Particle and Gradient Backgrounds in Elementor Add-ons: What's Free, and the Alternative

Most big Elementor add-on packs include a particle or animated background, but in nearly all of them it's a Pro feature. Unlimited Elements is the exception, with free gradient, bubble, cloud and snow background widgets. Animation Kit is a dedicated alternative: six WebGL backgrounds free behind your whole site, with Pro for single Elementor sections, more effects and per-page targeting.

Disclosure: WPXERO makes Animation Kit; this covers Animation Kit 0.5.0. What we say about each add-on comes from its WordPress.org readme as of October 27, 2026; readmes describe these features briefly, so check each vendor's documentation before buying.

What the add-ons offer

Animation Kit is new and far less installed than these packs — but it's a dedicated tool for one job.

When an add-on background makes sense

• You already pay for the pack. If you own ElementsKit or Premium Addons Pro, its particle background costs nothing extra.
• You want it set per container. Add-on backgrounds live in the Elementor panel, on the section you're editing.
• Classic particles are the look you want. Polygon networks, floating dots and snow are well covered by these packs.
• Free and simple: Unlimited Elements' free background widgets cover an animated gradient, bubbles, clouds and snow.

Where Animation Kit is different

Free site-wide background on any builder. Open Animation Kit → Background Animation, choose an effect, set colours and switch it on. It appears behind every page — Elementor, block editor, Bricks, WPBakery or your theme's templates — with no Pro plan.

WebGL effects rather than classic particles. The free six are Aurora (flowing colour washes), Antigravity (a magnetic particle field that reacts to the pointer), Particles (a drifting 3D cloud), Silk, Light Pillar and Radar. Pro adds 17 more, including Plasma, Liquid Ether, Starfield, Line Waves and Iridescence. See them on the effects demo.

Phones and motion handled. Per background, choose whether phones get the full animation, a lighter lower-resolution version, a still image or nothing. Visitors who prefer reduced motion, use Save-Data or have no WebGL get a still image in the same colours — and no WebGL code is downloaded for them.

Performance. The script loads only where a background is enabled; the rendering code is split per effect and loaded after the page content; and the animation pauses when the tab is hidden or the background is off screen. It includes compatibility rules for WP Rocket, LiteSpeed Cache, Autoptimize, W3 Total Cache and WP Fastest Cache.

Readable and clickable. A readability overlay keeps text legible, and the layer never blocks clicks on links, forms or menus.

One Elementor section

This is the case where Animation Kit needs Pro: CSS-selector targeting puts a background inside any element on any page builder. Give the Elementor container a CSS class, enter that class in Animation Kit Pro, and the background renders inside it. The full walkthrough is in how to add an animated background in Elementor.

Pro also adds per-page targeting (the front page, chosen pages, post types, archives, search and 404), layered backgrounds with blend modes, and speed, density, scale and pointer controls. Animation Kit Pro starts at $14.99 a year.

Which should you choose?

See also the animated background plugin comparison, which covers Marvy and Premium Addons in more detail.