Short answer: choose Elementor if you need its huge add-on ecosystem or a team already trained on it. Choose Breakdance if you want lighter pages, fewer plugins and a builder that site owners can still edit visually. Choose Bricks if a developer maintains the site and editing by the client matters less. For the company sites and small shops we build, Breakdance gives the best balance, and it is what we use for new projects.
We built on Elementor for years, still maintain Elementor sites, and have used Breakdance for new work since 2023. This comparison is from that experience, not from a feature list.
The three builders at a glance
| Elementor | Breakdance | Bricks | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Made by | Elementor Ltd. | Soflyy, the team behind Oxygen | Bricks (independent) |
| Best at | Ecosystem, templates, familiarity | Clean output with a friendly editor | Lean output and developer control |
| Built-in features | Many in Pro; extras usually come from add-ons | Forms, popups, sliders, tables, WooCommerce builder, design system | Strong query loops and dynamic data; forms included |
| Plugins a typical site needs | More, because add-ons fill gaps | Fewer | Fewer |
| Editing by the client | Familiar to many people | Straightforward | Closer to a developer tool |
| Typical page weight | Heaviest of the three | Light | Lightest |
| Risk | Heavy sites if plugins pile up | Smaller ecosystem than Elementor | Smaller ecosystem; steeper for editors |
Is Breakdance faster than Elementor?
In our rebuilds, yes, by a clear margin. The same design rebuilt in Breakdance produced pages two to three times smaller than the Elementor original before we added any caching or optimisation plugin. The difference comes from fewer nested wrappers around each section, less CSS shipped for elements the page does not use, and fewer plugins, each of which loads its own files.
Elementor can be made fast. It takes more work: careful use of its performance settings, fewer add-ons, critical CSS and a caching layer that has to be kept in step with every change. Elementor is also rebuilding its editor around leaner markup, which may narrow the gap; we will judge it on real sites when it ships everywhere.
What changes for the people editing the site
Most clients never open a builder after launch; they edit posts, swap images and change text. For them, the builder matters less than how the site is set up: global styles instead of one-off colours, templates instead of copied sections, and editable fields for the content that changes often. We set Breakdance sites up that way, so the owner can edit a page without breaking its layout.
For teams that build their own landing pages, Elementor’s familiarity is a real advantage. Breakdance is quick to learn if someone already knows Elementor; Bricks takes longer for non-developers.
Plugins and maintenance
The biggest long-term difference is the plugin count. Our Elementor sites used to run eight to twelve add-ons for headers, forms, sliders, popups and tables. The same sites on Breakdance run three or four plugins in total. Fewer plugins means fewer updates, fewer conflicts after updates, fewer security notices and a smaller maintenance bill each year.
WooCommerce
All three can build a shop. Breakdance includes templates for the shop, product, cart, checkout and account pages as part of the builder, so a WooCommerce site does not need a separate shop-builder add-on. For shops that outgrow a builder altogether, the next step is a headless storefront, which we explain in our guide to headless WooCommerce.
How we choose for a client
- New company site or small shop: Breakdance.
- Existing Elementor site that is fast enough and easy to edit: stay on Elementor.
- Existing Elementor site that fails Core Web Vitals or breaks on updates: rebuild in Breakdance, as described in how we migrate from Elementor to Breakdance.
- Developer-maintained site with little client editing: Bricks is a fair choice.
- Shop limited by any builder: headless.
The longer story of our switch is in why we moved from Elementor to Breakdance. We build Breakdance sites on our WordPress website service and shops on our WooCommerce service.
Frequently asked questions
For new company sites and small shops, in our experience yes: lighter pages, fewer plugins and a friendly editor. Elementor is the better pick when a team relies on its add-on ecosystem or already knows it well.
In our like-for-like rebuilds, Breakdance pages were two to three times smaller than the Elementor originals before caching. Hosting, images and third-party scripts still decide the final speed.
Bricks produces very lean output and suits developer-maintained sites. Breakdance is easier for site owners to edit. We choose Breakdance for most client sites for that reason.
Yes. With global styles, templates and editable fields set up during the build, owners can change text, images and posts without breaking layouts.
Only if it is slow, breaks on updates or needs many add-ons. If it passes Core Web Vitals and your team is happy editing it, staying on Elementor is reasonable.
