Feature Matrix - Free vs Pro

Every Listora capability at a glance. Use this page to decide whether Free covers your launch needs or you need Pro from day one.

Rule of thumb: Free gives you a complete, public, searchable directory with reviews, claims, frontend submission, and full taxonomy / map / spam-protection support. Pro adds the business model layer - credit-based plans, lead capture, advanced analytics, moderator team, comparison, verification, white-label, BuddyPress sync, and the reverse "Needs marketplace."

Setup & content infrastructure

Capability	Free	Pro
Setup wizard (6-step onboarding: type → location → maps → pages → demo → done)	Yes	Yes + Pro overlay (license, credit packs, plans, Google Maps key)
Multiple listing types (Restaurant / Hotel / Real Estate / Job Board / Place / Classified / …)	Yes 9 demo packs	Yes
Custom field framework per listing type	Yes	Yes + Pro fields (badges, criteria, services)
Categories taxonomy (listora_listing_cat)	Yes	Yes
Locations taxonomy (hierarchical, Country/State/City)	Yes	Yes
Amenities / Features taxonomy (flat tags)	Yes	Yes
Listing Tags	Yes	Yes
Listing Type Editor (icon, fields, schema mapping)	Yes	Yes
Schema.org JSON-LD (LocalBusiness, Restaurant, Hotel…)	Yes 10 schema types	Yes
OpenGraph + Twitter cards	Yes	Yes
Breadcrumbs	Yes	Yes
Sitemap integration (WP core sitemap)	Yes	Yes
Demo content packs (9 verticals - restaurant, hotel, real-estate, job-board, general, classified, education, healthcare, place - 128+ seeded listings)	Yes via wp listora demo seed --pack=all	Yes Pro overlay (wp listora-pro demo seed)
Setup wizard auto-creates Add Listing / My Listings / Directory pages	Yes	Yes + Compare / Buy Credits / Needs

Search & discovery

Capability	Free	Pro
Full-text search (denormalized index table)	Yes	Yes
Faceted filters (category, location, feature, type)	Yes	Yes
Geo radius search (Near Me, distance)	Yes Haversine	Yes
"Search this area" (drag-to-update bounds)	Yes	Yes
Sort by date, rating, name, distance, featured	Yes	Yes
Saved searches with alerts	-	Yes
Advanced search builder (custom field filters)	-	Yes
Infinite scroll on listing grid	-	Yes
Quick view modal on cards	-	Yes
SEO landing pages (auto-generated /type-in-location/ pages)	-	Yes
Compare listings (2-4 side by side)	-	Yes

Frontend blocks (Gutenberg)

Block	Free	Pro
listora/listing-grid	Yes	Yes
listora/listing-card	Yes	Yes
listora/listing-search	Yes	Yes
listora/listing-map	Yes Leaflet + OSM	Yes + Google Maps + clustering
listora/listing-detail	Yes	Yes
listora/listing-reviews	Yes	Yes + multi-criteria + photos
listora/listing-submission (wizard)	Yes	Yes + duplicate-check + plan picker
listora/listing-categories	Yes	Yes
listora/listing-featured (carousel)	Yes	Yes + paid rotation
listora/listing-calendar (events)	Yes	Yes
listora/user-dashboard	Yes	Yes + Saved Searches + Needs tabs
listora-pro/comparison	-	Yes
listora-pro/needs-grid	-	Yes
listora-pro/post-need	-	Yes
listora-pro/moderator-queue	-	Yes
listora-pro/credit-purchase	-	Yes

Submission & lifecycle

Capability	Free	Pro
Frontend submission wizard (multi-step, draft-saving)	Yes	Yes
Conditional fields	Yes	Yes
Draggable map pin for address	Yes	Yes
Image gallery upload	Yes	Yes
Business hours with timezone	Yes	Yes
Social links (7 platforms)	Yes	Yes
Duplicate detection at submit	Yes	Yes
Listing renewal (extend expiration)	Yes	Yes + credit-gated pricing
Self-service deactivate / reactivate	Yes	Yes
Pricing plans (free / paid / featured)	-	Yes
Credit system (Hold-and-Commit activation)	-	Yes
Coupons (discount codes for plans)	-	Yes

Reviews

Capability	Free	Pro
5-star rating + written reviews	Yes	Yes
Owner replies to reviews	Yes	Yes
Helpful-vote + milestone notifications	Yes	Yes
Report-a-review workflow	Yes	Yes
Auto-approve / require moderation toggle	Yes	Yes
Multi-criteria reviews (per-aspect stars: Food / Service / Value …)	-	Yes
Photo reviews (reviewers attach photos)	-	Yes

Trust & moderation

Capability	Free	Pro
Business claims ("Is this your business?" flow)	Yes	Yes
Moderation queue (pending listings / reviews / claims)	Yes	Yes
Bulk-moderate (REST + admin)	Yes	Yes
Approve / Reject row actions on Listings list	Yes	Yes
Verification badges (verified, top-rated, choice-of-…)	-	Yes
Moderators team (non-admin users with moderate caps)	-	Yes
Audit log (every transition recorded)	-	Yes

Owner / vendor tools

Capability	Free	Pro
Frontend dashboard (My Listings overview)	Yes	Yes
Edit listing from dashboard	Yes	Yes
Favorites with collections	Yes	Yes
Contact form on listing detail	Yes Free contact form	Yes replaced by Lead Form
Lead form (analytics, custom fields, integrations)	-	Yes
Services per listing (sub-products with prices)	Yes	Yes + cross-listing service search
Featured listing (rotation entitlement)	Yes admin-set	Yes self-serve via credits
Service-level booking CTA	-	Yes

Marketing / Analytics

Capability	Free	Pro
Per-listing analytics (views, clicks, contact submits)	-	Yes
Directory-wide analytics (top listings, top categories)	-	Yes
Outgoing webhooks (listing.created, review.created, …)	-	Yes
Inbound payment webhooks (Stripe / PayPal + WooCommerce / WooSubscriptions / MemberPress / PMPro / WooMemberships bridges)	-	Yes
Notification digest (daily / weekly bundle email)	-	Yes
White-label (custom brand color + logo across admin)	-	Yes

Anti-spam & abuse controls

Capability	Free	Pro
Honeypot on every form	Yes	Yes
Per-IP sliding-window rate limits	Yes	Yes
CAPTCHA (reCAPTCHA v3 + Cloudflare Turnstile)	Yes	Yes
Akismet integration for reviews + claims	Yes	Yes
Keyword blacklist	Yes	Yes
URL-density cap per event	Yes	Yes
Coming Soon mode (gate the directory)	-	Yes

Migration & import

Capability	Free	Pro
CSV import / export (per listing type)	Yes	Yes
JSON import	Yes	Yes
GeoJSON import (FeatureCollection)	Yes	Yes
Settings JSON export / import	Yes	Yes
Competitor migrators (Directorist / GeoDirectory / WPBDP / ListingPro)	Yes CLI + admin	Yes + Visual Importer (mapping UI)
Google Places import (single + bulk)	-	Yes
Visual bulk importer (auto-detect fields + preview)	-	Yes

Integrations

Capability	Free	Pro
WooCommerce (credits via WC product)	-	Yes
WooCommerce Subscriptions	-	Yes
MemberPress	-	Yes
Paid Memberships Pro	-	Yes
WooMemberships	-	Yes
BuddyPress activity sync (listing actions → activity stream)	-	Yes
Stripe / PayPal (direct via the bundled SDK gateways)	-	Yes
License / auto-updates (Pro license server at wbcomdesigns.com)	-	Yes
Akismet	Yes	Yes
Google Maps API	-	Yes

Reverse marketplace ("Needs")

Capability	Free	Pro
Buyer posts a need ("Looking for caterer in Brooklyn")	-	Yes
Needs grid + filters (type, urgency, budget)	-	Yes
Business responds with a quote	-	Yes
Needs dashboard tab for buyers + responders	-	Yes
Auto-match by type + location	-	Yes

Developer surface

Capability	Free	Pro
REST API	Yes 58 routes	Yes +73 endpoints (70 unique routes)
Action / filter hooks	Yes 259 fired hooks (133 actions + 126 filters)	Yes adds extension points
WP-CLI commands	Yes 8: stats, reindex, listing-types, import, export, repair, migrate, demo	Yes Pro QA seeder (wp listora-pro demo seed/remove)
Template overrides (WooCommerce-style)	Yes	Yes
Custom capabilities	Yes 15 stored caps + 1 virtual (view_listora_dashboard) granted at runtime	Yes + 3 Pro caps (wb_listora_pro_view_analytics, manage_listora_moderators, reverse-listings caps)
Interactivity API (single store)	Yes	Yes extends
Block development kit (shared editor controls, hooks, utils)	Yes	Yes
Action Scheduler (bundled - bullet-proof background jobs)	Yes 3.9.3 vendored	Yes consumes Free's copy

Compatibility

Requirement	Free + Pro
PHP	7.4+
WordPress	6.9+
MySQL / MariaDB	5.7+ / 10.3+
Translation-ready (wb-listora text domain)	Yes
RTL stylesheets	Yes
Multisite	Yes
Headless (Next.js / Astro / mobile via REST)	Yes

What this means for you

You're building…	What you need
Open directory of free listings	Free only
Niche directory (yoga studios, food trucks, …) with submission gate	Free only
Job board for a single industry	Free is enough
Paid business directory (vendors pay to list)	Free + Pro
Premium listings with featured rotation	Free + Pro
B2B services marketplace with lead capture	Free + Pro (Lead Forms)
Reverse marketplace where buyers post needs	Free + Pro (Needs)
Multi-city / multi-vertical directory with SEO landing pages	Free + Pro (SEO Pages)
Membership-gated directory	Free + Pro (with MemberPress / PMP / WooMemberships)
Community + directory hybrid	Free + Pro (+ BuddyPress)
White-label / agency reseller	Free + Pro (White Label feature)

Related

• Plugin comparison - Listora vs Directorist / GeoDirectory / WPBDP / ListingPro.
• Why Listora? - the architectural reasoning behind these capabilities.
• Activating Pro - how to add Pro on top of an existing Free install.
• Pricing Plans (Pro) - the credit-and-plan business model.
• User Journeys - what a directory operator can do, end-to-end.