Elegant Themes Review (2024): Do They Justify the $89 Price Tag?
If you are searching for a theme to install on a new WordPress website, then one provider you will certainly come across is Elegant Themes.
Founded by Nick Roach in his college apartment, Elegant Themes is one of the most popular WordPress theme stores around. What started as a repository of 80+ themes and a handful of plugins has now become home to 2 powerful themes – Divi (see full Divi theme review) and Extra – and 3 premium plugins built to help you expand your digital footprint.
But are its themes the right choice for your website? More importantly, do they justify the $89/year price tag that Elegant Themes has put on its membership?
In this Elegant Themes review, we’ll break down everything the WordPress theme provider has to offer so you can make an informed decision for yourself.
By the time you finish reading, you’ll hopefully be able to determine if the Elegant Themes membership worth your investment.
Let’s get started!
🤔 What is Elegant Themes?
Elegant Themes creates WordPress themes and plugins that are available through its membership scheme. Unlike other WordPress theme companies that allow you to browse many premium themes and purchase them individually (usually at a high price), Elegant Themes gives you access to all of its products in one subscription. Each of its themes is beautifully designed by different layouts and colors and well-structured by simple coding.
The passionate work from the Elegant Themes team has put the provider on the map as one of the best WordPress theme providers. You’ll find people recommending Elegant Themes on Reddit, Quora, and several other platforms. Not to mention, this popular theme store boasts an impressive number of 649,032 customers and counting.
To top it off, the store lets its customers use all of the company’s themes, plugins, and layouts on an unlimited number of websites.
Now that you have some idea about the Elegant Themes’ background, let’s take a closer look at its offerings.
WordPress Themes: Divi and Extra
As of this writing, Elegant Themes offers two premium WordPress themes: Divi and Extra. Here’s how each of them works.
Divi
Divi is a web designer’s dream and the most popular product in the whole collection. It comes with a template and visual builder that lets you create any type of website. Whether you want to launch an eCommerce website, a WordPress blog, or a B2B microsite, Divi’s multi-purpose nature will ensure that you’re able to adapt the design and layout to your liking.
The theme offers 150 layout packs and more than 1000 pre-made site layouts for you to choose from, which fresh layouts being added every week. We love that Elegant Themes categorizes these layouts to help site owners find what they need fast.
And to make things really simple, Divi comes pre-packaged with a powerful drag and drop page editor – Divi Builder. The tool lets you organize rows, columns, and exclusive Divi elements to create your own unique layouts (without requiring any knowledge of code).
After recent updates to the Divi theme, the Divi Builder can also be accessed through the live, front-end interface. This means that you can customize your website’s design in real-time. Simply insert a module on your website’s homepage (or one of its inner pages) and start customizing.
To make things really easy, Elegant Themes has packed over 40 content modules in the Divi Builder, making website setup even faster. You can use them to add images, sliders, counters, CTAs, and so much more.
You can also customize the modules you select –from content to color schemes, from animations to border shadows – to fit your needs. This gives you full control over how your theme, and therefore your site, looks.
Of course, these are just the core features of Divi. The theme offers a lot more, including built-in marketing tools, split testing, and WooCommerce compatibility. If you’re interested in knowing everything about it, then we recommend that you read WPKube’s comprehensive Divi theme review where we cover every aspect of this popular offering.
Extra
Extra, introduced after Divi, is an Elegant Themes product designed for magazines, blogs, and other content-rich websites. It’s also powered by the Divi Builder plugin, which makes site creation a breeze.
The default homepage layout of this theme gives you the ability to showcase your best content in an elegant grid format. You can use mini-article sliders, post carousels, custom widgets, and tabbed areas to share previews of your work.
One exciting feature of the Divi Builder in Extra is post-based modules. These modules, referred to as the Category Builder, allow you to use the builder’s drag-and-drop function on your category pages. This lets you design unique category pages that let you control how lists of content, such as blog posts and portfolio items, are displayed on your website.
For example, you can use the Category Builder to display a list of posts accompanied by their featured image in a carousel-themed slider.
Apart from the Divi Builder, Extra comes with a native review system. The tool features an integrated user rating system that allows site visitors to rate your posts. By using the review system on your content-rich website, you can foster visitor engagement while gaining valuable insight into your content.
Other noteworthy features present in Extra include:
- WooCommerce integration: Extra comes with the capability to integrate with WooCommerce, which means you can monetize your site by selling eCommerce products, services, or even digital downloads.
- Projects and Products: Besides standard blog posts, Extra offers complete support for these two assets. If you’re a designer looking to display your recent projects, the theme makes it dead simple.
- Mega Menus: These allow you to create beautiful dropdown menus so people can explore all the content present on your website.
Although Elegant Themes prioritizes Divi, Extra was introduced to make website creation easy for online publications and bloggers – and it certainly doesn’t disappoint. It’s a flexible yet beautiful theme that any content creator or magazine owner would love to get their hands on.
WordPress Plugins: Divi Builder, Bloom, and Monarch
Purchasing an Elegant Themes membership also gives you access to three high-quality WordPress plugins:
1. Divi Builder
We’ve already discussed the majority of its capabilities. Another useful feature of the Divi builder is the ability to create and save your own layouts to the Divi Library. When a custom layout is saved in the Library, it can be inserted into new pages.
Another cool thing about this WordPress plugin is that it can be used to customize any WordPress website. Even if you’re not using Divi or Extra, you should be able to use the Divi Builder to create custom designs on your webpages.
All you have to do is open the webpage and use the Divi Builder interface. So, instead of using Gutenberg or the classic WordPress editor, you’ll use Divi Builder to build and adjust things like rows, content modules, etc.
2. Bloom
How many times have you heard the saying the money is in the list?
Having a list of people whom you can promote your products and services to can work wonders for your business. Bloom is an Elegant Themes plugin that makes list building easy by encouraging your visitors to subscribe and hand over their email addresses.
After installing and activating Bloom, you’ll be able to create beautiful opt-in forms using one of these display types:
- Pop Up
- Fly In
- Below Post
- Inline
- Locked Content
- Widget
The plugin also offers a decent range of opt-in form templates you can customize through Bloom’s editor. However, if you prefer to create a form from the ground up, Bloom offers that option as well.
With Bloom’s form display settings, you can choose an intro animation for the form, set a time delay to control its appearance, and define where on your website each form will show up. Customized edges and borders can also be applied to separate forms from the site’s content.
Everyone from eCommerce store owners to part-time bloggers can benefit from building an email list, and Bloom is the ideal plugin to help you achieve that goal.
3. Monarch
Monarch is a social sharing plugin from Elegant Themes. It lets you add social share buttons to different areas on your website – including on popups and sidebars.
You can create social share buttons for more than 20 social media websites. Also, Monarch lets you choose from a variety of triggers for your popups and fly-ins, so the right people see the right message at the right time.
For instance, you can opt to display your popup or fly-in social sharing buttons:
- At the bottom of a blog post
- After time delay
- When someone leaves a comment
- After a purchase
- When someone is inactive for a long time
- After someone scrolls a certain percentage down your content
In addition, you can use the plugin to display links to your profiles, complete with usernames and follower counts. What better way to add social proof to your site than letting people know that thousands follow you on social networks? It can be a quick way to gain recognition within your niche.
All of these features make Monarch one of the best social sharing plugins available for WordPress.
To top it off, Monarch even gives an option to export and import data from one site to another. Should you decide to switch websites in the future, you’ll have peace of mind knowing your social shares will continue from existing numbers (rather than zero).
Elegant Themes Support and Updates
When you become an Elegant Themes member, you’ll get access to its support forums, extensive documentation, and a wonderful customer support team that’s available 24/7 via live chat. In case you don’t get a response right away, someone from the support team will follow up via email.
In addition, you’ll be able to join the exclusive Facebook group, interact in community discussion boards, and attend local meetups to get all your queries answered one way or another.
And don’t forget to check out Elegant Themes’ YouTube channel. With plenty of new videos being released on a frequent basis, anything looking to learn about the Divi, Extra, etc. will never run short on guidance.
As well as providing stellar support to its customers, Elegant Themes releases regular updates to ensure its themes and plugins are compatible with the latest version of WordPress. Plus, you’ll also get routine updates that introduce more advanced features and improve the security of your website.
💰 Elegant Themes Pricing
Elegant Themes offers two different membership plans:
1. Yearly membership – $89/year
The yearly membership gives you access to all of Elegant Themes’ products and plugins, as well as community access, premium support, and product updates.
2. Lifetime membership – $249 one-time fee
The lifetime plan includes everything from the yearly plan plus lifetime support and updates.
It’s also worth mentioning that regardless of the plan you sign up for, Elegant Themes throws in a 30-day money-back guarantee. So, if for any reason you’re not satisfied with your membership, you can get a 100% refund (no questions asked).
👍👎 The Verdict
After this honest and extensive Elegant Themes review, there’s no doubt that the provider is an excellent resource for anyone looking to create a high-performing WordPress website.
Besides good looks, Elegant Themes has so many features to make your website stand out. You get one of the best website builders in the world in the form of Divi Builder. Plus, regular updates and around the clock support ensure you never run into any problems while customizing your site’s design.
All of Elegant Themes’ products are also search engine friendly and mobile optimized. Whether you’re looking to attract search engine visitors or impress audiences on mobile, the products by Elegant Themes are built to support your growth ambitions.
That being said, if you’re still on the fence about making a purchase, here’s a look at Elegant Themes pros and cons.
👍 Pros:
- Suitable for business owners with limited technical expertise
- Front-end page design with real-time previews
- Hundreds of beautiful templates for inspiration
- Compatible with email marketing services and eCommerce platforms
- Extensive support – Facebook group, tutorials, and live chat
- Value for money (including single payment lifetime access)
👎 Cons:
- No individual themes for sale
- Number of features can be overwhelming to beginner site owners
- No advanced documentation for developers
🏁 Conclusion
To conclude, Elegant Themes combines great themes with a variety of features to deliver a truly unique site building experience. And with Divi being one of the most popular themes in the world right now, you can’t question the value for money you’ll get by joining the Elegant Themes member club.
What’s more, there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you have nothing to lose by trying its products to see if you like them.
As a bonus, we’re leaving this exclusive Elegant Themes coupon for you. Click it to get 20% OFF on an Elegant Themes membership today. No thanks necessary, just doing our part!
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