What Are the Basic Criteria While Comparing a Directory Solution with Others?
Business Directory Plugin vs Directorist – Feature Comparison
The Final Outcome

Business Directory Plugin vs Directorist – What Is to Beat?

What precious lesson we learned from the old school yet timeless Aesop’s story, “Hare vs Tortoise race” is that perseverance takes one beyond his or her expectation albeit their apparent limit. That’s exactly what is going to happen with Directorist when compared to its old rival, Business Directory Plugin, based on parameters like current customer acquisition rate, retention rate, and providing value to its customers.

Although Business Directory Plugin entered the market much earlier than Directorist did, the latter gained tremendous popularity within a very short span. In today’s article, we will be scrutinizing these two directory systems to determine how well they perform in terms of offering aspects like providing multidirectory functionalities, free version availabilities, CSV bulk importing ability, page builder support, theme and plugin integration, and so on.

Now, let’s get to it!

But before we move any further…

What Are the Basic Criteria While Comparing a Directory Solution with Others?

Selecting the right directory tool can be a cog in the machine for your directory business. But before you choose a suitable directory tool, you need to keep the following criteria in your book:

Based on these criteria, you can judge the degree of goodness of any business directory tool.

Business Directory Plugin vs Directorist – Feature Comparison

You can create pretty much any kind of directory website with these two. Still, they shed light on different aspects when it comes to feature comparison. Now that you know the basic features of a directory tool, let’s find out the match-up between Business Directory Plugin vs Directorist.

1. Free Version Availability

Business Directory Plugin Vs Directorist- Free version availability

If you are a startup owner, you need to check your initial expenses. In this case, you can pursue a solution that ships with free version availability. Thankfully, both of them come up with a free version. As a startup owner, you should keep this freemium aspect of the solution under your consideration so that you can initially get a headstart and later on you become able to scale up your business with all the premium features.

Get Business Directory Plugin for Free!

Get Directorist for Free!

2. Pricing Plans

The two rivals have completely different pricing plans. Business Directory Plugin offers only 3 yearly pricing plans:

Elite: $299.50/per year
Pro: $199.50/per year
Basic: $99.50/per year

Directorist, on the other hand, offers 6 pricing plans so that you can pick the right one. The plans can be categorized as:

Quarterly plan – $79, after discount usually around $67
Half-yealy plan – $129, after discount usually around $99
Yearly plan- $199, after discount usually around $129

All the above plans come with an unlimited sites license!

The lifetime pricing plans include $399, $699, and $999. In lifetime deals, you will get upto 100 domains to register the plugin and get priority support forever up until the product lifetime.

Again, if you are an agent and create an army of directory websites for others, the lifetime deals with unlimited domains will surely meet your needs as you don’t have to renew over and over again.

Besides, if you want to create a directory website only for you, after the discount the 1 Site plan can save tons of money as you don’t have to renew the license and have unlimited support at the same time.

3. User Rating or User Satisfaction Rate

User rating or user reviews are great ways to judge a plugin. Whenever you are going to choose a solution, you should look for high user ratings and positive customer reviews. If the customer rating is low, there is a high likelihood that the solution is poorly built or it’s having issues like bugs or awful customer support service.

Interestingly engouh, both of the plugins boasts off the same 4.7 user rating out of 5 as of today while we are writing.

The user rating for Business Directory Plugin is 4.7 out of 5.

And here is the screenshot for Directorist:

4. Support Duration

This is quite an imperative aspect if you run into any trouble down the line. Before you buy any software or plugin, make sure you check the span of customer support.

No matter what pricing plan you choose, you will only get 1 year of customer support for the Business Directory Plugin.

On the other hand, Directorist has not only a 1-year-long customer support plan but also unlimited support options for lifetime deals which will give you more flexibility.

5. Mobile Apps Availability

Whether you are in the coffee shop, or in the train, or in the park, you will see that people are scrolling their mobile screens all the time. Here is an interesting statistics:

Directorist team claims on their roadmap and they have delivered! Directorist now has a native mobile app for both iOS and Android.

Feature	Directorist	Business Directory Plugin
Mobile Apps	✔️	❌

6. Advanced Form Builder

If you are the type of person who never settles in, you need a dynamic tool. And guess what! Advanced form builder helps you do just that by giving your directory website a customized layout and appearance with the privilege of drag-and-drop functionality.

Business Directory Plugin does not allow you to use any advanced form builder when Directorist has a dynamic drag-and-drop functionality with a sleek design.

With Directorist, you can also choose whether to show your listing in list view or grid view.

Features	Directorist	Business Directory Plugin
Drag & drop based input fields	✔️	❌
Advanced search form builder facility	✔️	❌
Create and customize the listing card for grid view	✔️	✔️ (Via Elegant Grid Theme)
Single Page Layout and Listings Card Layout	✔️	❌
Personalized builder settings panel	✔️	❌

7. Multi-directory Facilities

You can start with a single-directory website but later you may change your mind to make it a multi-directory website. For example, you may start with an automobile directory website but you can add an automobile parts directory to the existing website.

Unfortunately, you can not create a multidirectory website with Business Directory Plugin due to the lack of this feature.

On the contrary, Directorist comes up with this feature even with its free version.

multi directory - GeoDirectory vs Directorist

Feature	Directorist	Business Directory Plugin
Multi-directory Facility	✔️ (Free)	❌

8. Unlimited Custom Fields

Custom fields have become a bare necessity these days. Without them, you can not streamline the submission form the way you want. Luckily enough they both allow you to create as many different types of custom fields as you want.

Luckily they both come up with this custom field feature. However, if you are using Business Directory Plugin you will have to create custom fields by changing their types on your own. And it does not have any built-in drag and drop functionalities either.

On the other hand, apart from a host of preset fields, Directorist has more than 11 preset custom fields which you can customize and add as many as you want. You can also add practically unlimited custom fields with drag and drop functionalities in Directorist.

Feature	Directorist	Busienss Directory Plugin
Custom Fields	✔️ (Drag and drop)	✔️ (Static)

Social importer lessens the hassle to import business information and events from Facebook, Yelp, or TripAdvisor using just the URL of your page. However, none of the plugins have this feature in place yet.

Channel	Directorist	Business Directory Plugin
Facebook	❌	❌
Yelp	❌	❌
TripAdvisor	❌	❌

10. CSV Bulk Importer

For whatever reason, anyone can switch to a new directory solution. But for this purpose, you will need CSV bulk importer for seamless switching. If not, you will have to export and import each data manually which is a pretty tedious job. Besides, while exporting or importing data manually, there is a high likelihood that you might end up with a number of errors.

Luckily enough, both of these plugins have default CSV bulk importers with mapping features that are easy to use.

Feature	Directorist	Business Directory Plugin
CSV Bulk Importer	✔️	✔️

11. Search with Advanced Filters

A search filter is an imperative aspect of a directory solution. With the help of filters, customers or visitors can find their desired listings from thousands of solutions in a second.

You can add filters like:

adding custom fields,
price range, tags,
geolocation and nearby listings,
radius search,
search widgets, and
many more along with regular fields like default text field, category, and location field.

So, you have to ensure that this feature comes with the directory solution you are going to choose.

Surprisingly, both of these directory plugins ship with this feature.

However, Directorist has a big edge over Business Directorist Plugin as the former lets you use unlimited custom fields on your filter form.

GeoDirectory vs Directorist - advanced search

Features	Directorist	Business Directory Plugin
Search Filters	✔️	✔️
Advanced Custom Filters with drag and drop builder	✔️	❌

12. Multiple Mapping Source and Styling

If your directory solution enables you to use different types of maps, it’s a plus for you and your customers or visitors. Business Directory Plugin, however, does not allow to use of multiple mapping sources other than its only mapping source, Google Map.

Conversely, Directorist will allow you to use not only Google Map but also Open Street Map.

Features	Directorist	Business Directory Plugin
Multiple Mapping Source	✔️	❌

13. Frontend Listing Submission and Guest Submission

We know you want to convert more visitors to customers. For this purpose, you need a frontend list submission feature with a sleek dashboard.

In addition to that, enabling the users to submit their listings with merely their email will be a cherry on top.

Business Directory Plugin neither has the frontend listing submission nor the guest submission option. On the other hand, Directorist takes pride in having both of the features along with frontend listing management. Meaning the end-users will be able to:

Submit their listing with just an email
Submit from frontend dashboard which looks cooler than the default WordPress dashboard
Manage their submitted listings from the front end.

Features	Directorist	Business Directory Plugin
Frontend Listing Submission	✔️	❌
Guest Posting	✔️	❌
Frontend Listing Management	✔️	❌

14. Private Directory

With the Private Directory option, you can restrict your website’s listings to logged-in users only so that the visitors can not see them without logging in. This way you can grow your email list like never before.

Business Directory Plugin does not have this feature but Directorist has got you covered with this exclusive feature.

Feature	Directorist	Business Directory Plugin
Private Directory	✔️	❌

15. Plugin Integration / Addons

Plugin integration allows you to extend your directory website’s usability more.

Currently, Business Directory Plugin has 6 extensions in its basket. They are:

Yoast SEO Integration
WPML Forms
Authorize.net AIM
PayPal
Stripe
Payfast

Directorist, on the contrary, has an army of 25 integrations. They are:

16. Theme Integration

The appearance of a website matters most because it has the ability to create credibility and an overall good impression on the visitor’s mind.

A standard directory solution will offer you a whole range of themes to integrate with. Themes provide your website personalized appearance and it is also helpful to align with your niche. Even, the design or appearance of your website is responsible for credibility, for customers’ purchase decision:

As of now, Business Directory Plugin has integration with 7 themes:

Directorist, on the other hand, has the following 10 theme integrations:

Feature	Directorist	Business Directory Plugin
Theme Integrations	✔️(10)	✔️(7)

17. Page builder support

As we said already, you don’t have a choice other than implementing a great design for your directory website. Business Directory Plugin is yet to roll out support for popular page builders.

But Directorist, on the other hand, supports the popular Elementor page builder to create pages lightning fast reflecting your design philosophy accompanied by Elementor widgets.

Feature	Directorist	Business Directory Plugin
Page Builder support	✔️	❌

18. WooCommerce Multivendor Plugin Compatibility

If your Directory solution is compatible with popular marketplaces like Dokan, WC Marketplace, WCFM, WC Vendor, and YITH WooCommerce Multivendor, you can run your directory business and multivendor business in tandem.

However, Business Directory Plugin has not have this feature in place as of now.

Feature	Directorist	Business Directory Plugin
Compatible with popular multi-vendor plugins like Dokan, WC Vendors, WC Marketplace, WCFM, YITH WooCommerce Multivendor.	✔️	❌

19. Develop Booking System

Business Directory Plugin vs Directorist- Develop Booking System

A booking system lets you sell services in a more efficient and smarter way. Make sure your directory solution has got this feature covered. With a booking system integrated with your directory solution, you can let your users submit listings for the following niche:

Restaurant Reservation
Doctor Appointments
Service Booking
Event Ticket Booking
Hotel and Apartment Renting

Business Directory Plugin does not have any built-in Booking system, though Directorist have the Booking system as an extension.

Feature	Directorist	Business Directory Plugin
Booking System	✔️	❌

20. Push Notification

With Push Notification, you or your users can get instant updates on what is going on right now. Your users will receive notifications once they subscribe or accept cookies.

Feature	Directorist	Business Directory Plugin
Push Notification	❌	❌

21. Built-in Checkout and Popular Gateways

The more gateways you employ on your directory website, the more conversion you can expect from. Take a look at the following table to know which one supports what ones:

Payment Gateways	Directorist	Business Directory Plugin
PayPal	✔️	✔️
Payfast	❌	✔️
Stripe	✔️	❌
WooCommerce Payment Gateway	✔️	❌
Bank Transfer	✔️	❌
Authorize.net AIM	✔️	✔️

22. Earn through Monetization

Business Directory Plugin vs Directorist- Earn through Monetization

The directory solution you are going to opt for should allow you to monetize in various ways – not just through one or two ways.

Business Directory Plugin lets you monetize through Paid Listings, Featured Listings, Claim a Listing, Pay Per Submit, Subscriptions, and Recurrent Payment Option, though it does now allow you to use features like rank featured listing, EU VAT compliance, Pay Per Submit, etc.

Conversely, Directorist comes up with three more features along with all the Business Directory Plugin features – One is Rank featured listing, and the other is “Users Can Post Their any Kind of Need or Service”.

Features	Directorist	Business Directory Plugin
Paid Listings	✔️	✔️
Featured Listings	✔️	✔️
Rank Featured Listing	✔️	❌
Claim a Listing	✔️	✔️
EU VAT Compliance	❌	❌
Pay Per Submit	✔️	❌
Google AdSense	✔️	❌
Subscriptions	✔️	✔️
Recurrent Payment Option	✔️	✔️
Users Can Post Their Any Kind of Need or Service	✔️	❌

23. Private Live Chat

Retaining paid customers is way much harder for the listing owners than acquiring new ones for them. Giving private live chat support to customers will allow listing owners to satisfy and retain their existing customers.

Business Directory Plugin does not have this feature whilst Directory ships with the private live chat feature out of the box.

Feature	Directorist	Businses Directory Plugin
Private Live Chat	✔️	❌

24. Ads Manager

Business Directory Plugin vs Directorist- Ads Manager

Ads Manager is a bonus feature of a directory solution, other than the regular monetizing features. You can place the ads on targeted pages like on single listing, all listings, or all categories, all locations, or a dashboard to skyrocket your earnings. Unfortunately, this exciting feature is completely absent in Business Directory Plugin.

But Directorist will allow you to use the ads manager feature with methods like Google AdSense, Facebook Ads, and Affiliate marketing. Again, Directorist has this feature via premium extension. In Directorist, you can also inject custom HTML/JS to expand the use-cases and level up the personalized ads.

Feature	Directorist	Business Directory Plugin
Google AdSense	✔️	❌
Facebook Ads	✔️	❌
Affiliate Marketing	✔️	❌

These days, most websites are allowing access by using social website account like Gmail or Facebook. It is a pretty handy and popular way because the users do not have to sign up before logging in. Social Login accelerates the signing-up process without the hassle of email verification. This way you can save the customers valuable time and thus increase leads.

Feature	Directorist	Business Directory Plugin
Social Login via Gmail	✔️	❌
Social Login via Facebook	✔️	❌

26. More Premium Features

Some other salient premium features of a directory solution should include:

Features	Directorist	Business Directory Plugin
Business Hours or Operational Hours	✔️	✔️
Mark as Sold	✔️	❌
Spam Protection	✔️	✔️
Listing FAQs	✔️	❌
Image Gallery	✔️	❌
Listings Slider & Carousel	✔️	❌
Compare Listings	✔️	✔️

27. Growth Rate

Even if Business Directory Plugin has been around for quite a while, Directorist has appeared much later and entered the market recently. Yet it had its highest growth of 13.3% whereas Business Directory Plugin had the highest growth of 4.7%.

Feature	Directorist	Business Directory Plugin
Growth Rate	13.3%	4.7%

28. Miscellaneous

A standard directory tool should include these miscellaneous yet essential features:

Features	Directorist	Business Directory Plugin
Right to left language compatibility like Arabic, Aramaic, Azeri etc.	✔️	❌
Rating & Reviews	✔️	✔️
Guest Submission	✔️	❌
Private Directory	✔️	❌
Custom Badges	✔️	✔️
GDPR Ready	✔️	❌
Renew Listings	✔️	❌
Email Notification	✔️	✔️
Scheduling Task (Admin can fix the time frame after which submitted listings will be expired.)	✔️	❌
Save & Bookmark	✔️	✔️
Easy Setup Wizard	✔️	✔️
Direction & Contact	✔️	✔️
Invoice	✔️	❌
Tax Ready	✔️	❌
Flag & Report	✔️	❌
Super Responsiveness	✔️	✔️
Author Public Profile	✔️	❌
Elementor Page Builder Widgets	✔️	❌
Custom user Registration and Login	✔️	❌
Social Media Share	✔️	✔️
Events Manager	✔️	✔️
EU VAT Compliance	❌	✔️
Franchise Manager	❌	✔️

The Final Outcome

We don’t want to say which one is better or worse. Rather we believe after reading this article, you will be able to decide which one suits your needs better.

However, we would like to recommend you give a try to the free version first, so that you can get a hands-on experience on them. If you have already used them, don’t forget to share your thoughts in the comment section below.

If you liked our posts, don’t forget to subscribe to our blog so that we can notify you once any post is published. Directorist is now on Twitter & Facebook! You can also join the Directorist Community for sharing your thoughts and experiences relating to the directory niche. Come and join us to see what we’re up to.

Business Directory Plugin vs Directorist directorist comparison

Written by

suzauddowla

Al Suzud Dowla plays the role of a content strategist at Directorist. He is basically a digital marketing expert and a tech enthusiast (by heart) who excels particularly in technical content writing. In his pastimes, he is seen playing Ping Pong, performing Karaoke, reading books, and playing around with JavaScript as well.

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