Photo: Christopher Gower
If you followed the Figma to Elementor Pro process, you already know Pro is the kit for a real website: header, footer, loops, forms, popups. Clients still ask a fair question: can we start on Elementor Free and upgrade later?
Short answer: Free is a page designer. Pro is how you turn that into a site. Below is what actually changes — and which Pro plan you need, because not every Pro subscription includes popups and WooCommerce.
At a glance
| Elementor Free | Elementor Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Drag-and-drop pages | Yes | Yes, plus many more widgets |
| Theme Builder (header, footer, blog) | No | Yes (all paid plans) |
| Loop Grid (repeating cards from posts) | No | Yes (Pro) |
| Form widget | No native form | Yes (submissions/CRM on higher plans) |
| Popup Builder | No | Advanced Solo and up, not Essential |
| WooCommerce templates | No | Advanced Solo and up |
| Price | $0 | From about $59/year for one site |
Always confirm live prices on elementor.com/pricing. Plans change.
Photo: Carriza Maiquez
What Elementor Free is good at
Free is enough when you are:
- Testing the builder on a staging site
- Building a few landing pages inside a theme that already has a header and footer
- Learning containers, typography, and mobile view
You get the visual editor, basic widgets (heading, image, button, video, icon list), and Site Settings for colors and fonts. You do not get a global header you designed in Elementor, a native contact form, popups, or a Loop Grid of blog cards.
Workaround people try: Contact Form 7 + a popup plugin + a blog plugin. That can work. You then maintain three extra tools, three update cycles, and three UIs. Pro is often cheaper than that mess.
Photo: Tirza van Dijk
Theme Builder (the main reason to pay)
This is the feature Figma conversions actually need.
In Pro you design once:
- Header — logo, menu, CTA, transparent-on-hero if the file asks for it
- Footer — columns, legal links, social icons
- Single post / project — featured image, title, content width
- Archive — blog index, category, search
- 404 — if it exists in Figma
Display conditions say where each template runs. Inner pages then only hold the unique body. Free Elementor cannot do this. You would fight the theme’s header on every page, and the header will jump between Home and About.
Client takeaway: if the Figma file has a designed header and footer, you want Pro before you build page two.
Loop Grid (repeating cards that stay alive)
Figma often shows three blog cards or six case studies. On Free, people duplicate those sections by hand. The next real post never appears.
Pro Loop Grid (plus a Loop Item template) pulls title, image, and link from WordPress. Editors add a post in wp-admin. The grid updates. Same idea for team, projects, or products.
That is the difference between a pretty mock and a site someone can run.
Photo: Igor Miske
Forms
Pro includes a Form widget: fields, styling, success message, actions (email, webhook, some CRMs).
Plan catch: Essential can design the form, but form submissions in the WordPress dashboard and many integrations sit on Advanced Solo and higher. If leads are the point of the site, do not buy Essential and assume you get the full form stack. Check the comparison on Elementor’s pricing page for your year.
Free users typically add Contact Form 7 or Fluent Forms. Fine for a simple contact page. Weaker when the Figma form is multi-step, styled to the pixel, and wired to a CRM.
Popups
Pro Popup Builder uses the same editor as pages: discount bar, exit intent, click-to-open menu, “download the PDF.” Triggers: click, scroll, time, exit, page rules.
Again: popups are not on Essential in current Elementor plans. You need Advanced Solo (one site) or Advanced / Expert (more sites).
Free means another popup plugin, or no popup. For a marketing site that lives on leads, this is usually the line between “pretty” and “working.”
Pricing without the sales fog
Typical 2026 shape (USD, billed yearly — confirm before you pay):
- Free — $0, pages only
- Essential — about $59/year, 1 site. Theme Builder and a smaller Pro widget set. Weak on popups, Woo, custom CSS, full form logging
- Advanced Solo — about $84/year, 1 site. This is the usual “real Pro” for one client: popups, Woo builder, custom CSS, fuller forms
- Advanced — about $99/year, 3 sites. Same features, better if you build for a few clients
- Expert / Agency / One — more sites or extra Elementor cloud/AI tools. Overkill for one brochure
For a Figma-to-WordPress job on one domain, Advanced Solo is the plan I budget, not Essential, unless the file has no shop, no popup, and no custom CSS.
Photo: Amper
When Pro is worth it
Pay for Pro (usually Advanced Solo+) if any of these is true:
- The Figma file has a custom header and footer
- There is a blog, portfolio, or card grid that must stay in sync with WordPress
- You need a styled form or popups without a pile of extra plugins
- You are building WooCommerce templates (product, cart, checkout look)
- You want one tool to maintain instead of form + popup + theme hacks
That is most client websites, not only “enterprise.”
When Free is enough
- A one-page experiment or event landing page inside an existing theme
- You will never need a matching header on inner pages
- Contact is a simple shortcode form you already have
- Budget is zero this month and the site is not the company’s main office
Starting Free then upgrading is possible. You do not rebuild every page. You do still spend hours adding Theme Builder and replacing static cards with Loop Grid. Cheaper to license Pro on day one if you already know the Figma file needs it.
A simple recommendation
Learning or a throwaway page: Free.
One real marketing site from Figma: Pro, Advanced Solo (or Advanced if you reuse the license on two more sites).
Shop or heavy popups: skip Essential.
Elementor Free is not a trap. It is a trial of the editor. Elementor Pro is the product you use when the design must become a site the client can still edit next year. Photos via Unsplash (credits under each image).
