Hey Sumo-lings,

August is shaping up to be a busy month for Directorist. Here's what's coming, and what's getting better.

What's launching in August

In the first week of August, we're finally launching dTour, our tour and travel directory theme. It's built to work across major page builders, not locked into one. Tier 4 users will see it available directly in their dashboard once it goes live.

We're also close to releasing something we've been working on quietly for a while: an AI Setup Wizard. The current setup wizard has done its job, but this new version is a genuine step forward. It's a core plugin feature, and we're treating it as a long-term investment, because a smoother first setup means fewer people getting stuck before they even see the value of the plugin.

Later this month, we're starting work on a standalone dashboard for the backend. This has been on our roadmap for a while and we haven't gotten to it yet. That's on us, and we'd rather be upfront about the delay than pretend it wasn't planned. When we build it, we want to get it right rather than rush a version we'd have to redo.

What's getting better

The Divi Integration extension is being refined. The initial release did what it needed to, and a more mature version is coming soon with the improvements we've learned from real usage.

We're also expanding our theme lineup. dFitness is in the pipeline, along with a revamped version of dCar. More niche-specific themes means less customization work for you if you're building outside the standard business directory use case.

And the Claim Listing extension is getting a significant upgrade. This is one of the more requested improvements, and we're putting real effort into it.

One ask

If Directorist has been useful to you so far, a review on our AppSumo page would mean a lot. It helps other builders here decide if it's the right fit for them, and it tells us what's actually working.

Thanks for sticking with us through August. More updates soon. 🙏

This week we're releasing Custom Badges for Directorist.

Until now, every directory site had the same three badges: New, Popular, Featured, fixed rules, no way to add your own. If you wanted a "Trending this week" badge, a "Top Rated" badge, or one for your own promotion, you had to hack it in with code. Not anymore. You can now create as many badges as you want, set the conditions that trigger each one (view count, listing age, average rating, review count, or featured status), and pick a text label or an icon with your own colors. Directorist checks the conditions and shows the right badge on the right listing automatically, no coding needed.

You can place badges on the single listing page or right on the listing cards in your grid or list view, up to three badges per position, alongside the built-in ones. Set an internal name so you know what each badge is for, choose whether all conditions need to match or just one, and if you ever want to start clean, a Reset defaults button brings everything back to the original New/Popular/Featured setup.

Custom Badges is part of Directorist core, so if you already run Directorist, it's already yours. No extra purchase, no separate extension to activate.

If you've been using Directorist, we'd love to hear what you think, please leave us a review.

Now, I wanted to share something on the client side.

Over the past while, we've had a steady stream of good conversations with AppSumo users, people who bought Directorist expecting a directory plugin and came back asking us to help build something bigger on top of it. Some want a white-label build, we do the development work under their brand. Others just want help shaping the directory itself, figuring out what structure, fields, and workflow actually fit their use case. We're thrilled with how many of these conversations are turning into real projects.

It's a good reminder for us too. Directorist was built for business directories, listings, and classifieds, but the underlying structure, custom fields, submission workflows, search, monetization, isn't tied to any one niche. We've seen it get repurposed for things well outside the original brief, and a few of those projects are on track to power large global businesses soon. We'll share more once those are far enough along to talk about publicly.

If you've got an idea for what Directorist could become for your business and aren't sure how to get from "idea" to "built," reach out. We're open for business as usual, happy to help you think it through even before it's a formal project.

Today we're releasing a new extension called Directorist Notifications Pro.

It adds native browser push notifications to your Directorist site. Admins and listing owners get an instant alert the moment something happens, a new listing comes in, an order gets placed, a payment lands, a listing gets approved or is about to expire, a review comes through, right in their browser, without needing to check email.

Each event can be turned on or off separately for admins and for listing owners, and it runs alongside your existing email notifications rather than replacing them. Click a notification and it takes you straight to the listing or order it's about to.

We built this because of a gap we kept running into. We looked at how other directory plugins handle notifications before building this. One of the directory plugins offers saved-search alerts, but only by email. Another directory plugin has a similar search-alert feature, and its own user community has an open thread asking for push notifications that still hasn't been built.

Nobody in this space has shipped native browser push for directory events. So we did. No OneSignal, no PushEngage, no third-party account to set up, it runs on your own site using your own credentials.

If you think this is a valuable add-on, you can get it from our site. If you're on our Tier 4 plan, it's already yours, no extra purchase needed.

Notifications Pro is one of several extensions we've built to make Directorist do more.

Explore all our extensions →

Next up: dTour, our first Gutenberg-compatible theme. The plan is for dTour to eventually work across Elementor, Gutenberg, and Divi, but we're starting with the block (Gutenberg) version first. It should be ready by the end of this week. Stay tuned.

Thanks for checking in on this one. If you've been using Directorist, we'd love to hear what you think, please leave us a review.

Hi Everyone,

It's been a few weeks since we launched Directorist on AppSumo, and I wanted to share a quick progress update with the community.

First of all, thank you! ❤️

Your feedback, feature requests, and questions have been incredibly valuable. We're reading everything, and many of your suggestions are already shaping our roadmap.

Here's what we've been working on this week:

🚀 Pricing Plans v4 is now live!

This is a major milestone for our monetization toolkit. We've reworked the experience to make it more flexible and easier to manage, helping you monetize your directory business more effectively.

🎨 A refreshed Settings Panel

We've redesigned the settings interface to make it cleaner, easier to navigate, and much more user-friendly. Small improvements like this make a big difference when you're building a website every day.

🧭 A brand-new Setup Wizard is in progress

Your journey with Directorist starts here, so we're giving it the attention it deserves. The new onboarding experience will make launching your first directory much smoother.

🌍 Our first multi-builder compatible theme is almost here

Meet dTour! 🏕️

This upcoming theme is designed to work across multiple page builders - Elementor, Gutenberg and Divi - giving you more flexibility than ever before. It will be included with Tier 4, and we'll be sharing more updates very soon.

🔔 Web Push Notifications are ready

This was one of the most requested features from the community.

Development is complete, and we're planning to release the extension next week.

💙 And one more thing...

Many AppSumo users have asked:

"Can your team build my directory website for me?"

The answer is a big YES.

We don't just build Directorist. We also help businesses launch complete directory websites.

Whether you need help with setup, design, custom configuration, or a fully managed directory website, our Done For You team is here to help. If your project has unique requirements, we'd be happy to discuss those as well. Check out the plans here: https://directorist.com/done-for-you/

Thank you again for all the support. We're just getting started, and we're excited to keep building alongside this amazing community.

— Masud Rana
Founder & CEO, Directorist

Wrapping Up Q2 and Heading to Q3

Hey Sumo-lings 👋

Two weeks in, and I want to give you a look at what's coming — starting with something arriving very soon.

This week — Core plugin update

We're releasing a fully redesigned Settings panel for the core plugin next week. Cleaner layout, easier navigation, less digging around to find what you need. This applies to everyone, regardless of tier.

Q3 — For Tier 4 users

Five things we're actively working on for Q3:

🔔 Web Push Notifications — keep your audience coming back with timely browser alerts, even after they've left your site.

🧩 Gutenberg Integration — a proper block-based experience so you can build and manage your directory natively inside WordPress.

⚡ Elementor Integration — same level of control, built for those of you working in Elementor.

🎨 A new theme compatible with all major page builders — no builder lock-in, works with whatever you're using.

📐 Ready-made templates — pre-built directory layouts you can drop in and make your own, without starting from scratch.

Q3 — For Tier 1-3 users

Pricing Plan v4 is nearly ready. This is a significant update to how you structure paid plans, packages, and listing fees on your directory.

Booking is also getting a new version — improved flow and better controls for both site owners and listing holders.

There's more on the roadmap that we haven't announced yet. But Q3 is shaping up to be one of our most active release quarters.

If you're still exploring your purchase, or waiting for a specific feature before you go live — now you know it's coming. Keep your questions and ideas coming in the comments. We read everything. 🙏