Yclas vs Directorist
Directorist turns a WordPress site you run into a directory, with its extensions in one yearly membership. Yclas is a hosted directory with hosting, AI, review tools, leads, deals and business data in one monthly price.
- 10 AI tools, built inIncluded in Directorist: 2 of them. The rest are paid, partial or missing.
- 28 of 40 featuresin the comparison below are paid add-ons, partial or missing in Directorist, each with its source.
- Live in about two minutesHosting, SSL, updates, backups and support are in one monthly price.
- Nothing to install or updateNo WordPress, theme or extensions to keep in step: one plan, kept up to date for you.
Directorist is a popular directory plugin for WordPress, with 20,000+ active installs: a free core, and a yearly membership with all of its extensions, such as claims, pricing plans, business hours and reviews by criteria. You run WordPress, its hosting, updates and backups. Yclas is a hosted directory and classifieds platform: we run the servers, and the AI, review tools, leads and deals are part of the plan.
Last checked: 22 October 2026. Facts about Directorist come from its own website; the sources are listed at the end of this page.
AI that does the work for you.
Yclas puts AI into every part of a directory: building it, filling it, searching it and keeping it safe. Monthly AI use is included in every plan. Under each one, what Directorist offers.
Describe a change, such as "darker hero, bigger search, rounder cards", and the AI makes it in a draft you preview. 109 ready-made looks and drag-and-drop sections.
Say what your marketplace is for and the AI writes your categories, subcategories, tagline and About page in your language. Live in about two minutes.
Sellers add a photo; the AI writes the title, description and price, and picks the category and fields.
Visitors search the way they talk, such as "red bike under 300 near Valencia", and get the right filters.
Every new listing is checked against your rules for scams, prohibited items, spam and wrong categories. Risky ones wait in your queue with the reason, and buyers are warned when a message asks for gift cards or off-site payment.
On multilingual sites each listing is translated into every site language, with its own page for search engines (Professional plan).
The AI drafts a seller's reply from the listing and the conversation; the seller edits and sends it.
"What people say" from each listing's reviews, and visitors ask a question and get an answer from the listing and its reviews
The business gets a reply in the review's language and the tone it picks, and edits it before posting
A search title, description and intro for each "plumbers in Dallas" page, which you edit before saving
What changes for you.
What you get with Yclas that Directorist doesn't include.
Yclas includes all of these, on every plan unless a plan is named. For Directorist we list what its own website offers in the membership, and what it sells apart.
| Feature | Yclas | Directorist |
|---|---|---|
| Business listings | ||
| Opening hours and "Open now" | Weekly hours, holidays and special days, an Open now badge and an Open now filter in search | Partly Business Hours extension: Open now badge and filter; special days not listed [7] |
| Several locations per business | A business adds its other branches with address and phone; they show on its listing and the map | Not offered Not listed [3] |
| Business details | Services and price list, social links, attributes such as wheelchair access or women-owned, and your own custom fields per category | Included Custom fields, listing types and listing FAQs [2] |
| Events | Event dates, weekly, monthly or yearly repeats, a calendar of the month and "Add to calendar" for each event | Partly Event tickets through the Booking extension; recurring events and a calendar not listed [8] |
| Compare listings | Visitors put up to 4 listings side by side | Included Compare Listings extension [3] |
| Claim your business | By a code sent to an address at the business's own domain, a code texted to its phone (with an SMS add-on), or your review; optionally only with a paid plan | Included Claim Listing extension: you approve claims, free or paid [9] |
| Fill your directory with real businesses | Open business data from Overture Maps included in your plan each month, CSV import, Google Places with your own key, and lists pasted and sorted by AI | Partly CSV import, and Google Places with your own API key [10] |
| Making money from the directory | ||
| Paid listing levels | Plans you sell to businesses, each with its own number of photos and deals, statistics, a badge and members-only content (Professional plan) | Included Pricing Plans extension: packages or pay per listing, recurring [11] |
| Featured listings and paid categories | Featured listings, bump to top, boost bundles, paid categories and coupons, paid into your own account | Included Paid featured listings [2] |
| Sponsored results | Businesses buy a sponsored place above a category's results for a number of days | Partly Featured listings ranked first; no sponsored places [4] |
| Banner ads you sell | Advertisers buy a banner zone for some weeks, you approve it, and they see its views and clicks | Partly Ads Manager places your ads in zones; advertisers can't buy them themselves [12] |
| Deals with vouchers | Offers on listings and a Deals page; each customer gets a voucher with a QR code the business scans to mark it used, with a report of vouchers given and used | Partly Coupon extension: discount codes on plans and bookings; no deals on listings [13] |
| Charge businesses for leads | Per lead, or a number of leads included in their plan | Included Pay Per Lead extension: owners pay to see the inquiry [14] |
| Bookings | Appointments and rentals with a calendar and instant booking (Professional plan); paid online with deposits on the Marketplace plan | Partly Booking extension: reservations and appointments; online payment not stated [8] |
| Reviews and trust | ||
| Reviews with owner replies | Star reviews with photos and ratings by criteria, and the business replies under each one | Included Reviews, with replies as a setting [15] |
| Review invitations | The business emails customers a personal review link, or prints a QR poster for the counter | Not offered Not listed [3] |
| Rating badge and yearly awards | A badge with the listing's stars for the business's own website, and "Best of" awards for the top-rated each year | Not offered Not listed [3] |
| Fake-review protection | Reviews that look bought or self-written wait for your team, and you can put a consumer alert on a listing | Partly Visitors report reviews to you; no automatic checks [16] |
| Verified and licensed badges | ID and business document checks, and Licensed and Insured badges from the documents a business sends | Partly A "claimed" mark after a claim; other badges from a third party [4] |
| Leads and keeping businesses | ||
| Quote requests to the nearest businesses | One request goes to the closest matching businesses, and listings show how fast each one usually replies | Not offered Not listed: each inquiry goes to one listing [14] |
| Messages | Visitors and businesses write to each other inside the site, with photos and PDFs | Included Live Chat extension [3] |
| Statistics for each business | Views, calls, website, WhatsApp and directions clicks and the searches that found each listing, and a monthly report by email | Partly Analytics extension for the site owner; no view for each business, no monthly report [17] |
| Newsletters and automated emails | One-off newsletters, and email series after signing up, a first listing or going quiet, with opens and clicks per email, sent through your own email service | Partly Mailchimp integration only [3] |
| Growth and reach | ||
| Category and city pages for search | A page for every category in every city, with your own title and intro, LocalBusiness structured data, sitemaps and IndexNow | Partly Structured data and meta titles; works with Yoast and Rank Math [4] |
| Maps and "near me" | OpenStreetMap with no API key, or Google Maps; search the area on the map, by distance or near the visitor | Included Google Maps or OpenStreetMap, radius and near-me search [2] |
| Many languages | 44 languages, right-to-left included; several at once on a multilingual site (Professional plan) | Partly Ready for translation, right-to-left; several languages with WPML [4] |
| Your own iPhone app | Your directory as a branded app on the App Store, with push notifications, published for you (Marketplace plan) | Paid add-on Android and iOS app, $499 a year [18] |
| API, webhooks and MCP | An API on every plan, webhooks for Zapier and Make (Professional) and an MCP server for AI assistants (Marketplace) | Partly REST API; webhooks and Zapier not yet [19] |
| Running the directory | ||
| Hosting, SSL, updates and backups | Included in every plan, with support | Not offered Not included: you run WordPress hosting, updates and backups [2] |
| Members-only content | Pages and listing details only members on a plan can see (Professional plan) | Included Private directory items for chosen users [4] |
A working site in year one.
Software, support and the things you need to keep a site online. Hosting for self-hosted software depends on the host you choose, so it is left out of their totals.
Directorist
| Starter membership, 1 site, all extensions, a year of updates and support [1] | $129 |
|---|---|
| Or Pro, 5 sites, or Agency, unlimited sites [1] | $169 or $219 a year |
| Mobile app for Android and iOS (optional) [18] | $499 a year |
| WordPress hosting, updates and backups [2] | Your host's price |
| Year one | $129 + hosting |
Regular prices; Directorist often runs sales (on 22 October 2026: $116 for Starter and $299 for the app). Lifetime licences cost $379 (1 site) to $749 (20 sites). Hosting depends on the host you choose, so it is left out of the total.
Yclas
| Starter up to 5,000 listings · $19 a month for 3 months, then $69 a month | $678 |
|---|---|
| Professional up to 100,000 listings · $99 a month | $1,188 |
| Marketplace up to 300,000 listings · $149 a month | $1,788 |
| Included in the price | Hosting, SSL, updates, backups, support |
Year-one totals for each plan, from the pricing page. 15 days free first, with no credit card, and a 30-day money-back guarantee on every plan. Prices in US dollars; EU customers pay VAT unless they add a VAT number.
Directorist and Yclas, point by point.
| Topic | Directorist | Yclas |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A plugin for a WordPress site you host | A hosted directory, classifieds and marketplace platform: nothing to install |
| Software price | Free core; membership with all extensions $129 to $219 a year, lifetime $379 to $749 | $19 a month for 3 months, then $69 a month (Starter). Every plan includes hosting. |
| Server | You rent and run it, with WordPress | Included, with SSL on your own domain |
| Updates | You update WordPress, the theme, Directorist and its extensions; updates stop when the membership ends | Done for you |
| Filling the directory | CSV import, and Google Places with your own key | Open business data included every month (200 in the trial, 1,000 on Starter up to 20,000), CSV, Google Places and AI-sorted lists |
| Reviews | Reviews, replies as a setting, criteria in an extension | Replies, photos, ratings by criteria, invitations, a website badge, awards, AI summaries and reply drafts |
| AI help | Directorist AI builds the directory's structure; AI Search extension | Ten AI tools with monthly use included, from the page builder to review summaries and reply drafts |
| Phones | Android and iOS app, $499 a year | Your own branded iPhone app on the App Store (Marketplace plan); mobile-first themes |
| Latest release | Directorist 8.10.5, 18 October 2026; 20,000+ active installs on WordPress.org | Updated continuously, with nothing for you to install |
Also on every Yclas plan
- 44 languages, right-to-left included, multilingual sites and any currency
- Your own domain with one DNS record, and SSL set up automatically
- 17 payment gateways, including Stripe, PayPal, Mollie, Mercado Pago and Razorpay
- A money wizard that sets up paid posting, featured listings and plans in a few clicks
- Cookie consent that holds back analytics and ad code until visitors accept
- Reporting of illegal listings with a review queue, as the EU Digital Services Act asks
- Captcha with no setup, listing drafts that save themselves, and favourites
- Custom CSS and code, conditional custom fields and a catalogue of add-ons
- Ready-made connections for Zapier, Make, Google Sheets, Mailchimp, Slack and HubSpot
- A share kit with WhatsApp, Facebook, Telegram and X buttons and a social image for every listing
The AI features and the page builder work with the Nova theme, the default for new sites. Compare plans →
Make it yours without hiring a developer.
With Directorist, a design beyond the theme's options usually means paying a developer or designer. Yclas includes a page builder you use yourself: describe what you want, or change it by hand.
The Yclas page builder
- Describe the change in plain words, such as "darker hero, bigger search, rounder cards", and the AI makes it in a draft you preview before you publish.
- Start from 109 ready-made looks for cars, property, jobs, services, equipment and more, then change colours, fonts, buttons and spacing.
- Build pages from a library of sections: hero with search, categories, latest listings, how it works, locations, map, text, image and text, features, testimonials, FAQ, stats, call to action and logos, plus custom code sections for anything else.
- Drag sections into place, edit text right on the page, and check it on desktop, tablet and phone, next to your live site.
- Write and rewrite text with AI, and use free photos from Pexels and Unsplash or your own.
- Add pages, save blocks to reuse, undo any step, restore an earlier version, schedule publishing up to 90 days ahead, and share a preview link for 7 days.
Included in every plan. Want us to do it for you? Our team also does custom design and development.
Moving from Directorist
The Yclas importer reads a Directorist site's WordPress database export directly.
- Export your WordPress database as a .sql or .sql.gz file, the kind phpMyAdmin or your hosting panel makes.
- Start a free trial, choose "I already have a site" in the sign-up wizard, and upload the export in Move your site to Yclas.
- Match the fields, check the dry run (a preview with any errors, nothing is saved yet), then import.
Listings come across with their categories, addresses, prices, phones, websites and photos, and users as accounts. Locations and custom fields are set up again on Yclas. Passwords are not copied: imported users set a new one. You can undo the latest import within 7 days.
When Directorist may be the better choice
- Your site already runs on WordPress and you want the directory inside it.
- You want WordPress plugins and page builders such as Elementor, or your own hosting.
- You run many small directories and want one licence for all of them.
- You want an Android app as well as iPhone.
If none of these fit, and you would rather spend your time on your directory than on a server, try Yclas.
Is Directorist cheaper than Yclas?
On the price tag, yes: $116 a year for one site, but you pay for hosting and keep WordPress, the theme and the extensions updated. Yclas starts at $19 a month for 3 months, then $69 a month with hosting, updates, support and AI included.
Can I move my Directorist site to Yclas?
Yes. Export your WordPress database and upload it to Move your site to Yclas: listings with their categories, addresses, prices, phones, websites and photos, and users, come across after a dry run you can check. You can undo the latest import within 7 days.
Does Yclas have claim listings and pricing plans like Directorist?
Yes: claims by a code at the business's own domain, a code texted to its phone (with an SMS add-on) or your review, and paid listing levels with their own photos, deals, statistics and badge.
Can I fill a new Yclas directory with businesses?
Yes. Search open business data from Overture Maps and import the results as listings their owners can claim, with a number of records included every month. Google Places with your own key and CSV work too.
Do I need hosting for Yclas?
No. Hosting, SSL, updates, security fixes and backups are part of every plan. You start on a free yourname.yclas.com address and can connect your own domain.
Sources
Checked on 22 October 2026. Prices change: the vendor's own page is always the latest word. If something here is out of date, tell us and we'll fix it.
- Directorist pricing: memberships and lifetime licences
- Directorist on WordPress.org: 8.10.5, 20,000+ active installs
- Directorist extensions
- Directorist features
- Directorist AI
- Directorist AI Search
- Directorist Business Hours
- Directorist Booking
- Directorist Claim Listing
- Directorist Listing Importer
- Directorist Pricing Plans
- Directorist Ads Manager
- Directorist Coupon
- Directorist Pay Per Lead
- Directorist settings: replies to reviews
- Directorist Advanced Review
- Directorist Analytics
- Directorist mobile app pricing
- Directorist REST API
- Codeable pricing: WordPress developers at $80 to $120 an hour
- Yclas pricing
Product names belong to their owners and are used only to identify the products compared. Yclas is not affiliated with them.
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