Gutenberg vs Elementor: Editorial experience

Both Gutenberg and Elementor offer powerful editorial experiences.

Gutenberg, naturally, delivers a native editing experience as it’s part of WordPress core. 

In fact, when we implement Gutenberg for our clients, we don’t just configure the default editor, we effectively turn it into a branded, centralized content/page and website builder that’s tightly integrated with their design system and publishing workflows.

Gutenberg’s block-based editing system allows your teams to build and customize pages directly within the WordPress editor, without loading additional builder interfaces or relying on complex external tools. 

Also, one of Gutenberg’s core strengths is its ability to preview blocks and patterns before inserting them into content. This is handy when speed matters. 

We enhance this capability further by extending the editor using slot fills and introducing a custom Design Library modal, effectively transforming Gutenberg into a customized visual builder for your brand.

Your editors don’t have to guess which block to use, or scroll endlessly through the core Inserter. Instead, they can add what they “see.”

With such a setup, you don’t just have Gutenberg:  you’ve your own page builder, embedded right inside WordPress.

Elementor, on the other hand, leads with visual freedom. Its highly intuitive for designers and marketers looking for pixel-level control. But that flexibility comes with trade-offs: aligning Elementor layouts with native WordPress themes often requires additional work, especially when maintaining global styles or ensuring compatibility with design systems.

From a technical standpoint, Elementor introduces additional stylesheets, DOM complexity, and JavaScript bundles, which can impact performance and make accessibility compliance more manual. These aren’t blockers, and we’ve optimized many Elementor sites to perform well despite these, but they do require work on this front.