PRO-Elements plugin from PROElements.org conflicts with Elementor v4 (invalid version 4.0.4.2 causes fatal error)
I want to document an issue I ran into with the PRO Elements plugin from PROElements.org, in case it helps anyone else who is debugging strange behavior with Elementor 4.x and the new Atomic widgets.
Environment:
- Elementor Core: 4.0.8
- PRO Elements: 4.0.4.2 (by PROElements.org)
Symptoms:
- In Elementor v4, the Custom CSS field is missing in Atomic Elements, even though:
- On the same site I can still use Custom CSS normally in the older v3 widgets.
- My official Elementor Pro license is valid and active.
- When I go to: Elementor → System → License → “Check license status” I get a “There has been a critical error on this website.” message and the page doesn’t load.
Debugging details:
After enabling WP_DEBUG and WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY in wp-config.php, I got this fatal error:
>Fatal error: Uncaught Exception: 4.0.4.2 is an invalid version. in /wp-content/plugins/elementor/core/utils/version.php:94
The stack trace shows that Elementor\Core\Utils\Version::create_from_string() is being called when Elementor builds its System Info / Compatibility Tag data, and it fails specifically on the version string "4.0.4.2".
When I deactivate the PRO Elements plugin:
- The fatal error disappears.
- The Elementor System / License page loads normally again.
Analysis:
It looks like Elementor’s internal version parser expects a version format like X.Y or X.Y.Z (for example 4.0.4 or 4.0.8), and does not accept a four-part version like 4.0.4.2. Because PRO Elements reports its version as "4.0.4.2", this triggers the exception “4.0.4.2 is an invalid version.” and breaks the System Info / License flow.
As a side effect, while this fatal error is happening, Elementor cannot properly read or process license/tier data. That seems to affect which Pro features are exposed in the new Atomic widgets (such as the Custom CSS field), even though those features still work fine in the older v3 widgets with the same license.
Conclusion:
If you’re using Elementor v4 together with PRO Elements 4.0.4.2 from PROElements.org, and you see:
- A critical error on the Elementor System / License page, and
- Missing Pro features (like Custom CSS) in Atomic Elements,
check your error log for:
>4.0.4.2 is an invalid version
If you see that, try deactivating PRO Elements and re-running the license check in Elementor. I’ve also contacted the PROElements.org team about the invalid version string so they can adjust it to a compatible format in a future release.
