My Top 5 WordPress Search & Filter Plugins for 2025 (Free & Paid)

Searching for the best WordPress search filter plugins to help your visitors drill-down into your products or content?

By default, WordPress only lets visitors search by keyword, and it’s quite basic at that. If you have a WooCommerce store, you’ll get a few dedicated filter widgets, but it’s still quite basic. Other WordPress sites don’t even get that.

Thankfully, there are some quality advanced WordPress search plugins that let you create your own custom faceted search/filter system based on any information on your site, including custom fields, taxonomies, and other data.

In this post, I’ll compare the best plugins to improve your website search.

Why Use WordPress Search Filter Plugins?

Put simply, sometimes a single keyword search isn’t enough to help your visitors quickly find the content that they’re looking for.

The most common example would be eCommerce stores. Most shoppers aren’t just looking for a “Sweatshirt”, they want a sweatshirt that’s available in their size, within their budget, and comes in the colors they like.

A search and filter system, or faceted search*, lets them add all of those queries at once so that they can immediately find the perfect product. Faceted search can also function as a kind of navigation, guiding people towards the content they’re looking for.

* faceted search and search filtering are technically different things, but most people just lump them together.

This approach is so common that you’ll see it on virtually every eCommerce store, including Amazon:

However, this type of search is by no means limited to eCommerce stores – it can be useful in tons of other situations, including yours. Or maybe even helping your users search your knowledge base.

Basically, in any situation where your visitors might want to search content by more than just a keyword, WordPress search filter plugins can help them find content faster, which helps you create a better user experience and/or sell more products.

Best WordPress Search Plugins for 2025

When it comes to WordPress advanced search plugins, the two most popular options are FacetWP and Search & Filter. Both plugins let you create advanced faceted search systems based on taxonomies, custom fields, post data, and more.

So, let’s start with them.

1. FacetWP

FacetWP is one of the most popular search and filter plugins for WordPress. It helps you add highly-customizable faceted search to WordPress sites and WooCommerce stores.

You can create your own faceted search layout using an intuitive builder or add faceted search to popular page builder plugins, such as Elementor.

Overall, FacetWP’s most standout feature is how flexible it is, especially when it comes to working with custom content.

To see how it works on the front-end, you can check out these three demos:

• Cars
• Power plants
• State parks

Key Features

• Create search and filter systems for any post type or even WordPress users.
• Use 13+ input types in your filter system including drop-downs, range selectors, checkboxes, search box, and more.
• Create filters based on taxonomies, custom fields, and post data (e.g. author, post type, etc).
• Integrates with popular custom content plugins including ACF, Pods, Meta Box, and more.
• Create your own custom results template using a built-in layout builder, a page builder, or your own custom code.
• Via the page builder integrations, you can display your facets alongside existing page builder content list widgets. For example, you can add faceted search beside Elementor Pro’s Posts or WooCommerce Products list widgets.
• Option to use Ajax, which means users don’t need to reload the page to apply their filters
• Integrates with WooCommerce, WP Job Manager, Polylang, and more.

Pros of Using FacetWP

• It lets you create filters based on pretty much any content on your site, even custom fields.
• You get a bunch of different facet types, which helps you create filters for different types of content.
• It integrates with popular page builder plugins, which makes it easy to add faceted search to your designs or theme builder templates.
• You can build your own custom results templates using a simple template tag system.
• For developers, there are lots of hooks to customize things according to your needs.

Cons of Using FacetWP

• There’s no free version and the paid version is more expensive than most alternatives.
• It can be a little complicated for casual users, though the addition of page builder integrations makes it a lot simpler than it was before.

Pricing

FacetWP only comes in a premium version. You can pay $99 for three sites or $249 for up to 20 sites. Additionally, you need the $249 Professional license if you want to create filters for users. Other than that, the features are the same between both licenses.

2. Search & Filter Pro

Search & Filter Pro is another popular WordPress search filter plugin that comes in a free version at WordPress.org as well as an affordable premium version.

Like FacetWP, it gives you the flexibility to create faceted search for any post type and based on custom fields, taxonomies, and post data.

If you want to see it in action, you can check out the demo here.

Key Features

• 12+ input types including drop-downs, radio buttons, single/multi-select, search box, date/number ranges, and more.
• Drag-and-drop search form builder.
• Filter by taxonomy, custom fields, and post data (post type, author, dates, etc.).
• Dedicated eCommerce integrations for WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, and many other WordPress eCommerce plugins.
• Integration with ACF for custom fields.
• Dynamic filters that update based on the current search (to avoid pages with zero results).
• Option to use Ajax so that users don’t need to refresh the page to see results.
• Integrations with Elementor Pro, Beaver Builder, and Divi for front-end display.

Pros of Using Search & Filter Pro

• You’re able to create filters based on pretty much any content on your site.
• It includes a variety of filter/facet types and is pretty much equal to FacetWP in that respect.
• You can use page builders to control the design of your results list, which is super convenient for non-developers.
• The premium version is super affordable, especially compared to FacetWP.

Cons of Using Search & Filter Pro

• There’s no built-in results templating system if you aren’t using a page builder, though it does integrate with the third-party Custom Layouts plugin. Otherwise, you’ll need to use PHP to customize the template if you don’t like the default layout.
• There aren’t as many hooks for developers who want to easily customize things.
• You can’t create search filter forms to search users, which FacetWP allows.

Pricing

Search & Filter has a limited free version at WordPress.org. However, you’ll most likely want to go with the premium version for serious sites. Thankfully, the premium version is still quite affordable – you’ll pay just $20 for a single-site license or $75 for an unlimited-site license.

While FacetWP and Search & Filter Pro are two of the best WordPress search filter plugins, there are also some other quality options that might work for certain situations.

3. SearchWP

SearchWP is the go-to choice for adding advanced search systems to websites, especially when it comes to eCommerce and business websites.

SearchWP is a premium plugin with a much deeper level of search capabilities. It can even scan and search for content in PDF documents.

Key Features

• Ability to install and setup the search system without coding
• A deeper level of search index with support for WooCommerce products, PDF, metadata, and more
• Get detailed insights on user searches and search terms
• Integration with WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, bbPress, and more

Pros of Using SearchWP

• Automatic Integration: The plugin automatically integrates with the default WordPress search system. There’s no need to edit code.
• Multiple Search Forms/Engines: Using SearchWP, you can create and configure different search engines to provide specific types of results
• Customizable Algorithm: SearchWP search algorithm is highly customizable. You can even choose how search results are ranked.
• Exclude Results: You can also choose to exclude specific results from searches.

Cons of Using SearchWP

• Expensive Pricing: SearchWP has divided the availability of extensions into different pricing plans. Which can be inconvenient to small business websites.
• Limited Multisite Support: SearchWP doesn’t support global search for multisites. You need to install the plugin individually on each site.

Pricing

SearchWP pricing plans start at $99 per year with standard extensions. The $149 per year plan includes WooCommerce integration, custom results ordering, and metrics. The $299 per year plan lets you install the plugin on unlimited sites with all extensions.

4. Relevanssi

Relevanssi is the biggest competitor to SearchWP plugin, mainly because it includes a generous free plan that pretty much covers all the features of the SearchWP basic plan.

Unlike SearchWP, Relevanssi supports multisites as well as membership sites. However, it does have a complicated setup process.

Key Features

• A generous free plan with lots of great features
• Ability to search for phrases, comments, tags, and more
• Supports integration with popular membership plugins
• Includes autocomplete-style search suggestions

Pros of Using Relevanssi

• It’s Free: The biggest benefit to using Relevanssi is that the free plan is more than enough for small blogs and business websites.
• Search Results Based On Relevance: Relevanssi also shows search results based on relevance to the search terms. Not the publish date.
• Deeper Indexing: The plugin supports indexing of almost all types of content, including PDF, documents, ePub, shortcode content, and more.
• Plugin Integration: Relevanssi supports integration with various plugins such as WPML, a2Member, WooCommerce, and more.

Cons of Using Relevanssi

• Advanced Setup Process: The settings page of the plugin is quite difficult to understand at first glance. And requires a bit of technical knowledge to fully setup the plugin.
• Heavy Resource Usage: The plugin page has a warning that mentions heavy database space usages in hundreds of megabytes.
• Plugin Conflicts: Relevanssi doesn’t work well with many third-party plugins such as BuddyPress, BeaverBuilder, NextGen Gallery, and Sensei

Pricing

In order to access the more advanced features like the ability to index PDF documents, multisite support, and more you’ll need the premium version of the plugin. It costs $99 per year or a one-time price of $349 for a lifetime license.

5. Ajax Search Pro

As the name suggests, Ajax Search Pro’s primary feature is to add real-time Ajax search to WordPress. However, it also includes a lot of features that go beyond that, including the option to build your own custom filter system to go along with your search box.

You’ll get a drag-and-drop builder to create your own filters from any taxonomy or custom field, which opens up a lot of flexibility. You can either add the filters to the built-in search box or display them alongside the Elementor Posts widget.

Key Features

• Real-time ajax search box with instant suggestions.
• Create filters based on taxonomy terms or custom fields.
• Add filters to Elementor post list widget.
• Ajax filtering so no page reloads.

Pricing

While there is a free version, you need the $36 premium version to access the filter features.

6. JetSmartFilters

JetSmartFilters is an affordable WordPress advanced search and filter plugin designed to work with either Elementor or the native WordPress block editor (Gutenberg). 

It lets you create a faceted search system for any post type on your site, including full support for WooCommerce. 

You’ll be able to build your filter system via your editor of choice. For example, in the block editor, you’ll get 15 dedicated blocks to help you add different types of filters and control the layout – i.e. you get one block to add a checkbox filter, another block for a number range filter, etc.

Key Features

• Build your filter system using dedicated blocks/widgets in Gutenberg or Elementor.
• Faceted search system – users can apply multiple filters at a time.
• Dynamic Ajax filtering to update the results without a page reload.
• Choose from 9 different filter types including checkboxes, ranges, search box, visual filter, and more.

Pricing

JetSmartFilters costs $24 for use on a single site or $49 for use on unlimited sites.

7. ElasticPress (Elasticsearch)

ElasticPress is a heavy-duty advanced search plugin that helps you use Elasticsearch for WordPress, which makes a great option for sites with lots of content.

Elasticsearch will build a search index of your products using its own processing power, which both reduces the impact of search queries on your site’s performance (great for high-content sites, like a WooCommerce store) and also offers more accurate results.

You can also add faceted search to your site to let people filter by taxonomies and other information. You’ll get checkboxes, number ranges, drop-downs, and more.

Because of the added complexity of using Elasticsearch, ElasticPress is definitely not a good choice for casual users. However, developers and advanced users might appreciate its flexibility and performance-friendly approach, especially if your site has lots of content.

Key Features

• Because it’s separate from your WordPress site, Elasticsearch can greatly improve search performance. It builds its own index so that there are no database queries to your WordPress site’s database.
• Very accurate search results.
• Create a faceted search system to let users filter search results.
• Can filter by custom taxonomy and custom fields, though you might need to work with custom code.

Pricing

The ElasticPress plugin itself is free. However, you’ll need to connect it to an Elasticsearch instance. 

You can self-host Elasticsearch for free because it’s open-source*. Or, you also might want to pay for a hosted service. Some hosts also offer tools/add-ons for Elasticsearch. For example, Kinsta has an Elasticsearch add-on and Cloudways offers an Elasticsearch installer tool.

8. Ajax Search Pro

Ajax Search Pro is a premium search plugin that comes with a built-in filtering system. You can use it to create a product filtering system for online store websites, directories, and more.

This plugin is also compatible with page builders such as Elementor and WPBakery page builder. And lets you create multiple search bars as well. This makes it a great plugin for web designers and developers for making advanced search systems for client websites.

Key Features

• Advanced search functions with a simpler setup process
• More than 400 options for customizing the search system
• Choose from 60 different theme styles for search form design
• Supports WooCommerce and multisites
• Customizable indexing with support for all content types

Price: $79

9. Ivory Search

Ivory Search is a great free search plugin you can use to replace the default search system with a better one. The plugin allows you to create custom search forms with Ajax support.

Ivory Search plugin also includes lots of options for customizing the search system to exclude search terms and index different content types.

Key Features

• Beginner-friendly setup and settings page
• Supports searching of WooCommerce products, images, and file attachments
• Create unlimited search forms
• Ability to customize each search form to your preference
• Integration with bbPress, WPML, Polylang, WooCommerce, and more

Price: Free

10. Ajax Search for WooCommerce

As the name suggests, Ajax Search for WooCommerce plugin is specially made for adding a product search system for WooCommerce stores.

The free version of the plugin includes all the necessary features you need to setup an effective search form for a small online store. For bigger retail stores, it has a premium version with faster scanning/search system.

Key Features

• Full integration with WooCommerce stores for searching products
• Features mobile-first search form design
• Embed search forms anywhere using shortcodes or widgets
• Accurate search results ordering with custom algorithm
• Supports Google Analytics and WPML plugin

Price: Free

11. ACF: Better Search

Inspired by the popular Advanced Custom Fields plugin, ACF Search plugin adds a few custom search fields to the default search system on WordPress.

This plugin features a very basic number of features and it’s very lightweight. Making it a more suitable option for small websites, blogs, and personal websites.

Key Features

• Easily install a simpler search form with custom fields
• Lightweight design with faster search
• Includes multiple search field types such as text, email, URL, and more
• Completely free to use

Price: Free

Final Thoughts

In the end, the best plugin will depend on your needs and budget.

Overall, though, FacetWP is a great place to start because of its flexibility, solid and well-established reputation, and integrations. It’s also gotten more user-friendly thanks to its page builder integrations, though it’s still quite developer-friendly with its hooks and templating system.

However, FacetWP is a bit pricey. For a cheaper option, you might want to consider the Search & Filter plugin, which offers a similar feature list at a much lower price.

SearchWP is clearly the best option for setting up a more effective and powerful search system, and Relevanssi is a great free alternative SearchWP.

I’ll leave it up to you to decide which plugin is suitable for your website. After all, it will depend on the type of website you have and the goal you’re trying to achieve.