You bought a theme on ThemeForest, installed it, and spent three days cleaning out the excess: WPBakery from 2019, Revolution Slider with 200 MB of demo content, stock photos that no one will ever open.

Familiar story. Developers have been overpaying for multi-purpose monsters for years, then end up rewriting half the templates manually anyway. We've been through this cycle and found an approach that removes the extra layer of complexity: Elementor Pro as a theme builder plus _s as a minimalist WordPress skeleton. No premium theme. No unnecessary bundled plugins.

Below we break down why this works, what difficulties you'll face, and when you should choose a different option.

💡 Quick overview:

• Learn why premium themes add an extra layer of overhead
• See what Elementor Theme Builder can do instead of a full theme
• Understand how _s differs from an empty theme
• Evaluate the real challenges of this approach
• Compare _s, Hello Theme, and GeneratePress in a table

The problem with premium themes: paying twice

A typical premium theme from ThemeForest weighs tens of MB in the archive. Inside: a bundled page builder (usually WPBakery with an outdated API), Revolution Slider, a form builder, demo content, and a stack of stock images you don't need.

After installation, you spend hours cleaning up. Then more hours adjusting to your layout. Multi-purpose means "everything for everyone," but in practice that's hundreds of unused CSS rules and JS files that the browser loads anyway.

A separate problem: some premium themes deliberately break the page builder's live editing, leaving only backend mode with a grid of shortcodes. This eliminates the main advantage of a page builder: instant feedback. You're editing code blind.

By the third consecutive ThemeForest theme project, it becomes obvious: most of the theme code goes unused, and you write what you need yourself on top. You can get the same result more cleanly.

Elementor Pro as a theme builder: what Theme Builder can do

Elementor in the Pro version has long outgrown its status as a page builder. Theme Builder lets you create:

• Header and Footer: transparent, sticky, mega-menu variations;
• Single Post Templates: with dynamic data through ACF and Pods;
• Archive Templates: for blog, categories, custom post types;
• 404 page and Search Results: without a single line of code;
• WooCommerce templates: product card, list, cart, checkout.

All through drag-and-drop with live preview. Scroll the mouse wheel, the element moves on screen in real time. No CTRL+S → Alt+Tab → F5.

Elementor is developer-friendly too. Need a custom widget: write it in PHP, register it through Elementor\Widget_Base, and get visual control in the editor. Need custom logic: hooks like elementor/frontend/before_render and elementor/dynamic_tags/register give you full access. This isn't a closed ecosystem, it's a framework with a visual interface.

Elementor Pro Essential license costs from $59 per year for one site. The Advanced plan for 3 sites runs from $99 per year.

What _s is: a compact skeleton instead of tens of MB

_s was created by the Automattic team: the same people behind WordPress.com, WooCommerce, and Jetpack. This is a starter theme for development, not for installing "as is" on production.

What's inside:

• Clean HTML5 markup with minimal CSS reset;
• Standard WordPress template hierarchy with a complete set of template files (from index.php to archive.php);
• Accessibility-ready navigation;
• No styles: blue links, black text on white background.

Total of about 100 KB according to the Automattic repository. _s gives you exactly the structure WordPress needs to function: template tags from get_header() to wp_nav_menu(). Nothing extra.

The theme updates rarely. That's a plus. Automatic premium theme updates break child themes and customizations, while _s is stable as a skeleton: changes only concern compatibility with new versions of PHP and WordPress. GPL license, fork without restrictions.

How _s and Elementor Pro work together

The idea is simple: _s provides the structural minimum for WordPress, Elementor handles everything visual.

When a visitor opens a page, WordPress runs the standard loop: calls header.php from _s (empty <head> plus <body>), then content generated by Elementor through the_content(), then footer.php. No extra CSS. No bundled JS from the theme.

Result: one layer of overhead instead of two. In the classic approach, there's a bloated theme plus a bloated page builder. Here, only Elementor. Yes, not lightweight: but that's the price for a visual editor. And when you need a specific component, it's already in Elementor's library, not buried somewhere in the theme's depths.

Challenges: what you need to know upfront

The approach isn't perfect. Here's what you'll face:

Comments. Elementor inserts a comment block but expects styles from the theme. _s doesn't provide styles, so comments look like unstyled HTML. You'll have to write CSS for the entire section manually. Not critical, but it takes time.

Updates. Elementor Pro updates frequently, sometimes 2-3 times a month. Most updates go smoothly, but there are cases when the layout "floats" after a minor update. Security rule: test updates on a staging copy. Run through the main pages visually, then move to production.

Learning curve. Theme Builder is powerful but requires understanding concepts: dynamic tags, display conditions, template hierarchy. A developer with WordPress experience will figure it out in a day or two. A beginner will find it harder: easier than parsing through 500 premium theme options, but you still can't call it empty.

Performance. Elementor adds resources (CSS and JS). That's the price for a visual editor. But the absence of a bloated theme compensates: total page size is often smaller than with a premium theme plus WPBakery. Caching (WP Rocket) and CDN level out the difference.

Comparison: _s, Hello Theme, and GeneratePress

_s isn't the only minimalist option. In 2026 there are two strong alternatives.

Hello Theme from the Elementor team (v3.4.9, updated May 2026): even lighter than _s, no style conflicts, zero additional CSS. Updates in sync with Elementor. Default choice if you work only with Elementor and don't plan deep customization at the PHP template level.

GeneratePress (v3.6.1, updated December 2025): weighs less than 10 KB in the base version. Supports Elementor, Beaver Builder, and the block editor. Gives more settings than _s or Hello Theme: customizer with typography, color, and layout options. There's a free version, paid plans on the official site.

If the project involves serious custom PHP development: take _s. Simple start and out-of-the-box work: Hello Theme. Balance between lightness and ready options: GeneratePress.

For more template and theme sources for Elementor, check out our roundup of places to find Elementor templates.

Video: Theme Builder in Elementor Pro in practice

See how Theme Builder works in a real project: from custom header to single post template.

⁉️🤔 Common questions

Can I use Elementor Free instead of Pro for this approach?

No. Theme Builder is only available in Elementor Pro. The free version lets you edit individual pages but not theme templates: header, footer, archives, 404, WooCommerce templates. For the "Elementor as a theme" approach, you need a Pro license. If budget is limited: GeneratePress (free) plus custom CSS snippets. You lose the visual theme editor but keep the minimalist foundation.

How is _s better than just an empty theme with one index.php?

An empty theme without standard template tags will break plugins that expect standard WordPress hooks. _s includes all required hooks and correct template hierarchy: WordPress ecosystem compatibility out of the box. Writing a theme from scratch without a starter framework means reimplementing the WordPress loop, navigation, pagination, and sidebars. _s saves you several hours of routine code.

Doesn't Elementor slow down a site more than a premium theme?

Elementor adds resources (CSS/JS), but premium themes add their own too. In practice, a site on Elementor plus _s is often faster than a premium theme plus WPBakery: the theme engine doesn't generate hundreds of unused CSS rules and doesn't load 5 bundled plugins. Deciding factor: hosting, caching, and image optimization. On good hosting with WP Rocket and CDN, the speed difference is minimal.

What should I do if I've already bought a premium theme and the site is running on it?

Don't break everything at once. Gradual migration: on a staging copy, recreate key pages through Elementor plus _s. If the result works for you, move to production. If not: stay on the current theme, keep this approach in mind for the next project. Migration takes several days depending on site complexity. Pays off through no paid theme updates and simplified maintenance.

Is this approach still relevant with the development of Full Site Editing in WordPress?

FSE (Full Site Editing) lets you edit templates through the block editor without a third-party plugin. As of 2026, FSE falls short of Elementor in flexibility and number of ready widgets. For simple business card sites, FSE is already sufficient. For commercial projects with custom logic, Elementor Pro is more convenient. The block editor is evolving quickly, and the landscape may shift in a couple years.

Is a theme needed in 2026?

Short answer: a theme is needed, but not the kind they sell on ThemeForest. WordPress technically doesn't work without a theme, it needs at least index.php and style.css. But this theme can weigh 100 KB (_s), slightly less (Hello Theme), or 10 KB (GeneratePress). That's enough.

If you want full control through PHP: take _s. Working only with Elementor and want a start without extra steps: Hello Theme. Need balance between out-of-the-box settings and lightness: GeneratePress.

Forget about multi-purpose monsters with 40 built-in plugins. A minimalist skeleton theme plus Elementor Pro gives you exactly what you need: no extra CSS rules, no bundled slider you don't use.

Try _s or Hello Theme on a staging copy. If it works: write in the comments which option you chose. If not: tell us why. Feedback is more useful than any rating.