SearchWP
Premium WordPress search engine that indexes custom fields, taxonomies, PDFs and documents, with adjustable relevance weights and live results.
95
Ivory Search
Free WordPress search form builder with unlimited custom forms, AJAX live search, synonyms and highlighting; premium adds SKU and variation search.
Free installs90K+WordPress.org, active
Est. Pro installs~3.8KLikely 1.9K–7.6K
Rating4.9/51,562 reviews
Price from$19.99/yrFreemium
Last updated21 Oct 2026Version 5.5.20
Overview
Ivory Search (WordPress.org slug add-search-to-menu) improves the default WordPress search and lets you build as many custom search forms as you need. Each form has its own rules about what it searches and excludes, and can be placed in menus, headers, footers, widget areas or content through a shortcode. It is popular as a low-cost way to add focused search boxes, for example a products-only search or a documentation-only search.
Free version
The free plugin includes an inverted-index search engine, unlimited search forms, AJAX live search for any form (including the default one), and a form customiser with several styles. Forms can search post types, titles, content, excerpts, taxonomy terms, custom fields, authors, comments and media titles, captions and descriptions. You can exclude specific posts, post types, terms or date ranges, highlight search terms, configure stop words and synonyms, choose all-or-any word matching and enable partial-word (fuzzy) matching. Shortcode content and TablePress tables can be indexed, searches can be sent to Google Analytics, and WPML, Polylang, Weglot, bbPress and WooCommerce are supported.
Premium plans
Premium is inexpensive. The Pro plan adds result ordering options, search by author or post status, and exclusions by custom field, author or post status. Pro Plus adds WooCommerce SKU and variation search, keyword stemming, filtering media by file type and excluding out-of-stock products.
Limitations
- No relevance weighting controls; results are ordered by date, relevance or other fields.
- Attachments are searched by metadata only, not by file content.
- Analytics relies on Google Analytics rather than an in-dashboard report.
- No ‘did you mean’ suggestions, and styling depends heavily on your theme.
Ivory Search is a strong free option for sites that need several targeted search forms and live results without paying, while stores that rely on SKU search should look at Pro Plus.
Best for: Sites that need several targeted search forms and live search on a small budget.
Ivory Search packs unlimited search forms, live search, synonyms and highlighting into a free plugin, which makes it excellent value. It lacks the ranking controls and document indexing of heavier engines, so it is best for sites that mainly need better-scoped search rather than finely tuned relevance.
Pros
- Unlimited custom search forms, each with its own rules
- AJAX live search included free
- Synonyms, stop words and term highlighting in the free version
- Wide exclusion options for posts, terms and dates
- Very low premium pricing
Cons
- No relevance weighting controls
- WooCommerce SKU and variation search need Pro Plus
- Attachments searched by metadata only, not file content
- Analytics depends on Google Analytics
Key features
What Ivory Search highlights on its WordPress.org page and its own website, split by version.
Free version WordPress.org
- Unlimited custom search forms
- AJAX live search for any form
- Inverted-index search engine
- Search custom fields and taxonomies
- Search media titles and captions
- Detailed content exclusions
- Search term highlighting
- Synonyms and stop words
- Partial-word fuzzy matching
- Menu, widget and shortcode placement
- Form styling customiser
- WPML, Polylang and Weglot support
Pro / paid adds From $19.99/yr
- Custom result ordering
- Search by author or post status
- Exclude by custom fields or author
- WooCommerce SKU search (Pro Plus)
- Product variation search (Pro Plus)
- Keyword stemming (Pro Plus)
- Filter media by file type (Pro Plus)
- Exclude out-of-stock products (Pro Plus)
- Priority support
Feature checklist
13 of 18 features we track in Search Plugins, feature score 61/100
Relevance & indexing 5/7
Relevance weighting Key
Control how much titles, content, fields and terms count in results.
Results can be ordered by date, relevance and other fields, but there are no weights.
Not included
Custom field search Key
Searches ACF and other custom fields.
Free forms can search custom fields and metadata; excluding by field needs Pro.
Included
Category, tag & taxonomy search
Matches categories, tags and custom taxonomies.
Searches category and taxonomy term titles and descriptions; restrict by terms.
Included
PDF & document search Key
Indexes the content of PDFs and office documents.
Attachments searched by title, caption and description only, not file content.
Not included
Partial & fuzzy matching Key
Finds partial words and tolerates typos.
Fuzzy option matches whole or partial words; no typo tolerance described.
Partial
Synonyms & stemming
Treats related words and word forms as matches.
Free synonym list; keyword stemming requires Pro Plus.
Included
Exclusions & rules
Exclude posts, pages or post types and pin results.
Exclude post types, specific items, terms and dates free; more exclusions in premium.
Included
WooCommerce 2/2
Product search (SKU & attributes) Key
Searches SKUs, attributes and product data.
Free searches products; SKU search and out-of-stock exclusion need Pro Plus.
Paid version Pro Plus
Variation search
Finds individual product variations.
Product variation search is a premium feature alongside SKU search.
Paid version Pro Plus
Search experience 4/5
Live (AJAX) search Key
Shows results as visitors type.
Any form, including the default one, can show AJAX results.
Included
Filters & facets Key
Filter results by category, price, attributes or fields.
Admins restrict forms by taxonomy, fields or dates; no visitor-facing facets.
Partial
Custom search forms
Multiple search forms with their own settings.
Unlimited forms, each with separate settings and placement.
Included
Term highlighting
Highlights the search term in results.
Option to highlight search terms in results.
Included
Did you mean? suggestions
Suggests corrections for misspelled searches.
No spelling suggestion feature in the plugin or documentation.
Not included
Insights & scale 2/4
Search analytics Key
Shows what visitors search for and which searches return nothing.
Sends searches to Google Analytics; no built-in report in WordPress.
Partial
External or hosted index
Uses Algolia, Elasticsearch or a vendor cloud index for large sites.
Uses its own local index in the WordPress database.
Not included
Multilingual support
Works with WPML, Polylang or similar.
Integrates with WPML, Polylang and Weglot.
Included
Multisite search
Search across sites in a network.
No cross-site network search mentioned in features or docs.
Not included
Pricing
Free
$0On WordPress.org
Starter
Freeper yearUnlimited
Free on WordPress.org.
Pro
$19.99per year1 site
Listed base price; 5- and 25-site tiers and a one-time (lifetime) option are offered.
Pro Plus
$49.99per year1 site
Adds SKU/variation search and stemming; 5- and 25-site tiers and a one-time option are offered.
Prices are list prices from the vendor's site, checked 14 Oct 2026. Many vendors discount the first year.
How many sites use Ivory Search?
Free installs from WordPress.org, the vendor's own claim, and our estimate of paid installs.
Free version (WordPress.org)
90K+
Active installations reported by WordPress.org.
Vendor claim
—
The vendor does not publish a total.
Estimated Pro / paid installs
~3.8K
Our estimate, see method below.
How we estimated this: About 95K free installs x 4% (the usual share of free sites that also run the paid version when most features are free) gives 3.8K. Likely range: 1.9K to 7.6K. This counts sites running the paid version, including sites whose licence has lapsed. Estimates are rough and based on public figures as of 14 Oct 2026.
Stats & health
Weekly downloads
12,740 downloads last week, 3.2M all time
Rating breakdown
| Version | 5.5.20 |
|---|---|
| Last updated | 21 Oct 2026 (13 days ago) |
| Tested up to | WordPress 7.1.4 |
| Requires | WordPress 3.9+, PHP 5.2.4+ |
| Support threads (2 months) | 0 of 1 resolved |
| On WordPress.org since | 6 Apr 2017 |
Company & policy
| Refund policy | 30-day money-back (source, 14 Oct 2026) Refund considered when an issue makes the plugin unusable and cannot be fixed. |
|---|
Ivory Search compared
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FAQ
Is Ivory Search free?
Yes. Ivory Search has a free version on WordPress.org. Paid plans start at $19.99/yr.
How many sites use Ivory Search?
WordPress.org reports 90K+ active installations of the free version. We estimate around 3.8K sites run the paid version.
Does Ivory Search have relevance weighting?
No: not included. Results can be ordered by date, relevance and other fields, but there are no weights.
Does Ivory Search have custom field search?
Yes: included. Free forms can search custom fields and metadata; excluding by field needs Pro.
Does Ivory Search have pdf & document search?
No: not included. Attachments searched by title, caption and description only, not file content.
Does Ivory Search have partial & fuzzy matching?
Yes: partial. Fuzzy option matches whole or partial words; no typo tolerance described.
Does Ivory Search have product search (sku & attributes)?
Yes: paid version (Pro Plus). Free searches products; SKU search and out-of-stock exclusion need Pro Plus.
Does Ivory Search have live (ajax) search?
Yes: included. Any form, including the default one, can show AJAX results.
Does Ivory Search have filters & facets?
Yes: partial. Admins restrict forms by taxonomy, fields or dates; no visitor-facing facets.
Does Ivory Search have search analytics?
Yes: partial. Sends searches to Google Analytics; no built-in report in WordPress.
Is Ivory Search free?
Yes, the Starter version on WordPress.org is free and includes unlimited forms, AJAX search, synonyms and highlighting. Paid plans start at $19.99/year.
Which plan do I need for WooCommerce SKU search?
SKU and product variation search, plus excluding out-of-stock products, are part of the Pro Plus plan.
Can I have different search forms for different sections?
Yes. You can create unlimited forms, each limited to specific post types, taxonomies or content, and place them in menus, widgets or via shortcode.
Does Ivory Search index PDF contents?
No. It searches media by title, caption and description, and Pro Plus can filter by file type, but it does not read file contents.
Last updated 13 Oct 2026. Spotted something wrong? Suggest an edit.