Typical add-on stack
A core plan plus extensions
Add it up
- A Directorist paid plan
- A pricing plans extension
- Payment extensions
- A claim listing extension
- Current prices: Listora vs Directorist, checked and dated
Compare
Self-host the directory you would otherwise rent.
Listora gives you the Yelp / Tripadvisor / Thumbtack workflow on your own WordPress domain. Here is what you would otherwise stitch together, and what each gives up.
Comparing named products already? Start below. If you are earlier than that, the directory plugin for WordPress overview covers what the category has to do before any shortlist is useful.
Head to head
Compared one by one, with dates on every claim
Each page checks the competitor against their own site and the wordpress.org API, records the date, and puts their genuine advantages before ours. Where we could not verify a price, the page says so instead of guessing.
- Listora vs Directorist The most widely used directory plugin on wordpress.org, built on a free core with paid extensions and bundles on top.
- Listora vs GeoDirectory A location-first directory plugin with a decade of development behind it, built on a free core with paid add-ons and bundles from its own store.
- Listora vs HivePress A lightweight, modular directory and marketplace plugin with the best ratings in the category, built from a free core plus paid extensions and themes.
- Listora vs Business Directory Plugin One of the longest-running directory plugins on WordPress, with a free core on wordpress.org and paid tiers that unlock the rest.
- Listora vs ListingPro A directory THEME sold on ThemeForest rather than a plugin, which is the difference that decides most of this comparison.
- Listora vs Yelp A destination with an audience already on it. Not software you install, which makes this a comparison about what you are trying to do rather than which product is better.
- Listora vs Tripadvisor Where people plan trips. Not software, so the real question is whether you want to appear in someone else's travel guide or publish your own.
Stack cost
A stack of extensions, or one licence.
A Directorist plan plus several extensions can cost more than one Listora Pro licence. Total the extensions you need on their pricing page, and see the prices we checked, with the date, on Listora vs Directorist. Free covers a complete production directory. Pro starts at $69 / year if you want credit-based monetization, lead capture, verification badges, and the reverse Needs Marketplace.
Listora + Pro
1 plugin, everything in one license
$69/year
Or $0 forever if you stay on the free plugin. Lifetime tiers also available.
- Free plugin: faceted search, claims, frontend submission, 6-layer anti-spam, over 70 REST routes, 11 Gutenberg blocks, 9 demo packs
- Personal $69/yr (1 site): credit plans, seven ways to take payment, lead capture, verification badges, white-label, reverse Needs Marketplace
- Developer $99/yr - same features, up to 5 sites, priority email support
- Agency $199/yr - same features, unlimited sites
- Lifetime tiers $199 / $299 / $499 if you want to skip renewals (lifetime Agency covers 3 sites)
Directory plugins that charge per add-on
What Listora covers here.
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Directorist (free + Pro + add-ons)
Freemium WordPress plugin
- What it does
- Generic directory plugin. Pricing plans, payments and claim listings are sold as extensions.
- How Listora covers it
- Listora ships claims, 6-layer anti-spam, 11 Gutenberg blocks, over 70 REST routes and five migration importers in the free plugin. Pro adds credit-based monetization in one license.
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GeoDirectory (free + Premium)
Freemium WordPress plugin
- What it does
- Location-first directory with paid add-ons and bundles from its own store
- How Listora covers it
- Includes claims in the free tier and the Hold-and-Commit credit ledger in Pro. Pro takes payment seven ways: Stripe and PayPal built in, plus five plugin adapters.
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ListingPro (theme + plugin)
Theme-coupled directory
- What it does
- Theme-coupled directory that requires their theme
- How Listora covers it
- Theme-agnostic block plugin. Works with any block theme and classic theme via template overrides. No theme lock-in.
Hosted directory + review SaaS
What Listora covers here.
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Yelp for Business
Hosted SaaS
- What it does
- Aggregator listing with reviews owned by Yelp
- How Listora covers it
- YOUR domain ranks for the listings and reviews. Reviews stay in your database. You own the search traffic, not Yelp.
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Tripadvisor business listing
Hosted SaaS
- What it does
- Aggregator with reviews + bookings owned by Tripadvisor
- How Listora covers it
- Build the city guide or attraction directory you would otherwise rent space on. Reviews on your domain. Pro adds a contact form on each listing; pair Listora with a booking plugin for reservations.
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Bizapedia / Manta / Yellow Pages
Hosted SaaS aggregators
See their sites for current pricing
- What it does
- Generic business aggregators where a business claims and manages its listing
- How Listora covers it
- Run your own niche directory where claims are free for the vendor and you keep the audience + the search rankings.
Marketplace + RFP platforms
What Listora covers here.
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Thumbtack
Hosted SaaS marketplace
Per-quote-response fee for vendors
- What it does
- Reverse marketplace where buyers post needs and vendors pay to quote
- How Listora covers it
- Listora Pro ships the same Needs Marketplace flywheel inside your WordPress install. You set the per-quote credit cost.
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Bark.com
Hosted SaaS lead marketplace
Vendors pay for leads; see their site for rates
- What it does
- Lead-gen marketplace selling buyer requests to matching vendors
- How Listora covers it
- Same model on your own domain. Pro Needs Marketplace + credit ledger means you control pricing, vendors keep margin.
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Custom CPT + ACF + Stripe + meta_query
DIY engineering build
Eng cost: 8-12 weeks
- What it does
- Bespoke directory built from scratch on WordPress
- How Listora covers it
- Listora ships the same surface (search, submission, claims, anti-spam, payments, reviews) in one plugin. Hundreds of documented action and filter hooks for the customizations you actually need.
Community directory patterns
What Listora covers here.
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BuddyPress alone (no directory)
WordPress plugin
Free
- What it does
- Activity feeds, profiles, groups - no business directory layer
- How Listora covers it
- Listora Pro adds listings and reviews to activity feeds, profile tabs and BuddyPress notifications.
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WP Job Manager + add-ons
Freemium WordPress plugin
Free core plus paid add-ons; see their site for pricing
- What it does
- Job postings with paid Resume Manager + Application + Bookmarks add-ons
- How Listora covers it
- Free ships a job listing type with Schema.org JobPosting markup and frontend submission. Pro adds saved-search alerts and the lead form, without per-feature pricing.
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MemberPress + a custom directory
Membership plus DIY
Membership licence plus engineering time
- What it does
- Paid-membership gate around a hand-built directory
- How Listora covers it
- Listora Pro can turn a MemberPress purchase into credits that pay for listings. MemberPress is one of five plugin adapters, alongside Stripe and PayPal.
Honest answers
Things people ask before switching from a Directorist or Yelp stack.
Is the free Listora really enough to replace Directorist or GeoDirectory?
For the public directory surface, yes. Free covers faceted search on a dedicated index table built for large directories, frontend submission with draft auto-save, business claims, reviews with owner reply, 6-layer anti-spam, 11 Gutenberg blocks, over 70 REST routes, and migration importers for Directorist, GeoDirectory, Business Directory Plugin, ListingPro and HivePress. Pro adds the monetization layer - credit plans, payments, lead capture, badges, comparison, moderators, Needs Marketplace. The split is intentional: a Pro license expiration never breaks your public directory.
Can I migrate existing listings from Directorist or GeoDirectory?
Yes. Built-in importers handle Directorist, GeoDirectory, Business Directory Plugin, ListingPro and HivePress out of the box. Run wp listora migrate --from=directorist --dry-run to preview before importing. Pro adds a Visual Importer with field auto-detection and a preview step for source schemas the free importers do not cover.
How is the credit system different from a regular subscription?
Pro uses Hold-and-Commit credit activation. When a vendor selects a plan, credits are HELD (reserved but not deducted). When the plan activates, credits are COMMITTED. If something fails mid-activation, the hold is cancelled and the balance is untouched, so there are no partial charges. Vendors buy credits with Stripe or PayPal, or through five plugin adapters (WooCommerce, WooCommerce Subscriptions, WooCommerce Memberships, MemberPress, Paid Memberships Pro), into one credit ledger.
Why one Pro licence instead of add-ons?
Directorist and GeoDirectory sell much of their monetization as separate extensions and add-ons, so the bill grows with the feature list. Listora ships every monetization feature in one Pro license. There is no add-on to buy. That is a structural difference, not a discount we will quietly raise later. For what each rival costs today, see the dated pricing note on each comparison page.
What does Listora NOT do?
It is not a hotel-booking engine with real-time availability + calendar - use a dedicated booking plugin alongside. It is not a payment gateway itself - it consumes WooCommerce / Stripe / PayPal / Memberships through the Wbcom Credits SDK adapters. It is not a CRM - lead capture emails the owner and counts the lead (the message itself is not stored), and full lead management lives in HubSpot / Pipedrive / your CRM of choice. Where Listora is opinionated is the directory layer; everything else is documented hooks waiting for your integration.
Next step
Install once. Migrate from the old stack at your own pace.
The free plugin installs in under a minute. The migration importer pulls Directorist, GeoDirectory, Business Directory Plugin, ListingPro or HivePress data with a dry-run preview before anything writes.
Download Listora free See Pro pricing Read the journey playbooks →