Directorist is now the most used WordPress directory plugin with active installations over 20 thousand, thanks to our user bases for this incredible achievement. We are growing faster and has become one of the most popular WordPress plugins. You can no longer call it just another wordpress directory plugin, but a entire system for efficiently managing a multi-directory website with unlimited listings.

So what makes Directorist what it is? We will find out in the below article.

The Rise of Directorist

A vast number of advanced Directorist features combined together under one package helped us win the Monster award back in 2022 when they recognized it as the most dynamic WordPress plugin. Back then, Directorist was feature-rich but right now, it is stronger than ever.

By the mid-2025, we have equipped with the power of AI for directory building and growing at unimaginable pace with 30+ extensions and 14 compatible themes. Plus, our plugin was downloaded more than 874K times (as of August 2025) in lifetime as we are edging close to a million downloads. We are very proud of our achievements and grateful to our users for helping us reach these milestones.

So What Makes Directorist unbeatable in the category? What values does it offer that many other tools cannot? The answer lies in a number of advanced Directorist features that enhances the directory building experience of our users and making their website feature-rich. In this article, we have compiled 10+ incredible and advanced features of Directorist for your quick learning.

So without further technical jargon, let’s cut to the chase and give you a brief Directorist review.

Directorist Features – 10+ incredible functionalities to enhance your website

According to most of our users’ review, they love Directorist because of the customer support they receive. Some expressed their joy due to the fact that, the Directorist team considered their need and even developed functionalities based on their personal need. We would like to clarify that, we also prioritize user’s need and maintain our product roadmap based on their demand.

Our biggest flex is that we can add unlimited features to Directorist plugin to help our users feel comfortable while serving their visitors. We even accept custom development requirements and develop their sites based on requirements in various ways. However, the Directorist Core that comes with many free features and various extensions already made it a ocean of functionalities to explore.

Here are some of the top Directorist features handpicked for you to look at.

1. Ranked features listing

Many of you know featured listings in directory website but what’s the solution if featured listings exceed the limitation? Here comes the Ranked Featured Listings option. This is an unconventional feature for a directory site that you wouldn’t find in any other directory plugins. Most of the plugins offer Featured Listings feature within their system. It’s ok to have this awesome feature but when featured listing items add at a larger scale, then what would be the solution?

Yes, here, Directorist comes with a smart solution for the site owners and the listing owners. It offers a Ranked Featured Listings option that is used to rank among all the featured listing items. It helps site owners to earn extra money by getting paid and listing owners to maximize the exposure of the respective listings by paying the site owners.

2. Booking feature

Unlike most of the conventional directory plugins, Directorist offers a booking feature to its users. Many of the users may not know about this exclusive feature.

From now on, you can use this feature for booking online shows, consultations, seminars, wedding invitations, training classes; the online reservations for the restaurant, saloon; the appointment for doctors, lawyers, and so on. Just by purchasing a cost-effective extension, you can integrate this feature into your directory website without any hassle.

3. Customizable email notification

The site owner can customize the email templates as it’s needed. Diectorist provides a placeholder to use dynamic information about the directory and let the users know the expected message. This feature oftentimes is overlooked by the users, but you can make the best use of it.

4. Importing from any CSV

Directorist allows you to use CSV Bulk Importer for listing, category, location, tag, media, etc. The Import data mapping is a unique feature that is often overlooked by many users. For those handling extensive datasets, there’s more info here to help ensure smooth migration and maximum efficiency. Get the most user-friendly migration process by letting you import thousands of listings from a single CSV file.

• Complete migration to Directorist within just a few clicks.
• Import unlimited listings in no time.
• You can map any field types to Directory listing fields.

These are some of the benefits you can have using this awesome features of Directorist.

5. Widgets facility

Widgets make things easier and faster. To leverage this feature, Directorist provides 14 different search widgets to empower your search experiences. You’ll also have 25+ Elementor based widgets. There is an extension that also allows you to display slider and carousel on the widgets. You can add numerous widgets as follows:

• Author info
• Search listing
• Popular listing
• Featured listing
• Similar listing
• Map
• And many more

Overall Directorist allows you to use 35+ custom widgets right away.

6. Predefined task

Directorist performs some sort of scheduling and predefined tasks on behalf of directory admin. You can scheduling notification, listing expiration, delegation, etc on your directory website without facing any nuisance.

7. Auto-login after registration

https://imgur.com/ZUVaMiC

This one is a tiny but interesting feature that allows your users to log in after the registration without giving any credentials. This added feature simplifies all the login processes.

8. Redirection after registration

Suppose, you have 3000 listings and a user is browsing through the listings. He viewed a listing and wants to contact the owner or book that listing or comment on it but he can not proceed without signing up. So he signs up but redirected to the Dashboard instead of the listing he was interested in. Now, he will have to find that listing again!

Previously, a user had to experience such issues but now we have an option to redirect the users to the page they were in before signing up. Not only that you can assign any pages you want them to redirect to.

9. Redirection after login

This option is as same as the previous point mentioned. Using this handy feature, users can redirect to the page they were in before login into the website. Usually, people can visit the pages of your site and see the listings. When they want to interact with the listing owners or the site owners like you, they will be asked to log in first. This option will help them to redirect to the page he was in before.

10. Single Listing Template width, padding, margin

https://imgur.com/p4awbiD

A single listing page is crucial for managing an individual listing on a directory website. If you are using Directorist Single Listing and not satisfied with the default set up of the template, you customize as you wish without adding any additional CSS. Suppose, you don’t like the current width, padding, margin then you can make it yours simply by operating some options out there.

https://imgur.com/bE8lFid

11. Allow user to create location

Previously, the listing owners had to select a location from the admin defined locations and if the location was not listed, he had to contact the admin to enlist the location he is in.

https://imgur.com/nopxHtF

Now, the site admin has the option to let business owners create their own locations without needing to contact the admin. However, you do not want listing owners to add 100s of locations right? You also have the option to limit the maximum number of locations he can add.

12. Custom Field – Specific Category

https://imgur.com/WMoC6HE

This custom field feature is used to personalize any particular input field on your directory website. It appears only when you select any assigned category. Directorist allows you to have this feature for you effortlessly.

Suppose you have a custom field named ‘Boys Items’, and ‘Girls Items’ and you want to appear these fields under the right category. This custom field will ensure this on your directory website.

Some Other Exclusive Traits

Apart from these overlooked features, you will get some exclusive features in Directorist that makes the plugin distinct from others.

i. Intuitive User Interface: The plugin is built in such a way that users can navigate through the plugin effortlessly. A novice user can easily operate the plugin

ii. Cost-effective Extensions: Directorist offers 15+ advanced extensions with cost-effective pricing to extend the features and functionalities of your directory website.

iii. SEO-friendliness: SEO is the core to rank your directory site on SERP. Directorist is an SEO-friendly plugin that allows you to create an SEO-friendly directory site.

iv. Vast array of action and filter hooks: To take your directory site to the next level, Directorist provides you ample action and filter hooks so that developers can scale up the directory site as it requires.

v. Wonderful support system: Directorist is famous for its support. If you see the reviews, you can find something interesting. Almost all the reviews are 5 stars and they’re satisfied with our dedicated support team.

Don’t Be Shy to Learn More

Directorist is a giant tool since it has a ton of features for beginners to advanced that could be overlooked in any way. The features here are what I typically see being missed the most by beginners as they got a basic structure effortlessly.

None of these features are difficult to execute, so learn more about this awesome plugin through our detailed user guide and add these to your arsenal. Eventually, this will create better directory sites as a whole.

Summing Up

That concludes our rundown of 12 overlooked Directorist features. It’s not like everyone may miss all the features mentioned here. Someone may miss no 3, someone may be the number 7. Moreover, every core update of Directorist launches new features, so it should expect this list to grow in the future!

For now, though, it’s over to you. If you’re a Directorist user, have I missed any secret Directorist features that you regularly deal with? Let me know in the comments below!