. For all-in-one solutions, Divi is popular.
Generally, yes, Gutenberg often produces lighter code than Elementor. This is because Gutenberg is the native WordPress block editor, designed for efficiency, whereas Elementor is a more feature-rich, third-party page builder that can introduce more code.
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