Are you looking for the best WordPress business directory plugin for your website?
A business directory helps users discover service providers in a particular niche or category. At the same time, it helps those businesses find customers and opportunities.
As a website owner, you can even make money online by selling paid listings in your business directory.
In this article, we have hand-picked some of the best WordPress business directory plugins to help you save some time and money.
What Is a WordPress Business Directory?
A WordPress business directory is an online collection of company listings within different niches, along with their contact details and other information. It helps users find new vendors while helping businesses connect with customers and other companies.
Unlike a Google Search, a business directory is made up of curated listings with descriptions, reviews, and photos. This makes it more useful for users looking for specific businesses.
A good WordPress business directory plugin allows you to easily create lists of businesses organized by location, category, and other parameters.
It will also offer features like payment collection options, bookmarking tools, support for photos and videos, customizable form fields, and more.
That being said, let’s take a look at some of the best WordPress business directory plugins that you can use.
1. Formidable Forms
Formidable Forms is one of the best WordPress form builder plugins on the market. It allows you to create advanced forms and add them to your website, including a business listing form.
Using the listings template, you can create a form that allows users to submit their entries to your directory. Then, you can display the business directory listings on a WordPress page.
With Formidable Forms, you can collect user-generated reviews and ratings, free or paid directory submissions, and more. It also offers a front-end submission option, which allows users to submit their own listings.
It comes with many premium add-ons to add more features and functionality to your WordPress business directory. Formidable Forms fully supports Mailchimp, PayPal, WPML, and WooCommerce.
For more details, check out our step-by-step tutorial on how to create a web directory in WordPress using Formidable Forms.
Pros:
- Easily create complex and advanced forms
- Front-end submission options
- Drag and drop form builder
- Pre-built form templates
- Smooth integration with third-party tools & plugins
- Build web applications
Cons:
- The free version has limited features
- The directory listing template is not included in the free version
Why We Recommend Formidable Forms: Formidable Forms is the best option for creating all types of business directories. It also allows front end submission, so users can create their own listings, submit reviews, ratings, and more.
2. Business Directory Plugin
Business Directory Plugin is a freemium WordPress plugin that allows you to create a simple business directory. It comes with basic features required to run a web directory, like customizable form fields, accepting payments for listings, and more.
It allows you to sort entries into categories and tags, create featured entries, and customize entry forms. There is also an option to offer free and paid listings.
There is a free Business Directory Plugin. If you want to access more features and add-ons, then it has a pro version as well. The premium features include multiple modules, Google Maps support, user ratings, zip code search, file upload, and more.
Pros:
- Easy-to-use plugin
- Pre-built directory templates
- Fully customizable form fields
- Accept paid listings with Authorize.net
- Sort listings based on categories
Cons:
- Features like file uploads, Google Maps, discount codes, and more are not available in the free version
Why We Recommend Business Directory Plugin: If you are looking for a free plugin to create website directories, then the Business Directory Plugin is for you. It even lets you collect paid submissions in the free version and provides features that other freemium plugins don’t offer.
3. Connections
Connections is a powerful business directory plugin for WordPress. It comes with a set of custom fields that can be used to create almost any kind of web directory.
In the privacy settings, you or your users can set privacy levels for certain custom fields like business phone numbers or internal messages.
Displaying your directory on the front end is very easy. You need to add a simple shortcode to your directory page. It also offers custom shortcodes with extensive options to customize the appearance of your business directory.
Connections plugin also comes with template support so that you can choose a layout for your listings from pre-built directory templates.
Pros:
- Beginner-friendly free plugin
- Pre-built templates
- Offers 4 directory blocks
- Smooth integrations
- Open-source, developer-friendly plugin
- Offers multiple extensions
Cons:
- No payment gateway support
Why We Recommend Connections: We believe that Connections is a great solution for businesses that need a free directory plugin with reliable core features.
4. GeoDirectory
GeoDirectory allows you to create a location-based business directory like Yelp, TripAdvisor, YellowPages, and more.
Using a simple interface, your users can submit listings to the directory. These listings or entries are pointed on the map, and your users can search for locations, businesses, neighborhoods, and more.
You can monetize your website by selling directory listings. GeoDirectory also allows you to display event listings, create multi-location directories, and more. Plus, the plugin works with any WordPress theme or page builder. This makes it highly customizable and easy to use.
However, adding payment gateways requires additional steps, as you will need other WordPress plugins to accept payments.
Pros:
- 40+ widgets, blocks, and shortcodes
- Dedicated themes for directories
- Front-end listing submissions
- Supports any theme and page builder
- Highly customizable
Cons:
- Complicated monetization setup
Why We Recommend GeoDirectory: We highly recommend GeoDirectory to anyone looking to create a directory website based on location. It offers powerful features and lots of customization options.
5. Name Directory
Name Directory is another free WordPress directory plugin. It allows you to create a business or personal directory easily. Using the configuration options, you can select a layout and customize plugin functionality.
It supports shortcodes to display directory listings on a WordPress post or page. You can sort the entries to show new listings on top of the page, allowing those entries to gain more exposure.
Pros:
- Simply and easy-to-use plugin
- Allows front-end submissions
- Show or hide multiple form fields
- Bulk import listings
Cons:
- Limited customization options
- No options for monetization
Why We Recommend Name Directory: We recommend the Name Directory plugin for anyone who is looking to create a glossary, business index, or contact information listing.
Which Is the Best WordPress Business Directory Plugin?
After testing multiple WordPress directory plugins, we believe that Formidable Forms is the best solution for all types of businesses.
It offers a drag-and-drop form builder with pre-built templates. Using Formidable Forms, you can create advanced and complex forms for WordPress. It makes it very easy to add a business directory to your site.
The best part is that it easily integrates with payment gateways and supports front-end submissions. This way, users can submit their own listings while you get to monetize your website.
On the other hand, if you are looking for a free option, then we suggest the Business Directory Plugin. The core plugin is free to use and offers lots of features.
We hope this article helped you find the best WordPress directory plugins. You may also want to check out our list of the best email marketing services for small businesses and our tutorial on how to create a searchable member directory in WordPress.
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The post 5 Best WordPress Business Directory Plugins for 2024 (Free & Paid) first appeared on WPBeginner.