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WordPress · Free + Pro · v2.1.0

A directory plugin that scales.
On your WordPress site.

Listora turns any WordPress install into a monetizable business directory. Submission, claims and 6-layer anti-spam are free. Pro adds credit plans, lead capture and verification. One license, no add-on stack.

Get Listora free See Listora Pro Read the docs →
  • $0Free, unlimited sites
  • $69/yr Pro starts here
  • 70+REST routes, free
  • 7ways to take payment (Pro)

Four people, one plugin

Pick the path that matches what you are building.

Visitors discover places they want to visit. Vendors list their business without ever touching wp-admin. Operators charge for visibility through a credit ledger. Agencies hand off a directory that runs on stock WordPress. All four flows are documented at store.wbcomdesigns.com/listora/docs.

Free plugin · Discover

For: A visitor on your directory

They search, filter, find a place worth a visit

Search runs on a dedicated index rather than meta queries, so it stays fast as the directory grows, and every filter is in the URL - shareable and refresh-safe.

  1. Full-text + geo search Reads a dedicated index, not meta queries
  2. Near Me + radius Drag map bounds + Search this area
  3. Facets refine results Category, price, rating, amenities
  4. URL-state preserved Share or refresh - same results
  5. Save + compare Heart-save, plus side-by-side compare in Pro
What a visitor sees: filter pills, a clustered map, and results that stay fast as the directory grows.
What a visitor sees: filter pills, a clustered map, and results that stay fast as the directory grows.

Free plugin · Submit

For: A business owner

They list their business without ever touching wp-admin

A five-step wizard with auto-saved drafts and a draggable map pin. Submitters sign in with a site account and never need wp-admin.

  1. Start submission Pick a listing type from the wizard
  2. Fill in details Conditional fields per listing type
  3. Drag the pin Confirm exact location on the map
  4. Preview + submit Check it, then send it for approval
  5. Claim existing places Upload proof, admin approves ownership
The submission wizard: ten listing types, five steps, no wp-admin.
The submission wizard: ten listing types, five steps, no wp-admin.

Free + Pro · Monetize

For: A directory operator

Charge vendors. Without writing payment code.

Vendors buy credits and spend them on plans. Hold-and-Commit reserves the credits and only takes them once the listing is live, so a failed activation never leaves a partial charge.

  1. Define credit packs Vendors buy credits, spend on plans
  2. Hold-and-Commit Credits hold, commit only on success
  3. 7 ways to take payment Stripe, PayPal + 5 plugin adapters
  4. Lead capture Owner gets the email, each enquiry counted
  5. Verification badges Trust signals admins control
Credit costs and per-role listing limits, configured from wp-admin.
Credit costs and per-role listing limits, configured from wp-admin.

Free + Pro · Deploy

For: A WordPress agency

You hand a directory to a client without lock-in

Any block or classic theme, hundreds of documented hooks, template overrides, and white label to put the plugin under your own name.

  1. Theme-agnostic Block themes + classic themes both work
  2. Template overrides Copy to {theme}/wb-listora/ and edit
  3. Hundreds of hooks Change behavior without forking
  4. White-label Rename it, add your logo (every Pro tier)
  5. Headless via REST 140+ routes across Free + Pro
The Needs Marketplace: buyers post what they want, vendors answer with quotes.
The Needs Marketplace: buyers post what they want, vendors answer with quotes.

How it works

Live in about 30 minutes.

  1. 01

    Install + run the setup wizard

    Get the free Listora plugin from wbcomdesigns.com. The wizard creates Directory, Add Listing and My Dashboard pages already wired with the right Gutenberg blocks. No shortcode hunting, no template patching.

  2. 02

    Load a demo pack

    10 verticals ship with realistic seed data: restaurants, hotels, real estate, jobs, business, classifieds, education, healthcare, places, events. wp listora demo seed --pack=all loads them all to test the surface.

  3. 03

    Open to vendors + start earning

    Vendors submit through the frontend wizard. Pro turns on credit plans, plans that include featured placement, lead capture, and the reverse Needs Marketplace. Add the revenue layer when you are ready, the public directory does not break.

Who it's for

Seven directory playbooks for the next 30 minutes of your weekend.

Each playbook covers setup, permissions, conventions, and the exact settings to flip.

Built for directory operators

Every capability a directory needs. In one WordPress plugin.

Faceted search on a dedicated index table. Frontend submission, business claims, 6-layer anti-spam, reviews with owner reply, 11 native Gutenberg blocks, 70+ REST routes in the free plugin. Pro adds the revenue layer: credit-based plans, Stripe, PayPal and five payment plugin adapters, lead capture, verification badges, reverse Needs Marketplace.

A Listora listing page showing verified and featured badges, a 4.6 rating, tabbed content, structured fields, amenities and business hours.
One listing page, doing most of this at once: verified and featured badges, a rating with owner replies, tabbed detail, amenities, and live business hours.

  • Faceted search at scale

    A dedicated index table instead of meta queries, so results stay quick where other directory plugins start to crawl.

  • Frontend submission wizard

    Auto-saved drafts, fields that change per listing type and a map pin to drag. Submitters use a site account, never wp-admin.

  • Self-service business claims

    Owners claim an existing listing with proof, you approve, and ownership transfers cleanly - no duplicates to merge.

  • 6-layer anti-spam stack

    Honeypot, rate limits, a keyword blacklist and a URL-density cap are on by default. reCAPTCHA or Turnstile and Akismet switch on once you add keys. Most bot listings never reach the moderation queue.

  • 11 native Gutenberg blocks

    Listing grid, card, search, map, detail, reviews, submission, categories, featured carousel, calendar, user dashboard. apiVersion 3, Interactivity API, no jQuery soup, no page-builder lock-in.

  • 140+ REST routes (Free + Pro)

    70+ routes in Free, about 70 more in Pro across listings, search, reviews, favorites, claims, services, dashboard, plans, leads, badges, comparison, saved searches, needs marketplace, moderators. Headless or mobile ready.

  • Pro: Credit plans + 7 ways to pay

    Hold-and-Commit credit activation across one ledger. Stripe and PayPal are built in, plus WooCommerce, WooSubscriptions, WooMemberships, MemberPress and Paid Memberships Pro. Vendors top up from any of them, and credits are only taken once the plan activates.

  • Pro: Reverse Needs Marketplace

    Buyers post needs (caterer for 200, photographer for a wedding). Matching businesses in the directory see open requests and respond with quotes. Two-sided flywheel inside one plugin. No other WordPress directory ships this.

  • Hundreds of documented hooks

    Actions and filters with full argument signatures. WooCommerce-style template overrides. Built for agencies that need to ship custom without forking the plugin.

See all eight feature areas Read the docs →

Compare

Every alternative makes you compromise. Listora doesn't.

Alternative What you give up Listora
Directorist Pro + add-ons $300+ / year stacking pricing-plans + featured + multi-vendor + reviews extensions, slow meta_query-based search, no claims in free, gallery sold separately One license. Faceted search on a dedicated index. Claims + 6-layer anti-spam in Free. Credit-based monetization in Pro.
GeoDirectory Premium Premium tier required for monetization, no business claims included, no native Gutenberg blocks, no reverse marketplace, no Hold-and-Commit credit flow Free includes claims, Pro ships Hold-and-Commit and reverse Needs Marketplace, all on a dedicated search index.
ListingPro Premium Theme-coupled, no Gutenberg-native blocks, no Action Scheduler for background jobs, monetization tied to a single payment path Theme-agnostic block plugin. Action Scheduler for crons. Stripe, PayPal and 5 payment plugin adapters via the Wbcom Credits SDK.
Custom CPT + ACF + meta_query 8-12 weeks engineering to build search, submission, claims, anti-spam, payments. Hand-built monetization. You own every bug for the life of the site. Day-one production directory. Hundreds of documented hooks for the inevitable customizations. Ongoing updates from a team.

See the full comparison What Listora costs → Directory plugin for WordPress →

When you outgrow free

Pro adds credits, leads, and the features directories charge for.

The free plugin handles the full directory workflow: listing types, reviews, claims, frontend submission, and search. Pro adds credit-based pricing plans, contact-owner lead forms, Google Maps with Places autocomplete, and the Needs reverse marketplace.

Get Listora Pro See everything Pro adds →

  • Credit plans Hold-and-Commit credits, Stripe, PayPal and 5 plugin adapters
  • Lead capture Contact-owner forms, each enquiry counted in listing analytics
  • Google Maps Map views with Places autocomplete on submission
  • Saved searches Email alerts when new listings match a saved search
  • Trust tools Verification badges, ready-made rating criteria and photo reviews
  • Needs marketplace Buyers post what they need, owners respond

Common questions

Quick answers before you commit.

Is Listora actually free?

Yes. The free Listora plugin runs a complete production directory: 11 Gutenberg blocks, full faceted search with geo + Near Me, reviews with owner reply, business claims, frontend submission wizard, 6-layer anti-spam, 9 demo packs, 70+ REST routes, 13 WP-CLI subcommands. No SaaS fees, no per-listing limits, no license key for the free tier.

Does Pro work without Free installed?

No. Pro is a pure extension of Free - it consumes Free hooks, REST endpoints, blocks, and database tables. Pro needs Free at the same version. Without it, Pro stops loading and tells you why in wp-admin. This is by design: your public directory never breaks when a Pro license expires.

How long does setup take?

The 6-step setup wizard takes a fresh WordPress install to a working directory with demo data in about 30 minutes. The wizard auto-creates Directory, Add Listing and My Dashboard pages with the right blocks pre-wired. Run wp listora demo seed --pack=place (or any of 9 packs) to load realistic listings for testing.

How is this different from Directorist or GeoDirectory?

Directorist and GeoDirectory sell the directory as freemium then charge $99-$299 / year per add-on for pricing plans, payments, claims, comparison, reviews extensions. Listora ships claims, anti-spam, 11 Gutenberg blocks, 70+ REST routes, and migration importers in the free plugin. Pro adds credit-based monetization in one license, not five.

Will it scale past 10,000 listings?

Yes. The search index is a dedicated denormalized table, not a meta_query. Geo search narrows by a bounding box, then Haversine, against a separate geo table. Action Scheduler runs expiry, reminders, cleanup and reindex, so a missed WP-Cron run does not corrupt state.

Who is behind Listora?

Wbcom Designs - WordPress agency since 2013, 4.8 / 5 on Trustpilot from 96 reviews. We ship community and commercial WordPress plugins (BuddyX, Reign, Jetonomy, WPMediaVerse, WP Career Board, WB Ad Manager, WP Sell Services, SnipShare, Listora) plus AI workflows for enterprise teams.

Costs and gateways are answered on pricing, the free and Pro split on free vs Pro, and migration, credits and the REST API in features.

Stop renting your directory from Yelp.

Install the free plugin, add your first listings, see what a fast directory on your own domain feels like - before lunch.

Download free See Listora Pro Read the docs →

Video

Start a business directory website

How to Start a Business Directory Website on WordPress3:12Chapters and transcript

Browse the full video library →

What customers say on Trustpilot

WBCOM Designs is Amazing!

WBCOM Designs has constantly updated and supported their plugins and themes. Recently the new BuddyNext project is Amazing! - and the new line of addons like Mediaverse, Jetonomy, Mediashield, and Listora.. are likewise Amazing! - and very well built. Today their online Chat solved a download…

Edward S.US