20 Best Directory WordPress Themes 2024

Comments (313)

1. Thanks for this review about business listing directory themes for WordPress! These are some very creative ideas how you can use WordPress to maximize its potential. Still so many people believe that WordPress is all about blogging but it is not.

   Reply

   1. Jennifer,

      it is common misconception that WordPress is used only for blogs or very simple websites. Since WordPress 3.0 was released back in 2010 it changed this platform completely. It made a huge step from blogging platform into CMS which now allows to create corporate websites, portfolios, directory websites, real estate, hotel booking and other websites. As of today WordPress is moving forward and it is expected that it will turn into web framework that will allow to build even more advanced websites with ease. There are also several great examples where WordPress have been used as framework. The most well know is Hello Bar which is basically a WordPress website with custom post types where each of hello bars ever created are stored in database as WordPress Custom Post. When you use and access this website you will never tell that it is built on WordPress but it is completely WordPress driven. Projects like these puts WordPress forward and I hope we will see more great examples that will allow the entire community to benefit from it.

      Reply

2. Great resource. They all seem to be directory plugins and not just themes and i was looking for a theme i could use with geoDirectory. They seem to have the functionality I want but I don’t like the look of their theme. Any advice on where I can find themes to work with a directory plugin? Specifically designed for a directory that is.

   Reply

   1. Peter,

      None of themes that are listed here is optimized for geoDirectory. Of course all themes will work just fine but overall styling will look different and there won’t be any consistency with layout.

      However, geoDirectory has some Child Themes available on their website for widely popular Avada and Genesis Framework. You can find some other themes listed on their website as well.

      Since geoDirectory is not very popular plugin due to its specific use for directories, developers are not interested in creating themes to exclusively support it.

      Let me know if you have any other questions.

      Reply

3. map on directory ?…..bad option

   Reply

   1. Maikel,

      Thank you for your feedback!

      Why you don’t like map on directory websites? Of course it is not necessary for most cases but if you are looking to create restaurant, hotel or other local business directory then this feature is must have. If this directory would list some online services or some freelance services then map wouldn’t be necessary but it really depends on niche and what you are trying to achieve with your website. I prefer that themes does have an option for map, so users can decide if they need it or don’t. Users aren’t forced to use map and for all themes it can be disabled, it is actually disable by default in most cases and you have to enable it separately. Of course it is a single button in theme options but still you have to make this step.

      Reply

4. I want to use directory WordPress theme, translated in my language (Romanian language). Please help!

   Reply

   1. Farcas,

      All themes listed above are translation ready. These themes include .po or .pot file that you can translate to any language you want. Here you can read more about how to translate any WordPress theme. Unfortunately, none of themes are translated in Romanian language by default but it is not going to be hard for you to translate them if you know this language.
      Please let me know if you have any other questions regarding WordPress theme translation or these directory themes listed above.

      Reply

5. Hello,

   I’m planning to build worlwide directory and my high level specs include:
   – Worldwide search (obvious)
   – Ratings (multiple if possible)
   – Items custom fields (for instance, opening hours)
   – Events for Items
   – Payments
   – Front end add items and events to items
   – If possible Forum and community ready (for future)

   -Very easy customization without need to code. Good looking and responsive.
   For instance, GeoTheme is quite powerful in terms of features but it’s terrible to customize a simple background color.

   Can you suggest me which one can be closer to my needs?

   Reply

   1. Jose,

      Thank you for your comment.
      I think you should look at DirectoryEngine and Business Finder themes in this particular order. DirectoryEngine does have better a frontend submission and other frontend management tools and also events are there by default. Business Finder might need some extra tweaking and maybe some plugins for events but otherwise it can get everything done for you.

      None of these themes listed above have mentioned that these themes support bbPress but since bbPress is a plugin which runs on regular WordPress pages it can be used in almost any theme out there.

      In short my number one suggestion is DirectoryEngine that have everything you mentioned and more.

      Reply

6. I’m looking into creating a website that specializes in child care providers in our state. The site will also need a customizable page with a calendar to include summer recreation/after-school program information. I would also want multiple homepages for each large city. I would also like to include babysitters in the city. Which design do you think is best for me? I’ve been thinking the Vantage theme but have heard of some issues with the site. My goal is to make a statewide search and slowly implement other states (so the ability of growth and high traffic would b nice). Thanks for all of your info.

   Reply

   1. Jason,

      My suggestion would be either Vantage or Directory Theme by Templatic. Vantage is a great theme but several users have reported problems with AppThemes in the past but they recently emailed me that they have switched to a new framework and all issues should be resolved now. Not sure if it’s true, but it is always better to play safe than sorry.

      Directory Theme is the most popular directory style theme out there and there are several Child Themes specially built for this platform. It means that you can change your website layout along the way without breaking things by purchasing Child Theme. Not that it is must have featured but it might come in handy in a long term. More users means that it is better tested and you will be able to find more tutorials and support questions online than for any other theme in case you face some problems with setup or customizations.

      Vantage theme would get the job done for you as well but you might as well consider “Directory Theme” as another great option for you.

      Let me know if you have any other questions.

      Reply

7. I want to create something like Yelp but of just my reviews and ideally of my friends so they can post spots & reviews too..
   Open to it being open to the public but want it to overall be reviews from a trusted group of friends..

   Mainly would like to post:
   Restaurants – breakfast, lunch, dinner
   Bakeries.
   Museums, etc..
   and the cherry on top would include:
   Upcoming Events/Fairs & Current Events/Fairs when at location..

   Mainly keep of my city, Los Angeles but since I do travel quite often also include other city states… USA based.

   Im thinking the Explorable or E List options you posted, would like your advice.
   Greatly appreciate this posting, so much info.. It’s Great!

   Reply

   1. Jenny,

      Thank you for your question!
      Personally, I think that if you are creating a website just for your friends I would rather choose a regular blog or magazine style theme and add Google Maps to it, make it well categorized (shops, restaurants, museums, bakeries etc.) and allow users to post content to it. Here is why I think it would work better:
      1. Better readable blog posts about your or your friends experience.
      2. Easier to share because it is a blogpost
      3. No need to create separate directory listing for that particular restaurant or other place.
      4. Better interaction via commes because for directory themes they are all going to look like a reviews.
      5. Simplicity. Blog is blog and full directory is full directory. Nothing can beat a blog in simplicity.

      What is there about directory themes:
      1. Better scalability but it will look poor unless you can get hundreds of places listed with numerous reviews.
      2. Better classification and search but again if you have many listings.
      3. Each place needs images (at least logo) to make listings look alive.
      4. Directory themes are mainly for business listing but you are more into reviews, so who are going to create those Business listings?

      In short, if you are sure that you will be able to get hundreds of listings then definitely go with directory theme but if you are thinking about few dozens of listing then blog theme might be a better option.

      If you decide to go with directory theme then my personal recommendation would be Locations theme which is a Child Theme for Directory Theme which is by far the most advanced (it doesn’t meant that it is complex to setup) directory theme out there.

      Let me know if you have any other questions.

      Reply

      1. Thanks for your detailed feedback.. I’m feeling I might want to go with your suggestion of magazine theme. I’m currently researching options (so many choices/styles) and appreciate your advice. thanks so much for the direction.

         Reply

      2. I want to create something akin to AIRBNB, where anyone anywhere can add and manage their properties and then users from around the world can book them…? Which theme to use to achieve that objective?

         Not sure if you guys had the chance to review WPEstate and WPResidence from themeforest . com.

         Reply

         1. Fj,

            WP Estate and WP Residence themes are listed and reviewed here.

            The closest Airbnb theme which is also advertised as one is Listify. It is still not the same thing but it comes the closest.

            Reply

   2. Thank you for your feedback. I have been looking into the Directory Theme by Templatic as well. I’ve had a couple of issues with the demo so far that make me question the theme. The map seems to be rather glitchy in the demo after doing some testing. Not sure if it’s just a demo issue but I would absolutely hate it if the map had the same issues on my site. I’ll do some more research though and see if other people are experiencing similar issues. What I would love to see is actual websites that are using that template and see how responsive it is for them. Not sure if you have any good examples you can provide or not but it would sure be helpful. Thanks again for your feedback!

      Jason

      Reply

      1. Jason,

         Map for Directory Theme by Templatic is built based on Google Maps just like for any other theme out there and if there are some fundamental problems with it then all themes will have the same problems. If you are referring to some simple styling issues or some other small glitches then it could be resolved easily. Google Maps is the best that there is, so maybe it is just some glitch introduced by Templatic. You should definitely give more feedback on your problem as they are interested in making this theme as the best one in the market and so far they have done it really well.

         Reply

      2. Hello,
         I would advise you to avoid TEMPLATIC. I’ve bought directory theme from them and it works like shit, it has a lot of errors, everything you need extra costs a lot of money, the support is lousy. the theme has ancient coding.
         The ideea, and the structure is one of the best i’ve seen, but the execution is shoot yourself in the balls.
         If you want to throw your money off the window, you can give them to me instead and i’ll send you the theme 🙂

         Reply

         1. Adi,

            Thank you for sharing your experience with Templatic and its Directory theme.

            It really comes down to your needs. If you need a basic directory theme just like in demo you will get that with a single purchase with no plugins. However, if you want to extend functionality you will end up paying for premium plugins. Templatic Directory theme is not bad by any means but it wouldn’t hurt to read sales page to understand what is included and what is offered via extensions/plugins.

            Reply

8. Hello…

   do you know any option with “check in” feature? in order to allow customers to check in in a restaurant and take stats for business owners?

   Also, idealy:
   – multiple star rating (Price, Location, Service, etc)
   – option for upgrade from free to paid listing with more purchase options (maybe featured lists, or suscribe to more than one category)

   Thanks in advance.

   TUbo

   Reply

   1. Jorge,

      There are no check in functionality for any of these themes but there are some plugins that could help you with that. I haven’t used any of theme because I usually integrate Foursquare/Swarm because people like platforms to which they are already familiar with.

      Multiple star ratings are available for some of these themes but my personal combination is “Director Theme” by Templatic + their premium plugin for multiple star ratings. it provides much more flexibility than any other theme based solution. You can read more about it here.

      Free and premium directory listings are part of all themes and that’s the main reason why they were created in the first place.

      Reply

9. Which theme would be best for building local niche specific directories?
   And would you even recommend building niche specific over local or global directories? Thanks for the listing of directory choices above. Being a non techie, I need somethng simple and easy to implement.

   Reply

   1. Traci,

      Any kind of directory is fine as long as you can find enough businesses, individuals, services or anything else who would like to create listings. If you will choose too narrow niche you might end up with empty directory. Some of themes that I can suggest are DirectoryEngine and Listify but it really depends on what functionality you are looking for.
      Let me know if you have any other questions.

      Reply

10. I am looking for a theme in which the directory is focused on event listings search and . I ran through most of the themes on here, but most are dedicated to business rather than events… a few of the features i’m missing is having option for tiered event submissions (free listing, featured listing, premium listing). anything on here you recommend that can get me close to it being a predominately an event listing rather than a business?

    Reply

    1. Hey Jackson,

       Have you found anything like that till now?

       Reply

11. Great list!

    I’ve built a website with the Atlas theme, and I’m not quite satisfied with the results. The website is very slow (as is their demo) and the theme-builders say it’s normal.

    Does anyone have any experience with a very fast directory theme? I have about 100 entries.

    Reply

    1. Leonie,

       Thank you for sharing your experience.
       WordPress by default is very slow and it doesn’t matter what theme you are using. The good news is that you can make it faster. Much, much faster. Here are some basics steps that you can do and that Atlas theme developers haven’t done for their theme demo.

       1. Use a good hosting. We recommend WPEngine, Kinsta and Pagely. Yes, their services are much more expensive than most others but you get what you pay for. Your website won’t become just 2x time faster but at least 3 or more times faster because they have outstanding cache in place and global content delivery network. Fore more information how to choose the right hosting for your WordPress website you can read this article.
       2. Implement a proper cache yourself and the best way to start is by using W3 Total Cache. This plugins has hundreds of different options and you need to find what works for you. It make weeks to finally configure it properly. That’s why my above mentioned hosting providers are there because they can do it for you.
       3. Minify CSS and JavaScript files and then combine them into two separate files. Otherwise this theme have far too many scripts loaded that dramatically slows down your website.
       4. Use CDN to speed up CSS, JavaScript and Image loading. We are using MaxCDN for our website but there are many other CDN providers out there.
       5. Disable plugins that are not crucial for your website. Avoid using javaScript heavy social icons and social boxes. While Facebook, Twitter and AdSense buttons and blocks looks small they are pain to load and takes forever to be loaded.

       Atlas theme is not the best coded theme out there but you can still make it much, much faster if you make some extra steps. I would definitely try to optimize things before switching to another theme because most premium themes are painfully slow by default and you need to do your own homework with optimizations.

       Reply

       1. Thanks for your reply!
          Unfortunately I’ve already done most of these things, except getting a new, faster hosting. Maybe I will…

          Reply

    2. I have the Atlas theme, and the support is good and timely in replies, but all I get is you need a better server. I upgraded my server to a VPS setup, and it still crawled when it tried to show the map which had 514 locations, all in clusters.

       This seems to be an ongoing trend I see with a lot of directory themes, just get a better server apparently is the standard answer. Atlas theme for me sends over 115 requests to the google API and then waits 20 seconds for the info to get back. I’m not sure if this is normal as, or bad programming or what, and I find it very hard to get good answers from anyone on this.

       I am currently on the look out for a new theme, in the hopes it can handle the data slightly better then this theme.

       Reply

       1. Sam,

          I’m sorry to hear about your bad experience with the Atlas theme.

          I did some testing for this theme demo and here are some things that you should know. Theme itself is not really fast but it’s not the slowest either. Its demo website is completely unoptimized and runs on a cheap shared hosting. It appears that they just don’t care about anything.

          VPS is a much better alternative but VPS itself accounts for 10% of performance and the rest are caching, resource delivery optimization, CDN and other things that only few people does. Because all these things are work of art and needs to be optimized for every theme, plugin, amount of traffic you get and based on many other factors. I spend 6 months testing our server setup to finally achieve almost instant page load despite the fact that many pages have 70 or more images.

          Colorlib now uses server side caching and doesn’t depend on any plugins because they are rather slow. In comparison, W3 Total Cache cached pages in 1,6 seconds (because of the large size) but server side caching does it in 0.08-0.12s. Without caching, Colorlib takes 7-14 seconds to load and that’s around the same time Atlase theme demo loads.

          Like I said it is possible to make any website and theme fast but only if you know how to go about it. If you aren’t system administrator then you still make your website fast. One option is to hire someone to do VPS setup and maintenance for you (not some random server guy but an expert in this field with proven track record) or just go with WordPress managed hosting. They will do all these optimizations and will implement server caching for you. Performance gain is not going to be one or few seconds but we are talking about 5-10 time performance boost in comparison to unoptimized VPS. For more information about WordPress managed hosting you can check this article.

          WordPress and website performance in general is a complex science and that’s why people charge so much for this kind of services because they know how hard it is and how huge is the benefit. It is estimated that if Amazon would load 1s slower it would lose $1.6 billions in sales each years. That’s huge! And amazon have millions of products and it still loads fast because of its well optimized server infrastructure.

          If you have any questions about WordPress performance, please let me know and I will be happy to help. It’s by far my favorite topic 🙂

          Reply

          1. Hi, I am interested in purchasing one of your directory themes. I just have one question though, I need a feature or a plug -in such as a price quotation request. I want customers to be able to request a quote from multiple companies in 1 category at a time. E.g request quotation from painters in a certain area. Is this possible?

             Reply

             1. Peter,

                You can create an advanced contact form using Form Building Plugins or some other advanced form builder. That way you will be able to create an options for quotes and you will have a full control over how it should look and function.

                Reply

          2. Aigars,

             I have bought Dorectory+ from AIT Themes. I have imported 50.000 items, and the response time is 1 minute+. I checked the support forum and I found an answer that the maximum items with appropriate response time is few hundred. Who are their buyers? The number of restaurants and pubs in Moscow is 110.000, in a small town it is a few thousand.

             I want to use the system with 400.000 items. Which one of the above is working with that? (Own server, all items and searches cashed 64 GB RAM is OK.)

             Best regards,

             Ferenc

             Reply

             1. Ferenc,

                Themes use WordPress custom post types that are stored in the database just like regular entries, pages, comments, bbPress forum threads etc. Which means that theme is not to blame but more than likely your hosting setup is. I am not saying that 64 GB of RAM is not enough but it certainly lacks optimizations for WordPress and a large number of entries. You must cache everything on your website and not by using some plugin but an actual server side caching. We have a similar amount of entries on our website but we are using a proper caching therefore only 4GB of RAM and almost no CPU (5% load) is used. We do a have plenty of resources to spare because if caching goes bad site can easily use over 100GB of RAM and all 16 processor cores.
                Also, make sure that you are using PHP 7.1 or at least HHVM and your server load will be reduced dramatically.

                Reply

12. Hello,

    I’m planning to make a website where the user selects a date and the map will show the business that are open on that date an also the events.

    What is your recomendation?

    Thanx in advance.

    Ferran

    Reply

    1. Ferran,

       Unfortunately, I am not aware of any such theme. Maybe some of above listed themes does have this functionality but I have never used this kind of functionality. There are some themes that does offer date based search but those themes doesn’t return results in the map. It is niche use, so it might be really difficult to find something like that.

       Sorry for inconvenience.

       Reply

13. Aigars, thank you for assembling such useful information on directory themes. I’ve been looking at quite a few options over the past few days, and would sincerely appreciate your advice? I’m setting up a global directory of hospitals and physicians…and I’m curious as to which platform you might recommend? I’ve gathered contact information on thousands of hospitals, but none yet, on individual doctors. I’m hoping to entice doctors into using my service to drive business to their medical practices. Also…is it possible to insert a (click-through agreement) into these types of WordPress directory themes? I am required by Federal law to maintain a record of visitors who access the service I’m providing. Any help you can lend me, would be most appreciated!

    Reply

    1. Dave,

       Theme that I can recommend for global directories is Listify. This theme just like others doesn’t have click-through agreement options built-in my default. Which means that you will either have to create it yourself or hire some freelancer to do it for you. The best places to find freelance web developer are oDesk and Freelancer.com or jobs.wordpress.net.

       Let me know if you have any other question.

       Reply

14. Hello Aigars,

    Thanks a lot for this great composition. Already picked Listify as my favorite, But wanted to ask for your opinion. I am trying to build a site that does company reviews, but the main problem is the fact that I also need one that has a job listing capability.

    I think that can be done with a job plugin. But my question is, if i want to add something like a place where people would be able to add salaries, or talk about their experience with this companies during interviews just like glassdoor.co.uk does, which one do you recommend that would be more malleable or which one is stable enough to be edited by a programmer to add that functionality. Or do you think I need to use another platform instead of wordpress?

    Awesome post once again!

    Reply

    1. Oyekunle,

       Listify is the right choice for you. It is also the most developer friendly theme on the list because it is 100% GPL licensed theme. Which means that you can do whatever you want with this theme and even modify and redistribute as different platform. It also have action hooks in place which makes it developer friendly.

       This theme is definitely the right choice for your upcoming website and this is the closest one to your requirements.

       Let me know if you have any other questions.

       Reply

    2. Oyekunne,
       Quick question…. Does the listify brand have to stay in a listify based directory site. I assume not.

       Reply

15. I would take Listify off of this list after having spent a month trying to get it work with no success and the developer refusing support. First of all it is important to read the fine print. In order to attempt to get all the features and functionality described, you will spend several hundred dollars and a lot time, especially if you are not a programmer or developer. That would be ok and worth it if the plugins were properly integrated, documented and supported.

    Here is what I have found:

    – They do not want to give you support and act like you are putting them out by asking questions and requesting deeper explanations of how things are supposed to work and be integrated with the other plugins.. You must enter an individual ticket for each issue. The typical response is a link to incomplete documentation that you have already tried and mention that when you submitted the ticket in the first place. After a few weeks and many support tickets, one response was simply “here is a link to our documentation, sorry if you didn’t get this in your original documentation.” If you want to go back and see a history of your support tickets, forget it, it does not exist in your support dashboard. The way this company handles support and treats customers should be enough of a reason to never try Listify. If you ask too many questions, they will ban you and all the work you have put in to try to get theme to work will be lost.

    – Turns out there is very little integration with the other plugins and you need to be able to create you own integration to make these additional plugins work properly – similar to building a wordpress website from scratch.

    – If Claim Listing is an important feature for you, how this feature works in reality is awful,. The paid plugin does not work. Even if it did, you cannot enable / disable claims from the admin like you can with the non paid claim listing feature. Ff you want the Claim Listing feature to disappear when someone pays for a listing, forget it, it does not happen. Nothing makes a paid subscriber happier than to see a listing they have paid for can be claimed by someone else.. That is just a glimpse into how these developers think.

    – The search listings button must be tapped two times when the site was made live to actually do a search. That problem could never be identified or fixed.

    – There is no documentation that shows what the User should experience when coming to the site and submitting a listing. There is no documentation for fields for registration on the backend and where they display on the frontend. If you want to customize fields and integrate them from WooCommerce, Field Editor Listings, WP Jop Manager and Listify, you have to know how to program. Even then, I would not be confident that would work because they were unwilling to show me a live site that pulls in Listing Owner Information for example – a field that I could only get to work by manually entering it in from the Admin – Users and could never get it to be a part of the Listing or My Account forms.

    If you don’t need all the features and functionality claimed, maybe it would be ok. However, if that was the case, you might as well go with some cheaper options on this list and find a company that values customer support.

    Reply

    1. Stacey,

       I am terribly sorry for your experience with Listy theme.

       I think that this just wasn’t the right theme for you. I have used this theme in the past and I used it without any premium add-ons at all. I used it with WP Job Manager and WooCommerce and it worked perfectly fine. It is also well built with action hooks all over the place (awesome for developers looking to extend functionality via WordPress Child Theme). Overall I am more than happy with this theme. Of course if you are looking to get all premium add-ons then you might end up paying hundreds for WooCommerce add-ons that are rather expensive for what they are.

       Theme developers are not obligated to offer custom development services for free if something is not working in the way you expected unless it was stated in their sales page and it’s just not working at all.

       I am sorry for your experience but I still believe that there are always two sides of the story.

       Reply

16. Hello

    Just wondering if you’re aware of any directory themes that also allow for author reviews? I like the directory style Google Maps search, however, most don’t seem to provide the option for author/editor reviews – only customer reviews. I think several plugins allow this to happen, but most themes also use custom post types for listings.

    Any ideas?

    Thanks a lot 🙂

    Reply

    1. Karen,

       Unfortunately, I not aware of any this kind of theme. The thing is that usually there are two different kind of websites. Ones that are dedicated to author reviews in combination with user reviews such as these themes. Those are just review sites or magazines/blogs that covers a lot of reviews in combination with other news.
       Second category includes directories like ones listed above that sometimes incorporates user reviews as comments. Don’t think that there is something that combines both of these categories together.

       Reply

17. Hello Aigars,
    Thank you so much for this very helpful read!
    I would like to set up a website for people to choose and book housecleaners (based on a profile housecleaners online).

    As such, I was wondering whether a directory theme would be relevant?
    Ie each housecleaner would create her own profile, and add a price list, a calendar and booking features.

    I have been looking into the different options you suggest and I am especially concerned with the folowing features:
    – reverse geo search: housecleaners should specify an area they are willing to travel to for their job / clients would be searching housecleaners willing to come to their address
    – membership: clients can view some profile information without registering, but then would need to sign up to see full housecleaners’ profiles
    – subscription packages: housecleaners can activate different fields on their profile depending on their subscription level
    – housecleaners accounts should be verified by us before being activated
    – booking feature (with double confirmation as in woocommerce bookings)
    – calendar

    What theme would you recommend, and do you think the website can be built with no coding involved? Or would I need to hire a developper?

    Would be very grateful for your advice.
    Thanks again for the great read!

    Best,
    Aline

    Reply

    1. Aline,

       There is no theme out there that comes close to what you are looking for.

       However, these themes still lacks several things that you mentioned such as calendar, WooCommerce type booking, geo search and others. There are plenty of plugins out there that could help but it will still going to be difficult to create a website like this without hiring a developer.

       Let me know if you have any other question.

       Reply

       1. Hello Aigars,

          Thank you so much for your help and advice, I will have a look at the themes you mentioned.

          Thanks again,
          Aline

          Reply

18. Hello,
    I’m looking for a directory theme.
    I’m going to do something like Airbnb (with other products) and I found Listify. I like the homepage but I don’t like internal pages, they look old.
    I need that an user could create a group and other users could enjoy that group (like Linkedin or Facebook). Is this possible with listify or with another theme? Or I need to install a plugin like Buddypress?

    What directory theme do you suggest for my business?

    Thanks

    Claudio

    Reply

    1. Claudio,

       For community like functionality you will have to use BuddyPress or some other plugin because Listify or no other theme does have this kind of functionality built in.

       Listify doesn’t have BuddyPress integration, so there might be some compatibility issues. Also since you are looking for some Airbnb style functionality you will have to spend a lot of time coding. if you are not developer yourself you can always hire developers from Freelancer.com, oDesk or other freelancer websites.

       Let me know if you have any other question.

       Reply

19. Trying to find the best theme for a niche holiday accomodation/destination subscription listing site, which would also include reviews, posts/blogs and local info, with sub-directories of local connected businesses (free listing but with paid ad/promotion options), probably map based, very simple, user-friendly, fully responsive… any suggestions?

    Reply

20. hi
    I need to create a site that collects a list of Italian pizzerias, would these needs:
    – Ability to integrate the announcement of the pizzeria with a single form for reservation;
    – Import list pizzerias;
    – Possibility for the owner of the pizzeria richeidere management of. I mean the site would be pre-loaded with a list of places and would write to the managers of pizzerias (already on the site) that if they want, for free or for a fee, they can edit the ad, adding images, text ect …
    – Responsive to integrate in android and ios app;
    I hope I was clear and I’m sorry for my english, what theme do you recommend?
    thanks
    marcello

    Reply

    1. Marcello,

       Your requirements are far too specific and that’s why there is no ready-made theme that you could use. You will either have to get your hands dirty and code your own custom solution based on any of above listed themes or hire someone to do this for you.

       Let me know if you have any other question.

       Reply

21. Hi,

    Your comments and ideas for directories are a great resource and have prompted me to get in touch regarding my project. I have played around with Canvas theme and am sure there is a better option out there…I hope you can offer a suggestion!

    Very simply, I wish to create a directory for independent schools and these would be some of the requirements:

    1. Basic listings of all schools in the country
    2. Option for schools to upgrade listing (paid listing)
    3. Advertising
    4. Search option with user friendly categories/filters
    5. Map search
    6. Special events page
    7. Blog page for The Headmasters Wife articles and interviews

    And above all the directory needs to look fabulous and be super friendly and easy to navigate!

    Many thanks for considering this, I look forward to any suggestions you may have.

    Reply

    1. Ceri,

       Thank you for your positive feedback! I really appreciate it.

       Listify is the theme you are looking for as it can handle everything you have mentioned above and much more. Another theme that I can recommend is Javo which is a very similar theme to Listify and both look stunning.

       Let me know if you have any other question about these or any other WordPress themes listed on Colorlib

       Reply

       1. Hi Aigars,

          I have followed most of the comments from you.
          I really appreciate the effort you have put in answering most of the queries.

          I am impressed with listify and Javo.
          Does Javo support claiming and other ad-space charging option?

          Thanks,

          Reply

          1. None of themes have their built in ad-space selling platform. But banner places are available via WordPress regular widgets therefore you can use banner anywhere on the site and charge money for it. You can also use some of various ad performance tracking plugins to boost credibility for your site but that’s completely up to you to decide if you need it. Also you can use BuySellAds or some other ads platform to sell banner spaces on your website.

             Reply

22. Hi
    Wow – this blog is incredibly good … are you human? what is 2 + 3 = … 🙂

    I am looking for a directory theme which have the normal directory functions like most of the other directory systems i.e. search by keyword and location/map, etc. I want to create a directory which is a free-for-all directory – nobody pays anything. However, not all the information of the Lister-person should be displayed i.e. the system should hide the contact information.

    The functionality which I think is different from the normal directories is that when the Browser-person express interest to make contact with a Lister-person, the Lister-person have one of two options:
    1. Accept the offer from the Browser – and then pay a small fee.
    2. Decline the offer from the Browser

    Example: A Tutor list her skills on the directory i.e. Maths, English, Music, etc. A Parent notice that the Tutor tick all the boxes for a Tutor for her child and want to make contact. The Tutor (who is looking for business) can accept the offer and pay a small fee, or decline – because it could be just a little too far for her to travel.

    There is a term in the industry which they call “pay-per-contact” – and a few systems have it built in – but they ask $150/month which is far too expensive.

    I am happy to pay for the development to get this functionality – but want to do it with the right platform.
    Can you make a recommendation – please.

    Many Thanks
    Marius

    PS: I like Listify, but had bad experience with PremiumPress

    Reply

    1. Marius,

       Sorry for late response.

       I am humans, so my answer is 5 🙂

       Unfortunately, none of above listed themes does support pay-per-contact or anything of that sort. A quick Google search didn’t reveal any plugin with this kind of functionality either. Which means that you will have to hire a developer to build this functionality. I think it wouldn’t be too difficult when using theme such as Listify, Javo or DirectoryEngine as these are the most flexible and developer friendly themes.

       If you already have a developer ready to do this task I would recommend to ask about his personal preference.

       Reply

23. hi Marius,
    Sorry for late response.

    I am humans, so my answer is 5 🙂

    I suggest you to use best directory multipurpose wordpress theme which you can find here.

    Reply

24. Hi!

    I am looking for a directory specialized to show the GPS location of local business, any suggestion?

    I had never used before wordpress just Joomla, but I found few options so I decided to give a chance to WP

    Thx!

    Reply

    1. Alejandro,

       WordPress is much more popular because it is more user friendly and it better maintained by its developers. You can’t go wrong by choosing WordPress.

       There are some themes that does check your location but each user have to allow it separately because otherwise it could cause some problems with user privacy. Here you can read more how it looks.

       Reply

       1. Hi, thx for the info

          Finally I choose Listify as the winner, has best UI & UX in Web and Mobile.

          Reply

25. Hello,
    i want to create a vacation rental web site , where the the owner of property can list they apartments with a booking calendar and the visitors to have the posibility to booking online and pay the booking period by paypal direct to owner property paypal account .The individual listings pages will appeal to businesses as they get a good opportunity to provide lots of useful information and photos about their listing, while visitors can leave user reviews to share their feedback with the community. The directory must have the Google map integration , to be SEO friendly and responsive , good looking and working on mobile and desktop devices. About monetizering the site , owner will pay by listing with diferent level of paiement. Wich one is the best directory theme and what is the best plugin to use to developer my site?

    Reply

    1. Constantin,

       I think that the best theme on the list that suites your needs is Listify. However, not all functionality is there and you will have to use some 3rd party plugins or even hire a developer to do some coding. There is not a single theme that have all the functionality but Listify comes the closest and it is also advertised as Airbnb counterpart.

       Reply

26. Dear Aigars!

    Congratulations for the site, great content. Kept finding myself here after googling for wp themes. I would be greatful if you could give me advice on director listing themes.

    1st site
    ======

    Directory of shops with opening hours nearby. Heavy mobile use, ergonomic responsiveness is a must.

    – site opens with a map
    – after geolocation: shows nearby shops on map
    – user clicks on shops and map shows information bubble with shop’s opening hours
    – (would be nice to get realtime directions to seleted shop on map, but not a must)
    – high level of responsiveness: users will often use mobile phone, must be ergonomic to use on small screens
    – shops register on site, they handle their own content

    Would be nice to accomplish without coding (I know there is little chance):
    – map shows only shops that are open “now”

    2nd site
    =======

    Restaurants offering cheap and quick meals nearby at noon. Users check nearby quick meal offers.

    – site opens with a map
    – after geolocation: shows nearby restaurants on map
    – user clicks on restaurants and map shows information bubble with today’s offer
    – (would be nice to get realtime directions to seleted restauran on map, but not a must)
    – responsive themes preferred
    – restaurants register on site and handle their own content

    Would be nice to accomplish without coding (I know there is little chance):
    – restaurants enter their offers well in advance (about one week before “today”)
    – restaurant information bubbles show “today’s” offer

    Thank you!

    Reply

    1. Zoltan,

       Both your described options are very similar but, unfortunately, both are not possible to get done without coding. These are way too specific use cases therefore you will have to hire a developer to get this done. However, you can use above listed themes as base to start with to make the entire development process much faster and cheaper. Building this kind of platform from scratch would takes several months if not years and would cost you a fortune but taking some theme as base and then building on top of it would take few months tops to build.

       Reply

27. Hi

    This is incredibly useful blog, thanks so much for all your work putting it together.

    I had one very quick query, we are in the process of creating a website which will function as almost a hybrid between a directory based site and a traditional blog.

    The aim is to write our own blogs on a particular topic, and get third parties to write blogs for the site, but at the same time to use the site as almost an encyclopaedia or central resources directory for all the other key sites and online resources available on the net relating to that topic.

    Have you used or come across something which might offer that sort of functionality in a fairly user friendly way?

    Thank you so much in advance for your help.

    Kind regards
    Andrew

    Reply

    1. Andrew,

       Sorry for the late response.

       All above-listed theme does have blog functionality built-in and you can use it side by side with your directory/knowledge base. It comes down to your personal preference which theme you like better.

       Since your described website sounds more like a knowledge base than a directory you might want to check these wiki and knowledge base style WordPress themes. These themes also come with a blog section, so no problem with that.

       Let me know if you have any other questions about directory or knowledge base WordPress themes

       Reply

28. Do yourself a favor and stay away from Vantage.

    I’ve used many themes and this one is by far the buggiest junk I’ve ever used. It’s so bad it has lost me business because it is not working so frequently for one reason or another. Then when they put out updates to fix the problems, the updating process causes something or other to crash.

    And their support is terrible. They regularly do not respond to emails — just ignore you until you go away. Appthemes is the worst theme developer I’ve ever purchased a theme from.

    Reply

    1. JD,

       I am sorry to hear about your bad experience. Thanks for reporting it here, so other users can learn from your experience.

       Reply

29. What would be the best type of site to review local places maybe if it’s food or the local bike builder or someone who makes amazing crafts locally..what would be the best type of wordpress for this theme where it can hold reviews/food pictures/locations of places that are local and maybe writers can contribute to it and things like that – this website seems to do it all but i like the look of your list better.

    sorry if this is a confusing quesiton

    Reply

    1. Marcus,

       Listify theme is the right choice for you. It has exactly the kind of functionality you are looking for and it features awesome design which will make your website to stand out.

       Reply

30. Hi Aigars,

    Is there a good directory WP theme which you would highly recommend of for a local theme parks web site?

    Really appreciate for your time and suggestion!

    Reply

    1. Hey Hung,

       When it comes to local directory themes of any kind i would always go with Listify theme . It has everything you need to create local directory with large images, stunning design and easy to use interface.

       Let me know if you have any questions about Listify or any other above listed theme.

       Reply

31. I run a statewide business directory using phpMyDirectory for a number of years. It contains over 600,000 business listings and several thousand (SIC) categories. I also want it to include Event and Classified info as well as customized fields and social profile links. Listees can update their own info. Which of the WordPress Business Directory themes would you recommend for this scale of a project? I will also need to have the capability of .csv imports.

    Thank you.

    Reply

    1. Mark,

       600,000 business is nothing that WordPress or any of above listed themes couldn’t handle. The only bottleneck here could be your hosting that probably won’t be able to handle size of your database. If this is the case you might want to look into this WordPress hosting guide.

       I recently sold a WordPress based website valuation script with 10 million analyzed websites and with seperate page for each with completely unique content and WordPress didn’t have any problems with it. Of course I ended up upgrading my shared hosting account to VPS and then to managed hosting as I couldn’t keep up with the amount of traffic I received but it wasn’t limitation in WordPress or theme it was just the scale of project.

       The main problem you might face is CSV import and there are only few themes that supports this functionality by default. I have tested CSV import with Spot Finder and Directory theme and can recommend these two. For other themes you might have to use some 3rd party plugins but since we are talking about WordPress here it is not going to be a big problem at all.

       Reply

       1. Aigars,

          Thanks so much for your response. I have access to, both, a managed dedicated server and a VPS. So, that won’t be a problem. Yes, the .csv import capability is super important for me!

          Thanks, again, for your suggestions!

          Reply

32. Aigars,

    Also, would Listify be a good choice for my state-wide business directory? Do they have csv-import functionality?

    Thanks.

    Reply

    1. Mark,

       Listify theme doesn’t have built in .CSV import functionality. However, it is compatible with plugin called ” WP All Import Pro” that allows to import csv files with ease. For more information you can refer to official Listify documentation.

       Reply

33. Hi!
    Excellent post, thank you.
    Hope you can advise me as I’ve been running myself around in circles trying to choose a directory theme.

    I need something that is totally international – localisation isn’t that important to me, and I need to be able to list online businesses ie ones with no specific address.

    It’s also vital that the theme is easy to set up and use as I’m not a developer at all. And I don’t want to pay loads of extra money on additional plugins to make it work. Crossed Listify off my list for this reason.

    My shortlist (so far – it changes every week!)
    -Directory Multi-purpose WordPress Theme
    -DirectoryS
    -MetroDir
    -Glocal

    Support for the MetroDir and Glocal seems a bit iffy though, but I love the design.

    Please help!

    Many thanks 🙂

    Reply

    1. Carole,

       Thank you for your comment!
       My two top picks are “Directory Multi-purpose WordPress Theme” and DirectoryS. I am not a huge fan of MetroDir and Glocal for the same reason you mentioned above – lack of support.
       However, keep in mind that theme developers offers only support for theme setup, configuration and light customization. Anything else will fall under custom development and that’s not included in the price. It might be obvious but I have heard far too many complains that I feel mentioning it again.

       Let me know if you have any other question about these or any other theme listed on Colorlib.

       Reply

34. Hi Aigars,

    I am looking to build a directory for Personal Trainers and Fitness Centres (gyms, zumba studios, etc) . I personally like Listify for this task. However, I was wondering if there is any other theme which is more suitable for fitness and health, since that would also mean the icons and graphics would be fitness related. If I need to use Listify it means I would need a developer to help me customize specific portions of the website.

    I was also wondering does Listify have the capability to customize the listing based on if it is a fitness centre or a personal trainer.

    Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks,

    Radhika

    Reply

    1. Radhika,
       Thank you for your comment!
       There aren’t any ready-made directory themes for personal trainers and fitness centers. However, most above listed themes (with fex examples for job boards and car dealership themes) are multipurpose themes. Which means that you can use to create any listing style directory in any niche. There aren’t any listing categories included with theme and you have to create them on your own and that’s entirely up to you what categories you are going to use. If these categories are going to be Gyms, Zumba Studio, Yoga Studios, Crossfit Group it doesn’t matter because you are in charge of your content. With theme you are buying design and functionality and not content (categories, images, descriptions, locations, you name it).

       In that in mind, you can choose Listify theme and create a fully functional fitness center and personal trainer without hiring a developer.
       Let me know if you have any other question about Listify or any other directory theme listed above.

       Reply

35. HI!

    Aigars

    Excellent job,Thanks.

    Hope you can help me to find a right directory theme.I am going to run a website which covers the places in my city (with address on map and several categories). i need a theme with:
    -backend administration panel
    -easy login frontend
    -Frontend registration for guests
    -Listing by location or category
    -Multilingual support
    -RTL Mode
    -free/paid registration plan
    -advertising spaces
    -user review and rating
    -page with details and pictures for listed place
    -responsive for mobile
    -payment gateway

    i like to buy a theme which works with above details, because i am not able to pay loads of extra money on additional plugins to make theme work, i have checked all of the themes in this post and found Listify, Directory Engine, Business Finder and spot finder from the list, but i don’t know which one is better for my website.

    Really appreciate for your time and suggestion!

    Reply

    1. Daniel,

       Listify might get pricey real fast as most of its functionality depends on premium add-ons. But it’s the best looking and well polished theme on this listed. And you are looking to make money with your website, so there shouldn’t be a problem to invest a bit more to get the best possible solution from day one than hire developer to implement additional functionality for other themes over the next several months.

       Directory Engine and Business Finder themes are good themes and will get the job done with ease but Listify is the next level theme. Hopefully, more competitive directory themes will be released over theme but for now there is no better option.

       Reply

36. We recently started up a local directory using Javo and it has everything we were looking. However, I’m very interested in your thoughts when it’s compared to Listify.

    Reply

    1. Chris,

       Listify and Javo themes both features similar design and functionality. Javo theme will get the same things done for you and Listify is not some holy grail but yet another good directory theme just like Javo.

       However, one thing that you absolutely must do is to run away from Godaddy as hosting provider.

       Look how fast your website should load:
       

       Look how slow is your website:
       

       If website loads slower than in 3 seconds most users will abandon your website right away. Amazon have done a research and they claim that a page load slowdown of just one second could cost it $1.6 billion in sales each year. Your website is 11 seconds slower, so do your math. For more information about hosting providers you might want to check this WordPress hosting guide. If you are not looking to switch to a better hosting you might want to do some performance optimization for your website by implementing cache. Here you can read more about different WordPress caching plugins. However, caching is not going to speed up your website by that much and you will still need to research other hosting providers if you care about website performance.

       Let me know if you have any questions about WordPress performance, directory themes or different hosting providers.

       Reply

37. Hi

    I am starting a restaurant listing website mainly focus in 8 to 9 cities in my country, I already have a data and will upload that to the website.

    I am planning to have a functionality of letting users to claim there restaurant listing for free or some price.

    Can you please suggest some themes/plugins I can use. and how much I need to spend in these.

    Also, i don’t know coding so will it be easy for me to set everything up.

    Thanks in advance !!

    Reply

    1. Most themes listed above does have an option to allow free and paid listings and you can set what are going to benefits for these paid listings. Some great examples are Listify and Javo. Other themes will work just us fine but these are my personal favorite. No coding is required to setup a website using these themes. Only exception is when you are looking for new functionality but that’s a whole other story.

       Let me know if you have any other question about these directory themes or WordPress in general.

       Reply

38. Hi Aigars
    I wonder If you know a combined WordPress Theme for Events (start/endtime/location) and Directory . Listify looks great, but the events part is missing?! Or i see this wrong?
    Regards
    Martin

    Reply

    1. Martin,

       Listify doesn’t support event listings by default. If you are coder yourself or know someone who could help then it wouldn’t be hard to implement this functionality. By default themes such as Javo and others does have event functionality built-in by default.

       Let me know if you have any questions about directory and more specifically event directory themes and I will be happy to help.

       Reply

39. Thanks for this list, and your continued support! Quite impressive.

    Any ideas would be greaty appreciated. I am trying to build a country wide (US) directory of automotive resources. This would include “Parts”, “Services”, “Events”, and “Information” as the main listing types. Businesses will be able to post in one of these. The available fields be different for each of the listing types as they offer much different things.

    One thing that is hard to find is events functionality built in. Most themes do not include this but it seems Directory by Templatic offers it and Directory Builder offers it. I am currently using Templatic and finding it quite buggy and expensive with all the add ons you need to buy. I want to try Directory Builder but it seems fairly new, very little documentation and not sure how support it.

    The other thing I believe I need is to be able to create a custom taxanomy. For the different listing types, I want to business to be able to choose (from a series of drop down menus) with Car makes/and models they serve. This way, as a user of the site, you can enter the car you have, and the appropriate listings will appear.

    Would you have any recommendations of themes I should look into?

    Reply

    1. Andrew,

       Thank you for your feedback! I appreciate it!

       I think that you will have to stick with Directory by Templatic at least for now. Directory Builder is a brand new theme and it is well designed and coded. It is also very similar to Listify as it uses almost the same plugins for its functionality. However, Directory Builder didn’t get approved on Themeforest. Developers behind Listify raised complaints against this theme and it got removed from marketplace. These complains weren’t legit but Themeforest didn’t care. Selling themes outside Themeforest when you don’t have some foundation in place is very difficult and Directory Builder is now in this situation. It is unlikely that this theme will survive even tho it is a great theme but without proper support and maintenance it is going to face many challenges. Only time will tell.

       Reply

       1. Thanks Aigars,
          I’m also curious to see if you have had any experience with Appthemes Vantage. It seems a little out of date design wise to me, but it is one of a few themes that incorporates events out of the box. Any thoughts on this one? And how you would compare it to Templatic?

          Thanks again, Andrew

          Reply

          1. Andrew,

             You are right about Vantage theme. It does feel outdated but it is well coded therefore it won’t cause any problems. However, Vantage them is not the only theme that supports events and your mentioned Directory theme by Templatic does support them as well. Javo theme also supports events and there are several themes that are dedicated to events such as EventBuilder, Nightlife and Eventum.

             Reply

40. Hi Aigars,
    I am starting an event listing and business listing websites and I’m looking for 2 good themes for :
    1) Events listing
    (2) Business listing

    I quite like EventBuilder , Javo and Business Directory Themes for its simplicity but i don’t know much about it when it come to functionalities. Again i need a theme that I can add more payment gateway as majority of my potential customers don’t use paypal, categorise listing, backend administration panel, easy login frontend, Frontend registration for guests, Listing by location or category, free/paid registration plan, advertising spaces, user review and rating, page with details and pictures for listed place . themes should be responsive, SEO optimised…Any recommendations would be highly appreciated

    thanks
    Sam

    Reply

    1. Sam,

       You don’t need an PayPal account to make payment if PayPal is the only payment option. PayPal can be used as gateway for credit cards without registration as well.
       We recently wrote a detailed review for EventBuilder WordPress theme that will answer most of your questions. You can read this review here.

       Reply

41. hi there great post,

    I search a theme like air bnb but with the possibility to book a location for for example a hour, a day or a month. And add possibilities in front. besides i want that partners can add taxes and specify there costs. search and try a lot of themes. Like listify but with build inn reserva. Any option? thanxs

    Reply

    1. Jack,

       There is a reason why Airbnb is valued at $25 billion. It is not just their revenue numbers and their unique position in the market but also their website and server infrastructure. I am not saying that you have to invest billions to create similar website to Airbnb but $63 theme is certainly not enough.

       Listify theme is compatible with WooCommerce booking and you can also see it in action on their demo. It helps to automate booking process but this plugin costs much more than theme itself but at least you don’t need to write your own code.

       Reply

42. Dear Aigars,

    Your review is awesome! Thanks a lot for providing this very useful information.

    Now, I would like to ask you a big favor. I am planning to start a street food directory and review website. Anyone should be able to add street foods to the list and submit reviews via front end. I don’t expect business owners to add or claim their business. Location based feature is very important so users can find street foods near them, read their reviews, and get direction to get there.

    Which one should I choose, Listify, Javo or Directory? Or, should I choose a review template such as Puzzles?

    Thanking you in advance for your time and help!

    Best,

    Novis

    Reply

    1. Novistiar,

       I would go with your mentioned directory themes and nor review theme. The thing is that these themes have options to set location as well as use map but Puzzles theme doesn’t have this functionality.

       One flaw that I can see in your plan is that you will have to do a heavy moderation. Users are going to list their favorite street food places but most likely aren’t going to spend time trying to find if it is already listed. Even if they are going to attempt to check if this street vendor is not listed, they might fail because these vendors doesn’t have a name or most likely they don’t know it. That’s just my opinion and maybe I am wrong but it’s definitely worth to think about it.

       Reply

43. Hi there, could use your guidance! I was all set to use Explorable for my business review service but we encountered a critical fault in the programming – the template wasn’t built to handle loads above like 100 posts, and would slow down in performance.

    I’m looking for a theme with
    – a map view (discover) and a filter search (find) that allows users to post listings
    – It needs to include multimedia fields (both hosted on site and offsite, videos, images, music etc)
    – The ability to sell items both digital and physical from those with claimed listings
    – Ratings system, comment system
    – integration with facebook, twitter, instagram

    Any suggestions?

    Reply

    1. Kate,

       Sorry to say but it is complete nonsense that any theme is built to handle only 100 posts/listings. There is one thing and one thing only you can blame – your hosting provider.
       WordPress is built to handle millions of entries without negatively affecting performance. On the other hand, your hosting provider is not prepared to handle WordPres at all. On this guide we have outlained why choosing the right hosting for WordPress is important and which hosting providers we recommend and why.

       Elegant Themes have built some of the best and the most popular themes ever released and I can’t believe that any of their themes are unable to handle at least several thousand entries.

       Other themes that I can recommend are Javo and Listify. But make sure to switch to a better hosting provider first or else you will end up complaining about these two themes as well.

       Reply

       1. Thanks Aigars, for that great reply. Elegant Themes actually provided surprisingly poor support for Explorable, and over time I expect my site to have tens of thousands of entries if not more. Their reply was that it was a known problem for that template, and there were no development plans in the works to correct it. They kindly refunded me.

          Question, I need to embed multimedia in the entries, like an audio or video. Some might be hosted offsite, some might be on site. Do you know if WordPress controls when that content is preloaded?

          Meaning – let’s suppose I have a map view of entities that have been reviewed all over the globe. Conversations with Elegant Themes lead me to believe all 10,000 entries would be loaded in map view. If WordPress preloads multimedia, this is where I could experience issues…any insight on whether that is WordPress or Theme controlled?

          Reply

44. Many of themes have map directions that takes a lot time to load this themes for IE browser so difficult to chose nice one for my Online classified website.

    Reply

    1. Ravi,

       Maps for all classifieds themes are loaded directly from Google’s servers and the have some of the best server infrastructure in the world. Maps are heavy and well detailed that’s why they take some time to load and there is absolutely nothing you can do to speed them up. Of course not using a map is always an option but it will work only for some.

       Reply

45. Hello, im looking a building a directory site, i have seen a lot of great themes but im unsure witch will work best for me.
    Aigars thanks for all the info above it has been very informative. I was wondering if u had any suggestions.
    I like the way Capterra works with link bidding and pay per click, im looking at something similar
    the functionality i would like in a theme or plugin

    o Category filter – standard features of a directory site
    o Google maps
    o Every Directory listing – SEO enabled
    o Vendor login with them been able manage their own account info, settings for their directory listings
    o Vendor Able to view a report, how many clicks a day, average position of directory listing “top or bottom”, cost per click, “link bidding” vendor adjustable cost per click
    o review web form for each listing, so customers can review that they though
    o Auto email response that their review is being processed
    o Has a star rating

    Reply

    1. Silas,

       Most themes above does have most of your mentioned features. However, none of the themes has any bidding system, data reporting or any of other Capterra functionality. Themes are about design and microscopic about functionality. To create a website similar to Capterra you might want to look if any plugins could help (very unlikely) or hire some web development agency or freelancer. The best place to find professional web designers and developers is Upwork.

       Reply

       1. Hi Aigars

          what template has the licencing to allow me to get a developer to add the functionality im after, i have posted up on freelancer.com many thanks for the reply

          Reply

46. Hi Aigars,

    Thanks for your great review of these directory themes on the market, and answers to the numerous questions of your readers ! That will certainly be very usefull to many, as directory is an obvious type of online business nowadays (which is why i’ve always been surprised by the lack of modern and powerfull solutions in that domain, but it seems like it might change…)

    i have been running a website for over 15 years, featuring a lot of directory content, and i’m now about to migrate it to WP, with hopefully some extra directory features and easier subscribtion process for my clients

    Templatic seems like a very advanced solution for that, although i dislike the fact that they’re hidding a lot of great features in plugins (but that’s their strategy), although i lack users reviews (appart from a couple of negative experiences in the comments here) and i would much prefer being able to see some example websites made with it, before i dive…

    I feel like DirectoryEngine is great too, and here is my question about it : in a previous comment, you mentionned “events are there by default”, but i can’t see any event management either on the demo or on their help pages…

    Can you confirm that events items can be found in DirectoryEngine, and where i can this be checked ?

    Regards.

    Reply

    1. Laurent,

       Events functionality are included in DirectoryEngine since version 1.1 which was released right after initial version of this theme. Here you can read more about it.

       Reply

47. Hi Aigars!

    Thank you for this incredibly useful list! All of these themes look really professional and functional.

    Would you please be able to give me a recommendation about which service would suit best for my idea?

    I am interested in investing in a theme that will let users sign up and be able to post teaching gigs (for example “I’ll teach you how to play piano”) and other services for a set price/hour. While guests on the site, without signing in, can find the desired service and contact the person directly via email. No exact location services are needed, as long as the seller can specify which city they are in and the guests can filter their searches.

    Thank you in advance! Looking forward to hearing from you.
    Cheers

    Reply

48. Hi there,

    This is really an excellent post. I have been madly searching for a theme similar to vizeat.com .

    Basically I am looking to develop a “Minimum Viable Product” for proof of concept purposes. Website would have a listing of local hosts willing to organize brunches, lunch or dinner on particular date(s). Listings will be created by admin side (no frontend submissions). Ratings and review system is also there for the hosts. Guests can login and book/request a particular date and time (lunch, brunch or dinner). It will also have payment integrated. I can understand that a particular theme may not satisfy all my requirements, but which one should be closest to my needs ?

    Thanks again.

    Reply

    1. Madhur,

       Listify is the theme that comes the closest from design perspective (color scheme can be changed). But it lacks some functionality that you will either have to develop on your own or hire someone to do it for you.

       Reply

49. Hi Aigars,

    Thanks for your great reviews. i am going to have a professional local directory. which theme is better:
    listify, javo, directory+?

    Reply

    1. Alen,

       There is no such this as the best theme but only one that you like the most. Your mentioned themes are already the best of the best directory themes available today. You can choose any of those themes and you won’t be disappointed.

       Reply

50. Hi,

    Thanks for write this. They are really awesome directory themes.
    But still not what I am looking for. See if you can help me, please.

    In a simple way, a need a `theme to sell/showcase themes`. BUT, it must have 2 button options in wordpress excerpt (one custom link, and other to the post). And should have the same feature in the post it self.

    If you happen to know anything like this or how to acumplish it. Please point me to it.
    Thank you for your time.

    Reply

    1. Hello Gabriel,

       Thank you for your question!

       There are no such WordPress theme listed above or available anywhere on the web. Since there aren’t many websites with similar structure, there is no demand for this kind of themes. However, WordPress is very flexible and it’s custom fields are perfectly suited for what you need. Some idea how custom fields work you can get by reading this support thread. As you can see you can use literally any theme that you like from design perspective and use WordPress Custom Fields to implement and further manage those button for each post/entry.

       Custom Fields is a finally simple concept but if you don’t know how to code you will be better off hiring someone on Upwork.

       Reply

51. Hi Aigars,

    You did great job with all those suggestions!
    I am almost decided but I want to be sure before I pay.
    I’d like to create the map of the breweries in our city (about 40 for now and growing fast,), with possible extension for the all province (150…). I also want to have a list and page for every brewery with photos, instagram feed, possibility to like, share and star rating. Also the space for individual posts…
    I like Dining Engine and Business finder and I am not sure if it is the right way. Could you please advise?
    Thanks

    K.

    Reply

    1. Hello Kaca,

       Thank you for your comment!

       These themes will easily handle 150 or even 150,000 as long as your hosting can handle it. Most of theme have map, photos and other your mentioned features. However, none of themes allows to have their own blog posts for individual listing. Listify at least have option to post “Special Deals” that could be used as blog section but it still will require some tweaking. Other thing that is missing on all themes is Instagram feed. This would be very easy to implement and any WordPress developer could get it done for you.

       DiningEngine and Business Finder are great themes as well but they also lacks dedicated blog post section for each listing and Instagram feed. Therefore you will need a developer either way to help you to tweak these themes. These aren’t complicated tasks therefore won’t cost you much. If you don’t know any WordPress developer you can always find one on oDesk.com, freelancer.com, elance.com or on other freelancer marketplaces.

       Reply

52. DO NOT TRUST AIT – Themes, the maker of Directory, now Directory+.

    They have replaced the Directory theme with a new theme called Directory+. They promised old users of the Directory theme they were getting an update with new features but what they did was strip out all the useful parts of the theme, PayPal integration, Multi-Language, and Claim a Spot and turned each of the once free features into paid plugins.

    If you get Directory+ by AIT – Themes it will cost over $200 to get the functionality that they promise in their demo.

    I just want o warn people because I got scammed by this developer and I hope nobody else does.

    Reply

    1. John,

       I am sorry to hear about your bad experience with AIT Themes.
       And thank you for warning other users before they make decision to purchase Directory or Directory+ theme. I haven’t had any problems with AIT themes in the past but a lot might have changed since.

       Reply

53. I am considering purchasing one of these templates for my own website. One thing I would like to be able to do is to limit it to a specific geographic location. The towns I would populate myself so as to allow postings just for towns in my region. One concern I have is with google maps and how many of these sites show a global representation of the map. Is it possible to have the map center around a certain part of the world whenever it shows, NOT of the entire globe?
    In addition, how many of these allow users to sign in using social media account? Listify seems to allow it. The others, I am not sure. I am debating on whether to go with Listify, Javo, Directory Engine, Directory+, Directory Builder Pro (I like how there are buttons to easily post either events or listings).

    To summarize:

    1). Which allow social media registration/login?
    2). Which allow restriction to a certain geographical area as I just want a regional directory of businesses and events*?

    * can events be posted that are outside of the regional area?

    Thank you for the excellent guide!!!

    Reply

    1. Hello Jose,

       1. Social logins are available for Listify by default. However, signup and registration forms are based one WordPress default functionality which means that you could easily implement social login by using any free WordPress plugin that offers this kind of functionality.
       2. Any theme allows to use specific area with specific map zoom. You can even change it as many times as you want. For example you broaded your target area or otherwise. So no limits here and Google Maps are flexible enough.

       Reply

54. Hi Aigars,

    Thank you for a wonderfully informative post. I am about to create a restaurant directory in Japan. Looking through your list, I whittled the choice down to these:

    Listify
    Directory
    DiningEngine
    Metrodir
    Atlas

    I want to be about to switch the language between Japanese and English. Do any of these themes offer this? And if so, which would you recommended in general? Also, I noticed that Directory had a rating system, showing restaurants on the front page. I would definitely want this foregrounded on my site. If the others offers this, I would consider them too. Also, I want to offer customers the chance to advertise for free, and then charge for more detailed listings. Which would you consider the best for this?

    As a footnote, I’m relatively new to creating a directory site, though I do have some website creating experience.

    Thank you in advance!

    Reply

    1. Hello Paul!

       Listify and Directory by Templatic are the most flexible directory themes and you can’t go wrong by choosing either of those. Others lacks good design or some functionality but there are different use cases for those themes as well.

       Reply

55. Hi Aigars

    I’m torn as to whether Listify or Directory or directory+ are good for a large robust providers directory.
    I read pros and cons for each. I’m very familiar with woocommerce, so I know how to work with it.

    So, is listify customizeable for a providers directory with dr. images, address, stars, etc?

    Mark

    Reply

    1. Hello Mark,

       Since you are familiar with WooCommerce it might be a good idea to choose Listify as you won’t need to learn completely new interface and functions. It will save you a ton of time as otherwise all your mentioned themes are very similar.

       Reply

56. Hey Aigar
    what will my best choice for theme and plugins that work together in this case: i am trying to build a membership site where one categories of members can list their products and other can see /pruchase them.
    Thank you

    Reply

57. Aigars
    Once again thank you for your comprehensive list of best WordPress themes. I have reviewed your directory and classified lists in doing my research for the best theme for my business. I am hoping you can possibly provide some feedback as to some themes that may be a good fit. I am looking for a theme for a business services directory site. It will allow people to locate self improvement services in their local area. Services such as job fairs, job training, business development, fitness classes, just to name a few. It will cover multiple categories and subcategories related to self improvement. The main page will be easy to navigate by having icons for each category and zip code,city/state for the area they want to search. Advertisers will have the option to choose from an ad package that ranges from free post or pay and have the ability to manage their own posts. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance

    Reply

58. I’m looking for a directory template that I can use for listing individual people. Here are the things I need.

    – Paying membership option with Credit Card
    – Geo Locating Directory – It’s just the structure of pages: parent category pages link to category pages link to state pages link to city pages (edited)
    – Geo Search Bar
    – Options to limited search bar results to single towns only.
    – Options to make search bar results show people listings and not a map with an address marker.

    Do any of these themes have all of this? If not, could you suggest one that does.

    Thanks you for your time.

    Cheers,

    Reply

59. What solution would you recommend for building a directory that is also a personal/social vault for restaurants, hotels, bars, shops etc. The idea is to build a directory that is also a community where you can store your favorite places and share them with the community?

    Scenario: you are going to Rome and you know that somebody in your community, that you trust, has a deep knowledge about Rome. so you go to his vault of places and see what is good.

    Also its the idea that you can use your own vault for keeping track for your favorite places around the world.

    Reply

    1. Jesper,

       Unfortunately, none of above listed themes matches your criteria. Themes have very limited to no functionality and they are all about design. Directory themes are not very different from let’s say blog themes. Those are the same posts but are styled differently, categories are also similar but on directory themes they take a more crucial role.

       These themes are for structuring and displaying content and there aren’t any social and app style functionality. For that you can either use some WordPress plugins or code your own plugins or platform.

       Reply

60. Hello Kate,

    Actually, you can set any page as front page for most themes. Which means that you can have a blog, static page or anything else on your front page while keeping directory page with search and category listings elsewhere. Since these are directory themes then there is no reason for developers to create directories that are hidden somewhere on their demo and they are on front. In your case you can also choose to go with some directory plugin but in most cases it will require some styling and coding but it is still an option.

    Reply

61. Hi Aigars,

    I’m new to all of this and I am looking to create a website that does the below:

    Front page: a search bar
    Then what you type in comes up with where to find it (map) but also a guide on how to make it.

    They can be seperate pages if need be.

    Does that make sense?

    Hannah

    Reply

    1. Hannah,

       None of the themes have an option for regular visitors to create some custom map. Only users who create their listings can create a map to select their business or other location.

       Reply

       1. Thanks Aigars. I actually don’t want people to be able to create a map. I want them to type in what they are looking for i.e. chocolate brownie

          And it come up with a page I’ve created with a map on where to find them, but also a recipe I have posted.

          Is that possible?

          Reply

       2. Thanks Aigars. I actually don’t want people to be able to create a map. I want them to type in what they are looking for i.e. chocolate brownie

          And it come up with a page I’ve created with a map on where to find them, but also a recipe I have posted.

          Is that possible? Thanks Aigars. I actually don’t want people to be able to create a map. I want them to type in what they are looking for i.e. chocolate brownie

          And it come up with a page I’ve created with a map on where to find them, but also a recipe I have posted.

          Is that possible?

          Reply

          1. Hannah,

             Listify theme is what you are looking for. Please test theme demo search to see how it works.

             Reply

62. You give great detailed responses to your readers Aigars.
    Anyway, I want to create a country m
    music listing of musicians,news and event of concerts,clubs and dj,promotoers that play this genre of music.
    Also to provide the maximum ways to make profit. Example:(Includes banner spaces,payment to promote venue ,event ,and parties thru this site)

    Thanks.

    Reply

    1. Marc,

       That’s what these themes are made for – to make money from banner ads, featured and extended directory listings.

       Reply

63. Hello Aigars. Thanks for all your detailed reviews.
    In your opinion what is be the best yellow-pages-like global business directory WP theme?
    Thanks!

    Reply

    1. Teresa,

       Listify is my favorite but any other theme will get the job done as well. All directory themes are well suited for local and global directories as you can use different categories, map and do other things. Themes demos usually uses US map because 90% of the theme sales comes from US and the rest of the world is rather relevant. But global setup is also there but not displayed in front.

       Reply

64. Awesome post! Quick question!

    I’m looking for a theme that’s more of a yelp directory but without location listing being that I’m listing all online businesses. Listify is looking like the best option. I just would love to get your thoughts.

    I need a theme where the public can give reviews of the business and also where businesses can register to place their business online through payment.

    Reply

    1. Genesis,

       Listify is the right theme in your situation and it is also the most flexible one.

       Reply

65. Thank you very much Aigars for answering questions and issues users are encountering with some of the theme templates.
    I want to build a directory service for specifics products, services, events etc. However, I want the directory to be accessible worldwide.

    specific Features :

    – I want business owners to subscribe in order to list their business in their area for a fee.
    – I want the users to have access to a map, and the customer can see the location on the map
    – Need to implement a location finder to pull all the available merchant matching the customer request in the corresponding area
    – Need to be mobile friendly
    – Need fast response from the map
    – need customers to be able to leave reviews for places they do business
    – Need to have a feature option for business
    – Need a blog space integrated
    – Want contact & payment form

    All that being said, it their a theme that I can used to realize this project?

    Thanks Aigars

    Reply

    1. You just described literally all WordPress directory themes listed above. Maps are there by default, themes are mobile friendly, you can search by location or any other criteria you add, blog is part of WordPress core functionality and reviews are also there. As you might have noticed from comments by favorite theme is Listify and it has all your mentioned features.

       Reply

66. Aigars,

    Excellent job with the list and community moderation. I’ve read through all the replies, so I think I’m asking a new question. We’re launching a national directory (test market launch in Texas) that is dedicated to hunting (HuntingUnlimited.com). We started with the Tour Operator theme, but quickly found out it doesnt enable one “Item” (ranch) to be listed in multiple categories. Some of the hunting ranches offer a wide variety of animals and birds. It does well handling multiple “amenities”, but not categories. This also causes the UI/UX to be clunky. I know you are partial to Listify, but does that solution, or any others you know of, support the listing of a single item in unlimited categories? Maybe something we can bolt on to Tour Operator? We’d like to keep the Amenities option as many of these ranches are multi-day experiences, much like hotels – hence the original decision to go with Tour Operator. Thanks again for a great list!

    Reply

67. I second all negative comment above about Templatic and particularly this one.

    I don’t know whether this “review” is sponsored but it simply reviews what demos show.

    The reality about Templatic’s Directory reveals only when you actually develop a site with their package: huge amount of bugs, non-conventional coding and incompetent support.

    As a result, you end up spending $$$ with third party developers in order to correct their bugs because they are unable to do so by themselves.

    As far as I can understand. their theme and plugin development is outsourced and you get updates, with even more bugs, every month or more often.

    I don’t really know about the other choices, but if I had to start over again I would simply avoid Templatic by all means.

    Reply

68. Directory from Templatic is one of the worst experiences I ever had! these Indian guys just took 4 months from my project time and results is zero then project canceled.
    Their team cannot even solve the tiny issues and bugs of their OWN templates! this is crazy! they took 35 days trying to fix an issues and they end with no solutions!

    Anyone want to buy a template must read the reviews before purchasing!
    And buy from a trusted place like themeforst to guarantee your rights, because you won’t get a refund from Templatic btw.

    I believe that the reviews websites is paid some how by the template owner because there is some un logic ordering! All the people saying Templatic is the worst so how could it be the best template?!

    I suggest Directory+ from AIT and Listify, they are the best in my opinion, decent and class templates, you get what you see, all functions working as described, you will get the best support from a professional team! almost as all other templates which sold on Themforst, because it’s only the place of professionals! You will get refund is the service is not as described!

    Reply

69. Thank you, Aigars for the list and all of the answers to all of these comments!

    I am looking to build a directory site for my hometown which will focus on the ‘for locals by locals’ mentality. Through lots of research I feel as if I am going to go with Lisify.

    I am however a bit reluctant. All of the reviews for themeforest and Envato are very bad. Consistently.

    I am, at this point, pretty confident that Listify will do I what I need. It does scare me, however, that SO many people have issues with Themforest and that appears to be the only place that I can’t acquire it.

    Do you have any thoughts on Envato/Themeforest?

    Does anyone else for that matter?

    I am reluctant to take a leap of faith for that price with so many bad reviews.

    Any and all feedback is much appreciated!

    Thank you!

    Reply

    1. Envato/Themeforest is almost 50 times bigger than the next theme marketplace which means that there are at least 50 times more negative reviews about them than any other store that there is. It just feels that everyone speaks bad about them because of the size.
       The only drawback is that the don’t offer refunds as long as theme works and does what is mentioned on their sales page. But if you do a proper research upfront and don’t purchase theme that haven’t beed updated for several years, you are going to be fine.

       Quality control on themeforest far exceeds what one you will find on any theme marketplace. It is usually that developers submit themes on Themeforest first and if they get rejected they submit it elsewhere. Everyone else on the market gets “second hand” themes.

       Reply

70. Hey Guys,

    I am looking to build a marketplace for Chefs, where people can book chefs for house party, kitty party etc and there will be mulltiple chefs people can book and also rate

    Which theme do you guys suggest

    Reply

71. Hi my client wants to add a directory listing theme on sub domain on his site. I have seen all the themes thoroughly but not getting matched theme. Any suggestion please. thanks in advance

    Reply

    1. PragyaJoshi,

       Sub domains has nothing to do with themes. You can install WordPress and use theme on subdomains but it is more about your server configuration rather than WordPress and theme functionality. If you don’t have any idea how to setup subdomain, make sure to contact your hosting provider to setup a subdomain for you. From there you will be able to install WordPress and any of above listed directory themes.

       Reply

72. Hello Aigars,
    Do you have private email where i can post my question.
    Actually dont want to brief on business model here.
    Looking for a great listing theme.

    Reply

73. Hi there,

    Thank you for this useful list! I’ve checked most of the themes, but can’t really find what I’m looking for (or the theme demo’s are not clear if they can do this):

    I’m looking for a directory theme where visitors can submit new items/listings using a (custom) form without have to register as a user.
    Submitted items then have to be approved by an admin before being published on the site.
    Optionally, companies can claim an item for a fee.

    Does anyone know what theme would be best for us?

    Reply

    1. Laura,

       That’s the whole point of these themes. You can allow to submit free listings as well as different type of paid listings on your website. You can also create your website so that all listings must be approved by administrator to reduce spam and maintain the high quality of all listings.

       Reply

       1. Thanks for this amazing list! I really like the first theme (listable) but i was wondering if it allows bulk upload using CSV database of companies. it wont be easy to start typing the numbers one after another.

          Reply

          1. Chris,

             Theme doesn’t have its own CSV import functionality but it works with WP All Import. There are some thing that can’t be yet imported but developers have promised that full integration is right around the corner. It will fix small things and will make life easier but you can already start using WP All Import now.

             Reply

74. Hi Aigars

    I am looking for a theme with the following feature:

    1. Ability to post upcoming events and log them when they take place.
    2. Ability for listings to post status updates.
    3. Ability for listings to post articles/links.
    4. Favourites / like option.
    5. Dont need map
    6. Also a page under each listings to post its on T&c or FAQs
    Any suggestions?

    Reply

75. Hello Aigars,

    I am looking for best Business listing theme which should be SEO Friendly, Blog Linkage Friendly, have option of Adding Categories as required, Can be sub location specific like US=> New York=>Irvington. (Suburb level), Customized Vendor Ratings Features (based on pre-specific terms by us),

    Website Visitor Form Filling, inshort having best User-Vendor-Website coordination.

    Let me know if anything is near to my expectation in available WordPress themes.

    I am open to your suggestion on theme picking to start with as well.

    Looking forward to your revert. Many Thanks.

    Reply

76. Hi Aigars and others,

    I want to select a theme for a business listing in health care. Do you know which theme or plugin can add team members (i.c. Docters en nurses) on the page of the Clinic.

    Thanks, Peter

    Reply

77. Hi there 🙂

    I’m using directory+ 1.39 from AIT (I’m not really happy with this one however it’s not bad) … do you think I need to switch to Business Finder or City guide ?
    If yes, which one ? I don’t want to loose datas and if I can stay with my design and options much better 😉
    Tks in advance

    Reply

    1. Hey Magic,

       It depends on what you don’t like about Directory+ By Ait since City Guide and Business Finder are very similar themes. They are different from design perspective but functionality is similar.

       Reply

       1. Hey Aigars, great forum!!

          I could use some advice picking a great theme if you don’t mind. I am looking to build something similar to yelp/angie’s list/rotten tomatoes and will be used to rate physicians. I’d like to have a few things in particular:

          -Directory
          -Ability to rate and review
          -Members own space (a customizable profile area?)
          -Ability to connect with “friends” (other users) maybe?
          -Facebook/email login integration
          -Free and premium membership
          -Ad space? Banners at least?

          Any advice would be very much appreciated. Thank you so much!

          Reply

78. Respected Sir i need the suggestion for the directory theme that allows only unique listing entry, if same value for 2 fields are provided it should give an error, please do needful. thanks in advance

    Reply

79. Hello Aigars! Thanks for the great article and listing, it is very useful. So far may choice is on Listify (even though it’s a bit pricey) but I would still like to ask for your opinion. The most important feature I’m looking for is to be able to rate, comment, review the users who submit the events/items in the list.
    May I ask which one would you suggest?

    Thanks in advance.
    Have a nice day,
    D

    Reply

80. Hi Aigars
    I love your site and all the helpful information.
    I’m wondering if you have a recommendation for a business directory template that also offers classifieds.
    Or maybe a directory and plug in combination that would work well together.
    My industry would be similar to car dealer directory that would allow dealers and people to post classifieds to sell cars etc
    Thanks so much!
    Regards
    Cindi

    Reply

81. Hi Algars, interesting read, thank you for the reviews. If you could assist in narrowing down the best theme for the below scope directory it would be really helpful.
    – Inventory listing site where sellers of product can list product by category
    – National and global capability
    – Geo-map location
    – Search by category, location, product, dollar value
    – Membership style
    – Listers to pay for membership, and pay for Listing. Different listing costs based on value of product, or number of images etc
    – The general public can send enquiries on Listings to the seller
    – Ability for buyer to leave reviews on Lister
    – Lister to be able to set-up their own mini-directory within the site i.e. if buyer clicks on a Listing can also view what else this seller has Listed, maybe make this an advanced filter
    I have been looking at; Javo spot directory, Pointfinder, Listify, Listable, and Directory Builder. Which one(s) do you recommend above all others for this job, or can you suggest an alternative you think more suitable.
    Thank you
    Jon

    Reply

82. Hi, Thank you for the great content on your blog.

    I would like to ask your opinion on Listify vs Listable (don’t see reviews but looks like a great platform?)and Javo Spot (don’t see reviews but looks like a great platform?) for a hyper local restaurant directory listing site with each restaurant able to post their own specials /events . I will use separate pages for travel (airline search scripts), accommodation (i.e bookings.com or tripadvior scripts) or realtime booking of activities scripts with possible daily deals theme on sub directory with link.
    payment for listings through woocommerce. reservations and menus required for each restaurant listings. customer review and filtering listing based on reviews important i.e looking for pizza but show me listings with best reviews for pizza close to my location with directions. Visitors should be able to manually select countries and towns if they are not there (location aware currently and want to research options. I like the map placements and use of maps in listable and javo spot.

    Your comments is much appreciated.

    Reply

83. Hi, Thank you for the great content on your blog.

    I would like to ask your opinion on Listify vs Listable (don’t see reviews but looks like a great platform?)and Javo Spot (don’t see reviews but looks like a great platform?) for a hyper local restaurant directory listing site with each restaurant able to post their own specials /events . I will use separate pages for travel (airline search scripts), accommodation (i.e bookings.com or TripAdvisor scripts) or realtime booking of activities scripts with possible daily deals theme on sub directory with link.
    payment for listings through woocommerce. reservations and menus required for each restaurant listings. customer review and filtering listing based on reviews important i.e looking for pizza but show me listings with best reviews for pizza close to my location with directions. Visitors should be able to manually select countries and towns if they are not there (location aware currently and want to research options. I like the map placements and use of maps in listable and javo spot.

    Your comments is much appreciated.

    Reply

84. Hi there, I love the theme shown here but still having problems with one that will fit for what I need it for. I would like to build a directory for counselors though I know there a couple I can think of but would like to do something special. Also something that has some kind of tier system, i.e. they pay for being their. They have a page of once they sign up and do what they want to do with it.
    Do you know of one that can help me on the way please?

    Thanks

    Reply

85. I want a directory that will allow you to filter by opening times.

    So I can search for restaurants that are open in my area.

    Can anyone recommend a theme?

    Reply

    1. Jim,

       I’m not aware of any such theme. There are certain themes that does have option to add events and opening hours but don’t think you can somehow sort them. However, it wouldn’t be difficult for a developer to create such a filter since information would be there on the site but you just need that filter there.

       Reply

86. Hi there- I’m looking for a listing website where visitors can search for and buy a service near their local area directly on the website. Users will be able to post a number of services for visitors to order. Ideally, I’m looking for a similar layout to freauty website.
    Could anyone recommend a listing template please?

    Many thanks

    Reply

    1. Kirsty,

       The most flexible themes that I can recommend in your case are Directory Theme by Templatic and Listify

       Reply

87. I’m just very happy to found a place with a lot of information to anyone, specially from the author…

    BUT, after months making researching and sending messages to the themes owners I cant get any final decision…

    Some can help me to choose?

    Directory+ : Looking good, but people talk about leak of customization. THey dont have Booking, Deals or Multi vendor feautures. I dont know why they have 12000 sellers on Themeforest. Maybe because its easy? Dont think that you will buy $69 and get a good website… Even if you spend $200 for access all plugins you will need more third party plugins or Coders. But, its easy to install!

    Templatic Directory and Child Themes Like Business Finder : I was getting the credit card to buy when I found this Blog. People talk about the terrible bugs and if you want fully functional, like bookings, deals and customizable Price Plans, I will spent more than $299 for the “CLUB” package. I had calculate $500 if you want to get everything working “right now”!

    Listify and Listable : Probably the most “clean” option, with better support… Works like a couple of WordPress… Maybe this is how work very charm. But you need to pay for premium plugins WordPress, anyway…

    Aigars, or others members, my question is:

    I Want to make a complete Directory Website, with possibilities to users post Booking, Deals, or even products, Different Package Plans, specially Good Looking and FAST.

    What is the final recommendation?

    Thank you for your time!

    Reply

    1. Daniel,

       Most of the users don’t need booking, special deals and any that sort of things and they can easily create a website using basic theme offering that are around $60. You are looking to build a much more complex website and as you have already found it will cost much more because of it. I would choose Listify overy another directory theme. Of course you will end up paying for premium plugins but they are well worth it as paying for developer to build this kind of functionality will costs hundred times more because of current demand for good developers.

       Reply

88. You have created a magnificent list of wordpress templates. I will keep your site in mind when looking for themes for my customers. It is good to have so many themes listed in one place. Keep up the great work.

    Reply

89. I am looking to build a marketplace for eggs, where people can book eggs for house party, family consumption etc and there will be ready, steady supply people can book and also rate.

    Which theme do you guys suggest

    Reply

    1. Joseph,

       I’m not sure what eggs are you going to list for booking but the best universal directory theme is Listify.

       Reply

90. I want to concentrate on a specific niche in the restaurant industry. I want to do a pizza directory. Do you think Listify would be a good choice. I will start small and gradually add as we grow. We have the potential to list thousands. Is Listify the best choise

    Reply

    1. Marcus,

       Listify currently is by far the best directory theme for WordPress. Recently it faced a major overhaul and it now looks even better than before.

       Reply

       1. Hi Aigars,
          I was reading a lot about directory themes but as I am not a Pro in WP and need some special features perhaps you could give me an advice.

          We run a tourist website in spain in 3 languages but we are not happy with it’s structure and it’s not having the features we need.

          On one sight it’s having a lot of cultural information of an region (not 1 single city) and on the other site we have a company directory (restaurants, hotels,activities)

          We need NEARBY and OPENED RIGHT NOW for searching restaurants or places. Also everything geolocated. Would be great if you could give me a hand 🙂
          Thanks

          Reply

91. Hi
    I’m looking for a theme to my proyect. it is a directory of all business in town. It must be a pricing and businees buyers and maybe public review.
    It should work whit add and banners becouse i want to provide some banners than the users(business) can add whit offers and stuff than they want to sold online or local.

    What theme do you think it should work? i don’t have too much money to spend so i would prefer a free theme becouse this proyect it is for an ong for disabled and unnemplyed people.
    Could you recomened any free theme or payed but cheapest?

    Many thanks

    Reply

    1. Unfortunately, there are absolutely no free directory themes available in the market. It takes way too much time to create such time to give it away for free. That would be insane.

       Otherwise premium themes are priced almost the same between $50-60. Therefore not a huge difference and I would advice to find the one that you like and not search for one based on its price because difference is minor and you won’t save much if anything.

       Reply

92. I am looking for an Open Directory Theme for: Cosmetic Salons? Can you help me?

    Reply

    1. Andreas,

       What did you mean by open directory? If you mean a directory on which users can submit their own listing then any theme listed above will get the job done for you. All of them has user registration and posting options available that you can enable and disable any time.

       Reply

93. I am trying to make a website for Jewelers where I can get catalogue management as well as customize the fields of the form used for listing.. Which theme is best for that? I like the looks of Search and Go and super list. But super list has a problem of customization and has its limitations.

    Reply

    1. Ratika,

       Are you sure that you are trying to build directory website instead of a eCommerce website where users will be also able to purchase your jewelry?

       Reply

94. Hi, I am looking for a directory website for types of apps. Therefore, I won’t need a map or address info, just categories. Could you please recommend a directory template for this type of website?

    Reply

    1. Allie,

       Maps for all themes are optional. You are not obligated to use them. They are not even enabled by default and you have do it on your own, so you won’t even noticed that it is there once you install any of these directory themes. Theme demos are created to showcase all possible features but you can choose what you need and what not.

       Reply

95. Hi Algars,
    I have just come across your post. Perhaps you could point me in the right direction.
    Im looking for a theme that can accommodate multi companies each posting a list of products. The products can be rated and reviewed individually and are either managed by admin or the company. The company info is mapped and all info in searchable. I figured a directory would be a good starting point but it appears each isn’t exactly equal.
    Perhaps you can advise. Thanks

    Reply

    1. Michael,

       It appears that you are looking for some sort of combination between marketplace and directory themes but currently there aren’t any available for WordPress. The best way to solve this would be to take some directory theme such as Listify as core and then build extra functionality on top of it.

       Reply

96. Hello Aigars,

    I want to create a website in which guest can search and rate provided Business Services. (like trainers, baby sitters etc). I looked the “Reviewers” and Listify but I don’t know if are the correct one for me.

    Some of the requirements are:

    1. Basic listings of all services in the country.
    2. Business Owner login and add/update info (like photos, streat address etc)
    3. Guest login page in order to review and rate services
    2. Option for owners to upgrade listing (paid listing) shows first in the list.
    3. Advertising place(s)
    4. Search option with user friendly categories/filters
    5. Search after geolocation: shows nearby Trainers , shops etc on map
    6. SEO friendly and responsive
    3. Clicks on results and shows information.
    7. Blog page

    Can you please propose me a theme that covers the requirements ( or the most of them ) ?

    Best Regards,
    Andrew

    Reply

97. I have an existing website of local restaurants, I’ve had it since 2007 and it actually ranks well, but it’s in desperate need of updating to a new platform. From what I’ve seen from this great list that you’ve provided is that the Listable and Listify themes look like they could work for my purposes.
    I would post all of the listings, so I don’t need the capability of others to add their own listings. but I would want the option to customize a listing. I’m not trying to complete with Yelp or TripAdvisor as far as providing reviews, I want my site to be more informational, give the option to search by food type and geo, and provide info that’s unique to our area, like waterfront restaurants, etc.
    Recommendations?
    Thanks very much.

    Reply

98. Hi Aigars,

    I am building a travel based website which can have more than 100 places to be listed in my country. Each place again contains main attractions / restaurants / night clubs / bars etc…

    Will the Listify supports for more data with more pictures and maps? If it supports, how reliable is this site in terms of search based speed? Is there any minimum or limit which should not exceed? Along with this, can i allow customers to book hotels thru tripadvisor in listify theme?

    If i want to buy the listify theme as shown in the live demo (as of 25-Sep-2016) , do i need yo pay extra for any plugins which are shown in the theme but not provided at the time of purchase?

    Waiting for your reply.

    Regards,
    Red.

    Reply

99. Mr. Aigars:
    If I take Tech News or Video news, can I link it to autoblogging or content management software to post my content on the specified time and date? My contents are 70 % video and 30% written articles, which theme do you recommend me?

    Reply

    1. Rahim,

       There is no problem with that. Of course autoblogging is a thing from the past and it no longer works it worked 10 years ago because Google have improved a lot over the time. However, themes are still working fine with this technique.

       Reply

       1. Algars,
          By autoblogging and content management software, I mean software that is linked to my website, so I schedule my articles or videos for 24 hours, it will posts my data on the website suppose each hour, instead of me posting it directly each hour. Again regarding the themes; as I said my contents are 70 % video and 30% written articles, which theme do you recommend me?

          Reply

          1. Btw, WordPress does have post scheduling option by default which we also use a lot of Colorlib. Of course there are many advanced versions available via plugins and services but for us the default ones is enough.

             All themes handles videos without any problems, so it all comes down to one that you like from design perspective. For me it is Listable or Listify but you can choose your own. And they are going to work with any plugins and third party services just like any other theme.

             Reply

100. Aigars,
     Appreciate for your useful post.

     I plan to build a directory for business in different language, and i am leaning to listable as the demo shows the directory, but i see the listify seems selling more in themeforest. I have several questions: (1) Can you give me some pros and cons between Listify and Listable in term of (a) easy to customize (b) handling of big data after website grows bigger? Also (2) where/how is the good way to get the directory data to import for the first time? (3) How can i handle the change (open/close/moving) of a business in the future because not all business will do the listing with my website but i still need to give some basic info?

     Reply

     1. Sam,

        1. Themes use the exact same plugins for their functionality which means that they works both the same way but design is what makes them different.
        2. Data import also works the same way for both but keep in mind that data will need to be in a WordPress specific format.
        3. You will need to decide that part on your own how you want it to be handled. There aren’t any specific feature for that for neither themes.
        The amount of data your website can handle depends entirely on your hosting provider and not WordPress or theme. If you are looking to get cheap shared hosting you are just waiting for disaster to strike. For larger sites it is always recommended to use managed WordPress hosting such as one offered by WP Engine. You can start with a smaller plan there and upgrade was you grow. Your website will also perform much faster than it would using Bluehost, Hostgator, Godaddy or other low quality hosting providers.

        Reply

        1. Aigars,

           Thanks for your quick rely, i want to make q2 and q3 a bit more clear.
           q2: I means where/how can i get the real data to import to my brandnew site?
           q3: I mean to how to keep my directory more up to date with the change of the business, I import the info. of a company A at location 1 ( it is good now) but a month from now this company, A may be closed or move to location 2. Is there a way to keep track of this change.

           Again ,thank you very much

           Reply

           1. Sam,

              a2: It is up to you find database/information to use for your new site. There is a demo content that comes with the site but it is a placeholder that doesn’t hold any value. You need to have content strategy in place as you can’t easily just copy/paste from other websites as well as you will run into copyright problems. There are many ways how you can approach this but it has nothing to do with theme.
              a3: Theme is not going to pull information from third party resources automatically. Either you can allow your users to edit their content or check everything manually which is going to become very difficult once your site grows. But of course you can always hire someone to do it for you.
              I think what you don’t realize is that theme is just a design and not a fully functional Yelp, Expedia, Booking that comes with all thousands of employees that performs daily tasks to run these directories.

              Reply

101. Thank you Aigars for your listing. Would you give me your opinions.
     1) Is building a directory website still a good business opportunity? Yet we know that Google already has “Google Business” where its features have been very good.
     2) Google is definitely very popular. Is there any chance if we run a directory website?

     Thanks.

     Reply

     1. Dominic,

        1. It is still a good opportunity if you provide an unique concept. It can be anything as users find it useful.
        2. You can succeed with anything if you have good idea and strategy in place. Without a gameplan you have failed before you have started.

        Reply

102. Hi Aigars,

     I’ve been thinking of creating a directory listing about restaurants and other businesses in my city, but I just wondering, why make one while people can easily search the locations they need in Foursquare? Foursquare has an app that people can check-in, but most, and almost all directory theme existed are solely based on WordPress and relying on a webpage to view. Is it still a valid point to create a directory listing?

     Thanks for creating this wonderfully informative website.

     Reply

     1. Cranko,

        WordPress websites and especially these themes can be mobile friendly which means that you can browse them on mobile.
        Creating another yelp is pointless and this point as it has taken over the world but adding an unique twist for your website could make a big difference.

        Reply

103. Hi guys,

     This is really great source of information. I’d like to share our story in short 🙂 Many of you may know that Ait Themes has been first author on TF who introduce such brilliant theme as directory is. Why I’m thinking directory theme is brilliant? Cause this kind of theme gives you a chance to make portal for very low investments and gain some $$$. We came with this idea based on own experiences. It’s 10 years now what we created very successful portal. It was custom-made and the expenses were much much higher comparing to buying theme, plugins, etc, So we wanted to give a chance to others create own directory portal for less money. Using theme has definitely some barrier and won’t be in-house solution, but still you have great chances to create wonderful project almost for no money. Only sky’s the limit. We continue to developing and improving features. Like now adding advanced search, dealing with speed, adding new features to item reviews etc. The competition is really really strong and hard to decide which author is the best 🙂 Anyway to make that easier for you we run very special deal, also available for Themeforest’s customers. You may want to give it try.
     Happy directoring 😉

     Reply

     1. Emi,

        I honestly cannot decide between your Event Guide and Templatic’s Eventum. I’ve heard your themes and plugins/addons are more stable, but slightly behind on some features. Is that a fair criticism? What other differences would you say there are? Thanks for any help!

        Reply

     2. Emi,

        How would you compare yourselves to Templatic, who seems to have a similar business model? (directory theme + child theme + plugins/addons?) I am comparing your events directory solutions – Events Guide versus Eventum. They seem to have more features, but I’ve heard they are very buggy. You also cost much less 😉

        Reply

104. Hi, i am hoping you can help me find a template with the features i need.

     I am looking for a business directory theme where users will log in and create personal profiles to review and add listings, mark their favorites/bookmarks, write reviews and rank the places. The user profiles should be visible to other users (as persons/people on the site) and users should be able to follow each other. But most importantly, each users list of favourites should be visible to other users (as a list of recommended places/businesses).

     I have been looking at so many directory themes now but I do not seem to find any theme that has such feature. Hence, I would be very very thankful for your suggestions on themes that i could use! Or maybe advice on how to build the features with plugins.

     Thanks

     Reply

     1. Alexandra,

        Unfortunately, there aren’t any that specific theme available. The easiest solution would be to take some theme as foundation and then hire a developer who could implement additional functionality.

        Reply

105. Hello Aigars!

     I have a question about a WP Directory themes!
     I want to create a fitness site, where i can gather all sort of fitness related places (like gyms and sportsclub) and personal trainers in my area/country and visitors, who come to this page can find every fitness related sportsclub and trainer through the search field, by name and region. The visitors must be then able to comment (i.e. leave a review) the places/peoples they like.
     I think it should be a directory related theme (like Listable for example), because then the visitors could see all the places/peoples marked directly on the map nearby them and there should be the search window on the first page, which allows to do so. Or do you think that some fitness related theme could offer the same possibilities (like JustFit for example, which also offers eCommerce possibility among other things, but i`m not sure that i can adjust the search button on it`s front page, like Listable has)?

     What do you think would be the best theme, supporting my goals and needs?

     Thank you so much for the reply!

     Reply

     1. Mark,

        In your case I would recommend to use Listable or some other directory theme. Fitness themes are great to create gym and other related websites with service section, single time table, contact form and so on. As directory you will need to do a lot of modifications. Adding fitness related images and content on your website will make any theme look like it was made specially for fitness sites.

        Reply

106. Wow, great list, but tough for a newbie like me to choose. I am looking to build a plumbing directory. I don’t really need many categories as everyone will own a plumbing business. My focus will be a global directory that can break down to country, state/province, then city. If you were going to build something like this which directory would you use?
     Thanks!
     Kelly

     Reply

     1. Kelly,

        I would go with Listify as it is the most flexible theme on the list. It will be a good fit even for a plumbing directory.

        Reply

107. Hello Aigars,

     As always I found your blog really helpful, I want to ask you something: I am planning a directory for my city, I am struggling between LISTABLE and JAVO 3.0. Both themes look really nice, I like the way LISTABLE look and after reading TF reviews and comments I see almost every customer is really happy with them, in the other hand JAVO 3.0 looks very robust and got very nice looking demos plus plugins like VC, Ultimate Addons, Slider Revolution, only thing I am not clear why they request to use the Lava-code plugins in addition to premium plugins like woo commerce product vendors.

     Which theme you would chose between these two themes? Would be possible to read a cons/pros about them?

     Thanks and regards
     Miguel

     Reply

     1. I just got Javo V3. I will leave Listable or Listify for next project.

        Regards,
        Miguel

        Reply

108. Hello Aigars,

     Thank you for this helpful blog. I would like to create a directory site with the following:
     * members can create their own membership page with credit card capability and autopayments
     * graduated membership fees allow podcasts, video, article posting
     * membership listing ranges from basic (white page listing) to full page with links, photos, etc. that members themselves can purchase, upload, and update through a personal login
     * chat rooms by topic allow members and visitors to chat with each other
     * Private chat rooms allow for private conversations for some members
     * members create a login to update their own page
     * the site has ultimate design versatility and ease in changing the design
     * members would be searchable by key word or a certain distance from zip code

     Where do I start?

     Thank you!

     Debra

     Reply

     1. Debra,

        Unfortunately, there aren’t any that advanced WordPress themes and likely never will be. The thing is that themes are created to mass market where demand is. In your case you are trying to build a very specific website that doesn’t even exist yet, so there are no themes to serve this purpose. However, it is not all that bad since can choose to go with any of above-listed themes and look for plugins and 3rd party services for functionality. Still you will need to hire a developer to put it all together but it is still better than nothing.

        Reply

        1. Ok, I see, thank you. Is there one you recommend using as the base template to then use plug ins with?

           Reply

           1. Debre,

              Listify is the best one to serve as a foundation. You can read more about it here.

              Reply

109. Hi Aigars

     Firstly, I wanted to say that the amount of effort you have put into helping people is remarkable and I would expect that this all comes back to you in some shape or form. Thank you for taking the time to educate and guide us!

     I am currently planning a services directory for a set of businesses within the same niche. The aim is to start off with the following 2 options (unless more can be accommodated):
     1) Free listings
     2) Paid Listing for Featured ads
     A potential 3rd avenue would ideally be the option to offer them a more prominent listing page (when the user clicks on that vendor’s block in the search) with maybe some larger photos and/or the option to include a 1-2 minute video say.

     Eventually, I would potentially want to generate revenue through taking a commission. Until then, customers would engage with the vendors by obtaining their contact details from my site to sign up for their services. Assuming I went the commission route eventually (As an example, a soccer academy may have the following options):
     1) one-on-one lessons (that would need an option to select a 1-hour slot from a calendar potentially. This will be more the exception than the rule)
     2) Signing up for a whole season – i.e. a date range from say 1 March to 16 August (this is a bit like the events directory) – This will be the main volume of listings

     I’m looking for a directory theme that can accommodate this as far as possible and ideally has compatibility with a page builder like Beaver Builder or Visual Composer (or even a built-in page builder) or at least the flexibility to be able to modify layouts to add opt-ins for example. I see Javo has compatibility with Visual Composer

     I’m looking for a very modern interface. There are going to be a lot of categories within this niche. I’m after the following:
     – maps and location radius slider
     – reviews
     – ideally featured ads within the categories rather than only on the front page
     – video capability for vendors or a subset of them

     I looked at the ones you mention and have come to the following shortlist: Listify, Listable, Javo, Directory+ and another which you don’t refer to which is Service Finder . The latter appears to have all the bells and whistles but is not built via plugins. You don’t mention Listable much. I suspect that is because it is a relatively new product? It looks amazing.

     It appears that Listify and Listable and probably Directory+ and Javo all need a lot of plugins to achieve what I need. What would you suggest? I know you’ve mentioned Listify a lot but wondering what you think about the others too.

     Thanks in advance
     Yaron

     Reply

     1. Yaron,

        In all cases, you will need plugins to achieve what you are looking for. That doesn’t mean that your website will become bloated and slow but you will need a lot of time to set all up. I think the best fit for you is going to be Javo because of its Visual Composer integration.
        The more customized solution you are looking to create the more time, effort and nerves it will involve.

        Reply

110. Hi again Aigars,

     I wanted to ask you if you could suggest me a theme or plugin where users can register as a companies and having a profile, where they could show company info, portafolio, contact details and probably they could sell their products too, an internal messaging system would be perfect. The usage of map and geolocation is not very important since this listing is for a foods exporters community instead business such a restaurants, bars, etc.

     I know you really like listify and I think it may be a the right theme, however I wanted to check if you have any other idea, I think something similar can be done using Buddypress and using companies as groups.

     Regards,
     Miguel

     Reply

     1. Actually what we are planning is more like a listing for brands. We want to promote the brands and the products, instead promoting their shops, that’s why we don’t want to use geolocation feature.

        Reply

        1. Hi Aigars,

           You were just right about Listify flexibility, I just spoke to them about my idea and it is indeed the best option for what I have in mind.

           Regards,
           Miguel

           Reply

111. Hi Aigars

     Hope your well and thanks for reviewing and suggesting the best themes. I have a question for you. Do any of these support some kind of group creation? I want a theme that acts like a directory but also like the idea of creating a ‘group’ so people talk about experiences.

     Thanks for reading

     Lionel

     Reply

112. Hi Aigars, I’ve been looking at the question posed to you and can see that I didn’t really give you much information. Would it be possible to have your private email so I can explain further?

     Thanks

     Lionel

     Reply

113. Hi Aigars,

     I would like to design a directory for online merchandise shops for breweries and brewpubs (eventually on a global scale). I’d like listings to be free (except for premium listings), and, most importantly, revenue would be generated by affiliate sales commissions. I don’t really need a map, but blogging and news is important as an added value for the visitor.

     I think Javo might be best…your thoughts?

     Thanks,

     Mike

     Reply

     1. Mike,

        You can feel free to choose any theme since map and all those fancy directory features can be enabled and disabled whenever you need. Blog/news section is part of ony theme listed above since WordPress used to be a blog platform when it started and this feature haven’t gone anywhere.

        Reply

114. Hello Aigars,

     Thank you for this great list! But as many of these comments attest to I am having a hard time picking which one might be right for me!

     I am looking to build an international directory of designers and would like to have the following features:

     – Searchable directory (multiple category options, i.e. style, price, location, etc)
     – Detailed profile pages for each business, must include a gallery/portfolio option
     – Review feature
     – Look must feature large prominent images – image is everything!
     – Login capability for visitors (with favoriting feature)
     – Ability to link to external site for members and for blog
     – Option to have ads

     Any help would be much appreciated!

     Thanks!

     Anna

     Reply

     1. Anna,

        Since images are so important you the only theme that I can recommend is Listify and you can find more information about it here.

        Reply

115. Hello Aigers,

     Really ticked off at Appthemes for bringing out a New Vantage Directory and stating that support for original Vantage will cease JUST as I am pretty much live .. I do not want to start advertising the site around town until I know I can count on a theme faramework/ will be stable for at least a few years .

     I am done with them not simply because of the “unfortunate” timing in with the new out with the Old but the lack of any concern/support on their part ..here is the site stcloudmetro.com

     I am leaning towards your Business Directory theme… a couple questions .. Importing my current content.. Is that going to be fairly straight forward downloading csv and importing then cleaning up the “mess”. Recommended import plugin?

     And is that the Theme you would recommend?

     The “sleepy” Pastel Colors are not doing it for me .. Does the Theme have the easy color pickers plugin/element or is that something I’d need to hire out to change css styles?

     Reply

116. Hi, I’m looking to build something similar to WeddingWire or the Knot, which is a list of many different vendors. Each vendor has control over their own pictures, videos, storefront, etc. My concept would be musicians only for my local area. I also want it to be very easy for the customer to book the musician directly through the site. Finally, it would need to support reviews and some sort of forum/social interactions. Thanks and I’d love to hear your recommendation.

     Reply

     1. Unfortunately, there are no exact match for what you are looking for. The easiest would be take any theme as a base and then hire someone to help with customisations. The best place to find freelancers is Upwork.

        Reply

117. I need a directory theme where map and geo features are optional. My target market are online real estate companies that operate by US state, not physical location. The ability to search by State is primary. Any suggestions?

     Reply

     1. Bob,

        Maps are optional for every single theme so are other features. Theme demos are made to showcase as much functionality as possible and you can always enable and disable them.

        Reply

118. Hi, I’m looking to build a professional membership network directory that will require a fee to join. I’ve been running into issue with the Templatic theme and need some guidance on the best theme to purchase. I would like each member to have a professional profile to include their business details (bio, contact info, website, etc). Individuals that visit the site and individuals within the network should be able to submit referrals (similar to refer a friend) but I would like for this to be tracked if at all possible. Members should also be able to share special events/projects and specials that they are running.

     Any feedback you can provide would be appreciated.

     Kind Regards,

     Kimmie

     Reply

     1. Kimmie,

        Unfortunately, there aren’t any themes like that. Keep in mind that themes are all about the design and very little about functionality. Functionality comes from plugins. What you might want to check out is BuddyPress plugin and some themes that supports it can be found here.

        Reply

        1. Thank you so much Aigars for the quick response. I will check out BuddyPress and the additional themes that support it.

           Reply

     2. Kimmie,

        You mentioned you were having issues with Templatic (I assume the Directory theme?). I am considering using the Direcotry child theme Eventum. What issues did you have? was it buggy, how is their support?

        Thanks! I cannot decide between Templatic and AITthemes directory “systems”.

        Reply

119. Stay away from Vantage and AppThemes at all costs. The theme is not ready for primetime and support is limited to pleas in their forum to fix the bugs. I have gone two weeks without any responses. What a waste of time and money.

     Reply

120. Thank you Aigars. Great post, very useful. I wish I found it long time ago to save me time & money $$.

     OK, I need your opinion on a theme or a plugin to make a business directory, please. So, I want to have a website where the business directory is part of the website. Website main objective is to showcase photos of products and projects with a photo gallery or slider then link products to business listings (business directory). Website is to be bilingual (Arabic, default (RTL) & English (LTR)). Maybe the logical way to do it was to pick a WP theme then get a business directory plugin. The issue with plugin is the multi-language content. like for example when a user rates/reviews a business listing in English, that review will not appear automatically when changing the language of website to Arabic. Also you have to ask business owner to provide the name of the business in both languages if available (it would not make sense to translate a business name!). I have checked multiple plugins; BusinessDirectory, GeoDirectory, Sabai Directory (which does not support multi-language actually).

     I like DirectoryEngine out of above listed themes but I am not sure if it will work the way I want to structure the website!
     Design and features wise but it has a lot of bad reviews on Themeforest.

     How would you recommend to go about on making the website?

     Kind regards,

     Reply

121. Hello,

     Like many, I too am looking to build a directory site. My goal is to become a city guide for locals and tourists. Think a cross between TripAdvisor and Yelp with an online marketplace to purchase souvenirs etc… I would like to offer a business directory (hotels and restaurants, places to go and see and reviews etc..) I would like monetize the site by providing free to paid business advertising and classifieds plans, offer online coupons and deals and eventually real estate listings etc… Seems like a lot but I’m willing to scale up with plugins or child themes hooked in etc. Seems like Directory by Templatic, City Guide or Listify are better choices but I too have heard negatives on each. Can you help with a suggested theme to get me off the ground? Thanks

     Reply

     1. Brent –

        Did you decide on a directory theme? I cannot decide between Templatic or AITthemes directory ‘systems’. They both seem to utilize parent theme + child theme + plugin/addons, which is fine, but they seem neck and neck. If you did choose, why and are you happy with your choice?

        Reply

122. Is there is anyway to get these themes for free without investing a penny ?

     Reply

     1. Syed,

        Unfortunately, that’s not how licenses for premium products work. If you want to build a legitimate website you must purchase a licence from the developer.
        If you are looking for a free themes you can always find the best examples here.

        Reply

123. Aigars, in your opinion which of the themes do a better job in the following areas:

     1) Listing algorithm. When someone searches for “Italian Restaurant” for example, how are the results displayed? Do some themes do a better job of displaying the relevant results (keyword in business name, description, category, etc) than others? And how are they ordered?

     2) Business Claiming process. Do all themes have the same process of verifying business ownership? Is there a theme that does a better job than others?

     thanks.

     Reply

     1. 1. All of them are powered by WordPress search, so they work exactly the same. You can change that to a different search algorithm using some plugin or service.
        2. Theme itself won’t check for business ownership.

        Reply

124. Hello
     I need to make a web to tourist which allow people to choose where they want to go (Which country) and then choose which city in the country and then the system tel the visitor about the most important places to visit and making a list of the restaurants, bars, hotels…etc plus it will be better if I can let the visitor book a hotel or reserve a restaurant table through my site, also I want the visitor to be able to buy goods from the site as a souviner from the country he choose, the last thing I want to give the visitor an option that he can upload his photos tell his adventure in the country if he like and I want this with plans (free and with fees) also for the restaurants I want the restaurant be able to register there activity with fees
     I hope I said what i need clear and I am waiting for your advice
     Many thanks for your time reading my request

     Reply

125. Hi Aigers

     I am looking to create a website that is essentially a destination blog/directory – very similar to visitdubai.com

     Would Hermes be a suitable theme for me to use or can you provide other suggestions please? I would appreciate your input as this is my first attempt at a website of any type. Thank you.

     Reply

     1. Jo,

        Building your first website is never easy. Therefore, we have created a detailed guide.
        Hermes is a great theme and if features you see on its demo are enough, you will certainly be able to build a great website.

        Reply

126. Hi Aigars,
     Thanks so much for all the help and info.
     I am looking into building a global web directory for NGO doing community work along fields and subject like sustainability, care, education, none violence, and so forth. I would also like it to include a possibility to post and share relevant materials for the work.
     As it evolves I would like the map to show the kind of work being done at various locations, and create a possibility to assist groups and organizations doing similar work to communicate and collaborate.
     Thanks again, best regards
     Asaf.

     Reply

127. Very nice WordPress themes for business directories. After reading this article I choose Directory Engine theme for my WordPress website. And this theme is actually very awesome with some unique features, which is full fill my requirements.

     Reply

128. Hi,

     Thanks for this great overview!
     I have started building a directory website for one country, one type of activity where all “providers” would be listed.
     So far, I have built it with Toolset Types & Avada. I’m new to webdesign & development so I may have made some mistakes.
     I would be listing all the providers I know of myself (about 700) and would request them to claim their listing and depending on features they want to activate (more or less info – different types of offerings like classes and camps) I’d be charging them for it (basic subscription is free).
     Eventually, I would want it to be more than a directory website as I want my visitors to be active as well.

     Could you recommend any theme/plugin which may replace Toolset (and integrate the data I’ve already created with it – do these themes allow to create Custom Post Types?) and maybe Avada?
     My website is very slow, I guess due to the many plugins used.

     Thanks,
     Pierre

     Reply

129. Hi Aigars,

     I have seen you believe Listify and ListingPro are the best – I was hoping you could let me know if you believe either of them suit my below requirements better than the other? Or if there was a better one to suit my needs because I would prefer a less image based option where it has simple category navigation.
     • Global website
     • Searchable directory by location and category
     • Business profile pages – but I don’t want them to have to upload images. More about text.
     • Reviews function
     • Free listings and paid listing options
     • Ability to have featured ads within the categories
     • If there is any template that allows categories with drop down menus?

     If you could point me in the right direction it would be much appreciated.

     Thanks,

     Reply

     1. Andrea,

        Both themes will get the job done with ease.
        I am not sure about featured ads option for either of those themes as I haven’t used that option but I am sure that there must be some workaround. In the worst case scenario you can always find a freelancer on Upwork who will implement this functionality.

        Reply

130. Hello,

     I have a Taxi website with different developer authors. Theme, plugins, etc. The web score is very bad. The theme with other plugins are not working good. And have many errors and issues.

     Can you give me an advice. Between all the directory themes. What’s good theme for me?

     Whats the planning?
     The homepage with direct all taxi results in area 20 km geolocation. The taxi business firms must pay if they want to show her Taxi place on the site with info. Also must directly click able mobile phone numbers if the taxi searching client click on the Taxi name for a taxicall. I see you recommend every one Listify theme. But I need directly show the results without enter address of clicking search category etc.

     But this is a test site. You can here see only a few taxi places in Amsterdam and Antwerpen.

     Best Regards

     Reply

     1. Talebe,

        I wouldn’t recommend switching to new theme as it would require way too much work. Even tho selling themes is my main business. Much better solution would be to fix your existing website. Right now your website has absolutely no performance optimization in place. Caching, static file minification, image optimization and use of CDN would make a huge impact to performance. You could reduce website size at least twice and make it like 3-4x faster with a proper optimizations.

        Reply

131. Hello,

     I am new to WordPress in general but I am trying to build a global event directory for races around the world. i.e Marathons, Trail Running etc. so people can look up these events based on their geographical locations. I am looking for something that is stable and that I can grow with. example would be localraces.com I was looking at the Templatic version called Eventum but I thought I read some comments that there is continuous bug problelms with their template.

     What would you suggest I start with? I want a simple clean look like the example provided.

     Reply

     1. AJ,

        Eventum is currently the only suitable theme for you. You are looking to build a very specific directory style website and there aren’t many options that would be get the job done.

        Reply

     2. AJ,

        Did you ever decide to go with Templatic’s Eventum for your events directory? If so, how’d it go, do you like it?

        Reply

132. Hi Aigars,

     I really appreciate your comprehensive review but I am confused which theme I should use to suit my requirements.
     I am planning to create a Yelp similar webpage for my small community that are spread around the world.
     I want to include all businesses/Professions that belongs to any community member in order to help others to find what service they need within the community. Should be categorized by profession/location including maps.
     Also, I want businesses/Professionals to register their own business and community members to register themselves for any future contact or mailing list.
     In addition, I need to keep a space for any advertisement.

     Thanks in advance and I would love to hear your recommendation.

     Best regards,

     Reply

     1. Tony,

        I would recommend to look into ListGo and Listify as they are the most flexible directory themes out there.

        Reply

133. Hi Aigars,
     I’m a complete newbie to building websites and am finding colorlib very useful.
     I would like to build an event listing website, where I can charge for organiser to submit events and users can search by distance from their location. Many of the directory sites seem to have events as an afterthought or don’t have great reviews of their support. Are there any that stand out to you?

     Thanks
     Adam

     Reply

134. Hi, I have been looking thru directory/listing type themes and plugins for weeks and am having a lot of trouble finding one that supports both online/Skype providers AND local providers in the same listing results. So if I have a reader in NYC looking for a “child discipline consultant”, I want them to be able to see the local results and providers who consult online from anywhere, also (on the same results page). From the advertisers end, they need to be able to select if they are “local only”, “local + online” or “online-only” and I could set which results their listings would be shown in or that would already be coded in. Most of these tools seem like they take an either/or approach for location- either support location only or if you take away location, you see providers from all over the country which isn’t ideal. Help!!

     Reply

135. Hi All

     I have bought the Business Finder theme from AIT but did not use it. If anyone want it with all original files and purchase code, I can sent it to you at 30% discount. No kidding, I just wanna sell it as its of no use to me.

     Regards
     Akshay

     Reply

136. dear Aigars,

     first of all thanks a million for the blog and your helpful replies. i am trying to build a ranking(directory) site which will list 10 best plastic surgery clinics in my city. the clinics will be listed in a vertical manner starting with the best of 5 stars along with a numbering ranking(out of 5). there will be categories for clinics(nose, Liposuction, etc) and for each category i will list the best 10 clinics. under each clinic i want to have a button “Request a Quote” which will take you to a form contacting the clinic.
     what template do you recommend, please?
     your suggestion is highly appreciated and thanks again for your help

     Reply

     1. Seliv,

        The best templates for you would be ListingPro, ListGo and Listify. All of them will get the job done with ease.

        Reply

137. Hello,
     What a fantastic list and comments section! Thank you, Aigars.
     I tried to read a bunch to see if there was anything that might suit, but forgive me if I missed it, as there are SO MANY!

     I like the look of Diamond theme, and the combination of store + directory.
     I am wanting to know if there is something I could use in conjunction with Diamond, or a different theme that would include these things for the directory part;

     – businesses able to submit their listing, or customers can and business can claim – from the front end
     – the customer fills out a review template, i.e. rather than just a star and comment, I want all of the reviews to be the same format and include – multiple ratings, their photos, and if possible, tickboxes or something that makes it easy for them to fill out the review (e.g. “did you have a contract before work started”? and the can select (written, verbal, none) answer to suit)
     – not a huge deal now, but later down the track, the ability to monetise (sponsored, premium listings etc) would be handy

     I’m sure it’s pretty obvious, but I’m not familiar with coding, so something easy enough to get my head around would be fab!

     Thanks so much,
     Kindest regards,
     Cassie.

     Reply

138. Greetings Aigars.

     It’s good to see someone active to answer questions.
     My aim is to create a directory/paid membership/subscription site where the small business owners enter and create their listing by registering by creating their own username/password allowing them to make changes whenever they wish (update photos/information/store hours/menu etc.).

     Here is what I mean:
     1) Interested business owner pays to get listed on the site (a recurring yearly subscription/membership).
     2) They also create their username/password in the process (not sure how).
     3) Upon payment, they can create their listing information (store hours, menu (if it’s a restaurant), photos, address, website link (if they have a website), select the category most appropriate for them (Restaurant then sub-category (Indian Cuisine), Salon, Private Lessons for whatever, etc.).

     I would need to have administrator access and be able to create categories (e.g. restaurant) and sub-categories (e.g. Indian Cuisine), another example, Category (Language Lessons) Sub-category (French, Italian, etc.)

     Are you able to recommend a multipurpose directory such as for what I described?

     Thank you for your insight.
     EnGo.
     Note: A company called Brilliant Directories offers everything I described, but the website layout looks cheap/outdated and they tend to have glitches.

     Reply

139. Hi Aigars,
     First of all thanks for your awesome directory templates collection. Can you be recommended some free wordpress directory templates for me, Because now I am interested in developing a directory website. if you recommended free templates it’s very useful for me

     or

     Recommended some premium templates also

     And one more thing, Recently I saw the Free directory plugins, can I add this to my website, it is useful for me or not ..
     I am waiting for your reply

     Regards
     mani

     Reply

     1. Mani,

        There aren’t any good free WordPress based directory themes available. The only one I can offer is a free HTML/CSS/JavaScript based one which you can find here. Other than that you will have to stick with a premium offerings for WordPress such as Listify or ListingPro

        Reply

140. Hi Aigars,

     I found this article incredibly helpful, so thanks so much for putting this together. Must’ve taken a lot of effort.

     I am in the process of creating a directory website where website visitors / customers can search for cake businesses / individuals and would like to incorporate the following:
     1) Customer submitted ratings for each business
     2) Starting with 1 city for now (but segmented by sub-regions); ideally I’d like to add other cities once the idea has been proven
     3) Ability to cleanly show 100+ listings with some thumbnail photos
     4) Own ‘profile’ pages for businesses / individuals
     5) Ability for businesses / individuals to upload their own images, Facebook / Instagram URLs

     In this case, maps are not super important, so long as the cake supplier can deliver to a certain area the customer searches for.

     In your opinion, what is likely to be the best solution? I am struggling to pick the optimum one at the moment given the great options you listed above! Any thoughts would be welcome and I hope I have explained the concept clearly.

     Kind regards,
     Jay

     Reply

141. Hi Aigars,

     I would like to create a directory website with one of its page having a Q&A section (like a forum).
     Which is the most suitable theme to pick?

     Thanks for creating this page!
     Belle

     Reply

     1. Hi Aigars,

        Also, on the average how much do we have to spend on plugins for a basic directory website?

        Reply

        1. Belle,

           That depends on what you want to do. In most cases it is enough with a $59 for a theme. The more customised and advanced you want your site the more you will end up spending on plugins. But most people don’t buy any plugins.

           Reply

           1. Hi Aigars,

              Firstly, thanks for replying both of my questions. Just to clarify further, am I correct to say that in any case a plugin will surely be required (be it free or paid), otherwise the website will not be functional?
              This information is being gathered from Listable review page: https://1.envato.market/c/369282/275988/4415?u=https://themeforest.net/item/listable-a-friendly-directory-wordpress-theme/reviews/13398377

              Quote from Listable Author: “We already mentioned on the presentation’s page that Listable functionality is provided by 3rd party plugins (free or premium). So, depending on your needs, you have to decide exactly what plugins you need to use”.

              Reply

     2. Belle,

        ListingPro or Listify will fo the trick. For Q&A section you can use their built in page builders or choose any of free or premium Q&A plugins.

        Reply

142. Hello, I plan a website where
     it should be possible to book local services. The booking funktion should be a main aspect.

     Would you recommend a central system for this? Which directory theme with booking funktion would you recommend?

     If its a decentralised solution, is it possible with a directory or an add on to see the total bookings? Is it possible to automatically charge a fee per boobook via my the page?

     Best regards Patrick

     Reply

     1. Patrick,

        Unfortunately, none of the themes (nor themes listed here nor any other theme ever released) are made for that specific purpose. Themes are built for standardized sites hence the names “template” and “theme”. Personally, I would recommend to start with a Listify as a base and then add extra functionality on top of it by using plugins or hiring a developer to do these tweaks.

        Reply

143. Hi! I’m planning on creating a website where people can list their services (local Services) and things for sale and swap . I don’t want it to look like a classified ads website, i would love it to have a kind of instagram interface, users will have their dashboard and can post pictures of what they have to offer. Please, which theme would be best for it?

     Reply

     1. Hey,

        Themes are ready made solutions that are standardized to serve a certain purpose. You are looking to build a completely new platform that doesn’t exist yet meaning that themes and templates won’t work for you. You need to start from scratch.

        Reply

144. I want to make a platform website where tutors can register and student can search their best teacher as per their convenience like location,education,timing ,home tuition schedule class rooms etc. Which theme best suits the website

     Reply

145. I would like to start a directory site where companies can list themselves and their products with their product details, pictures and brochures on seperate pages. Which theme would be the best option for these function ?

     Thanks in advance for your time.

     Giant

     Reply

     1. Giant,

        All WordPress themes offer to create one very detailed page for each company and not multiple pages with products, brochures and that sort of thing. For that part you will need to hire a developer.

        Reply

146. I want to build a product directory merchant listing of snack products – I tried listify two years ago and got really frustrated with all the plugins etc
     it looks like Listing Pro might do the trick
     1. – Snack listing – by company – images – coupon – review – link to their site etc
     2. Social Media – Instagram upload of the listing
     3. good search mechanism for type of snacks etc
     Your suggestions…Thanks – Ron

     Reply

     1. Ron,

        Listing Pro is currently one of the best directory themes out there and I will fit perfectly in your case as well.

        Reply

147. I am using GeoCraft V2. t is okay, but needs to be updated soon. Not very seo friendly.

     Reply

     1. Then you are in the right place because we have many great directory themes here.

        Reply

148. Hi Aigards,
     Thanks for a great review! 🙂 I would like to create a site where you can search for a local photographers.
     Photographers should be able to register on the page, create a profile and upload their photos. I would like to have a “map view” also. Is there any such theme or plugin for WordPress or do you recommend any other platform? Thanks!

     Reply

     1. There is no such plugins, theme or platform and never will be. The reason being is that it is way too specific and niche targeted. Many would be interested to use this kind of directory but how many would be interested to build one? When it comes to themes, plugins and platforms, they are meant for as broad target audience as possible to be able to sell it. In your case completely custom platform is the only way to go.

        Reply

149. Hi, I’m looking for a template in WP for directory listing of venues and event halls. Initially, I do not intend to include different providers such as photographers, etc., but in a short future, I want to include them. What is very important for me is to integrate Virtual Tours by embedded codes. What can you recommend me according to what I require?

     Thanks

     Reply

150. Hi Aigars,
     I am planning a business rating website for which I need to create an individual review page template which will be the same for all listings. It is important for me to be able to have as much freedom as possible to design the review template fields, graphics, colours, layout etc. The rest of the functionality is less important.Please could you recommend a theme ?
     Thanks !

     Reply

151. Hello,

     I am looking for a theme that has all the basics of a directory but also a fully functional event calendar.

     Please let me know.

     Thanks!

     Reply

152. To find someone to build your website we recommend Upwork or other popular freelancer marketplaces.

     Reply

153. Hi,
     Very insightful article and comments, thank you!
     I’m looking for a directory theme that would allow me to offer free listings but make the use of coupons mandatory so that business owners only pay a fee per redeemed coupon. This would be a win-win situation for their customers but also for the business owners since they wouldn’t need a subscription.

     Any ideas?

     Reply

154. Hi!

     Thanks for this very informative review and precious comments.
     I’m looking for a directory theme or add-on that can allow the following
     – make the use of coupons (5-50%) mandatory
     – track when a coupon is retrieved so that I can get a commission
     – free listing
     The directory is oriented towards businesses with physical goods which is why the coupon solution is the only one to monetize the directory without subscription plans.
     Any ideas?

     Reply

155. Hi there,
     I’m setting up a platform for people that want to live a more sustainable life.
     I want them to help find companies that supply solarpanels, heatpumps, green roofs etc.
     The companies can apply for business registration.
     What specific theme would you recommend? I really like UrbanGo, (also the blog option looks stunning), however, i also like themes with Elementor pages builders:)

     Thanks in advance,
     Jasper

     Reply

156. Unbelievable I still looking for a website who can compare with Service Finder theme by Aone, I’m saying that not because this last its soo amazing….also…he its super buggy and the guys behind him are really rude; im months who fight with them to fix all the issues, they fix and broke some other parts and so on.
     But their Directory Service themes its FULLY of nice feature, for example, one it’s missing on all the other Dir& List the booking of the services only, i mean…i add some services for a single Provider and he could book one or multiple services for the same provider.

     Honestly, I really hate this Listing way to add service and stuff.

     I’m totally falling in love with Listeo…amazing! easily clean a fully supported, a heaven for me where I have to fight every day to fix issues and test the actual theme.

     But…

     Again, he work with this List idea who confuse more and more not only me but me as I will be a Provider, also don’t have tons of other featured as SERVICE FINDER have, like a Job board integrated, documents upload, staff members management (for club or gym), OTP access, and all the info related to Provider as Certification and Graduation.

     It’s unbelievable but now, after 5 months I still find a bug and weird stuff EVERYDAY…and these people look like have trouble fixing something who could understand also a baby.

     If someone here could provide me a good alternative to this theme I will be happy to test, but it must be complete as this actual theme does…and I think there are no comparisons at the moment.

     Regards

     Reply

     1. thank you for your comment about service finder because i want to buy it , i’m still search for a template like service finder .
        what do you think about dwt listing or citybook directory listing ?

        Reply

     2. how about Listar
        https://themeforest.net/item/listar-wordpress-directory-theme/23923427
        all reviews are good 5/5
        all the comments are positive too, it’s not similar to service finder

        Reply

157. Hi Aigars, your page is fantastic, thanks for writing it, very helpful for newbies, like me! It is overwhelming how many options there are out there, but its a blessing too!

     I am looking to create a sector review website, where people working in that sector can leave reviews on products, services and platforms they have used. Empowering people within that sector to make the right choice for their company. So I see it as a central place where people can do procurement, investigate and then select the best supplier for them. With a chance for suppliers to pay an additional fee to respond to comments add demo options etc.

     So essentially a directory/profile for each supplier with sector workers reviewing them in order to pick the best supplier for their job.

     What do you think is the best directory theme is for this type of project?

     Thanks so much in advance,
     Bianca

     Reply

158. Hi sir,

     thank you for your useful post.

     I have tried a couple of classified websites, but they are buggy!

     I have used one of the theme you mentioned here for over two years, and realised that its taxonomy is full of bugs which its developers are not helpful to fix. Because of that the support is hopeless.

     Then tried another classified theme , it is more buggy than the first one.

     However, I did not find them on your website; I found them somewhere else.

     Do you know any classified theme that can be used for general listing like services, jobs, agriculture products, health care, real estates, cars, etc. which is free buggy.

     Many thanks in advance.

     Regards

     Reply

159. Great list. Thanks! I’m looking at 3 themes, and was surprised none of them were mentioned: Mylisting, Hivepress and Premiumpress.

     Also, I saw that Premiumpress has a built in system for selling banner ad space to users, a huge advantage over other themes. Am I missing something?

     I wonder if you have a recommended theme for me please? I’m building a small town directory, with two important categories: events calendar and rental listings, amongst others.

     Thanks,
     Karim

     Reply

     1. Hello Karim,

        We used to list these themes here on Colorlib but since have removed them. The problem is that they aren’t any trustworthy reviews for those themes or comments like you can find for themes that are available on Themeforest. For ThemeForest themes you can read their comment section and understand what users are asking and complaining about but with 3rd party themes there is zero transparency. Premiumpress is around for years and they have gone through many iterations. Their current offering looks competitive but their track record is not great since many of their products got discontinued or left without updates for many years. I would use them on your own risk and would test their support first before committing.

        Reply