CM Business Directory – Optimise and showcase local business

How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.

Directory rank vs rivals

wp.org popularity rank over time · higher is better · when a rival's line climbs above yours, they've overtaken you

How often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.

Share of active installs on each version of this plugin · 100% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.

Refined from the date this plugin crossed into its current band.

No paid tier is visible, so we don't put a figure on revenue or sale value: that would be guessing. The install base is a real asset to an acquirer, just not one public data lets us price. A small install base leaves thin data to model from. A declining trend compresses what a buyer would pay.

1. ★★★★★ alantomkins

   3.5y ago

   I don’t like to leave a negative review but in this case I feel a warning is required. I think there’s a reason the last review is 4 years ago… The plugin features drew me in, and with the community plugin addon this did all I needed, but features aren’t the full story. The plugin looks very old, circa 2010 or older. The all the display templates look drab and unimaginative, but I am sure some template work would fix this, however it’s sold as an out of the box solution. In our case we wasted many hours trying to fit this into a modern looking site and gave up. It was also a few days past the 30 day trial period so on top of that we lost our money, a lesson learnt. The business directory index was not correctly responsive, in fact is was a mess. Again I am sure this was fixable, but out of the box? There were 2 show stoppers even before we’d completed the integration: The category filters did not use Ajax. You actually had to select a category, e.g. Food and Drink, and click on a button called FILTER. Really, in 2023, just rubbish. MK in support came back and said the plugin did not support this, WHAT! The image gallery looked like a cheap plugin from 2005, really ugly, and we were promoting businesses in the directory so that was 100% unacceptable. Again MK replied to my question saying this was the only option. For the business details there were 3 main text areas, Business pitch, Additional info 1 and Additional info 2. This was a bit over the top but OK, until it transpired there was no formatting menu. All you could do was add plain text in an input box, no bullets, bold, or anything. We didn’t try html as by this time we’d decided it was a waste of effort. There were a massive number of backend fields and as our client was going to manage this themselves going forward it was a very confusing admin panel, and there was no way to remove the fields that you didn’t require. In fairness, MK in support listened to my comments and I hope they are acted on, but if you’re looking for a modern clean directory plugin I’m afraid this isn’t it. We have moved onto Geodirectory which is looking promising. This topic was modified 3 years, 5 months ago by alantomkins.

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2. ★★★★★ trifectacreative

   8.3y ago

   I tried several free plug-ins to accomplish what I needed and nothing was doing the trick. I got tired of wrestling with the content and decided my time was worth a whole lot more than the $$$ for the pro version of this one. Money well spent … you should do the same. I had a couple of minor hiccups in the formatting of my directory and a couple of minor requests and they were very quick to respond and very thorough in meeting all of my requests. Data import was very easy to accomplish — extremely important if you have more than a handful of listings. Very solid product.

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3. ★★★★★ lanakm

   8.5y ago

   The plugin is inflexible. Support is horrific. I do not recommend this plugin. I was reassured that if the upgrade didn’t work, they would either try to help me resolve issues OR refund. A week after requesting a refund on the day of purchase, we are still going back and forth. They are requiring “proof” of deactivation although it was deleted on my site AND on their server. These guys are scam artists. Buyer beware!

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4. ★★★★★ sikim

   10.0y ago

   Very Professionnal plugin and very easy to use We have baught the pro version and we are very satisfied The support team is great Hakim Bel

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5. ★★★★★ Anonymous

   10.1y ago

   I want to give kudos to their tech support… I had multiple questions before and after I bought a 5 site license! Their response time was very acceptable and they helped me meet my client’s needs! It’s a very usable plug-in. I have used other business directory plug in’s but this one is a bit more flexible. Since the client needed multiple directories, I was able to use subdomains to make it work for them. Happy Client and happy programmer!

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6. ★★★★★ MassCentral

   10.1y ago

   Turn around from support was faster than expected,,,

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7. ★★★★★ michele333

   10.3y ago

   The CM Business Directory plugin does the job right out of the box. I installed 3 other directory plugins and struggled with getting them set up. CMBD plugin works great and so easy to use. I love the fact that you don’t have to weigh down your website with unnecessary bells and whistles. Extra features are available and can be quickly added when needed. Customer Support is friendly and fast! I asked them to fix the CSS because the search bar wasn’t neatly lining up. They fixed it in one day. Thanks!

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8. ★★★★★ tigrik

   10.9y ago

   Версия 1.0.2 Плагин не был активирован, потому что он вызвал фатальную ошибку. Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_FUNCTION in /wp-content/plugins/cm-business-directory/backend/classes/Settings.php on line 419

   Read on wp.org ↗

4 disclosed vulnerabilities on record for this plugin, all fixed in the current version. Sites on older versions stay exposed until they update.

1. Medium · 6.4 CM Business Directory <= 1.5.7 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Business Address Meta Fields ↗
   2026-07-02 CVE-2026-8892 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') Affects <= 1.5.7 Patched in 1.5.8
2. Medium · 6.4 CM Business Directory – Optimise and showcase local business <= 1.5.3 - Authenticated (Author+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting ↗
   2026-01-16 CVE-2026-25004 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') Affects <= 1.5.3 Patched in 1.5.4
3. Medium · 6.4 CM Business Directory <= 1.5.2 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting ↗
   2025-09-25 CVE-2025-10178 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') Affects <= 1.5.2 Patched in 1.5.3
4. Medium · 6.1 Multiple Plugins <= (Various Versions) - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting via cminds_free_guide Shortcode ↗
   2024-11-25 CVE-2024-11202 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') Affects <= 1.4.1 Patched in 1.4.2

Automated install-time checks, tested on PHP 8.1.12 · WP 7.0

Translated into 2 languages, 1 at 90% or more

Growth timeline

Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow

1. 2026-08-07 20+ → 30+ up after 28 days in tier
2. 2026-07-10 30+ → 20+ down after 23 days in tier
3. 2026-06-17 20+ → 30+ up after 18 days in tier
4. 2026-05-30 30+ → 20+ down after 3 days in tier
5. 2026-05-27 20+ → 30+ up after 3 days in tier
6. 2026-05-24 30+ → 20+ down after 56 days in tier
7. 2026-03-29 40+ → 30+ down after 4 days in tier
8. 2026-03-25 30+ → 40+ up after 36 days in tier

Competes with

The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach, closest match first. The letter on the right is each plugin's health grade (A best, F worst).

• Directorist: AI-Powered Business Directory, Listings & Classified Ads 20K+ installs · 4.6★ · 4 shared tags A
• GeoDirectory – WP Business Directory Plugin and Classified Listings Directory 10K+ installs · 4.7★ · 4 shared tags A
• HivePress – Business Directory, Listings & Classified Ads Plugin 10K+ installs · 4.8★ · 4 shared tags A
• Classified Listing – AI-Powered Classified ads & Business Directory 9K+ installs · 4.8★ · 4 shared tags A
• Business Directory Plugin – Easy Listing & Member Directories for WordPress 10K+ installs · 4.6★ · 3 shared tags A
• WP Directory Kit 2K+ installs · 4.6★ · 3 shared tags A

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CM Business Directory – Optimise and showcase local business: 30+ active installs, 3.9★ (11 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-08-31. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/cm-business-directory