WordPress search plugin

Better Search

Replace WordPress search with relevance-ranked results, live search, and popular search tracking.

Download free See Pro plans

See the demo.

>5,000

Active installs

4.4/5

Average rating

>300k

Downloads

Find relevant posts. Choose what gets searched.

Help readers find the content you have already published. Everything below is included in Free and Pro.

Relevant results

Give title matches more weight than content, or sort by date. Search posts, pages, custom post types, excerpts, taxonomies, metadata, authors, and comments.

Live search

Turn on live search to show matching posts as visitors type in your existing forms. Suggestions support keyboard navigation and screen reader announcements.

Fit your theme

Use Enable seamless integration with your theme’s search template, or choose the plugin’s results template. Customize the output with CSS or Better_Search_Query.

Choose matches and exclusions

Use Boolean search, restrict results to selected terms, or exclude posts by ID or category. Highlight search terms and filter unwanted words, including wildcard patterns such as spam*.

Configure the features you use

Start with the setup wizard. Use the Feature Manager to turn optional modules off, find options with settings search, and check database, index, and cache health in Tools.

Place and extend your search

Add widgets, shortcodes, and block patterns. Built-in caching works alongside caching plugins; multilingual support covers WPML, Polylang, and TranslatePress. Developers can use hooks and the WordPress Abilities API search capability.

Explore the search settings.

Better Search Pro

More ways to match, rank, and answer a search

Better Search Pro is a standalone plugin that includes every Free feature.

Find results when a query misses

Fuzzy matching can find “optimize” when a visitor types “optimze”. For zero-result searches, “Did you mean” suggestions can offer a correction or automatically rerun the corrected query.

Post slugs, short queries, and fallback search

Search post slugs as well as content. Set the minimum characters for FULLTEXT searching, with shorter queries using LIKE. The optional zero-result LIKE fallback applies to searches using the standard WordPress tables, not ECSI custom tables.

Read about “Did you mean” suggestions

Route searches and control ranking

Send exact, contains, or wildcard searches to a chosen URL with a 301 or 302 redirect. Keep visitors moving toward the page they need.

Field weights, relevance, and exclusions

Weight excerpt, taxonomy, slug, metadata, author, and comment matches individually. Add recency weighting, set a minimum relevance score from 0 to 100, or prioritize selected posts. Exclude your front page and Posts page from results.

Read about search redirects

Efficient Content Storage and Indexing

Process blocks and shortcodes before searching, then query the indexed content in custom tables. This reduces query work on larger sites; Better Search Pro and Contextual Related Posts Pro can share the same storage.

Index monitoring and maintenance

Check custom-table health, reindex in batches, and retry posts that failed to index. Tools include InnoDB conversion, scheduled index reconciliation, and an optional query execution-time hint.

Read about Efficient Content Storage and Indexing

For developers and site managers

Route REST API search through Better Search. Use WP-CLI to search, manage indexes, clear caches, export statistics, and update settings.

Abilities and search analytics

Pro adds abilities for popular search terms, spelling suggestions, and cache clearing. Click a daily chart bar to inspect that day’s searches; network administrators can review statistics across sites.

Browse the WP-CLI commands

Beta

AI answers with links to your content

Let visitors ask a question from a theme search form, block, widget, or standalone [bsearch_ai] answer box. Answers cite published sources, and the Content gaps report shows questions your content could not answer.

Off by default. Requires WordPress 7.0+ and a connected provider that bills its usage separately.

Usage controls

Answers are cached, with daily and per-visitor limits, fallback providers, and model comparison.

Explore AI answers

Free vs Pro

Feature	Free	Pro
Every Free feature	✓	✓
Post slug search	✕	✓
Fuzzy matching	✕	✓
“Did you mean” suggestions	✕	✓
Minimum FULLTEXT characters control	✕	✓
Optional zero-result LIKE fallback	✕	✓
Additional field weights	✕	✓
Recency weighting	✕	✓
Minimum relevance score	✕	✓
Prioritized posts	✕	✓
Search redirects	✕	✓
Front page and Posts page exclusions	✕	✓
Efficient Content Storage and Indexing	✕	✓
Custom-table health, failed-post retry, and maintenance	✕	✓
Daily search-chart drill-down	✕	✓
REST API search integration	✕	✓
WP-CLI commands	✕	✓
Abilities for popular terms, spelling, and caches	✕	✓
AI answers and Content gaps	✕	✓
Network-wide multisite searchPro Multi or Agency only	✕	✓

Feature availability

Network-wide multisite search requires Pro Multi or Agency. AI answers are an optional beta; the zero-result LIKE fallback uses standard WordPress tables.

Read the Free vs Pro guide for configuration details.

Pricing

Choose a site allowance and support level. Plans are billed annually.

Basic

Free

The solid foundation for all needs!

Download

No site limit

Seamless integration

Natural language search

Track and display popular searches

Search everything except the post slug

Advanced search form

Inbuilt caching

WordPress.org Forum support

Download

Pro

$99^_/year

Perfect for individuals and bloggers!

Buy Pro

Everything in Basic

1 active site

Search post slug/name

Fuzzy searches

Minimum relevance threshold

REST API support

Direct email support

Buy Pro

Best Value

Pro Multi

from $199^_/year

Ideal for small businesses!

Buy Pro Multi

Everything in Pro

Multisite search

Discounted pricing for 5 to unlimited sites

Multisite activation and license handling

Direct email support

Buy Pro Multi

Agency

$599^_/year

Deploy on all your client sites!

Buy Agency

Everything in Pro Multi

Unlimited active sites

Use on client sites

Priority email support

Buy Agency

Backed by a 14-day refund policy

If our plugin doesn’t work as promised, you’re covered by our 14-day refund policy and can request a refund. Read about our policy here.

All pricing excludes VAT and is paid annually. You can purchase the plugin in USD, GBP, or EUR – look for the little dropdown in the bottom right of the purchase screen. You can change plans or cancel your account at any time. Purchase and License handling powered by Freemius.

What users say

Better Search users describe how it changed search on their sites.

Great search solution + awesome support
This plugin definitely improved the search results on my site. It’s easy to use and support has been great!
AnneE
Excellent plugin and fantastic support
It’s a really satisfying feeling knowing that there is support out there of this high standard that matches the quality of this search plugin that not only gives good search results, but also adds live search so as the visitor types their search query, results instantly start to appear to aid discovery of your content.
James
Excellent plugin
Better Search not only made our WordPress search better very easily, but looking under the hood, the developer writes very clean, structured, and optimized code! Very rare to see these days. Better Search is a must have for WordPress!
Blake

View all reviews

Frequently Asked Questions

Better Search Pro is the premium version of our free WordPress plugin. It is a standalone plugin, meaning that it does not require the free version to be installed, and includes the additional features mentioned on this page. Better Search upgrades your WordPress search experience displaying contextual results with enhanced relevance.

Better Search has been tested on a wide range of themes. In seamless mode, the plugin overwrites the main WordPress query to display relevant results using your theme’s search template. You can create custom search templates or use the advanced search template within the plugin.

Better Search fully supports custom post types. You can select which post types you want the plugin to search on the settings page.

We use FreemiusOpens in a new window as our partner for everything that has to do with your Pro/Agency licenses for Better Search. They take care of distribution, licenses, subscriptions, payments, billing, etc.

Learn how you can manage your pro account.

Yes, if you ever decide that Better Search isn’t the best plugin for your business, simply cancel your account from your Account panel.

Yes, and it doesn’t count towards your license activation limit! Unlimited test, development, and staging sites are included in your license, as long as our system can recognize the site as such.

Licenses are valid for a year and get renewed automatically each year to give you continued access to updates and Pro features. You will receive a friendly reminder email a month before the renewal date, giving you enough time to cancel the subscription, if you are so inclined.

We’re dedicated to top-notch support, ensuring you make the most of our plugin. If you encounter any challenges, there are numerous avenues for assistance:

Our extensive documentation contains references and guides for most situations you may encounter.
Free plugin users receive support via the WordPress.org support forums only.
Premium plan subscribers can receive support over email via our Help Desk.

We always do our best to reply to your support requests as soon as possible, regardless of the plan that you are paying for. However, support requests from Pro Multi and Agency plan customers are given priority.

Every site in a multisite installation needs a license. During checkout, you can select discounted license packages for 5, 25, or unlimited sites.

No. You will need the Pro Multi plan, which offers discounted license packages for 5, 25, or unlimited sites.

We don’t offer a trial, but we do offer a free WordPress plugin. You can also check our demo siteOpens in a new window which includes the pro versions of our plugins.

Yes. Better Search works out of the box, so there isn’t any setup or configuration required. However, if you’d like to fine-tune the plugin’s behaviour, you have a host of settings available to do so. The settings are user-friendly and allow you to configure the algorithm and output, display the popular search heatmap and add custom CSS.

Choose the Better Search plan that fits your site

Choose a Pro plan