"Do I still need Elementor at all, now that WordPress comes with its own editor?" I am asked this question almost every week now — and rightly so. Gutenberg, WordPress's native block editor, has developed over the past few years from a derided "classic editor replacement" into a serious site-building tool. With Full Site Editing (FSE) it is now possible to design entire themes in the editor itself — without a single additional plugin. At the same time Elementor, with well over 10 million active installations, remains the most widely used page builder of all, and tools like Bricks Builder show that development is progressing vigorously at the page builder end of the scale too. Since I built my entire training work on Elementor over the years, I wanted to answer this question honestly rather than brush it aside. Here is where I stand in 2026.
The short answer
It depends on who looks after the site — not on which tool is "more modern". If you are technically confident, work with a clean block theme and mainly maintain content rather than complex layouts, Gutenberg/FSE is an excellent, free and lean solution in 2026. If, as a sole trader, SME or agency without developer resources, you want to arrive quickly at an individual, visually demanding result — and that is the overwhelming majority of my clients and course participants — a page builder like Elementor remains the more pragmatic choice. There is no universal "better" here, only a "better for your situation".
The detailed answer
Both approaches solve the same underlying problem — designing WordPress pages without knowing how to code — but with fundamentally different philosophies. Gutenberg thinks in blocks within a theme: the theme defines design rules via theme.json (colours, spacing, font sizes), and you place blocks within those guard rails. Page builders such as Elementor think independently of the theme: you drag elements onto the page, with full visual control over practically every pixel, regardless of what the active theme dictates.
This difference in thinking explains almost all of the differences that follow — from the learning curve to performance.
Comparison at a glance
| Criterion | Gutenberg / Full Site Editing | Page builder (Elementor, Bricks) |
|---|---|---|
| Learning curve | Medium to steep for complex layouts, very shallow for plain text posts | Shallow — visual, WYSIWYG, immediately understandable |
| Design flexibility | Good, but tied to the theme structure | Very high, pixel-precise control, independent of the theme |
| Performance overhead | Very low — no additional plugin needed | Noticeable — extra CSS/JS, more database load |
| Template/pattern library | Growing (2,500+ block themes in 2026), but less polished | Huge, very mature, ready to use immediately |
| Future-proofing/roadmap | Core of WordPress, phase 3 (collaboration) active in 2026 | Dependent on the plugin vendor, but the market leader is stable |
| Price | €0 (a fixed part of WordPress) | Free tier available, Pro licences from around €59–99/year |
Gutenberg/FSE: strengths
The progress since 2022 is real, not just marketing. Three points stand out:
No additional plugin, no additional weight. Gutenberg is part of the WordPress core. There is no extra CSS framework, no additional JavaScript library that has to be loaded. For performance-sensitive projects — lean blogs, portfolio sites, content-driven sites — that is a tangible advantage.
theme.json and native design systems. Since WordPress 5.9 a complete design system can be defined via theme.json: colour palettes, typography presets, spacing scales. Once set up cleanly, consistency across the whole site is guaranteed — without any editor being able to accidentally choose the wrong font size.
Native template editing. With Full Site Editing, headers, footers, single templates and archive pages can be edited directly in the editor — without touching PHP template files. Over 2,500 block themes are available in the WordPress.org directory in 2026, compared with around 400 back in 2023. According to current market analyses, FSE usage is growing at around 145 % year on year — by far the highest growth rate of any WordPress building approach.
As of 2026, the development focus (Gutenberg "phase 3") is on real-time collaboration in the editor — several people editing the same post or template simultaneously, similar to Google Docs, including live cursors and locking at block level. For editorial teams that is a noticeable step forward.
Gutenberg/FSE: weaknesses
For all the progress, tangible limitations remain:
A steeper learning curve for complex, individual layouts. As soon as you go beyond simple text-and-image combinations — overlapping elements, complex grid layouts, individual hover effects, conditional visibility — operation quickly becomes more technical. Without a basic understanding of block nesting and theme.json logic, non-technical users soon hit limits.
Less polished, ready-to-use templates. Block patterns and themes have caught up strongly, but on average they are less refined than the best Elementor templates. Anyone who wants a finished-looking landing page in 20 minutes will still find a larger selection of immediately convincing templates with Elementor.
No visual drag-and-drop editor in the classic sense. Gutenberg works block-based, not freely positioned. Anyone coming from design tools such as Figma or Canva who expects a one-to-one feeling of "I drag that element exactly there" will have to rethink.
Page builders: strengths
Immediate visual control. What you see in the editor is exactly the final result — and you get there by dragging, clicking and experimenting. For people without a technical background, that is the shortest distance between an idea and a finished page. That is precisely why my entire course structure is built on Elementor: the barrier to entry is minimal.
Huge, mature template libraries. Elementor alone comes with thousands of ready-made blocks and complete kits, many of them industry-specific. On real projects that saves days of design work.
Mature ecosystems. Around Elementor there are add-on plugins for practically every need — forms, popups, WooCommerce extensions, animations. Bricks Builder is increasingly positioning itself as a faster, more developer-friendly alternative with similar visual logic but leaner code output.
Page builders: weaknesses
Additional plugin weight. A page builder brings its own CSS and JavaScript, loaded in addition to the theme. That costs performance — typically more database queries and larger front-end assets than a pure block theme solution.
Vendor lock-in. Content created with a page builder is often deeply embedded in that builder's own data structure. Switching to another builder or back to Gutenberg generally means rebuilding layouts from scratch — not merely exporting them.
Ongoing licence costs for the full feature set. The Pro versions of the relevant builders cost money on a recurring basis. Manageable for a single small project; across several client websites it adds up.
Performance in practice
Tested in direct comparison on a typical 30-page website with both approaches, a pattern emerges that has barely changed over the years:
- Pure block theme with Gutenberg/FSE: minimal additional overhead, since no extra library is loaded — loading time depends almost entirely on hosting, images and theme quality.
- Elementor (free or Pro): noticeably more CSS/JS files and additional database entries per page, therefore typically +50 to +150 ms TTFB compared with a lean block theme, depending on hosting and caching configuration.
- Bricks Builder: leaner code output than Elementor, but likewise measurably more than a pure Gutenberg/FSE solution.
On good managed hosting with caching, these differences largely disappear into the noise. On cheap shared hosting they become noticeable. If you are working on loading times anyway, you will find the complete set of levers in my pillar article WordPress Page Speed 2026.
Migration and mixed operation: what is realistic
Switching between the two worlds after the fact is possible, but rarely trivial:
- Elementor → Gutenberg/FSE: there is no automatic converter that cleanly translates Elementor layouts into native blocks. In practice pages are largely rebuilt, not migrated.
- Gutenberg/FSE → Elementor: easier, since Elementor can take over existing content as a starting point and then build it out visually — but here too, reworking the layout is the rule.
- Mixed operation (some pages Gutenberg, some Elementor): technically it works, but it increases maintenance effort and the onboarding time for new editors. For small teams it is usually not a good long-term solution.
A rule of thumb from my consulting practice: make the fundamental decision as early in the project as possible. Switching later is feasible, but plan it like a small project in its own right, with a backup, staging and enough time buffer — not as a task on the side.
Not sure yet which approach suits your project? In my online course I show you both routes in practice — and how to make the right decision based on your project type and your technical background, instead of letting trend articles unsettle you. → To the online course
Who is each one suited to?
The developer with her own block theme. Anyone who writes code anyway, develops custom blocks or maintains a lean block theme themselves is very well served by Gutenberg/FSE. No additional plugin, full control over the code, native performance.
The content blogger without complex layout demands. Anyone who primarily writes articles, gets by with an image, a quote and a heading, and rarely needs elaborate landing pages, benefits from Gutenberg: fast, light, free, with no learning curve for the daily tasks.
The solopreneur with marketing ambitions. Anyone who wants to run a website with individual design, several landing pages and visual call-to-action sections without developer support is clearly better served by Elementor or Bricks Builder. That is the standard case for most of my clients and course participants — and the reason I am not pretending to a false balance here.
My conclusion
Let me say it plainly: Gutenberg/FSE is no longer a toy in 2026 — it is the right default choice for developers and for theme-based, lightweight, content-focused sites. But for the overwhelming majority of my clients and course participants — non-technical solopreneurs and companies with complex marketing pages who need visual design flexibility without developer effort — a page builder like Elementor or Bricks Builder remains the better choice in 2026. That is precisely why my training work continues to build primarily on Elementor: it meets the actual needs of my audience better than the "purer" but more demanding native solution.
If you are unsure which route suits your specific project, I will guide you through both approaches in my online course — with a recommendation that fits your technical background and your actual project, not a general trend. → To the online course
Frequently asked questions
Will Gutenberg eventually make Elementor redundant?
Not in the foreseeable future. Gutenberg is catching up strongly in technical terms, but Elementor's strength lies not only in its feature set but in its accessibility for non-technical users and in its huge, mature template ecosystem. As long as that audience exists — and it is large — there remains room for page builders. Lasting coexistence with different areas of use is more realistic than replacement.
Can I use Gutenberg blocks and Elementor together on the same page?
Technically, partly yes — Elementor can embed individual Gutenberg blocks. But mixed setups are maintenance-intensive and usually not a good idea for an entire website. Decide on one main approach per project.
Is switching from Elementor to Gutenberg/FSE possible later?
Possible, but laborious. Elementor content sits in Elementor's own data structure, not in native Gutenberg blocks. In practice, switching means largely rebuilding pages, not converting them. This decision should therefore be made as early in the project as possible.
Do I need a special theme for Full Site Editing?
Yes — FSE only works with so-called block themes that come with a theme.json file (for example Twenty Twenty-Four/-Five or many modern third-party themes). Classic PHP themes without this structure do not support Full Site Editing.
Is Bricks Builder a genuine alternative to Elementor?
For somewhat more technically confident users, certainly. Bricks places greater emphasis on clean, lean code output and a more developer-friendly structure, with visual operating logic similar to Elementor. You will find a detailed comparison in my article Bricks Builder vs. Elementor vs. Breakdance.
What if I already have an Elementor site and am now unsettled?
Stay with it if you are satisfied. Switching without a concrete reason — performance problems, licence costs, a technical realignment — costs time with no clear benefit. Trend articles are no reason to rebuild a setup that works.
You will find further context on page builders and themes in my complete overview WordPress tool comparisons 2026 as well as in the existing article Elementor – the best page builder for WordPress?
Image source, featured & inline: illustrations created specifically in the pletzenauer design (no stock photos).
Elementor Pro: If you decide on a page builder and choose Elementor: the Theme Builder and forms are in the Pro version. View Elementor Pro
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