When we first started building WordPress websites, everything was about classic themes with heavily dependent on plugins to make things work. Then came the rise of page builders, and suddenly, building a website felt easier, faster, and way more visual. When Elementor arrived, it felt like a revolution, promising everything we wanted: speed, drag-and-drop design, smooth micro-interactions, and total creative freedom. For years, Elementor truly felt like magic. We built countless projects with it and even released multiple themes powered entirely by Elementor. However, as websites grew larger and users demanded better performance, we started hitting limitations. Elementor promised to be fast and easy; it was, until it wasn’t.
If you’ve used Elementor long enough, you’ve probably faced this:
You open the editor, and it just hangs on “Loading…”
We were building a website for a large enterprise client, and on launch day, the Elementor design panel simply refused to open. PHP memory limits were fine, everything looked correct. We reached out to Elementor support, and they eventually solved it, but it took time and our client’s site couldn’t go live that day.
That experience was a wake-up call. Elementor handles simple pages well, but as designs grow with multiple sections, animations, and custom CSS, it starts to choke. The editor slows down, crashes unexpectedly, and site performance suffers.
And personally, I hate the hundreds of nested <div> tags for a simple layout. That’s fine for small sites, but for high-traffic or mid-to-large-scale websites, it becomes technical debt.
That’s when we decided to rebuild everything from the ground up without relying on any third-party plugins. Instead, we focused on using WordPress core features, so our themes could scale seamlessly, remain stable, and evolve alongside WordPress itself. This approach gives us confidence that every site built on our theme will be fast, reliable, and future-proof.
Factors that made us consider Gutenberg blocks over Elementor
When WordPress first introduced Gutenberg and later Full Site Editing (FSE) in 2017, we didn’t jump on board immediately. In fact, we were some of the biggest skeptics of block-based themes. For a long time, we stuck with what we knew: classic themes and Elementor.
But once we started experimenting with Gutenberg, the difference was undeniable. Unlike Elementor, Gutenberg is part of WordPress core. That means: No extra plugin overhead slowing down your site, No compatibility conflicts between third-party tools, No reliance on external companies to maintain updates.
In today’s fast-paced web environment, building on core WordPress is simply the smarter approach. Here are the main factors that made us move away from Elementor and embrace Gutenberg blocks:
1. Stability and Future-Proofing
WordPress has evolved far beyond just blogging — it’s now a full-fledged platform for building websites, complete with its own content management system. With the evolution of Gutenberg, the block editor became native, meaning it’s built into WordPress core, optimized, and automatically loaded on every site. Because Gutenberg and Full Site Editing (FSE) are part of the core, we no longer rely on third-party plugins for our design foundation.
Every WordPress update enhances our theme, instead of breaking it.
2. The Power of Reusable Patterns
One of the biggest mindset shifts we experienced moving from Elementor was seeing how much more powerful reusable patterns are in FSE. With Elementor, you can save “Global Widgets” or templates, but they remain tied to the plugin. Managing them across multiple themes or updates often involves duplication.
In Gutenberg, Patterns and Reusable Blocks are first-class citizens. You can:
- Create a layout once (say, a pricing section or CTA).
- Reuse it across the entire site.
- Edit it once and see the change everywhere.
For us as theme creators, this was a game-changer. It lets us build a complete library of reusable design modules — hero sections, testimonials, feature grids, pricing tables, and more — that users can drop anywhere with ease.
This kind of modular design workflow simply isn’t possible with Elementor or other page builders without creating heavy duplication and extra work.
3. Real Performance, Real Results
We build templates for SaaS startups and app landing pages, where speed equals conversions. When we tested our new FSE theme, the results spoke for themselves:
| Metric | Elementor Page | FSE (Gutenberg) Page |
|---|---|---|
| HTML Size | ~99 KB | ~28 KB |
| PageSpeed (Mobile) | 46–70 | 90+ consistently |
| Extra Plugins Needed | 2–3 optimization plugins | None |
| Load Time | ~2.0s | <0.8s |
These numbers aren’t magic, they’re the result of running a site entirely on WordPress core. No heavy page builder, no runtime lag. Because Gutenberg is built into WordPress, core blocks load instantly. There’s no extra CSS or JavaScript being added for every element you drag in, keeping your site clean, fast, and efficient.
Page Speed Test
Our own themes built entirely with Gutenberg and FSE — consistently scored 90+ on Google PageSpeed, even for large demo sites.
No caching plugin, no optimization hacks.
Why we built WP Cooper (FSE theme)
We’re not an agency — we build themes, specifically for SaaS, startup, and app landing pages. In that world, speed, simplicity, and reliability matter above all else.
There are plenty of block-based themes out there, and we’ve tried most of them. While many are great, they share one common problem: plugin dependency. We didn’t want to rely on yet another plugin for something WordPress already provides natively.
With over a decade of WordPress experience, we know just how powerful Gutenberg is at its core so why add extra layers unnecessarily? That’s why we created WP Cooper, a Full Site Editing theme built purely with Gutenberg blocks, fast, clean, and future-proof.
Plus, it’s future-proof. FSE is the direction WordPress itself is heading. The ecosystem is moving toward block-based everything and we wanted to lead, not follow.
Where Elementor still makes sense
Elementor remains an incredible tool for many creators. If you are extremely familiar with it, or have a workflow built entirely around it, it can still be a valuable choice.
Elementor is particularly strong for sites that require complex animations, sliders, and heavy interactive elements. Certain websites rely on these features to create a unique user experience, and in those cases, Elementor can be the ideal solution.
However, for us and for serious WordPress developers, theme creators, and SaaS founders, Full Site Editing (FSE) is simply the smarter foundation. It provides a lighter, faster, and more reliable platform without depending on external plugins, while still allowing reusable patterns, modular designs, and consistent performance.
In short, Elementor works well for specific creative needs, but when it comes to building scalable, high-performance websites and themes, FSE offers a future-proof, core-based approach that we trust.
The Bottom Line
After years of building WordPress websites and themes, we’ve seen firsthand the strengths and limitations of tools like Elementor. While it’s a powerful builder for certain creative needs, it can struggle with complex designs, heavy pages, and large-scale workflows.
That’s why we built WP Cooper, a Full Site Editing theme powered entirely by Gutenberg blocks. It’s fast, reliable, and modular, giving theme creators, developers, and SaaS founders the confidence to build high-performance websites without relying on extra plugins.
If you want to build beautiful, lightning-fast websites without the headaches of plugin dependencies or a bloated builder, try WP Cooper.
WordPress is evolving, and it will continue to evolve. Full Site Editing is at its core, and WordPress isn’t going to revert to this direction. WordPress’s eventual goal is to become a standalone page builder capable of competing with Webflow, Wix, and Squarespace. Development won’t stop, and we want to move alongside this evolution, leveraging core features to build faster, more reliable websites.