The way online directories have reinvented the presentation and access of listings is ingenious. For many decades now, people have been relying on directories for businesses, people, websites, and many more types of information. The availability of these listings online makes it even more helpful since they are easily accessible to everyone who needs them anywhere. Running a WordPress directory website is one of the ways through which you can make some money. You should find the best free WordPress directory plugin while you select directory WordPress theme to create a business directory website.
Having a website with various directory-based functions doesn’t have to be a hassle. You can add a WordPress directory plugin to your website and effectively create an exceptional directory listings website. If you are looking for the best WordPress directory plugin for your site, look no further than this list. We scoured the internet to bring you the best of all plugins, so you don’t have to risk using a substandard and problematic plugin. Read on and choose your favorite.
Some of the best directory WordPress plugins listed bellow:
- Classified Listing
- Business Directory
- Directorist
- GeoDirectory
- AWP Classifieds
- Connections Business Directory
- Company Directory
- HivePress
- uListing
- Simple Link Directory
Classified Listing – Classified ads & Business Directory Plugin
Classified Listing is an exceptional directory listing WordPress plugin with a wide array of features that facilitate the easy creation of classified listing websites. This directory WordPress plugin comes with many backend settings with which the site administrator and frontend users (if they have the admin’s permission) can add, edit, and delete their posts straightforwardly. You can set listings to last for a specific number of days, after which they’ll need to be renewed.
Classified Listing stakes its claim as one of the best directory WordPress plugins with the controls it grants you. Among the fields that you will control with Classified Listing include the listing view and detailed view. You can allow your users to report abuse so that you can keep an eye on your site and maintain a professional platform. Depending on where you are and who your clients are, you can set the currency that your site will be dealing with.
If you go for the premium version of the directory listing plugin, you can expect unlimited categories and location levels. The Classified Listing offers a dependable user verification system, which secures your site against unauthorized breaches. You can also hold live chats.
Directorist
Building a directory of online business listings should be very straightforward with the help of a free WordPress directory plugin, such as Directorist. It is beginner-friendly since its user interface makes it possible to use without the need for coding skills; you get a simple setup wizard to get you started. You can monetize your website using Directorist and start generating lots of revenue from your site.
This directory listing plugin is highly customizable and is easy to use with various extensions. This makes it easy to enhance the functionalities and make your site even better for you and your users. If you want your directory to have an event or service-oriented booking approach, you can depend on the booking system that comes with Directorist. Having this directory WordPress plugin means that a private messaging system is automatically integrated into your site.
All of the best directory WordPress plugins will be compatible with all good WordPress themes. To make it even more worth having, Directorist is highly optimized for high-speed performance. This plugin keeps you up to speed with the latest Elementor functions by offering more than 25 Elementor page builder widgets. The plugin developers make regular upgrades and updates for the plugin to ensure that it remains relevant to your evolving needs.
Business Directory
The Business Directory plugin is one of the most versatile and popular directory listing plugins on the planet. Business Directory promises to boost interaction with users and enhance customer retention hence more revenues. You can upload various images for every listing and allow a limited number of images depending on the plan’s cost. This free WordPress directory plugin with countless image options, including a drag & drop image upload interface, straightforward image arrangement, thumbnail sizing, and many more.
If you don’t want to only have free listings, you can accept paid listings for your directory via Authorize.net. If some users need to have their listings renewed consistently, you can have recurring payments for them. Business Directory allows users to have featured and sticky listings for an extra fee. This directory listing WordPress plugin enables creating many fee plans, which you can assign to various categories.
Business Directory comes with a search widget and other widgets for random, latest, and featured listings. It also comes with an inbuilt ReCaptcha function so you can avoid receiving spam listings. This plugin lessens the administrator’s burden by allowing users who have posted listings to access and edit their listings without requiring access to the WordPress dashboard.
HivePress
HivePress is the other highly extensible and customizable tool that makes it in the list of the best directory WordPress plugins. The directory listing plugin is perfect for listing homes elegantly to attract any kind of clients. The headers that you get go splendidly well with your home listing website. To make it easier for your users to find particular listings, HivePress has search fields for relevant keywords and locations you can place anywhere on your pages.
This directory WordPress plugin has various sections for listings, including the recent listings. The listings display various helpful elements, such as the ratings of the listing, name, address, size, price, and other designations, such as whether pets are allowed. HivePress makes it possible for you to create categories for your listings to make it easier for users to trace the ones they want.
With this directory listing WordPress plugin, you can also create blog categories and place their links anywhere on your pages to attract readers. HivePress has incredible social integration that allows you to share your listings with a wider audience on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
GeoDirectory
GeoDirectory is one of the most innovative and most effective ways of turning any WordPress theme into a fast and dependable business directory. Apart from being compatible with all popular WordPress page builders, this directory listing plugin also works well with Gutenberg so you can edit your website with the best interface possible. GeoDirectory enables you to create and edit pages extensively. This free wordpress directory plugin boasts a highly optimized database structure that enables it to handle massive traffic and millions of listings.
Since GeoDirectory is lightweight and adheres to WordPress standards and best practices, it exhibits lightning-fast performance. This directory WordPress plugin works seamlessly with all themes and extensions. The plugin is also developer-friendly, so WordPress developers can extend it without limitations on the actions and filters that they can employ. You can even build WordPress Directory themes easily around GeoDirectory.
The dummy data that comes with this directory plugin makes it possible to view how listings look. You can install this data from the backend of your plugin. With GeoDirectory, you get an event calendar with which you can easily build event schedules; all you need to do is install the Events addon and get going.
AWP Classifieds
AWP Classifieds is one of the best free WordPress directory plugin with which you can add classified ads sections to your WordPress site. AQP Classifieds allows your users to search your classified directory by country, state, city, keyword, or username. You can allow AdSense ads to show up within your directory, too, with configurable ad placement. With this directory WordPress plugin, you gain control over all use of HTML in your ads.
AWP Classifieds grants you immense control over your site and its elements. You can limit the text size of ad posts that you and your users post. What’s more, you get to allow or prevent the posting of images with listing ads. You can make your work drastically easier by enabling the automatic expiration of free and paid ads. AWP Classifieds also facilitates the disabling and activation of standard form fields, including the country, website, name, title, etc.
This directory listing WordPress plugin allows you to activate users’ notification for expiring ads, renewals, and admins’ approval of ads. Users interested in an ad can contact the owner of an ad without exposing the poster’s email. Your users can help you keep an eye over the listings, so they can report content as offensive or flag it so you can assess and deal with it.
WP Job Manager
WP Job Manager narrows your focus to offer a lightweight plugin for job listings on which you can create a job board on your WordPress site. This directory listing plugin allows you to add, categorize, and manage job listings via the familiar WordPress user interface. WP Job Manager offers a clear way of adding filterable and searchable Ajax-powered job listings to your pages using shortcodes.
This directory WordPress plugin offers your guests and registered users frontend forms to submit when they want to manage job listings. WP Job Manager comes with an interface that allows job listers to preview their listings before publishing them. These previews are precise matches for the live job listings. Since job seekers need addresses to enable them to apply for jobs, each job listing comes with a link to a site or email address.
The searches that your users will make on your website will also present RSS links that enable users who are looking for jobs to receive notifications of new job listings that match their searches. WP Job Manager also enables you to allow or bar logged in users who own listings to view, mark as filled, edit, and even delete their active listings.
Members
If you’re searching for the best directory WordPress plugin, you should take a look at each closely’s features. Members has some of the most impressive features that facilitate your site’s easiest management, including the role editor, that allows you to create, edit, and delete roles and capabilities. You can assign a single user on your site multiple roles. Likewise, you can deny specific user roles to various capabilities. By assigning content permissions and restricting some users’ access to particular content, you can manage paid listings easily.
Members comes with shortcodes, which make it easy to control who has access to your content. Among the widgets that come with this directory WordPress plugin are the login form and users’ widgets that show up in your themes’ sidebars. If you prefer to have a private site, Members supports the management of private feeds. Members comes with stellar recommendations from various plugins and themes due to its compatibility levels.
The security of your content and user information should be of paramount importance when it comes to directory listings; Members directory plugin is GDPR compatible, so your site’s contents remain secure from hacking.
Connections Business Directory
Connections Business is one of the best WordPress directory plugin that you could choose for your directory site. The simplicity with which it is created doesn’t compromise the beauty of its design and benefits of the functions. It is compatible with all themes and extensions. What’s more, it works seamlessly with the most popular page builders, such as Elementor, Beaver Builder, WPBakery Page Builder.
Connections Business Directory supports Gutenberg, the WordPress block editor. The directory WordPress plugin allows you to add various elements using their blocks, including the carousel, directory, team, and upcoming list blocks. This directory listing WordPress plugin boasts a collection of content blocks to which more are regularly added. These include; related entries, nearby entries, last viewed, recently viewed, frontend entry management, and entry meta.
This directory listing WordPress plugin comes with an admin dashboard page on which you can view the day’s birthdays and anniversaries of member users of your directory. You also have multiple entry types from which you can choose, including individual, organization, and family. Connections Business Directory allows you to control the entries you want to display to the public and the private ones. The SEO enhancements of this plugin make it ideal for a high ranking directory website.
Company Directory
Company Directory is one of the most straightforward ways of adding a staff directory to your website. The staff and faculty are showcased in a few understandable layouts, such as the staff list or employee directory. This allows your visitors to gain information concerning your company and its capabilities. This directory listing plugin supports a straightforward staff member search on your site with an elegant search form.
With the Company Directory, you can add a search widget easily so that your visitors can find the listings they’re looking for quickly. If you have any directory content that you want to list, you can put it up on the list view that enables your users’ easy navigation. You can also use the grid or table layout, which has the additional option for controlling the fields you display.
Managing and displaying many listings is often difficult when using some usual methods, such as editing HTML on your pages. Company Directory users receive an easily comprehensible method of adding and managing listings using the regular WordPress interface. The directory WordPress plugin comes with a simple staff shortcode system with which maintainers can insert listings onto any WordPress page.
uListing
Creating a classified ads and listing website is an amazing idea, but the setup process isn’t easy. Although it is free, uListing is an amazing directory listing plugin that makes setting up a directory listing website incredibly straightforward. Its field forms are fully customizable, and it has a drag & drop builder that is perfect for an incredible website. Its layout makes it easily navigable, and its user interface is unbelievably friendly and easy to use.
The creators of uListing intended for this directory WordPress plugin to be as easy to configure and use as possible. Once you activate the plugin on your site, the admin toolbar offers three sections: listing type, listings, and pricing plans. The listing type is where you create the various items that you want to allow people to submit—the listings item users you to view and edit the individual listings of the listing types. Lastly, the pricing plans allow you to define the settings for paid listings.
uListing offers a great interface for managing currencies, categories, and individual listings. It is straightforward for your users to compare listings. The settings of this directory listing WordPress plugin allow you to create a website that lets your users organize their listings and let your platform run itself with minimum work on your part.
Simple Link Directory
Simple Link Directory is a fantastic best free WordPress directory plugin that comes in free and paid versions. The lite (free) version of this directory listing plugin facilitates the management of a few listings for a not-very-big directory. This directory listing WordPress plugin comes with Gutenberg block editor for directories to create your listings and add content to them easily. What’s more, Simple Link Directory offers 4 elegant and responsive templates.
If you need your users to share your listings with their friends, you can embed the option for sharing your listings. You can also choose to show all lists or single lists at a time. In case you have another directory, Simple Link Directory offers the option to import listings from CSV files. This directory WordPress plugin supports outbound click tracking via Google analytics.
On the other hand, the pro version of the plugin comes with advanced features that enable you to run a portal website. You can build lists with countless links and display them on a single page. Your website will automatically generate a title, description, and thumbnails for your listings from your website links to make your work easier. If you choose the multi-page mode, you will have automatically generated lists, categories, and link detail pages via the use of a single shortcode.
Easy Property Listings
Easy Property Listings is one of the most flexible and feature-filled real estate WordPress plugins. It is filled with a plethora of shortcodes that make it easy to add elements onto your pages quickly. With this directory listing WordPress plugin, it becomes incredibly easy to present your listings in a responsive list or grid format. You will love the hundreds of premade theme templates that come with Easy Property Listings at no extra cost.
Since you get an infinite number of listing creation and customization options, it is possible to manage everything without coding experience successfully. Easy Property Listings is exceedingly compatible with popular themes and page builders for use and customization purposes. With this plugin, you can personalize your money-making platform in a couple of minutes. What’s more, the directory WordPress plugin is fully responsive and mobile-ready.
Easy Property boasts high speed and efficiency, thanks to its extensible code. The clean CSS of this plugin saves you from having to spend hours of decoding work. Since it has shortcodes, you can add new templates to your pages in seconds. There are more than 150 custom fields and 7 post types with which you can create listings as you tweak them to match your design.
Listdom
Listdom is a robust directory listing plugin in one breath – a free tool for creating the directory, listings, and classified sites with contemporary and straightforward tools. With this directory listing WordPress plugin, you get a whopping 80 different skins and views. All of these elements are fully responsive and mobile-ready. It is as easy to use as WordPress itself, and it adheres to all the standards of the content management system.
Listdom allows you to create a website that is fully compatible with all themes and extensions. This directory WordPress plugin has an easy link for contacting the listing owner and another for social sharing. The advanced price module comes in handy when your listing buyers are interested in a certain category but need a specific price range.
For the premium version of Listdom, you get an advanced map search feature, which helps display the precise location of your listings. This version also has draw tools on the map for search and the map GPS search features. Listdom premium allows you to change the style and module of every listing too. Since the directory listing plugin is compatible with SEO plugins, it is easy to give your listings better chances of ranking highly on search engine results.
Some FAQ about Directory WordPress plugin
A directory plugin is a tool for creating and managing a directory of listings on a WordPress website.
The best directory plugin for you will depend on your specific needs and requirements. Consider factors such as the features you require, ease of use, and cost when making your decision.
Yes, a directory plugin can be used to create a directory of any type of listings, such as businesses, events, people, or products.
Yes, most directory plugins offer various customization options to change the look and feel of your directory, including custom templates, color schemes, and the ability to add custom CSS.
Bottom Line
Having one of the best free WordPress directory plugins for your website means that you don’t have to do everything manually on your directory listing website. Once you’ve configured most of the settings, you can sit back and let the listing owners and buyers interact with you being there, only for quality assurance.
There are countless WordPress directory plugins out there, some of which are available free of charge; this means that you can land a substandard plugin. To help you eliminate the guesswork, we have scoured the web for the best and tested them so that we’ve only cataloged the best of them. Choose the one whose features impress you and get going!
