Directorist vs Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN

👉 See what users are saying about Directorist ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I’ve been using Directorist for my directory website for over a year now, and I can honestly say it’s one of the most reliable and feature-rich directory plugins I’ve worked with. I currently manage over 19,000 listings, and the plugin has handled them efficiently without major performance issues. The interface is clean, user-friendly, and easy to customize, even for large-scale directories like mine. 👤 sammybabz (@sammybabz) Try Demo | Extensions | Themes | Documentation | Roadmap Create and grow your business directory, classified listings, job directory, event directory, membership directory, service marketplace, or real estate directory with ease using Directorist – Business Directory Plugin. Directorist is built for people who want control, freedom, and real income from their directory website. You are not just creating listings. You are building a platform where businesses get discovered, services are found, and communities connect. From submissions to payments and search to monetization, everything works together so you can launch your directory faster, manage less, and grow with confidence. Turn your ideas into a profitable directory effortlessly. Powered by AI, Directorist is the ultimate directory plugin that helps you create, manage, and monetize listings with ease. Built-in SEO optimization ensures your directories rank higher and attract organic traffic, while seamless payment integrations let you monetize effortlessly through paid listings, subscriptions, and premium features. With over 590+ five-star reviews and 20,000+ active directory owners. Plus, our outstanding support team and extensive documentation are always ready to guide you through every step. You’re not just building a directory—you’re creating a thriving community, connecting businesses with customers, and unlocking a sustainable income stream. Choose your niche, and let Directorist help your directory succeed! 🎉 Try Onelisting, our free directory theme, to start your directory business journey. Business Directory Plugin Trusted by Over 20,000 Businesses Worldwide Directorist proudly stands as the business directory plugin to surpass 20,000+ active users—a milestone that reflects our unwavering commitment to excellence. Trusted by directory business owners worldwide, it helps generate revenue, build communities, and seamlessly connect businesses with their audiences. We’ve carefully listened to the challenges faced by directory business owners and developed a comprehensive tool that simplifies every aspect of managing a directory site. From customizable features and seamless integrations to advanced monetization options, Directorist ensures your directory business runs effortlessly, whether you’re launching a local business directory, real estate listings, job board, or niche-focused platform. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Excellente plugin + themes I had previously tried Directorist with the Director theme and was extremely pleased with what they offered. But when I learned they had specific themes for the businesses I was trying to address, I didn’t hesitate and contacted them. There’s really a lot of work behind these plugins and themes. The support is very good, and I hope to stay in touch with them for a long time. Regards from Argentina – malborarg ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great support I already knew in advance (after testing a few plugins) that this would be the **** for listing. But there were country specific and beginner specific problems, so I asked them for help. I never dreamed that such a helpful team could exist. They were patient, always responded quickly and managed to find a solution to everything. In the end, I learned a lot from them. Thank you very much and I wish the Directorist team all the ****. – pecaadokveszek What Makes Directorist the Go-To Choice for Thousands? Your Success, Our Priority We ensure you have everything you need to build and manage your directory effortlessly. Access our Support Center for expert assistance whenever you need it, explore YouTube tutorials for step-by-step guides and tips, and stay connected through our Facebook Community to learn from peers, get the latest updates, and share insights. For advanced configurations and in-depth learning, our Comprehensive Documentation is always at your fingertips. Directorist Mobile App for Android & iOS Extend your directory’s reach with the powerful Directorist mobile app. Make your listings accessible on the go, enhance interactivity, and seamlessly convert visitors into paying customers. AI-Generated Directory Creation Effortlessly create niche directories with AI-powered tools. Launch a new directory within seconds, opening the doors to endless possibilities. Our commitment to continuous AI development ensures more features and capabilities are on their way. Schema Markup Support Maximize visibility and organic traffic with built-in Schema Markup support. This ensures your listings not only rank higher in search engines but also stand out with enhanced rich results. Designed for Seamless Integration Seamless integration with Gutenberg, Elementor, Bricks, Oxygen, BuddyBoss, Formgent and more ensures that you can build the directory of your dreams without compromise. Plus, we’re constantly improving these and actively working on adding support for even more popular tools to elevate your directory-building experience. 30+ Powerful Extensions Unlock advanced features and functionalities tailored to your needs. Universal Search, Booking, Pricing Plans or Paid Listings, Claim listings, Business Hours, Listings with Map, Live Chat, and more. Whatever your directory demands, Directorist delivers. 14+ Professionally Designed Directory Themes Launch your business directory, classifieds, or listings website faster than ever with over 14 professionally designed themes. Simply select a theme, make your customizations, and your site is ready to go—no need to build everything from scratch. Features That Empower Directory and Listings Creation 👉 Multi-Directory Support: Create multiple directory types within one site to maximize your business potential. 👉 Custom Form and Layout Builder: Use the intuitive drag-and-drop builder to design custom add listing and search forms effortlessly. 👉 Listing CSV Import/Export: Import and export listings with custom fields via CSV files—completely free with Directorist. 👉 Beginner-Friendly Interface: Enjoy a thoughtfully designed interface that requires no coding skills, making directory creation easy for everyone. 👉 Monetization Features: Generate unlimited revenue with paid listing options, subscription plans, and premium features. 👉 Extensibility & Page Builder Support: Customize your directory with powerful extensions and integrations with Elementor, Bricks, and Oxygen. 👉 Booking System Support: Build service or event-oriented directories with advanced scheduling and booking functionality. 👉 Live Chat Integration: Enable real-time conversations between users and business owners directly within your directory. 👉 Gutenberg Blocks & Widgets: Take advantage of 16 custom blocks to build and design stunning listing pages with WordPress’s default editor. 👉 Sleek Checkout & Payment System: Ensure seamless transactions with a modern and user-friendly payment process. Beyond Basics: More Features, Designed for Directory Business Success Compatible with all themes including popular ones such as Avada, Divi, Astra, and OceanWP. Highly optimized and rocket-fast performance to ensure scalability. 25+ Elementor Page Builder widgets. Gutenberg support and 16 Gutenberg blocks. Advanced search filters with custom filters. Front-end and Back-end listing submission. Front-end user dashboard to manage listings. Open Street Map and Google Map Integration. Unlimited custom fields on the listing form. 100% responsive and modern-day design. WooCommerce multi-vendor plugin compatible. Built-in SEO optimization system as well as Yoast SEO compatibility. Personalize the directory using a wide range of shortcodes. Ajax-powered listing and review submission. Listing owner contact form. Listing image slider. Listing and Review submission without login (Guest Submission). Listing reviews and ratings. Google reCAPTCHA New, Popular, Featured, and Open/Close badges. Create an Unlimited listing based on location and category. List and grid view for categories, locations, and listings pages. Translate to any language effortlessly using the Loco Translate plugin. Sustainable for long-term use. Updated regularly for flawless operation. Multiple directory templates within a single theme Brand-new sidebar filter layout Modern and improved form for Add listings Beautiful Design, Fully Responsive Enjoy sleek, modern layouts with responsive grid, list, and map views. Compatible with popular themes like Astra, Divi, and Avada, Directorist helps you launch a stunning directory effortlessly. Translation-Friendly, SEO-Ready & RTL Support Easily translate your directory into any language with tools like Loco Translate. Boost SEO with custom meta titles, descriptions, and Yoast SEO integration. It fully supports RTL languages like Arabic. 👉 Multilingual Support: Translate your directory into multiple languages. 👉 Built-in SEO: Optimize every page for search engines. 👉 RTL Ready: Great for right-to-left languages. Powerful Search & Filters Find what you need instantly with advanced search and filtering options. 👉 Ajax-Powered Search: Results load instantly. 👉 Custom Filters: Filter by category, location, price, and custom fields. 👉 Geolocation: Discover listings nearby with a radius search. Effortless Data Migration with CSV Easily import/export thousands of listings via CSV. Complete directory migration in just a few clicks. Map your data fields effortlessly. Unlimited Custom Fields Tailor your directory with custom fields for any requirement. Add unlimited fields (checkboxes, URLs, files, etc.). Use custom fields to refine search results. Monetization Made Simple Turn your directory into a revenue-generating platform. 👉 Featured Listings: Highlight top listings for extra revenue. 👉 Paid Listings: Charge users for submitting listings. 👉 Claim Listings: Let business owners claim and pay for their listings. 👉 Pay Per Submit: Charge users to create listings. Frontend Listing & Management Users can easily submit and manage listings without accessing the admin panel. Add listings via a user-friendly form. Manage and renew plans directly from the frontend. User dashboards for seamless management. Flexible Mapping Options Help users find businesses with Google Maps or OpenStreetMap integration. Robust Payment Gateways Get paid effortlessly with built-in offline payments or expand with online gateways like PayPal , Stripe or Authorize.Net. Taxes and recurring payments are supported. Developer-Friendly for Unlimited Customization Directorist is a great choice for developers who want to customize or extend functionality. Override templates without touching plugin code. Use hooks and filters for endless possibilities. Unlock the Full Potential of Your Directory with Premium Extensions Universal Search – Simplify the user experience with a powerful search feature that works across multiple directory types such as Places, Real Estate, Jobs, and Services. Organize search results intuitively, with listings grouped by directory and displayed in their native layouts for easy navigation. Search Alert – Keep users engaged by allowing them to create and manage alerts based on their search criteria. Users receive notifications whenever new listings match their interests, ensuring they never miss out on relevant opportunities. Pricing Plan – Grow your directory business by offering unlimited pricing packages with tailored features designed to meet diverse user demands and generate extra revenue. WooCommerce Integration for Payment Flexibility – Use WooCommerce gateways to accept payments seamlessly across multiple methods. Streamline Online Appointments with Booking – Add comprehensive booking capabilities for events, appointments, or services directly within your directory. PayPal Payment Gateway – Securely accept payments on your directory website with PayPal, the world’s most trusted payment solution, enabling seamless transactions for users globally. Stripe Payment Gateway – Accept payments through a wide variety of methods, including Credit Cards, Debit Cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and AliPay. Authorize.Net Payment Gateway – Accept secure payments for your directory with Authorize.Net, supporting major payment methods Claim Listings for Verified Business Ownership – Allow businesses to own and manage their listing through a secure claiming process. Showcase Listings with Maps – Combine listing views with side-by-side maps for a dynamic user experience. Live Chat – Integrate private messaging system on your directory listing website and make your business more credible by ensuring customer satisfaction. Create Visual Appeal with Image Gallery – Highlight listings using eye-catching image galleries, sliders, or carousels. Mark as Sold – Enable listing authors to mark items as sold, giving visitors real-time status updates on availability. Google reCAPTCHA – Safeguard your directory from spam with bot detection during user sign-up, ensuring a secure platform. Listing Slider & Carousel – Showcase your listings beautifully with customizable sliders and carousels, using 18 slider and 28 carousel shortcode options. Business Hours – Display business opening and closing times with timezone settings and customizable live status badges. Listing FAQs – Add a user-friendly FAQ section to boost visitor engagement and turn them into loyal customers. Social Login – Simplify the sign-up process with quick registration and login options using popular social media platforms. Rank Featured Listings – Prioritize premium listings effortlessly to give them more visibility and generate additional revenue. Compare Listings – Let users compare multiple listings side-by-side in an easy-to-read table for better decision-making. Oxygen Builder Integration – Seamlessly combine all necessary directory functionalities using the Oxygen Builder for an advanced, intuitive design. BuddyBoss Integration – Create a dynamic community-driven directory by integrating Directorist with BuddyBoss. BuddyPress Integration – Combine Directorist and BuddyPress to build hybrid directories enriched with social networking features. Multi-Directory Linking – Allow users to connect multiple directories on your site, creating a seamless experience across niches. Mailchimp Integration – Grow your email list and leads faster by integrating Mailchimp with your directory platform. GamiPress Integration – Boost user engagement through gamification with points-based rewards for interactions on your site. WPML Integration – Build multilingual directories effortlessly and expand your reach to a global audience. Digital Marketplace – Create a marketplace for digital downloads or fixed-price services and diversify your revenue streams. Privacy Policy We use WordPress REST API to confirm the authenticity of a user attempting to gain access to directorist account to manage and install themes and extensions. Directorist – Business Directory Plugin uses Appsero SDK to collect some telemetry data upon user’s confirmation. This helps us to troubleshoot problems faster & make product improvements. Integrating Appsero SDK DOES NOT IMMEDIATELY start gathering data, without confirmation from users in any case.

Compress images, optimize images, and enable image lazy load automatically with the powerful Smush image optimizer to keep your WordPress site fast, without losing quality. Smush makes it easy to optimize images, compress images, and deliver images faster across your entire WordPress site. This all-in-one image optimizer automatically reduces image file sizes, enables image lazy load, and serves modern formats like WebP and AVIF, all without breaking image quality or adding extra work. Whether you’re running a blog, store, or portfolio, Smush helps you optimize images at scale and keep your site fast with a trusted WordPress image optimizer. Trusted by 1+ Million Sites | 4.8/5 Star Rating Get everything you need to optimize images and speed up your site. Smush works out of the box with no complicated setup – just install and let it handle the rest. Compress images without losing quality Reduce image file size automatically while keeping your images sharp and clear. Smush is an easy-to-use image optimizer which let’s you compress images using both lossless and lossy compression, giving you the best balance of quality and performance without extra work. You can also compress images outside the media library using Directory Smush, making it easy to optimize images stored in theme folders, plugins, or other directories on your server. Lazy load images for faster pages Enable image lazy load across your site so images load only when needed. This image optimizer improves initial page speed and creates a smoother experience for visitors without extra configuration. Serve WebP and AVIF images automatically (PRO) Convert images to WebP and AVIF and serve them automatically to supported browsers. Smush helps you optimize images using next-gen formats to reduce file size and improve load times across your WordPress site. Deliver images faster with an Image CDN (PRO) Serve images through a global image CDN to reduce latency and improve load times for visitors around the world. 119 global CDN servers Up to 500 GB of bandwidth Faster image delivery based on visitor location Improved performance for image-heavy and high-traffic sites Automatically resize and fix image dimensions (PRO) Eliminate common PageSpeed warnings and improve layout stability with automatic image sizing. Smush dynamically resizes images to perfectly fit their containers, regardless of original size, helping fix the “Properly size images” warning in Google PageSpeed Insights. It also automatically adds missing width and height attributes to your images, improving rendering speed and reducing layout shifts. This helps you meet the “Ensure images have explicit width and height” recommendation without any manual work. Optimize your entire site, automatically Smush works across your whole site as a powerful image optimizer to optimize images as you upload them and maintain performance over time without manual work. Optimize images automatically on upload Compress images in bulk or individually Works with your existing media library No need to re-upload images Enable image lazy load across your site Convert images to WebP and AVIF Deliver images with an integrated image CDN Automatically resize and serve correctly sized images Optimize images outside the media library with Directory Smush Built for performance Smush improves page speed and overall performance by reducing image weight and improving how images are delivered. Reduce page load times Improve user experience Better performance for image-heavy pages Supports image lazy load and preload images (PRO) for faster perceived performance Works with your existing setup Smush is built to work with your current WordPress setup, including popular themes, page builders, and plugins. Compatible with Gutenberg, Elementor, WPBakery, and more Works with WooCommerce stores No need to change your workflow Easy to enable and configure Designed to be simple You don’t need to be a performance expert to optimize images with Smush image optimizer. Works out of the box Simple settings when you need them No technical knowledge required Safe to use on any site Why choose Smush? There are plenty of image optimization plugins, but Smush focuses on making it easy to optimize images, compress images, and improve performance without complexity. As a leading WordPress image optimizer, Smush gives you powerful optimization tools without the technical hassle. Trusted by over 1 million WordPress users Built specifically for WordPress Regular updates and improvements Backed by the WPMU DEV team Get started in minutes Install Smush, activate it, and start to compress images, optimize images, and enable image lazy load right away. This easy-to-use image optimizer helps most sites see improvements immediately without changing how they upload or manage images. About Us WPMU DEV is a premium supplier of quality WordPress plugins, services and support. Learn more here: https://wpmudev.com/ Don’t forget to stay up to date on everything WordPress from the Internet’s number one resource: WPMU DEV Blog Hey, one more thing… we hope you enjoy our free offerings as much as we’ve loved making them for you! Contact and Credits Originally written by Alex Dunae at Dialect (dialect.ca, e-mail ‘alex’ at ‘dialect dot ca’), 2008-11.