---
title: "Hello Elementor"
description: "Hello Elementor: strengths, limitations, how it ties to Elementor Pro, recommended settings (meta description, styles, header) and its patched flaw."
language: "en"
locale: "en-US"
type: "plugin-sheet"
canonical: "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/features/camouflaged-plugins/hello-elementor/"
published: "2026-11-04T08:00:00+00:00"
modified: "2026-11-05T21:11:18+00:00"
translations:
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  fr-FR: "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/fr/fonctionnalites/extensions-camouflees/hello-elementor/index.md"
  es-ES: "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/es/funcionalidades/plugins-camuflados/hello-elementor/index.md"
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---

# Hello Elementor

Hello Elementor is the light, nearly blank theme Elementor publishes as a foundation for its page builder. Our take on what it provides and what it leaves to Elementor, the settings worth changing, the ones to keep and its security record.

## The essentials

- Best for sites built entirely with Elementor that want a neutral, lightweight theme.
- Main caveat: almost no options of its own, so the whole design depends on Elementor.
- Free; custom headers and footers require the paid Elementor Pro Theme Builder.

## What Hello Elementor does on your site

Hello Elementor is a deliberately bare theme. It ships WordPress’s basic templates (header, footer, single post, archive, search, 404 page) and a few light stylesheets, then leaves everything else to [Elementor](https://www.wp-masquerade.com/features/camouflaged-plugins/elementor/). There are no advanced layout options, no demo library and no built-in builder. Without Elementor, you get a very plain site and a notice asking you to install the plugin.

With Elementor active, the theme’s header and footer (logo, menu, tagline, copyright line) are styled from the editor’s "Site Settings" panel, under "Hello Theme Header" and "Hello Theme Footer". Fully custom headers and footers with display conditions require the Elementor Pro Theme Builder, which Hello Elementor supports out of the box. Since late 2024 it has been a hybrid theme: it ships a `theme.json` file and also styles pages built with the block editor. It also declares WooCommerce support, product gallery included.

Elementor Ltd. publishes the theme for free on wordpress.org under the GPL. The business model is Elementor’s: the theme is the foundation, and the dashboard promotes Elementor Pro through banners and Customizer panels. Elementor also offers Hello Plus, a free widget plugin (header, footer, a simple form) that requires a theme from the Hello family.

![Diagram: Hello Elementor works on visitors and bots, wordpress, database and files. Public traces: folder name (hidden with Pro); tag IDs (hidden with Pro); CSS classes (still visible).](https://www.wp-masquerade.com/media/wpm-sheets/hello-elementor/diagram-en.svg?v=59ca1ade)

## Which sites Hello Elementor is right for

Hello Elementor makes sense when Elementor already builds every page:

- **Business sites and landing pages built with Elementor**: the theme adds no competing styles, so what you see in the editor is what visitors get.
- **Sites built with Elementor Pro**: header, footer, single and archive templates come from the Theme Builder, and Hello Elementor simply displays them.
- **Agencies and freelancers**: the same base on every client site, familiar to most Elementor developers, with a child theme for custom code.

It is the wrong pick if you don’t want Elementor: without it, the theme has almost nothing to configure. For a site built with the block editor, or a theme with its own header, color and layout options, look at [Astra](https://www.wp-masquerade.com/features/camouflaged-plugins/astra/), GeneratePress or Kadence instead.

## Hello Elementor strengths and limitations

### Strengths

- **Very little code.** Three small stylesheets and simple templates: the theme weighs little next to Elementor itself.
- **No style conflicts.** Built by the Elementor team, it doesn’t duplicate the editor’s typography and color settings.
- **Styles you can switch off.** Its settings let you drop the reset stylesheet, the theme stylesheet, and the theme header and footer.
- **A very quiet security record.** One published vulnerability since 2020, medium severity and patched.

### Limitations

- **Pointless without Elementor.** The theme has almost no options of its own: all of the design depends on the plugin.
- **Custom headers cost extra.** Headers and footers with display conditions go through the Elementor Pro Theme Builder.
- **Switching away is expensive.** Leaving Hello Elementor usually means leaving Elementor, which means rebuilding your pages.
- **Elementor Pro upsells.** Promotional banners and panels show up in the dashboard and the Customizer.
- **A duplicate meta description.** The theme prints its own tag from the excerpt, next to the one from your SEO plugin.

## The settings we recommend for Hello Elementor

The theme settings live in the Hello menu of the dashboard, on the "Advanced theme settings" page. Elementor itself warns there that disabling these options can break a site, so change one at a time, clear your cache, then check a page, a post and the 404 page.

| Setting | Recommended value | Why |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Disable description meta tag**  Hello > SEO and accessibility | On if you use an SEO plugin | Yoast SEO or Rank Math already output this tag; the theme would add a second one, taken from the excerpt. |
| **Disable skip links**  Same section | Off (default) | The "Skip to content" link helps keyboard and screen reader users. |
| **Disable theme header and footer**  Hello > Structure and layout | On only with an Elementor Pro header and footer | Removes the theme templates and their CSS and JS files; with no replacement, your site loses its menu. |
| **Hide page title**  Same section | On if your pages show their title with an Elementor widget | Avoids two stacked titles; otherwise, keep the theme title. |
| **Deregister Hello reset.css**  Hello > CSS and styling control | Off (default) | This stylesheet evens out rendering across browsers; turn it off only if a child theme provides its own reset. |
| **Deregister Hello theme.css**  Same section | Off, unless the site has no comments or pagination | It styles WordPress elements (comments, pagination, image alignment) your pages may still display. |
| **Enable auto-updates**  Appearance > Themes > Hello Elementor | On | Theme fixes arrive without waiting for someone to update by hand. |

- View the source of a post: there should be exactly one `meta name="description"` tag.
- Press Tab right after a page loads: the skip-to-content link should appear.
- Put custom code in a child theme, not in Hello Elementor: a theme update would wipe it.
- Open a page with comments and a paginated archive after turning off any stylesheet.

## Hello Elementor security: one minor published vulnerability

The theme has little server-side code, and its record shows it. The only known vulnerability since 2020 is **CVE-2024-31289**, published by Patchstack in April 2024: a cross-site request forgery ([CSRF](https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/csrf/)) affecting versions up to 3.0.0, fixed in 3.0.1 and rated 4.3 out of 10. It required a logged-in administrator to open a crafted link, and no exploitation has been documented. Our comparison of [vulnerabilities in popular WordPress themes](https://www.wp-masquerade.com/popular-wordpress-themes-security-vulnerabilities/) puts it next to Kadence, GeneratePress and Neve.

The real risk lies elsewhere: Hello Elementor is only useful with Elementor, whose record is far busier (see our [Elementor vulnerability timeline](https://www.wp-masquerade.com/elementor-security-vulnerabilities/)). Turn on auto-updates for both the theme and the plugin (our guide to plugin auto-updates). WP Masquerade Pro renames the theme folder in file URLs and in the tag IDs that mention it, which makes the theme harder for bots to spot but does not replace updating.

## Hello Elementor FAQ

**Does Hello Elementor work without Elementor?**

Yes, it displays your content with a very simple header, menu and footer. But it has almost no design options of its own: without Elementor, a theme like Astra or Kadence is a better fit.

**Do I need Elementor Pro to use Hello Elementor?**

No. The theme plus free Elementor are enough to build pages and style the theme header and footer. Elementor Pro becomes useful when you want custom headers, footers and post templates from the Theme Builder.

**Should I use a child theme with Hello Elementor?**

Only if you add PHP or CSS outside Elementor. Elementor publishes a starter child theme, and its developer documentation lists the theme filters to use in that child theme’s `functions.php` file.

**Is Hello Elementor a good fit for a WooCommerce store?**

Yes, it declares WooCommerce support, including product gallery zoom, lightbox and slider. Custom shop page layouts, however, rely on the Elementor Pro WooCommerce widgets.

## Key facts

- Category: Builders and themes
- Vendor: Elementor Ltd.
- Price: Free (GPL license); the Elementor Pro Theme Builder is paid
- Active installations (wordpress.org): 1 000 000+
- Version: 3.5.2
- Official page: https://wordpress.org/themes/hello-elementor/

## What WP Masquerade hides

- Handled by the free version of WP Masquerade
- With Pro: folder name, tag IDs
- Still visible: CSS classes