SearchWP
Premium WordPress search engine that indexes custom fields, taxonomies, PDFs and documents, with adjustable relevance weights and live results.
95
WP Search with Algolia
WebDevStudios' maintained connector that indexes WordPress into Algolia for typo-tolerant autocomplete and instant search; Pro adds WooCommerce and multisite.
Free installs7K+WordPress.org, active
Est. Pro installs~300Likely 150–600
Rating4.5/524 reviews
Price from$99/yrFreemium
Last updated9 Oct 2026Version 3.0.1
Overview
WP Search with Algolia connects WordPress to Algolia, a hosted search engine. It began as Algolia’s own plugin; when Algolia stopped maintaining it, WebDevStudios forked it and now develops it as the community-supported successor. The plugin pushes your posts, pages, custom post types, terms and users into Algolia indices, then replaces the front-end search with Algolia’s Autocomplete dropdown and an InstantSearch results page.
Because the heavy lifting happens on Algolia’s infrastructure, results are fast and come with Algolia’s strengths: typo tolerance, prefix matching, faceting, ranking controls, synonyms and query rules, all configured in the Algolia dashboard. You need an Algolia account and API keys. Algolia’s free plan includes 10K search requests a month; usage beyond that moves to pay-as-you-go plans.
Free plugin vs Pro
The free plugin handles indexing, Autocomplete and InstantSearch, and exposes hooks and templates for developers. Adding custom fields to the index normally means writing PHP filters. WP Search with Algolia Pro (sold through Pluginize for $99) is an add-on that keeps the free plugin active and adds:
- A drag-and-drop Meta Field Mapper for ACF, Meta Box, CMB2 and post meta.
- WooCommerce indexing of SKUs, prices, dimensions, ratings and stock visibility.
- One network-wide index for multisite, with per-site exclusion.
- Per-post exclusion, SEO noindex mirroring and an index health panel.
- Algolia Insights events for conversion tracking and AI features.
Strengths and limitations
It is a solid choice when you want hosted search quality without running Elasticsearch yourself. The limits are cost and effort: busy sites will pay Algolia per thousand searches, the InstantSearch page often needs theme styling, and relevance tuning, synonyms and analytics live in the Algolia dashboard rather than WordPress. There is no PDF content indexing, and WPML/Polylang are not handled natively.
Who should pick it: developers and content-heavy sites already comfortable with Algolia, or stores that want Algolia’s speed and typo tolerance and are willing to buy Pro for WooCommerce data.
Best for: Developer-led and content-heavy sites that want Algolia's hosted, typo-tolerant search inside WordPress.
WP Search with Algolia is the practical way to put Algolia behind WordPress search, and WebDevStudios keeps it current. The free plugin suits technical teams; most stores will want Pro for WooCommerce data, and everyone should budget for Algolia usage as traffic grows.
Pros
- Algolia's typo tolerance and speed with no servers to manage
- Autocomplete and InstantSearch included in the free plugin
- Actively maintained fork of Algolia's discontinued plugin
- Pro's Meta Field Mapper indexes ACF and Meta Box fields without code
- Pro adds WooCommerce product data and multisite network indexing
Cons
- Needs an Algolia account; heavy traffic means per-search fees
- Relevance, synonyms and analytics are managed in Algolia, not WordPress
- InstantSearch page usually needs custom styling
- Custom fields and WooCommerce data need code or the Pro add-on
- No PDF/Office content indexing or native WPML support
Key features
What WP Search with Algolia highlights on its WordPress.org page and its own website, split by version.
Free version WordPress.org
- One-click indexing into Algolia
- Autocomplete dropdown as you type
- InstantSearch results page
- Faceted results with typo tolerance
- Relevance and positioning control
- Indexes posts, pages, CPTs, terms, users
- Language-agnostic search
- Hooks and templates for developers
- Free Algolia plan for small projects
Pro / paid adds From $99/yr
- Drag-and-drop Meta Field Mapper
- ACF, Meta Box and CMB2 fields
- WooCommerce SKUs, prices and ratings
- Hide sold-out or hidden products
- Variable product pricing support
- Multisite network-wide index
- Per-post exclusion controls
- SEO plugin noindex mirroring
- Index health panel and widget
- Algolia Insights conversion events
- Premium support
Feature checklist
16 of 18 features we track in Search Plugins, feature score 84/100
Relevance & indexing 6/7
Relevance weighting Key
Control how much titles, content, fields and terms count in results.
Searchable attribute order and custom ranking are tuned in the Algolia dashboard and via hooks.
Included
Custom field search Key
Searches ACF and other custom fields.
Pro's Meta Field Mapper indexes ACF, Meta Box, CMB2 and post meta; free needs PHP filters.
Paid version Pro
Category, tag & taxonomy search
Matches categories, tags and custom taxonomies.
Indexes terms and post taxonomies, which are searchable and usable as facets.
Included
PDF & document search Key
Indexes the content of PDFs and office documents.
No indexing of PDF or Office file contents is offered.
Not included
Partial & fuzzy matching Key
Finds partial words and tolerates typos.
Algolia's typo tolerance and prefix matching apply to all queries.
Included
Synonyms & stemming
Treats related words and word forms as matches.
Synonyms are set up in the Algolia dashboard; AI synonyms need Algolia Grow Plus.
Included
Exclusions & rules
Exclude posts, pages or post types and pin results.
Pro adds per-post exclusion and noindex mirroring; free relies on filters and Algolia Rules.
Paid version Pro
WooCommerce 2/2
Product search (SKU & attributes) Key
Searches SKUs, attributes and product data.
Pro indexes WooCommerce SKUs, prices, dimensions, ratings and stock visibility.
Paid version Pro
Variation search
Finds individual product variations.
Pro indexes variable products with variation pricing; separate variation results not documented.
Partial Pro
Search experience 4/5
Live (AJAX) search Key
Shows results as visitors type.
Algolia Autocomplete dropdown shows results as visitors type.
Included
Filters & facets Key
Filter results by category, price, attributes or fields.
InstantSearch page with faceted filters; product facets need Pro.
Included
Custom search forms
Multiple search forms with their own settings.
One site-wide Autocomplete and InstantSearch setup; variants require template code.
Not included
Term highlighting
Highlights the search term in results.
Autocomplete and InstantSearch templates highlight the matched terms.
Included
Did you mean? suggestions
Suggests corrections for misspelled searches.
Typo tolerance returns matches for misspellings, but no 'did you mean' prompt is shipped.
Partial
Insights & scale 4/4
Search analytics Key
Shows what visitors search for and which searches return nothing.
Search analytics live in the Algolia dashboard (7-day retention on the free plan).
Included
External or hosted index
Uses Algolia, Elasticsearch or a vendor cloud index for large sites.
Content is indexed and searched on Algolia's hosted infrastructure.
Included
Multilingual support
Works with WPML, Polylang or similar.
Language-agnostic engine, but no built-in WPML or Polylang handling.
Partial
Multisite search
Search across sites in a network.
Pro builds one network-wide index with per-site exclusion.
Paid version Pro
Pricing
Free
$0On WordPress.org
Free plugin
Freeper yearUnlimited
Free on WordPress.org; requires an Algolia account.
Pro add-on
$99per yearNot stated
Sold as a cancellable subscription on Pluginize; includes 6 months of updates/support; billing interval and site count not stated. 30-day refund.
Algolia Free (service)
Freeper month1 site
Algolia's own plan: 10K search requests/month and 50K records; 7-day analytics.
Algolia Grow (service)
Freeper month1 site
Pay as you go after the free allowance: $0.50 per 1K searches and $0.40 per 1K records.
Prices are list prices from the vendor's site, checked 14 Oct 2026. Many vendors discount the first year.
How many sites use WP Search with Algolia?
Free installs from WordPress.org, the vendor's own claim, and our estimate of paid installs.
Free version (WordPress.org)
7K+
Active installations reported by WordPress.org.
Vendor claim
—
The vendor does not publish a total.
Estimated Pro / paid installs
~300
Our estimate, see method below.
How we estimated this: About 7.5K free installs x 4% (the usual share of free sites that also run the paid version when most features are free) gives 300. Likely range: 150 to 600. 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
3,517 downloads last week, 400K all time
Rating breakdown
| Version | 3.0.1 |
|---|---|
| Last updated | 9 Oct 2026 (25 days ago) |
| Tested up to | WordPress 7.1.4 |
| Requires | WordPress 6.2.9+, PHP 8.1+ |
| Support threads (2 months) | 3 of 3 resolved |
| On WordPress.org since | 16 May 2019 |
Company & policy
| Refund policy | 30-day money-back (source, 14 Oct 2026) |
|---|
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FAQ
Is WP Search with Algolia free?
Yes. WP Search with Algolia has a free version on WordPress.org. Paid plans start at $99/yr.
How many sites use WP Search with Algolia?
WordPress.org reports 7K+ active installations of the free version. We estimate around 300 sites run the paid version.
Does WP Search with Algolia have relevance weighting?
Yes: included. Searchable attribute order and custom ranking are tuned in the Algolia dashboard and via hooks.
Does WP Search with Algolia have custom field search?
Yes: paid version (Pro). Pro's Meta Field Mapper indexes ACF, Meta Box, CMB2 and post meta; free needs PHP filters.
Does WP Search with Algolia have pdf & document search?
No: not included. No indexing of PDF or Office file contents is offered.
Does WP Search with Algolia have partial & fuzzy matching?
Yes: included. Algolia's typo tolerance and prefix matching apply to all queries.
Does WP Search with Algolia have product search (sku & attributes)?
Yes: paid version (Pro). Pro indexes WooCommerce SKUs, prices, dimensions, ratings and stock visibility.
Does WP Search with Algolia have live (ajax) search?
Yes: included. Algolia Autocomplete dropdown shows results as visitors type.
Does WP Search with Algolia have filters & facets?
Yes: included. InstantSearch page with faceted filters; product facets need Pro.
Does WP Search with Algolia have search analytics?
Yes: included. Search analytics live in the Algolia dashboard (7-day retention on the free plan).
Do I need to pay Algolia as well as for the plugin?
You need an Algolia account. Its free plan covers 10K searches a month; beyond that you pay Algolia per thousand searches and records, separately from the optional $99 Pro add-on.
Is this the official Algolia plugin?
It is a WebDevStudios-maintained fork of Algolia's original plugin, which Algolia no longer updates. Users of the old plugin are encouraged to switch.
Does Pro replace the free plugin?
No. Pro is an add-on that requires the free plugin to stay active, and it deactivates itself if the free plugin is missing.
Can it search WooCommerce SKUs?
Yes with Pro, which indexes SKUs, short descriptions, prices, dimensions and ratings. The free plugin does not index WooCommerce product data.
Last updated 13 Oct 2026. Spotted something wrong? Suggest an edit.