Elementor Cloud Review 2023: Should You Build Your Website There?

Considering using Elementor Cloud to build your next website? In our hands-on Elementor Cloud review, I’ll help you decide if it’s the right option for your situation.

In general, Elementor Cloud is a great solution for non-technical users who want to build a simple website with WordPress and the Elementor page builder plugin.

Elementor Cloud creates a native website builder-like feel, while still giving you access to the full flexibility of WordPress and Elementor.

It also offers great value with flat, transparent pricing that, for a single site, is cheaper than maintaining a self-hosted WordPress site.

Overall, I think it’s a good option for a lot of people, but definitely not for everyone. For example, more complex sites such as WooCommerce stores or membership sites will still want separate hosting.

To understand which camp you fit in, I encourage you to keep reading our full Elementor Cloud review.

Let’s dig in!

What Is Elementor Cloud?

I like to describe Elementor Cloud like this:

It’s like “WordPress + Elementor” had a baby with Squarespace.

In one package, you can find everything you need to build a fully functioning website with WordPress and Elementor, including built-in hosting.

I’ll show you how it works in a second, but the basic idea is this:

You never need to think about hosting because Elementor Cloud takes care of that for you. Instead, you can focus on building your site:

1. You sign up for Elementor Cloud.
2. Elementor creates a new WordPress install for you on its Google Cloud-powered hosting. It will pre-install the Hello theme, the core Elementor plugin, and Elementor Pro.
3. You start building your site within a couple of minutes. You can either import one of Elementor’s premade layout kits or build your site from scratch using Elementor’s visual, drag-and-drop interface.

At the same time, you still have a fully functioning WordPress site. You’re free to install your own plugins, add a new theme if you don’t want to use the Hello theme, and so on.

Elementor Cloud also gives you some of the same types of features that you’d get with a quality WordPress host, including the following:

• Support for custom domains
• Built-in content delivery network (CDN) from Cloudflare
• Automatic daily backups
• Manual on-demand backups when needed
• Free SSL certificates from Cloudflare
• Some built-in security features such as limiting login attempts and a Site Lock tool

Advantages of Elementor Cloud Over Self-Hosting WordPress

I think there are two main advantages that Elementor Cloud has over the traditional route of self-hosting the WordPress software:

1. Simplicity
2. Price

Simplicity

Elementor Cloud all-around simplifies the process of creating and managing a WordPress site.

You don’t need to worry about purchasing hosting, installing WordPress, buying a separate license for Elementor Pro, and so on. Elementor Cloud’s hosting infrastructure is built on the Google Cloud Platform.

You just sign up and start building your site using Elementor’s visual interface — it’s very much of a “website builder” feel. It even integrates choosing a website kit into the setup process, which adds to the “Squarespace-like” experience. However, as this is also a full-featured WordPress site, you can install your own plugins as well.

Price

I’ll talk about pricing in more detail in the next section, but the basic idea with Elementor Cloud is that you pay one flat fee for everything that you need to build a site, with no hidden surprises.

For a flat $99 fee, you get one year of built-in hosting and access to all the Elementor Pro features.

Given that a single-site Elementor Pro license would already cost you $49, that means you’re just paying $50 for an entire year of hosting.

While some cheap WordPress hosts can beat that price with their promo pricing, those are usually only temporary prices. Most hosts will cost more than $50 per year at regular pricing, which is why Elementor Cloud offers really good value.

Elementor Cloud Pricing

As I mentioned above, Elementor Cloud costs a flat $99 per year for everything, including the built-in hosting and Elementor Pro features.

Let me make that part clear:

If you purchase Elementor Cloud, you do not need to purchase a separate Elementor Pro license — Elementor Cloud already includes Elementor Pro in the $99 fee. You also do not need to purchase separate hosting.

This $99 price is per-site. Each Elementor Cloud subscription only supports one website. If you want to have multiple websites, you’ll need to purchase Elementor Cloud for each site.

As with any hosting plan, there are also some limits in terms of the resources that your site consumes:

• 20 GB storage
• 100 GB monthly bandwidth
• 100,000 monthly visitors

For a single site, I don’t think you’ll find better value than Elementor Cloud.

However, if you have a lot of low-traffic sites, Elementor Cloud’s value might not be as clear because you’ll need a separate subscription for each site. 

In this case, using a shared host that supports unlimited websites and purchasing a multi-site Elementor Pro license might be cheaper, though it won’t have the same benefits when it comes to simplicity.

Who Should Use Elementor Cloud?

Elementor Cloud can be a good option for certain types of sites, but not a really good solution for others.

So before you go all in, it’s important to understand where you fit.

When to Use Elementor Cloud

First, I think it’s a great option for personal websites. Here are some examples: 

• Portfolios
• Online CV
• Basic information about your services

I also think it’s a great option for business brochure sites, for example:

• Restaurants looking to create an online presence and showcase menus
• Service providers (lawyers, plumbers, cleaners, etc.)
• Brick-and-mortar stores looking to provide information (but not eCommerce)

Basically, Elementor Cloud makes a great option for any type of “straightforward” website where you have some static pages that advertise your services along with maybe a blog to share relevant content.

When NOT to Use Elementor Cloud

Elementor Cloud is probably not a great option for more complex, dynamic WordPress sites.

Here are some examples of what I mean:

• Online stores / WooCommerce stores
• Membership sites
• Online courses

For these types of sites, you’ll want to pay for more powerful hosting. You’ll also benefit from the added flexibility of having full technical access.

If you’re building a blog that you want to grow into a serious business, I would also recommend self-hosting it. On the other hand, if you just want to write some blog posts on your business website, Elementor Cloud is great for that.

How to Create a Website with Elementor Cloud?

Now that you know all about Elementor Cloud, let’s actually get into how it works.

Overall, Elementor Cloud makes it super easy to create your site which, as I’ve mentioned a few times now, is one of the biggest advantages of the platform.

1. Complete Site Setup Wizard

When you sign up for Elementor Cloud, it will launch a site setup wizard to help you create your site.

First, you’ll enter your site’s name.

On the next screen, you can customize your site’s temporary URL. This decision isn’t super important because you’ll almost certainly be linking your own custom domain name later on.

Elementor Cloud will then ask what type of website you’re creating. It will use this information to recommend relevant website kits to you.

On the next screen, you can choose one of the relevant website kits. Or, you can just hit the “I’d rather start from scratch” button to create a blank site. You can always import a website kit later on if you change your mind.

And, that’s it!

After a minute or so, you’ll have a fully functioning WordPress site. Elementor will email the login credentials to your account.

2. Customize Your Site Using Elementor

Now, you can jump right in and start customizing your site with Elementor. You can read our Elementor Pro review to learn more about what it’s like to design your site with Elementor.

You’ll get access to the regular WordPress dashboard just as if you self-hosted your site, though Elementor will add a few useful interface elements to help you out.

Elementor also already installed the Hello theme, Elementor, and Elementor Pro, so you can start building right away.

If you want to install your own plugins, you can do so just like any other WordPress site.

Exploring the Elementor Cloud Dashboard

In addition to working from the WordPress dashboard, you’ll manage some parts of your site from the Elementor dashboard, such as your site’s backups.

When you go to the Websites tab in Elementor, you’ll be able to quickly see which sites you’re hosting with Elementor Cloud and which sites you’re hosting elsewhere.

If you open the site’s dashboard, you’ll get access to a few notable features.

First off, you can add your custom domain name. For example, instead of using athemes.elementor.cloud, you could set it up to use athemes.com.

You can also enable/disable Site Lock. When Site Lock is enabled, users will need to enter a password to access the site. Basically, you should enable Site Lock while you’re building your site and then disable it when you go live.

Next, you can manage your site’s backups. You’ll see a list of the daily automatic backups, and you can also manually create a backup by clicking Create new backup.

For each backup, you have the option to restore it or download it to your local computer.

One nice thing is that you’re able to give each backup a unique name to help you remember it.

Finally, you get a couple of tools to reset failed login attempts and enable WordPress debug mode.

Migrating a WordPress Site to and from Elementor Cloud

If you’ve already created a site on your own hosting, you can migrate it to Elementor Cloud. However, you won’t be able to use a normal migration plugin. Elementor has a detailed article that shows you how you can migrate your site to Elementor Cloud.

Note — migration only works if you’ve built your site with Elementor. I assume you have, though, because it wouldn’t make sense to use Elementor Cloud otherwise.

Also, if you want to move to your own hosting, you can migrate your Elementor Cloud site just like you’d migrate any other WordPress site. However, you will need to purchase an Elementor Pro license if you want to continue using the Elementor Pro features.

Elementor Cloud Performance Tests

In terms of performance, Elementor Cloud is fine, but it won’t blow you away. This is one of the factors that went into my “Who Should Use Elementor Cloud” section above.

For brochure websites and portfolios, Elementor Cloud offers plenty of performance. But for WooCommerce stores, membership sites, serious blogs, and so on, you’ll want to pay for more performant hosting (which will obviously cost a lot more than Elementor Cloud).

Elementor Cloud does not include built-in caching, so I recommend installing a caching plugin such as WP Rocket (our review) to optimize your site’s performance.

To assess Elementor Cloud’s performance, I installed WP Rocket and then ran my test site through WebPageTest. For reference, my test site is using the full Virtual Assistant website kit to create a realistic scenario.

Here are the results:

My test site’s Largest Contentful Paint time is just barely out of Google’s 2.5-second “good” range. If I had played around with WP Rocket a little more, I could probably get it under.

For the types of sites that I recommend Elementor Cloud for, I think this performance is more than good enough.

But again — if you have, say, a WooCommerce store, you’re going to want to pay more money for premium performance.

Elementor Cloud Website Pros and Cons

Let’s recap some of the pros and cons of using Elementor Cloud.

Pros:

• Don’t have to think about hosting – Because Elementor Cloud includes built-in hosting, there’s one less thing on your plate when it comes to creating and managing a WordPress website.
• Simple setup – The process of creating a website feels much more like Squarespace in terms of how simple it is.
• Still fully functioning WordPress – While Elementor Cloud “feels” more like a website builder, you’re still getting access to the full WordPress software, including the ability to install your own plugins and themes.
• Flat pricing and no hidden fees – Elementor Cloud lets you pay one flat fee for everything you need to build a site with Elementor, which lets you simplify your billing and avoid surprises.
• Great value for a single site – At $99 for built-in hosting and Elementor Pro, Elementor Cloud offers excellent value and is one of the cheapest ways to build a WordPress site with Elementor. 

Cons:

• Per-site pricing – While Elementor Cloud offers excellent value for a single site, a shared host that allows unlimited sites will be cheaper if you have multiple low-traffic sites. You will lose out on the simplicity of Elementor Cloud, though.
• Lacks full technical access – I don’t think this is a con for most people. In fact, this can be an advantage because it’s what makes things so simple. However, for more advanced users who do want access to things such as SSH, phpMyAdmin, and WP-CLI, Elementor Cloud is not the best option.

Final Thoughts on Elementor Cloud

Overall, I think that Elementor Cloud is a great new option that will work well for a lot of the types of sites that people build with Elementor.

It does a great job of simplifying things by eliminating the need to purchase separate hosting. At the same time, it also offers good value with its flat, transparent pricing.

For portfolios, business brochure sites, or simple blogs, I think it’s a great option if you’re planning to build your site with Elementor.

However, for online stores, membership sites, online courses, and so on, I would still recommend purchasing your own hosting so that you have more control over your site’s environment and performance.

Additionally, if you have lots of low-traffic sites, you might be able to save money by using unlimited shared hosting and purchasing a multi-site Elementor Pro license. You will lose the simplicity of Elementor Cloud by doing this, but that might be worth it to you if you’re on a tight budget.

If you want to learn more about Elementor in general, I encourage you to read our full Elementor Pro review.

Do you still have any questions about Elementor Cloud or this Elementor Cloud review? Let us know in the comments!

Colin Newcomer

Colin Newcomer is a freelance writer for hire with a background in SEO and affiliate marketing. He helps clients grow their web visibility by writing primarily about digital marketing and WordPress. You can hire him to write for your website.