The short answer
WP Job Manager is free and open source, and its features beyond the basic listing — applications, job alerts, bookmarks, resumes, paid listings — come as separate add-ons, sold one by one or as a bundle. That model works well if you want to assemble your board piece by piece.
JobCore is for people who want the complete board in one free plugin. Applications, alerts, bookmarks, employer pages and the account area are already in the core. The add-ons you can buy are about earning from the board — paid packages, promoted ads, extra fields and premium looks.
Side by side
| JobCore | WP Job Manager | |
|---|---|---|
| Core plugin | Free (GPL) | Free (GPL) |
| Applications with CV upload | Included | Add-on |
| Job alerts | Included | Add-on |
| Bookmarks | Included | Add-on |
| Employer pages | Included | Not in the core plugin |
| Look | Inside your theme, or a standalone portal with its own header and footer | Uses your theme’s templates |
| Front-end account for candidates and employers | Included — jobs, companies, applications, alerts, bookmarks | Job dashboard included; more via add-ons |
| Job seeker and employer accounts | Included — each account sees its own screens; switch with one click, or keep them strictly separate | Employer role in the core; a candidate role comes with Resume Manager |
| Applications inbox with shortlist / reject | Included | Add-on |
| Several companies per employer | Included | Not in the core plugin |
| Resume database for employers | Resumes add-on — private by default, candidates approve contact requests | Resume Manager add-on |
| Charge employers for resume access | Built into Resumes: sell days of access, or include it with job ads — no code | Their guide combines WC Paid Listings with a code snippet |
| Who may search resumes | You approve each employer once before their first search; candidates’ names are shortened and contact details stay hidden until they say yes | Set by a user capability in the Resume Manager settings |
| Banner ads on the board | Ad Manager add-on — your own campaigns with booking, viewable impressions and CSV reports, your ad code or Google ads, targeting by job category | Not in the core plugin |
| Employers book banners themselves | Included in Ad Manager — pick a place and weeks, upload the banner, pay with WooCommerce; you approve it, they see views and clicks | Not in the core plugin |
| Moving from the other plugin | Free importer for WP Job Manager jobs, companies, logos, types and categories — old job links keep working | — |
| Paid job packages | Paid Listings add-on (WooCommerce) | Paid listings add-ons |
| Google Jobs structured data | Included — with salary, country and fully remote jobs, plus a checklist of what your jobs are missing | Included |
| Tell Google about new and closed jobs right away | Included — Google Indexing API, optional | Not in the core plugin (Google finds jobs when it crawls) |
| Job feeds | XML feed for job aggregators and RSS feed, both filterable | RSS feed, filterable |
| Job search filters | Field, job type, place, remote and date — several at once; the Explorer look shows them in a sidebar with job counts | Keywords, location, job type and categories |
| Sign-in and sign-up | On the board in its own look, with password reset and a job seeker / employer choice | WordPress login; an account can be created while posting a job |
| Dark mode | Included — light, dark or the visitor’s device setting | Depends on your theme |
Compiled from each project’s public pages at the time of writing — check wpjobmanager.com for their current add-ons and prices. WP Job Manager is a trademark of its owners; we are not affiliated.
What else you get with JobCore
- Two looks in one plugin. Run the board inside your current theme, or switch to a modern standalone portal with its own header, footer, logo and accent colour — no special job board theme needed.
- Its own account area. Employers manage job ads, company profiles and applications; candidates manage alerts, bookmarks and see where each application stands — all on the front end.
- Review before publishing. New job ads from employers can wait for your approval, and you get an e-mail when one arrives.
- Privacy by default. CVs and photos are stored privately and deleted after a period you choose; data export and erase requests are handled through WordPress’ own privacy tools.
- More visitors from search. Job feeds for aggregators and partner sites, Google job data with salary and remote jobs, and optional instant indexing so new jobs show up in Google sooner.
- Setup in minutes. A setup wizard creates the jobs page, sets the look and contact details, and can add sample jobs to preview the board.
Who should switch — and who should not
JobCore is a good fit if you are starting a new board, if you are paying for several add-ons just to get applications and alerts, or if you want a board that looks finished without custom theme work.
Stay with WP Job Manager if your site depends on a theme built specifically for it, or on one of its add-ons that JobCore has no match for.
Moving your board
JobCore includes a free importer for WP Job Manager boards. It reads your existing jobs straight from the database, so WP Job Manager can already be switched off. Install JobCore, open Jobs → Import from WP Job Manager and click once.
- What moves over: jobs with their text, dates and authors, company name, website, tagline and logo (as employer pages), location, remote flag, how to apply, job types and categories, the featured flag and the filled flag.
- Expired jobs: you choose whether to bring them. Old ads keep their past end date, so they stay off the board.
- Old links keep working: once WP Job Manager is switched off, addresses of imported jobs redirect to their new page.
- Safe to run again: your WP Job Manager data is only read, never changed. Running the import again updates jobs it already moved instead of making copies.
Applications sent through WP Job Manager’s Applications add-on stay where they are. If you need help moving a larger board, open a ticket — we read every one.
New to JobCore? Start with the free WordPress job board plugin overview, or the setup guide.