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SearchWP
Premium WordPress search engine that indexes custom fields, taxonomies, PDFs and documents, with adjustable relevance weights and live results.
Est. active installs~27KLikely 18K–41K
Vendor claims50K+Vendor's own figure
Price from$199/yrPremium
Overview
SearchWP is a premium-only plugin that replaces the native WordPress search with its own index. Instead of only matching post titles and content, it can index custom fields (including Advanced Custom Fields), categories, tags and custom taxonomies, media library files and the text inside PDF and Office documents. Results are then ranked by an algorithm you tune from a visual settings screen.
How it works
You build one or more engines, choose which sources (post types, media, users, custom database tables) each engine covers, and set how much each attribute counts using weight sliders. SearchWP hooks into the standard search query, so most themes show improved results without template changes, while shortcodes, embeddable forms and a modal search form let you add separate search experiences. Background indexing keeps the index current as content changes.
Plans
There is no free version. The Standard plan covers one site and already includes document search, multiple engines, keyword stemming, synonyms, partial and closest-match (fuzzy) matching, live AJAX results, excluded and priority results and term highlighting. Pro (3 sites) adds the WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads and BigCommerce integrations, Metrics search analytics, custom results ordering, redirects, related content and the multisite, WPML and Polylang integrations. The All Access bundle adds the WPFilters filtering product and covers up to 100 sites.
Strengths
- Deep control over what is indexed and how it is ranked, without writing code.
- Built-in document content search on every plan.
- Self-hosted index, so no per-query fees or external service.
Limitations
Prices are noticeably higher than freemium rivals, and the introductory discount only applies to the first year. WooCommerce support, analytics and multilingual integrations are held back for Pro, and variation SKUs need a documented code snippet. Faceted filtering is a separate product bundled only in the top plan. Very large sites may prefer a hosted engine such as Elasticsearch or Algolia, which SearchWP does not use.
SearchWP suits content-heavy sites, knowledge bases, directories and membership sites that need custom fields and documents searched properly and are happy to pay for a polished, supported tool.
Best for: Content-rich or document-heavy sites that need custom fields, taxonomies and files searched with tunable relevance.
SearchWP is one of the most complete self-hosted search engines for WordPress, with document search and relevance controls even on its entry plan. The catch is cost: WooCommerce, analytics and multilingual support sit in the $399/year Pro tier. Worth it for sites where search quality directly affects revenue or support load.
Pros
- Indexes PDF and Office document content on every plan
- Visual weight controls for titles, content, custom fields and taxonomies
- Synonyms, stemming, fuzzy matching and 'did you mean' corrections built in
- Multiple engines and embeddable search forms for different site sections
- Self-hosted index with no query limits or external service
Cons
- No free version and relatively high annual pricing
- WooCommerce integration, analytics and multilingual support require Pro
- Variation SKUs need a code snippet and return the parent product
- Faceted filters (WPFilters) only bundled in the top plan
Key features
What SearchWP highlights on its own website, split by version.
Included features From $199/yr
- Custom field and ACF search
- PDF and Office document indexing
- Adjustable relevance weights
- Multiple search engines
- Embeddable and modal search forms
- Live AJAX search results
- Synonyms and keyword stemming
- Partial and fuzzy matching
- Automatic 'did you mean' corrections
- Exclude and prioritise results
- WooCommerce product search (Pro)
- Search Metrics analytics (Pro)
- Multisite and WPML/Polylang (Pro)
- WPFilters faceted filtering (All Access)
Feature checklist
17 of 18 features we track in Search Plugins, feature score 95/100
Relevance & indexing 7/7
Relevance weighting Key
Control how much titles, content, fields and terms count in results.
Weight sliders per attribute (title, content, fields, taxonomies) for each engine.
Included
Custom field search Key
Searches ACF and other custom fields.
Indexes custom post meta and ACF fields on all plans.
Included
Category, tag & taxonomy search
Matches categories, tags and custom taxonomies.
Categories, tags and custom taxonomies can be added to any engine.
Included
PDF & document search Key
Indexes the content of PDFs and office documents.
Indexes PDF and Office document content from the Standard plan; Xpdf integration available.
Included
Partial & fuzzy matching Key
Finds partial words and tolerates typos.
Partial matches plus a Closest Match option that finds similar-sounding words.
Included
Synonyms & stemming
Treats related words and word forms as matches.
Synonym rules in Global Rules (single words); keyword stemming also included.
Included
Exclusions & rules
Exclude posts, pages or post types and pin results.
Excluded and priority results on all plans; full custom results order needs Pro.
Included
WooCommerce 2/2
Product search (SKU & attributes) Key
Searches SKUs, attributes and product data.
WooCommerce integration indexes SKUs, attributes and product data from Pro.
Paid version Pro
Variation search
Finds individual product variations.
Variation data and SKUs indexed into the parent via a code snippet; parent product is returned.
Partial
Search experience 5/5
Live (AJAX) search Key
Shows results as visitors type.
Live AJAX results as visitors type, plus a modal search form.
Included
Filters & facets Key
Filter results by category, price, attributes or fields.
Faceted filters come from the bundled WPFilters product in the All Access plan.
Paid version All Access
Custom search forms
Multiple search forms with their own settings.
Embeddable search forms and multiple engines with their own settings.
Included
Term highlighting
Highlights the search term in results.
Highlight terms setting builds excerpts and wraps matches in mark tags.
Included
Did you mean? suggestions
Suggests corrections for misspelled searches.
With Closest Match on, zero-result searches are corrected and a notice is shown.
Included
Insights & scale 3/4
Search analytics Key
Shows what visitors search for and which searches return nothing.
Metrics extension shows popular terms, no-result searches and insights.
Paid version Pro
External or hosted index
Uses Algolia, Elasticsearch or a vendor cloud index for large sites.
Index lives in the WordPress database; no Algolia or Elasticsearch option.
Not included
Multilingual support
Works with WPML, Polylang or similar.
WPML and Polylang integrations are included from the Pro plan.
Paid version Pro
Multisite search
Search across sites in a network.
Cross-site multisite search is a Pro feature.
Paid version Pro
Pricing
Standard
$199per year1 site
First year discounted to $99; renewals at full price.
Pro
$399per year3 sites
First year discounted to $199; adds WooCommerce, Metrics, multisite and WPML/Polylang integrations.
All Access Bundle
$699per year100 sites
First year discounted to $399; adds WPFilters and premium support.
Prices are list prices from the vendor's site, checked 14 Oct 2026. Many vendors discount the first year.
How many sites use SearchWP?
Free installs from WordPress.org, the vendor's own claim, and our estimate of paid installs.
Free version (WordPress.org)
—
No free version on WordPress.org.
Vendor claim
50K+
Sites/users claimed on the vendor's website. source
Estimated active installs
~27K
Our estimate, see method below.
How we estimated this: The vendor says 50K+ sites use it; we take 80% of that (40K) because vendor counts are rounded up and include lapsed sites. Website scans by WPoptic find the paid plugin (folder searchwp) on 7,732 live sites; the scans reach roughly 38% of WordPress sites, so each site found stands for about 2.6, giving 20K. Combining these (weighted average) gives about 27K. Likely range: 18K to 41K. 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.
Company & policy
| Refund policy | 14-day money-back (source, 14 Oct 2026) |
|---|
SearchWP compared
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ElasticPress
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WP Search with Algolia
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FiboSearch – Ajax Search for WooCommerce
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Ivory Search
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FAQ
Is SearchWP free?
No. SearchWP is a premium plugin. Paid plans start at $199/yr.
How many sites use SearchWP?
The vendor claims 50K+ sites in total. We estimate around 27K active installs.
Does SearchWP have relevance weighting?
Yes: included. Weight sliders per attribute (title, content, fields, taxonomies) for each engine.
Does SearchWP have custom field search?
Yes: included. Indexes custom post meta and ACF fields on all plans.
Does SearchWP have pdf & document search?
Yes: included. Indexes PDF and Office document content from the Standard plan; Xpdf integration available.
Does SearchWP have partial & fuzzy matching?
Yes: included. Partial matches plus a Closest Match option that finds similar-sounding words.
Does SearchWP have product search (sku & attributes)?
Yes: paid version (Pro). WooCommerce integration indexes SKUs, attributes and product data from Pro.
Does SearchWP have live (ajax) search?
Yes: included. Live AJAX results as visitors type, plus a modal search form.
Does SearchWP have filters & facets?
Yes: paid version (All Access). Faceted filters come from the bundled WPFilters product in the All Access plan.
Does SearchWP have search analytics?
Yes: paid version (Pro). Metrics extension shows popular terms, no-result searches and insights.
Does SearchWP have a free version?
No. SearchWP is premium-only, starting with the single-site Standard plan; the first year is discounted and renewals are at the full list price.
Which plan do I need for WooCommerce?
The WooCommerce integration is part of the Pro plan and above. Variation SKUs can be indexed into parent products with a documented code snippet.
Can SearchWP search inside PDFs?
Yes. PDF and Office document content indexing is included from the Standard plan, with an optional Xpdf integration for more reliable PDF parsing.
Does it need an external search service?
No. The index is stored in your WordPress database, so there are no per-search fees, but it does not offer Algolia or Elasticsearch-style hosted indexing.
Last updated 13 Oct 2026. Spotted something wrong? Suggest an edit.