Elementor's Cloud Website: a Perfect Solution for Self-Hosted WordPress, or Just Another Expensive Trap?

When WordPress's most popular page editor Elementor Page Builder launches its own hosting service, what would be your first thought?

"Will the other paid products from Elementor, such as editors and AI tools, be included for free?"
"Does Elementor have a built-in optimization method that makes it more efficient to use compared to the original version?"
"Can I escape the WordPress website management hell that everyone complains about, including setting up systems, installing themes, configuring websites, server maintenance, and security issues?"

Based on the promotional materials, after purchasing Elementor Hosting, you will get a pre-installed WordPress website with an Elementor theme, editor, and various e-commerce plugins. It's like Shopline or other e-commerce systems, where you can start editing content and listing products immediately, living a happy and carefree life... Is it really true?
This article will share my personal experience after testing Elementor Hosting.

I'm not a main user of WordPress for building websites, so I won't intentionally avoid mentioning any flaws due to interests. In addition to researching their infrastructure, I'll also dissect the selling tactics used by them...

(There are no affiliate links or sponsored content in this article, please feel free to read)

Common types of WordPress hosting service providers on the market

If you're looking for a website builder, you've probably heard some familiar phrases from WordPress hosting industry promoters: 0% commission, no need to set up your own website, no contract, lifetime 0% commission, and support for various products such as physical/digital/service courses. Elementor Hosting also meets these conditions, and using these tactics is perfectly fine.

Before talking about how great Elementor Hosting is, let me introduce the common types of WordPress hosting service providers on the market. Who are those cowboys and charlatans?

These companies may not necessarily develop WordPress themselves, and I won't list specific company names. They're all just trying to make a living.

Knowing the various types of businesses can help with building your own website? Not really. It's like taking a $3 earphone to an upscale audio store to buy cables and ending up in the wrong place, where you'll have no way of solving the problem and may encounter all sorts of weird issues...

Elementor Hosting compared to the above services has solved many pain points for self-hosted WordPress.org sites:

• Oversold server resources? Cost-cutting measures on hosting? Outdated hardware that hasn't been updated in years?
  Elementor Hosting's infrastructure is built on Google Cloud Platform, one of the top three public clouds.
• Unclear specifications like GHz vCPU and GB RAM, limited bandwidth described with vague terms, using deceptive wording to compete on price?
  Elementor Hosting provides relatively transparent specifications, with each plan clearly stating limits for Monthly Visits, Storage, and Bandwidth.
• Website crashes with a few extra plugins or a slightly higher number of concurrent visitors?
  Elementor Hosting's system architecture is designed with auto-scaling capabilities, which is very appealing for resource-heavy self-hosted WordPress.org websites.
• Constantly testing plugins to see if they meet requirements, then deactivating them when issues arise, resembling a trial-and-error approach, like a car cobbled together from spare parts?
  Elementor Hosting provides ready-to-use websites upon purchase. Some plans include optimized Elementor products and useful third-party tools, offering better integration and value.

Instead of randomly finding an SI company or web design company and asking them to:

• Migrate your self-hosted WordPress to a secure and compliant Google Cloud Platform (GCP) cloud environment.
• Separate the database server from the application server.
• Use Kubernetes (k8s) architecture, allowing for auto-scaling of system resources.
• Guarantee a 99.9% SLA (Service Level Agreement).
• Implement Cloudflare Enterprise version to prevent DDoS attacks and unexpected GCP billing increases to tens of thousands of dollars.
• Provide predictable payment amounts, with maintenance costs reaching hundreds of dollars per month even when the website has no visitors, and increasing several-fold when the website becomes popular.
• Offer a 7x24 customer support team.

This way, you'll probably find that it's not cheaper than buying Elementor Hosting directly. In fact, most of the time, they won't even understand what you're asking for.

Elementor Hosting sounds impressive, but it has some product features that may not suit everyone, and there may be some minor drawbacks that make it difficult to use. More secrets are introduced in this article.

ps. I have purchased Elementor PRO and Tutor LMS Pro LTD licenses multiple times,
If you plan to host a website using these plugins, but feel that the Essential features of Elementor are watered down and difficult to use, please contact me through the right-hand menu.

Although Elementor Hosting is a product that can quickly build a website and alleviate web management work,
if you have any of the following needs, I recommend not reading on and closing this window from the right-hand exit:

If you have some wrong cognition about operating a website, not only don't use Elementor Hosting, it's best not to do the website at all, otherwise easy to fall into abnormal status:

• Every year change platform/website company, every few months be dragged by different manufacturers to buy strange goods or services, but no help for business or goal, completely pay tuition fees to buy experience.
• In the beginning, others plan some things for him according to his requirements, and finally buys something completely different from other manufacturers, then the planner and later manufacturer are all affected, together receive various negative energy.
• Full of distrust towards any manufacturer, others want to help him do things, high trust cost.

Domain First Year Free?

Elementor Hosting's product features are very numerous, we will first discuss the pricing table of Elementor Hosting which has a free domain part...

Subconsciously feel there is something fishy, domain name prices from every year numbers to several hundred to ten million billion jump have, how can possibly give away for free?

This kind of exaggerated promotional method, makes me think of some web design cruel industry's long-standing trick, let me start with a strange look and magnify it!

Actual experience, after purchasing and completing the website setup, will be assigned to an ***.elementor.cloud subdomain, subdomain as free domain gift, this kind of being played by some unscrupulous web design companies to ruin method, thought that now still have? 🥵

Don't be impulsive, carefully check, there is actually written on the website first year free.
Currently it's cooperating with another domain reseller called Hover, Elementor itself does not sell domains.

User can receive a coupon in Elementor's domain binding operation steps, then go to Hover to place an order to buy a domain, and enjoy the so-called (first year) free domain thing.

If you want to purchase other combination domain names, through Elementor's operation interface, can be directed to Hover to purchase new domains, will have a 10% off first year on new purchases.

Official website promotion terms and conditions Promotion Terms and Conditions, written that this is a activity start from 2024 Sep, may terminate at any time, interested people can seize the opportunity.

Free domain one year sounds good, but in reality there are many problems, for example:

• HOVER sells LTD like .ai .io .com etc., but does not sell .com.tw domain
• When renewing the domain fee second year, will it be more expensive than other vendor? This also needs to be compared.
• Later if the domain wants to transfer out, will there be any difficulty? Don't know.

Want to know more about Elementor Hosting domain promotion details, please refer to official website operation tutorial: Get A Free Custom Domain Name With Elementor Hosting

First Year Discount Trick

In the official promotional webpage, the first page has a shocking price:
WordPress Hosting cheapest Lite plan, USD $2.99/month
eCommerce Hosting cheapest Sell Core plan, USD $4.99/month
This pricing sales method looks like very cheap, really cheaper than other competitors in similar price range.

However, this is an illusion...
First, each time you have to pay for a year, cannot buy only one month.
So the first year will at least pay USD $36~300 or so.

Then this sweet price is also first year discount trick... Second year when renewing fee will return to normal price.

The higher-tier Sell Pro not only has more monthly visitor numbers/storage space/month traffic, but also includes Elementor Pro - Essential and some modern e-commerce common function suites.

Server management level functions, the most expensive and cheap schemes are the same, unless you don't want every month to have a all-in-one opportunity:

• stimulating big turnover (main program/plugin/theme update cause fatal error)
• changing parts while flying (showing error messages to visitors)
• time reversal technique (serious failure covering entire site with previous backup)

Elementor Hosting needs to buy Business or Sell Pro scheme and above to have the function of setting up a test environment (Staging Environment), can try it first in another place before updating.

Sell Pro again going up has Sell Pro+, has the highest-level complete version of Elementor Pro - Advanced, backup files can be kept for 30 days, more detailed specifications and prices please refer to official website.

Perhaps before Elementor Hosting automatic renewal deducts payment, move the website to elsewhere, then cancel subscription, re-subscribe, and re-move again, or even set up a new account every year, this way it will be every year at the discounted price?
I haven't tried it, don't know if there are any smart people want to try this absurd method.

Elementor Hosting Enterprise-Level Website Infrastructure

Purchase cannot freely select region, after purchase and login, from control panel can be seen, data center shows in Belgium:

Taiwan north middle south select nodes, random testing some network quality indicators, general overseas hosts test this RTT, dozens of milliseconds or even seconds (1 second = 1000 milliseconds).

(shorter is better)

Only test TTFB, although not as fast as directly connect to Taiwan local hosts, but still in acceptable range:

(Elementor Hosting vs. local web hosting, shorter is better)

Elementor Hosting plan includes Cloudflare Enterprise, if Argos Smart Routing is set and there are no line unexpected things, users will directly connect to Taipei node, not like Cloudflare free version often go around the world.

Third-party testing for reference only, actual situation may vary due to factors such as peak hour traffic, server load, user's actual network environment, equipment, etc. TTFB is like water flowing from the water factory to home after turning on the faucet.

At least in Taiwan operation, static files are always cf-cache-status:HIT, feel no serious problems.
Whether PageSpeed real-time score will increase greatly? Of course not...last part will be mentioned later.

Below is attached a screenshot of the test tool testing the same website on three different places, such as only testing the home page situation as follows:

(Taiwan Local web hosting vs. Elementor Hosting vs. US west VPS)

Elementor Hosting uses Google Cloud C2 VM

Elementor Hosting introduction says that all series products use Google Cloud (C2) Servers, C2 is GCP Compute Engine "Compute Optimized Machine Types" series member, at least not the lowest tier.

If you want to open your own C2 level VM server in GCP Belgium (europe-west1), summarize the basic price list as follows for reference:

C2 Standard Edition, using Intel Xeon (Cascade Lake)

C2D plan, using AMD EPYC Milan

These costs are not yet calculated storage space, Network and other miscellaneous fees.
WordPress such a fat app is not 1 vCPU + 1GB RAM can run smoothly.

GCP Taiwan zone (asia-east1) data center also can open C2 level VM server, but the price is much higher than the table above Belgian region.

Other Cost

Other features mentioned on the official Elementor Hosting page may have additional costs:

Note 1: If the annual fee starts at USD$25,000 WordPress VIP (WPVIP) Platform, Automattic has a document WordPress VIP Documentation that outlines the architecture. I don't seem to find anything like this at Elementor Hosting.

Note 2: According to the SLA terms of GCP, even if the failure period does exceed this number, it will only reduce the monthly bill amount by a few % (single digit percentage). The most expensive plan like Elementor Hosting only costs US$30/month, and the 10% compensation is only $3. What kind of compensation do you want?
Elementor Hosting should not do multi-regional distribution, probably We can only know how they will respond if something happens to Europe-West1 in Belgium.

Host management functions provided by Elementor Hosting

The backend is basically the normal WordPress backend and has not been significantly modified. However, there will be an additional Hosting menu in the WP backend (as shown below). After clicking it, you will be connected to the hosting management control panel at https://my.elementor.com/ (an Elementor account is required to log in)

The functions provided on the control panel are roughly as follows:

Site Lock is not a security scan. Scanning harmful files requires a separate purchase.

In Enterprise-Grade Security, you will see a bunch of existing ones listed, including Site Lock.

I didn’t see any place where I could use WP-CLI, nor did I open an SSH connection, nor did I see an interface similar to querying the access log.

For other system-level functions provided by Elementor Hosting, please refer to Elementor Help Center - Elementor Hosting .

Here are some things that you might not think of just by looking at the promotional page, or that are not placed in obvious places:

• (Not available in low-end plans) Copy a test station Staging. If you click on it, you will only see a prompt screen for Upgrade your plan, but other Hosting tools can still be operated. Let’s continue.
• Reset website to its original settings.
• A phpMyAdmin entrance is provided, allowing people to directly connect to the database.
• Provides a set of SFTP connection information that will expire every 24 hours. After connecting, you can see wp-admin, wp-content, wp-includes and other folders, but some settings in wp-config cannot Coverage will be discussed in other paragraphs of this article.
• Cache settings (Page caching) and clearing page cache, these settings are pulled out independently.
• You can set up Block from search engines.
• Clear all file version records (Clear WordPress revision history).
• Reset login error record Reset WP login attempts.
• Everyone knows about Block XML-RPC.
• To restrict visitor countries, you can choose to block only a certain country, or only allow a certain country. The default is to allow all.
• You can change the PHP version, currently 8.2, 8.1, and 7.4 are available for candidates
• Some commonly used PHP plugins and PHP settings are opened by default, and they are basically locked and cannot be changed by yourself. (as shown below).

I originally thought it was the information security service company with the same name that would scan web pages for malware/weak scans and then issue a report? It turned out that it was not the case. It was just a function to add a password to the front desk of the website...
The operation method can be Refer to Privacy mode.

If you really need to scan harmful files, you can purchase it in the service area for $299 each time (as shown below).

For system introduction, please refer to Malware Cleanup

Some people may want to Say, isn’t "malware scan" a free service from several cheap web hosting? Why does Elementor hosting not included?
Well, you are right, Elementor did not say which cyber security product they used, it must be a scam. It’s such an evil company. I’ve finished scolding you. Are you happy?

I don’t know that the WordPress website is poisoned and cannot be cleaned. After cleaning it, it will be infected again. Mwny website owner find somenoe to help in the online community. After checking, why didn’t the “free security protection” of those hosting not help him solve the problem?

There are also some large companies that spend a lot of money to purchase cyber security products from US listed companies through local agents. Why didn’t the boss call the his employees use ChatGPT to do it themselves?
Leave this issue to smart users to think about.

Before making a purchase decision, "it is listed in the specifications" and "must have it" are one thing; if something really happens, "can it be used?" "Whether it will work" or whether it can really solve the problem is another matter. It can be very simple or very complicated.

Elementor Hosting’s restrictions on the use of WordPress plugins and settings

If you have used Automattic’s official WordPress.com, or some other manufacturers’ WordPress, you may have seen that the backend has been magically modified, and it looks like The backend looks completely different from the self-hosted WordPress.org. There are also a bunch of functions that are locked away from users to avoid tampering with them.

The WordPress website opened by Elementor Hosting has not been significantly modified in the backend, and there are no strange advertising blocks on the WP backend homepage.

Some menu items will disappear by default

Background links such as the theme file editor and plug-in file editor are hidden by default, and you need to change its wp-config yourself. php, find define('DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true);and change true to false.

Some setting parameters are locked

However, some parameters (constant) in wp-config are not used even if they are added. If the debug mode is enabled, it will be displayed on the web page:

Warning: Constant *** already defined in /mnt/customers/customers-bh-***/wp-content/wp-config.php

Looks like there is also Elementor Hosting Another higher level file is in control. Some people who are used to being free in VPS or other places may need to find a way on their own if they want to generate debug.log or perform certain operations.

Some PHP settings

The single upload file size allowed by Elementor Hosting is not particularly large, and the settings in the hosting tool cannot be changed.
In addition, from the website status panel in the WP backend, you will find that the quota given in the "Imagick Resource Limit" is very large, starting from tens to hundreds of GB. Websites that need to frequently handle very large image files may not have to worry about crashes.

System enabled PHP modules (without redis, memcached, xsl): Core, date, libxml, pcre, zlib, filter, hash, json, random, readline, Reflection, SPL, session, cgi -fcgi, bcmath, calendar, ctype, curl, dom, fileinfo, gd, iconv, intl, mbstring, openssl, PDO, standard, SimpleXML, soap, sodium, tokenizer, xml, xmlwriter, zip, exif, mysqlnd, Phar, xmlreader , mysqli, pdo_mysql, imagick, mcrypt, ionCube Loader, Zend OPcache

System disabled PHP modules (Disabled Functions): exec, passthru, shell_exec, system, proc_open, popen, show_source, dl, setenv , putenv, proc_nice, mail, mb_send_mail, opcache_compile_file, opcache_get_configuration, opcache_get_status, opcache_reset

Some system files are externally linked and cannot be modified by yourself

In addition, if you observe the host directory, you will find that some files or folders are externally linked using symlinks and cannot be modified directly.
If you want to fully control every files and like to change core files, Elementor Hosting may not be suitable for you.

For example, some packages in the WP backend have an acceleration option that you can click. After clicking, the package program directory will become externally connected. About more you can refer to the list in Accelerated plugins

Some plugins are not allowed to be installed on Elementor Hosting

In actual testing, downloading the zip files of WordPress plugins packages from some third-party payment/electronic payments in Taiwan and installing them on the Elementor Hosting website can work normally. installed and enabled.

Using this upload zip installation method, some plugins will display "The plugin does not have a valid header." during installation, but they can still be enabled and operated normally. If there is a problem with the file, the same If the file is operated elsewhere, will there be no error message?

Some plugins packages are not allowed to be installed in Elementor Hosting. When searching for them from the WP backend, the install button is reversed. If it is not allowed to be clicked, it will also display:

Incompatible plugin: This plugin is not supported on Elementor Hosting.

If you directly upload the zip file, it will also display "Because this plug-in is enabled. A fatal error will be triggered, so the plug-in is not enabled"

The list of packages that are not allowed by Elementor Hosting can be found on this page Elementor hosted websites: Incompatible Plugins.

If you throw your own PHP app to the host, it cannot be executed

If you want to throw your own files to the host, the measured pictures/compressed files/pdf/mp4 can still be opened normally.

But if you want to put a php file to run, whether you put it in the main directory, several wp-*** directories, or open a new directory yourself, even empty php files will be blocked by the Elementor firewall (as shown below).

Some people may put some scripts on the host to run the data for external ERP or certain programs to scrap? If there is such a need for customized programs, running program scripts, etc., Elementor Hosting is not suitable.

How to know if someone else uses Elementor Hosting

What if you want to know if someone else’s WordPress website uses Elementor Hosting?

• When querying the URL DNS, CNAME record is {random number}.elementor.cloud
• The Response header will have x-powered-by:Elementor Cloud values
• Browse admin loign URL, there will be a "Log in with Elementor" button (as shown below)

Elementor Hosting is also a WordPress website built by others, but the login screen does not have any strange checkboxes like

I am not affiliated with WP Engine in any way, financially or othewise.

If you are worried that one day Elementor will also fall out with Automattic drama, and may affect the user's website functions, you can not use it.

WordPress Hosting vs. eCommerce Hosting and sales plan details

Elementor Hosting’s official website page is divided into two areas: WordPress Hosting and eCommerce Hosting. It seems that the only difference is whether WooCommerce is pre-installed.

This kind of thing can be installed by yourself. Is it an stupid tax?
Buy the cheapest WordPress Hosting plan and install WooCommerce yourself, save $72 per year now? That’s not how it works.

I discovered some interesting points in the sales plan...

From the infra architecture research in the previous section, we know that Elementor Hosting has its own logic. The sales plan is not like the general use of several vCPUs/shared CPUs &dedicated CPUs/CPU several Ghz/number of workers/number of Entry Processes/number of RAM..., in theory, Elementor Hosting may be less likely to encounter the problem of low-end plans with lower specifications, and WordPress often encounters 500 errors.

Elementor Hosting’s monthly usage and overage billing methods

Although there is no direct classification of server hardware specifications in Elementor Hosting, there are Monthly Visits and Storage, monthly traffic(Bandwidth) and other restrictions.

Elementor Hosting FAQ says:

• The administrator will be notified when usage reaches 80%.
• Additional charges: $1 per GB of traffic and $1 per 1,000 visitors (The rate would be $1 per month per 1GB in excess and $1 per month per 1,000 visitors in excess.)
• Storage space is not mentioned.

These amounts may change at any time, and are mainly based on official website information.

Other vendors that specialize in WordPress hosting also use the number of visitors to determine the level of sales plans, which is nothing new.
The problem is how visitors are counted.

Some web hosting businessman even count search engine crawlers, social website crawlers, which AI services crawl training data... these bots also count visits. From a system perspective, this is very reasonable. Whether it is a robot or a real person, system resources will be used. The public cloud cannot escape the fees charged by the website hosting administrator, so the cost will continue to be passed on.

So does Elementor Hosting also have this rule? Elementor's virtual robot customer service said that search engine crawlers do not count visits.
As we all know, AI will never say the wrong thing or have hallucinations. It will treat what it says as true.
What if unfortunately the monthly quota is used up, but there are no orders on the website? You have to ask AI to write a set of words again.

Elementor Hosting's low-end plan only provides a free version/functionally stripped version of the editor

Elementor was more famous in the early days for its layout/page editor Elementor Page Builder, which has a free version and a paid Pro version. And the Pro version has 4 levels, Essential, Advanced Solo, Advanced, and Expert

The main difference between the next two levels of plan, Advanced and Expert, is the number of domains the license can be used for, as well as more advanced customer service. If you have many websites to install, it will be better than buying each website individually. Essential and Advanced Solo are cheaper. If we only talk about the website editing function, buying Advanced Solo is the complete function.

Elementor editor plan dispute

Elementor editor's paid plan level will have a dispute at the end of 2023, because the official announced adjustments to the sales plan Upcoming Modifications to the Elementor Pro-Essential Subscription Plan One of the key points is to move some functions from the cheapest Essential to Advanced, which is originally useful Users of those functions will have to upgrade, which means a disguised price increase.

But if you don’t feel comfortable using this kind of thing, don’t use it. People who don’t use those functions can still use it just by using the free version or the castrated version. You can upgrade without adding money.

Otherwise, you can also delete all the pages and layouts created with Elementor, change the theme, and rearrange them all with other editors?
Otherwise, you can also not update until you see new features or turned a blind eye whenElementor was on security notice

anyway, everyone was arguing for a while Later, nothing happened, the Elementor editor plan change was a foregone conclusion.

Each Elementor Hosting plan has a different editor version

Elementor Hosting was only released by them in 2022 Elementor Hosting for WordPress: All-in-One Website Creation Solution.

With Elementor Hosting, not all plans come with the full version of Elementor Pro Builder for free. The cheapest Lite&Sell Core plans only come with a free version of Elementor Builder.

Some monthly editors offer a paid version, but the deductions for the number of monthly visitors/storage space/monthly traffic are relatively small. Some plans have higher deductions for monthly visitors/storage space/monthly traffic, but the editor is a free version, so you can decide which one is more important.

(Did you see the line about Builder under each plan?)

Parlu in some offices, if you meet a boss who gives orders to change the web page, and then says that it is very simple to generate the code with ChatGPT or something?

I just mentioned that Elementor Page Builder has version differences. Controversy...

The free version/ Essential version does not provide Custom CSS&JS functionality, relying on ChatGPT and other AI to generate code also cannot directly put into page editing area.
Must have Elementor Page Builder Pro's Advanced/Advanced Solo scheme or above to have Custom CSS&JS functionality.

Then Elementor has its own AI, but needs to be purchased separately, and only the paid editor version can use (discussed in another chapter of this article).

Naturally, those familiar with web technology can also achieve the need to insert code into the page through other means, which will often become a problem that even if you only want to change one page, you have to jump to several places to change it, greatly increasing interaction and maintenance trouble.

Custom CSS&JS is just a small part of the entire editing experience. If the manager or customer mentions some requirements that can only be achieved by writing code, it will become a big problem.
The functionality differences between each Elementor Page Builder Pro plan are listed on the Elementor website builder plugin plan compare page.
However, this sentence is basically unnecessary, as it's another circular problem:

(The situation of the problem and "edit into American Choper father-son argument meme dialogue, 6 lines, throw it to Claude, AI will help me think of the dialogue, human beings are left with only graphical design function...)

Some people just pick some things that editors can't do to imagine visual design and building, and maintenance afterwards will be very painful,
so what website should look like will affect which editing functions will be used,
but in reality, some projects are done in reverse.
This is like Shopline or various package systems' functionality, where some people always go wild with ideas, thinking up many activities that the system cannot implement, and often limited by budget or other reasons, unable to customize development.

You can buy Elementor editor separately and bind it to an Elementor Hosting website

In Elementor Hosting, I found a way to use it,
those who have subscribed to Elementor Page Builder Pro, can successfully link the license to their Elementor Hosting website without any problems.

So buying the cheapest eCommerce Hosting Plan : Sell Core, originally comes with Elementor Free version,
Sell Pro hosting middle tier plan, comes with Elementor Pro - Essential Plan.
These can all use this method to secretly upgrade to full-fledged Elementor Pro editor without spending more money to upgrade to higher-level Elementor Hosting plans.

Pricing calculation:

Note 1: The prices mentioned above are the official prices on 2024/11/9, calculated based on normal renewal price, excluding initial free period, holiday discounts and other factors. Please refer to the actual price on Elementor's website for any price changes.

Note 2: Each Elementor Hosting plan has different storage space/visitor numbers/month traffic limits, which cannot be simply evaluated by price. It is recommended to select a plan based on your actual website traffic conditions.

But this trick seems not explicitly mentioned in Elementor's official documentation, and when the time comes, they may lock down the entire website, adding an extra step for authorization... it's just a piece of cake.

Need to subscribe to a monthly fee for email sending quotas

When a website needs to send emails, let alone purchasing notifications/online form notifications/mass emailing, even basic things like password reset (password reset) or technical issues with the website (WordPress detects serious errors caused by plugins or themes and automatically sends an email notification to the website administrator) are involved.

If you haven't set it up yourself, just clicking through the steps to complete WordPress installation will result in no emails being sent at all.

Just the issue of sending emails can bring down a lot of newbies, involving whether the hosting company has enabled it or not and whether the website has installed any additional plugins. This is also one of the points that WordPress is often criticized for requiring users to set up half a day after installation before the website can run normally, which makes it unsuitable for beginners.

To send emails in Elementor Hosting:

• Install your favorite mail sending plugins and set up email sending service API, then you can send emails normally, without being locked to any particular vendor. Still relatively free.
• Elementor has also collaborated with other email sending services' partner to create an email sending service, priced start at $60+/year.

If someone doesn't want to pay extra for email sending? Figure it out yourself, I won't continue exploring this topic. Here are the actual test observations:

Trying to use WordPress's default wp_mail in Elementor Hosting will cause an error

Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function PHPMailer\PHPMailer\mail()

No problem, not surprising at all. As spammers are rampant, most hosting companies also lock down the PHP module so it can't be used, but in this case, we're using Elementor Hosting, and the hosting company is Elementor itself... what to do now?

Elementor Hosting's official documentation States that Custom emails sent by your site Have mentioned in the document that Elementor Hosting can send up to 100 emails per day.

Your subscription includes up to 100 emails per day sent from your website. This would be things like – form submission emails, purchase confirmation emails, admin notifications etc.

That sentence wasn't finished, and every day at most it can send 100 letters, then the free version is only limited to 200 letters.

This thing is just the Elementor in October 2024-end released Site Mailer service Introducing Site Mailer by Elementor: Improve Your WordPress Email Deliverability, but clearly written it's not for taking advertising marketing emails, only for sending notifications.

To use this service that sends 100 emails per day, you need to first install the Elementor Site Mailer plugin bundle. After installation, it will prompt to disable other conflicting plugins.

Next, complete the domain verification process, otherwise, without verification, the default sender of emails is site-XXXXXXXX@emXXXX.sitemailerservice.com.
From the WP backend Site Mailer control panel, you can see that sending 200 emails will cost money after use, with a price range of $60 to $300 per year.

Site Mailer even after paying will not let users send an unlimited emails, still has a daily average limit of over 30-300 messages.

In the verification process, Elementor will give us a few CNAME values to set DNS record, which can be seen at a particular email sending service provider's domain name, then the free plan of that email sending service provider, which just so happens to be 100 emails per day... it looks like everything is connected behind the scenes with that third-party service.

If you skip Elementor Site Mailer, should you buy directly from the manufacturer? Which manufacturer has a mail splitting API pricing, and another marketing email sending system with more sendable volumes.

But there's another place to manage the bill and if I have to buy it myself, why not look for something cheaper...

Ps.Elementor Page Builder has a "Form Widget", this is a feature available only in the Pro version, and some requirements will no longer need to add a contact form plugins. The Form Widge inside Elementor also uses the settings of Site Mailer.

You have to buy Elementor AI separately.

Elementor AI is another product under Elementor, with some image generation and content generation like...

This sounds very dull?
Let's take a look at how the Elementor official EDM is introduced

Add custom CSS using Elementor AI

Use AI to generate web frontend code!

Use AI to create containers based on an existing page

Copy and paste the desired URL, let Elementor directly generate a similar editing page.

The official functions are a big pile, not the focus of this text. If you're interested, go yourself to the Elementor AI official page.

Looks very mysterious AI generates frontend code or various functions if no money is spent, you can't even see it being eaten:

• Custom Code is only available for Page Builder Pro - Advanced/Advanced Solo versions, the free or disabled version of Elementor Hosting Page Builder has no use.
• If you didn't buy Elementor AI, those cool AI features won't be related to you, even if you bought the highest plan with Elementor Hosting, there won't be those ✨ button functionalities everywhere in the editor.

Aside from the Page Builder, there must be a plan above in order for AI to fully utilize its functions, and besides, there are also other practical problems.

• Somewhat companies claim to give away free Elementor Page Builder PRO, but if they meet users who want to use these AI functions, it can be purchased additionally and even have to create separate account numbers for individual customers...
• Elementor AI needs to be upgraded to Elementor Page Builder 3.14 or above, some websites that haven't updated in hundreds of years, the plugins version of the update function is locked by website companies and can't be accessed, and these functions are also not needed.

Totally, want to use Elementor AI to help with webpage creation? You need to pay! Start from $48-$192 US dollars every year, and still has an AI points budget limit, not unlimited use.

Elementor Image Optimizer needs to be bought separately.

In the past, when I used Elementor for editing page content, I found that not all images use srcset frontend code to implement, so users had to avoid using the same huge image on all screens, which was easily solved by clicking a small mouse, but then they had to use more complicated methods to arrange the page content.

Later I saw Elementor's new service introduced in April 2024, the Image Optimizer by Elementor, and my mind was a bit puzzled. Will they intentionally leave some regret for this product and then come out with another new one to improve it? Should they just take off an extra layer?

Only if the speed problem bottleneck is a problem related to images, so the effect of this promotional picture is possible. Even improving the image doesn't guarantee an extra 20 points without improvement.

WordPress website acceleration plugin is another branch of mysticism, each manufacturer has its own implementation way behind, some actually make the website run slower or increase system resource usage.

Elementor's Image Optimizer looks like it only handles image files of that sort:

• Controlled image compression (can choose to compress with loss or no loss)
• Reduce large images
• Convert images into webp or avif
• Clear EXIF data

Then according to the number of images on the website, there are a few Elementor Image Optimizer subscription plans with different price levels, ranging from $50 to $200 per year.

WordPress on related functions of WebP images

Since everyone started using iOS 14 and above operating systems, and the IE browser died off, web page developers can no longer worry about the compatibility of WebP images on web cbrowsers. The market for WordPress plugin packages is becoming more numerous with features related to images, such as image functions, and sales methods based on image quantities.

Of course everyone can also not use, before uploading the image, you manually compress the picture to a suitable size, replace all the old page pictures one by one with webp. If you don't want to do it yourself, compressing and replacing the page pictures, then you have to rely on these third-party plugins.

Some products that can be done for free now will they become stable and then start charging? Do there still be bugs without maintenance? Don't worry about these things, the ecosystem of WordPress is like this, if there's an additional limitation on hosting sales schemes such as inode file numbers storage capacity etc. so that everyone can't just finish the job easily, then it will generate new job opportunities and new products.

There is no direct gift of his own home Elementor Image Optimizer

The website is hosted on Elementor Hosting and does not provide a direct gift of its own Elementor Image Optimizer. If it's really needed, you need to buy it yourself.

I can also play with word games:

Even if the WordPress website is hosted on a different server, it can still be installed with a free trial version of Free Trial, which has a usage limit of 200 images.

Is the text game funny? There are many WP ecosystems products like this, speaking as if it is a special gift, but in reality, they can be installed by anyone for free or trial version.

The Elementor is a frustratingly inefficient performance problem.

Another thing that is unpleasant, is that product promotion has a suspicion of misleading. Elementor related products' promotional content often uses the metaphor of PageSpeed, such as green circles and scores, paired with phrases like "Boost your SEO rankings", which can easily create illusions in people's minds.

Elementor Editor has been criticized for one of its weaknesses, which is that it's too powerful, and the web hosting are not good enough / resource peak/ there's a conflict between some features when administrators edit the page, they will be stuck on loading the page, only to be told Can't Edit? Enable safe mode...
The frontend page also has some fatness, even if you put any picture in, don't use any paid plugins at all, and the scores are often not good enough.

Writing this article coincidentally was also when Elementor 3.25 was released, boasting a major update: New in Elementor 3.25: CSS Optimization, New Anchor Offset Control & Pagination Options for Live Results in the Search widget!
From an engineering perspective, it was mainly about adjusting some coding styles, and there were also some things that used to rely on JavaScript being converted to use browser-native compoments.

Updates after 3.25, Elementor's Performance settings still only have four options (CSS using external files or embedded on the page, setting fetchpriority and lazyload, reducing load of unused frontend files, background image lazyload).
Clearing all server cache compared to Elementor 3.24 shows some differences in frontend HTML, CSS, and JS file sizes for the same page (new version may not be smaller)
PageSpeed testing hasn't seen any significant improvements, still similar to before.

Summary of advantages and disadvantages compared with competitors.

The origin of this article stems from taking over a WP website using the Hello Elementor theme and the Elementor editor. I wanted to see if migrating it to Elementor Hosting would result in a seamless, zero-configuration, zero-adjustment experience with all green scores?

However, the result is obviously no more than 10 points added, still need to optimize the page by myself. 😢😢

Benefits of Elementor Hosting

• Lowered some common pain points of new WordPrss sites, reducing the hassle of building from scratch, selecting a server, installing settings, and subsequent server management maintenance like human and time.
• Reduced some over-sold web hosting businesses, problems with server performance when operating a website, instability when server efficiency is insufficient, and downtime during high traffic.
• Somewhat, one price plan includes host + complete functionality of Elementor Pro page editor, as well as other services that can be purchased for a convenient one-stop service.
• Elementor Hosting prices should still in the acceptable range of small to medium-sized enterprises.
• a one-year Free domain name, going through the Elementor backend cooperation with the manufacturer to buy a URL, and also have a discount.
• Some plans include the full version of Elementor Pro Editor, no need to subscribe separately.
• There is a discounted price for the first year, some temporary or event websites can consider.
• 30-day money-back guarantee

Not Suitable for Using Elementor Hosting

It seems like Elementor has thought of all kinds of user needs and provided corresponding products. However, in the world, there is no perfect product that meets everyone's needs.

Some users may find Elementor Hosting not suitable for their needs or may face issues that cannot be resolved with Elementor Hosting:

• Keep comparing website design plan everyday, reading affiliate marketing articles, and thinking the other product is much better. Even asking the vendor to change their existing product to match another one.
• Customer has already bought a domain name and set up a WordPress website with an existing project only containing design arrangement for the first year. In this case, Elementor Hosting's plans are not suitable.
• No intention of actually operating a website, but wants to pretend to be busy. For example, asking someone to conduct market research, come up with proposals, schedule meetings to compare quotes, find people to take photos, purchase equipment, and create various unrelated courses for others to attend. Elementor Hosting in this situation might just be bought and left unused, potentially used as a scapegoat to blame for problems and then have someone else redo it next year.
• WordPress main code or plugin issues can only wait for the manufacturer to update and fix them. Elementor Premium Services' additional services do not involve modifying code or customizing functionality development. For example, during writing this article, WordPress 6.7 was released, some people immediately updated, but all plugins were reset to English versions, and some image sizes disappeared. Customer support will not help with coding issues, at most they can restore the previous day's backup.
• Extremely poor usage habits on WordPress, such as installing multiple plugins that conflict with each other, uploading 300 DPI large images, copying and pasting Word content... Elementor Hosting will not prevent users from doing these things.
• WordPress is always a product of bad reputation, for example, when another company develops a client's website and sees it uses WordPress, regardless of the client's needs, they will recommend switching to their system, picking on WordPress's flaws without considering whether Elementor Hosting or another hosting service is used.
• Wants to update WordPress main program or plugins but is afraid of the website crashing? Elementor Hosting requires a certain plan price or above to set up a testing environment. Whether all functions work normally or not, and whether any pages will be lost, still needs to be manually set up and tested.
• Elementor Hosting's daily automatic backup retains the number of days based on the plan. Restoration isoverwriting the entire website program & data, if only a part needs to be restored, additional handling is required.
• Perhaps main programs or plugins or user operation habits have vulnerabilities that cannot be blocked by firewalls or WAFs? This will not change regardless of where it's moved.
• As mentioned in the text, some freedoms are restricted, such as being unable to randomly upload own PHP code for execution, certain wp-config constants are restricted, some plugins are prohibited from installation, and system PHP modules cannot be modified at will, etc.
• Website operation matters, such as content planning and production, customer service response, performance evaluation and strategy, etc., still need to be handled by oneself.
• If design requirements exceed the capabilities of WordPress and Elementor editors, it still needs web developers or designers to achieve them.

Elementor Hosting Compared to Other WordPress Hosting Services

Some virtual hosting services that often advertise, some who are often written about in profit-sharing articles, and some well-known WordPress hosting services. What are their drawbacks compared to Elementor Hosting? Based on the normal renewal price from the second year onwards, excluding initial discounts or holiday promotions.

Note: The correct way to troubleshoot a website crash is to check WordPress's detailed error messages and review logs. Sometimes, the site crashes due to compatibility issues with custom code or plugins, and moving to another host will still cause errors, not necessarily a hosting issue.

Som people recommend more expensive hosts besides having profit margins. Usually, at this price point and above, there are fewer cases of website problems caused by low-cost competition. There's also the fact that they filter customers, those who can't afford to pay for web hosting fees will find it hard to believe they can pay a reasonable fee when encountering issues. So if you hear someone say "don't use it if it's below USD$50 per month" don't think it's strange.

Existing WP Website Moved to Elementor Hosting

I think I forgot to mention, if you already have a WordPress website and want to move it to Elementor Hosting, do you need to start from scratch? No.
Elementor Hosting provides a migration tool, not an exclusive feature, but rather a free downloadable WordPress plugin for everyone to use as a platform benefit.

However, as mentioned earlier, migrating a website is one thing, and having it run normally is another. Some plugins or PHP modules are prohibited on Elementor Hosting, if you have custom settings or uploaded php scripts unique to your previous host, the website may not even work properly after migration. This platform management mechanism cannot be adjusted specifically for individual websites.

Of course, if I were writing this article for paid content, I would say that companies don't need to worry about setting up a dedicated server, laying special internet newwork, or building a data center, worrying about performance or component failure, or renting IDC services for several years. Elementor Hosting is just a few dollars a month, pay a few minutes of payment to open, and you can start listing products right away 🎉 🎉

Experienced IT workers and website industry workers know that the true user needs more than just these things.

For email-related requirements, users want...
Website mail must be 100% delivered, cannot go to spam mailbox.
Can send a large number of electronic newsletters, can send unlimited emails per day.
Can use as corporate mailbox, can customize domain name, can bind Outlook, Webmail must have Chinese interface and good performance, can create unlimited groups of email accounts, also want cloud hard drive, calendar, AI assistant, customer service to be called at any time...
And free without charge.

For web content editing requirements... Elementor is just a tool, still needs someone to edit and operate,
Is not paying for Elementor Hosting after all the content will automatically come out, can immediately start business.

These requirements are not said that really can't achieve low budget perfection,
There are three companies in the world that can achieve it,
The first one is called "Dreamland", everyone says "Dreamland has everything".
The second one is called 'Other Companies,' and everyone's saying, 'Look, they have this and that included.'
The third one is called "Fairy Tale Story", everyone says "Only in fairy tale stories can you find...".

Finally still hope that the details of this article will help users make a purchase decision, wish your website can find comfortable construction and maintenance methods~