Gutenberg vs Elementor: Price and licensing

Price and vendor lock-in considerations affect the long-term value offered that Gutenberg and Elementor offer.

Gutenberg: Free; zero lock-in

Gutenberg is part of WordPress core, which means it’s free and maintained by the WordPress community. 

Every WordPress update brings improvements to Gutenberg automatically: new features, security patches, and performance boosts included. 

This native integration also reduces the risk of conflicts and compatibility issues across the entire setup, making Gutenberg a stable, secure, and future-ready choice, especially for teams that want to keep control in-house and minimize external dependencies.

You can also extend Gutenberg’s capabilities with custom blocks or paid libraries, but that’s optional. You can also convert it into a complete branded page builder with some investment – but, again, that, too, is optional. Even out-of-the-box, it just works.

Elementor: powerful but comes with a licensing fee

Elementor is a third-party plugin, and while it offers a free tier, most of its power comes through pro plans. If you need support for custom CSS, which you will, you’re looking at about $99/year. The paid version bring advanced design tools like Theme Builder and deep WooCommerce integration, among others. 

Besides the licensing costs, maintenance will also add to the expense, as compatibility issues across your WordPress stack may arise with Elementor’s updates, especially if you’re relying on 

When it comes to offering long-term value, Gutenberg offers a strategic advantage

With Gutenberg, you’re investing in WordPress itself. It’s backed by a public roadmap, a global contributor community, and the assurance of long-term compatibility as WordPress evolves. Elementor, too, comes from a mature ecosystem with a strong product team and user base. But as it’s a third-party plugin, you’re relying on a separate company to keep pace with WordPress core, which can sometimes introduce delays, compatibility gaps, or added maintenance overhead.

In enterprise terms: Gutenberg aligns with the platform you’ve already invested in WordPress. Elementor adds power, but with it, a layer of external dependency.