This makes sense. A WP page builder (plugin) company raising $65M doesn’t make sense since even an exit at a lower multiple would be unachievable with that model. They’re moving into hosting because that’s where the $$$ has been…emphasis on has been.

Overall website growth seems to have plateaued and WP growth is slowing. There is still more growth to be had, but it is increasingly a zero-sum game with the largest opportunity to be from migrations from existing hosts.

And if you look at competitors like Webflow or Shopify, the experience is vastly superior to WordPress for site building or commerce at the higher end while social networks and link-in-bio pages take over the low end.

So, what future is there for Elementor? Unfortunately, as they diversify into hosting for $$$ the site building experience will suffer as they lose focus.

And as Gutenberg matures (IMO Gutenberg is now the best part of WP and will outlive WP), the reason to use a page builder continues to diminish, especially since a page builder adds bloats, is less compatible with the ecosystem and the differentiation in ‘page builder’ capabilities is ever diminishing as Gutenberg improves.

Elementor’s best bet is to maximize the LTV of their current base while becoming a must-use tool for a key segment, likely web professionals. But that’s a tough sell when competing against Webflow.

They have built an impressive business in a relatively short time, but time will tell whether that was just funding + a strong market or a truly sustainable business. I wish them the best, but they certainly have challenges ahead.