Ajax search pro is the best live search engine plugin for WordPress. Highly customizable, with many features and options, giving the best results possible! Replace the WordPress search bar with a better looking, more efficient search engine.

Looking for a better WordPress search? Check out this search plugins features, including checkbox, dropdown, radio button category filters and custom field (post meta) filters as well.

Shortcodes and widgets compatible with any builder, such as: Elementor, WPBakery Page Builder, Visual Composer, Divi Page Builder, Gutenberg and others..

Ajax Search Pro can act as an Elementor Live Posts and Products widget filter. Building a custom results page via Elementor is also supported.

Ajax Search Pro for WordPress – A Live WordPress search and filter plugin

Ajax Search Pro for WordPress was designed to boost the user search experience to the maximum. It provides a live ajax search, which makes the wordpress search experience more confortable.

The results are presented with images (if any found), so they look more attractive and less flat. The search works with mobile devices, let it be Android or IOS powered.

The search can override the default wordpress search results – so the ajax functionality is extended – replace your default theme search with only a click of a button.

The search can return posts, pages, any custom post types (like WooCommerce products, BBPress forums, topics, replies), categories, custom taxonomy terms (like product categories, portfolio tags), users, BudddyPress groups and BuddyPress activities as results.

Searching media attachments, including their content is also possible – for PDF, CSV, TXT, RTF and Office documents, Excel and Powerpoint files.

More than 60 colorful, fully customizable themes will save you time with the CSS hussle, so you can focus more on the presentation.

The backend offers hundreds of options for those, who like to customize the search to the maximum. Many features were implemented based on customer feedbacks, and even more coming soon.

Live results page loader script also included – for more details, check out the Results page live loader documentation.

The plugin is updated regulary based on customer feedbacks and bug reports. Every support ticket is answered within 48 hours, usually in 12 hours (except for weekends).

Powerful Taxonomy and Custom field (post meta) search filters

The search features an easy to use drag and drop style taxonomy and custom field filter builder. Checkbox, radio, select dropdown, mutliselect and date filter types are all supported.

Fully intuitive editor for all major and minor details – including ordering, selected items, parent-child relationships, layout modes and connection logics as well.

Over 400 other back-end options will give you the tool to make a fully functional and useful wordpress search form for your website.

Ajax Search Pro for WordPress features

MANY CONTENT TYPES SUPPORTED The search supports posts, pages and any kind of custom post type. WooCommerce, Jigoshop, wp-Ecommerce and many other plugins use custom post types – so they are all compatible with Ajax Search Pro.		FRONTEND SEARCH SETTINGS The plugin provides a customizable frontend settings interface for users. By ticking a few checkboxes the user can change the behaviour of the plugin – like looking for exact matches, including/excluding certain post types, categories or custom taxonomies (like product categories)
LAYOUT & THEMES Four built-in layouts: Vertical, Horizontal, Polaroid and Isotopic. 60+ pre-defined theme for each layout, including the ones on the demo page.		WIDGETS & SHORTCODES Three different widget are provided (latest searches, top searches and search box) and two shortcodes for each search. Shortcode buttons are also visible on the post editor.
IMAGE SUPPORT The search has built in libraries with extreme compatibility for image handling. They can parse through content, excerpt, custom fields or just simply display the featured image.		ICONS Use the variety of high resolution, vectorized and colorizable svg icons or upload your own if you want to.
ADJUSTABLE SEARCH LOGIC You can change the search logic to fit your needs. By default the plugin works with an OR logic to provide higher amount of results. If you however need more strict results, you can change this with a click. More info in the documentation search logic section.		SMART IMAGE PARSING Highly adjustable image parser ensures to show the best quality images in the results. The plugin can scan the featured, content, excerpt custom field for images.
CATEGORY, TAG & TAXONOMY TERM FILTERS Create and manage category, tag and any taxonomy term filters. Checkboxes, drop-downs and radio button layouts are all supported.		CUSTOM FIELD FILTERS For even more sophisticated layout you can create custom field filters, to give your users more advanded ways to search your content.
MULTISITE SUPPORT Having a multisite network? You can select which blogs you want to include in each individual search instance. You can search multiple blogs at the same time.		RELEVANCE SEARCH & INDEX TABLE A fully configurabe relevance options panel is provided for those, who like to fine-tune their plugins. You can switch to index table search and create indexes for even more relevant results.
PAGE BUILDER SUPPORT Shortcodes and widgets compatible with any page builder, such as: Elementor, WPBakery Page builder, Visual Composer, Divi Page Builder, Gutenberg and others.. The plugin also acts as a WPBakery Page builder and Gutenberg add-on as well.		COMPACT LAYOUT MODE No place on your site for the search widget? You can hide the search bar until the user clicks on the magnifier icon.
KEYWORD SUGGESTIONS & AUTOCOMPLETE Google keyword suggestions and autocomplete is enabled by default. The suggestions language is changeable.		KEYWORD HIGHLIGHTING The search phrase can be highlighted in the results list. You can change the color of the highlighting as well.
INDEX TABLE ENGINE Plugin version 4.5 introduces a new, index table powered search engine. This engine is capable of indexing shortcode content, for sites built with composer plugins. It’s also a huge performance saver for high traffic sites.		PERFORMANCE TRACKER Track the search query performances with the simple, built in performance tracker. It will help you optimize the search ajax speed.
SEARCH STATISTICS By enabling the search statistics will give you an insight on which phrases are the most popular on your website.		GOOGLE ANALYTICS INTEGRATION With a push of a button you can integrate google analytics to the search, so the phrases will show up as pageviews on your analytics dashboard.
CACHE For websites with higher traffic caching is provided to reduce the database queries and increase the search performance.		COMPATIBILITY Compatibility options will provide you a quick fix interface in case something is not working properly.
PERFORMANCE TRAKING The plugin will track the query performances and give you a better insight on your recent setting changes.		EXPORT AND IMPORT Want to use a working search instance on your other project? Export the search settings and import them to your other site. Easy as that.
REGULAR UPDATES The plugin recieves updates on a monthly basis, many customer requests and suggestions had been fulfilled in the past – feel free to suggest anything		CUSTOMER SUPPORT We are taking customer support very seriously. You can expect a reply within 24 hours during workdays. To open a support ticket, go to this link.

FAQ

• Will the plugin work with the * theme?
  Yes it will. The plugin is theme independent.
• Is it compatible with Elementor, Divi Page builder, WPBakery Page builder etc..?
  Yes it is. The plugin shortcodes can be used within the corresponding page builder element.
• Will it work on a multisite blog?
  Yes it will.
• Can it replace my default theme search bar automatically?
  Yes it can! You can select which search instance you want to display instead of the default theme search bar.
• Can I search custom post types, like WooCommerce/Jigoshop products?
  Yes you can!
• Can I search buddypress groups/activity-feed/users?
  Yes you can!
• Can the plugin return categories or custom taxonomy terms as results?
  Yes it can!
• Will it work with bigger databases, like 25000+ records?
  Yes it will. The search speed only depends on your server speed.
• Does it support sites with RTL?
  Yes it does!
• Will it display images, that are not hosted on my server?
  Yes it will. In case of issues, read this knowledge base article.
• Is support provided, if so where can I get supported?
  Yes, this item is supported! Please read the documentation and the knowledge base first. Many questions are answered there.
• Can I search attachments and their contents on my server?
  Yes, indexing and searching Text, PDF, RTF, CSV, Office docx, Excel and Powerpoint file contents is possible. More information in Attachment content search documentation.

Check the full changelog here.

Newest features in version 4.26.x (2023.03.15)

• Predictive search results suggestions
• Google Tag Manager (GTM, gtm.js) support for analytics integration
• PDF results thumbnail generator with ImageMagick. Please check this knowledge base for configuration.
• Keyword highlighter – now works for the search results page too
• Custom field filters – “range inputs” filter type. Two numeric input fields for price etc
• Live Filtering of Archive pages is not supported

Newest features in version 4.20.x (2021.04.03)

• PHP 8 Compatibility tests and fixes
• Tests for WordPress 5.8 compatibility – fully compatible
• Option to exclude password protected posts (both regular and index table)
• Exact matching – Full exact matching added (mathing a field exactly, from start to the end
• Autocomplete – trigger after N characters option
• Support for Excel 5 (.xls) documents for the index table parser

Newest features in version 4.19 (2020.08.03)

• Highlight search keyword on the result page after clicking on the result
• Elementor live search – Now can be logged as a pageview in the google analytics tracker
• Image parsing on multisite – now automatically tries to fetch the images from across blogs on the results page

Newest features in version 4.18 (2020.03.05)

• Elementor Posts (any post type and result type) and Products widget live filter
• Custom results page via Elementor on any page
• Google Analytics rework – supporting event and pageview tracking

Check the full changelog here.

Newest features in version 4.17 (2019.11.04)

• Negative keywords meta box – Adding negative keywords to posts when using the index table engine
• More intelligent image parser and more image options for each content type
• Taxonomy filters – On Parent->Child checkbox structures

Newest features in version 4.16 (2019.06.20)

• Filters API – adding, removing and modifying front-end filters via code is now possible
• JS API – Functions to check if the filters have been changed, and if the filters state is initial
• PHP API – filters_changed, filters_initial query arguments added, to check if the search arguments have been changed on the front end

Newest features in version 4.15 (2019.03.13)

• Importing search options from the Lite version
• Results box width, margin and snap – floating results box can snap to the left, right or center of the search bar, as well as can have a custom width and margins.
• Primary and Secondary ordering fields for user results (including custom fields)
• Option groups and multiple values for Custom Field dropdown filters

Newest features in version 4.14 (2018.10.06)

• Infinite scroll mode for the ‘Load more results’ feature
• Option to explicitly disable isotopic layout navigation
• More results loader icon added, when clicking on the more results link
• Smoother scrolling with the scroll script

Check the full changelog here.

Newest features in version 4.13 (2018.04.28)

• Synonyms – It is possible to define synonyms, when using the index table engine
• Indexing media attachment contents: Text, CSV, PDF, RTF, Word, Excel and Powerpoint document files content indexing is now possible (synonyms also apply)
• Live results loader feature for the results page
• PeepSo Groups and Group activities search
• Lazy loader jQuery script for results images
• Search button within the filters

Newest features in version 4.12 (2018.02.23)

• Priority Groups – Prioritizing results based on taxonomy terms and custom field rules is now possible
• Improved floating results box behaviour for mobile devices
• Isotopic layout now supports percentage column width
• A ‘Disable all fonts’ switch to the Compatibility options submenu

Newest features in version 4.11 (2017.08.02)

• Conditional advanced title and description fields
• Advanced title & description fields: WooCommerce ‘_price’, ‘_regular_price’, ‘_sale_price’ fields are automatically recognized and displayed formatted with currency
• ACF get_field() compatibility switch to the Compatibility options submenu
• A ‘Disable all fonts’ switch to the Compatibility options submenu
• Maintenance submenu: plugin resetting and wiping (full uninstall) features

Newest features in version 4.10 (2017.02.11)

• The plugin shortcode now works as a menu item (place into the menu title field)
• User search: excluding/including users is now possible
• The index table is now capable of indexing IFRAME contents
• Visibility Detection option
• Date selectors now support format change

Newest features in version 4.9.x (2016.08.18)

• New category and taxonomy term filter options
• New grouping options
• Search box alignment option
• User related exclusions
• Date custom field filter now supports timestamp and MySQL datetime formats
• Polylang compatibility
• New themes: Round
• ASP_Query wrapper class to use as search API

Newest features in version 4.8.0 (2016.02.22)

• Post date and custom field (ACF) date filtering is now possible
• Excluding or including posts by date was added
• It is possible to set column count and width for front-end settings boxes
• The loader can be chosen to be displayed in the results box as well
• Auto-poulating search results on page loading is now possible
• Hiding the search bar and displaying filters only is now possible (filter only mode)
• An ajax page change detection script was implemented
• Triggering empty search bar is supported (setting 0 character triggering)

Check the full changelog here.

Newest features in version 4.7.0 (2016.01.16)

• Filtering by post tags is possible
• It is possible to replace the default theme search now
• Override now returns any type of result
• BuddyPress XProfile fields search
• Keyword exceptions menu on Advanced Options
• Isotope layout gutter between items is adjustable now
• Backend Options search added
• Image Display mode is now changeable
• Custom field filters with empty values are discarded now correctly

Newest features in version 4.6.0 (2015.11.27)

• Primary, Secondary sorting option added
• Conditional CSS loader script added (experimental)
• More animation options on Advanced Options panel
• An adjustable background overlay for Compact mode (fixed layout)

Newest features in version 4.5.x (2015.10.27)

• A new feature and engine: Index table search engine
• User search is now possible!
• Attachment search is now possible!
• Search text button was added
• New keyword suggestions and autocomplete sources: taxonomy terms and Custom Post Types
• WooCommerce term image integration
• Hidden input field type for custom field selectors
• Exclusion of parent-child pages is now possible
• Added a Help and Updates menu for more information
• Dynamic strings are now translatable with WPML string translations
• Update Notifications on the plugins menu (in beta)
• Rerirection to the first matching result
• Displaying result content in context around the keyword

New features in version 4.0 (2015.03.18)

• WPBakery builder addon included
• New menu: Export/Import settings – you can export all your search instances, or individual instance settings
• New menu: Performance Tracking – track the search performance on your dashboard
• New Shortcode: Two column shortcode – A search and a result box next to each other
• Compact Layout Mode – on fixed, absolute and static page positions
  
• Full RTL support
• More options with Keyword suggestions and Autocomplete (post titles, tags)
• Result templating is now possible – each result type has it’s own template file
• It is now possible to rename/duplicate search instances
• Better control over Javascript and CSS compatibility and size
• Excluding categories and terms from category results is now possible
• Vertical results now support automatic height and the result image is surrounded with the description
• Search can be triggered on a Facet change (checkbox, slider, radio button…)
• Individual result groups (terms, posts, buddypress results, etc..) can be ordered now.
• Results now can be redirected to a new browser tab
• Query Compatibility Options – You can fine tune the search query to force application level Unicode and UTF8 searches

New features in version 3.5 (2014.11.27)

• Creating various fields (radio buttons, range sliders, dropdowns) connected with custom fields (post meta) is now possible for the frontend settings…
• ...and now it is possible to change the frontend settings layout from hover position to block position…
• ...or place it to a custom place with a shortcode
• Priorities settings had been added to the backend for controlling result priorities
• The search is now compatible with the Advanced Ajax Page Loader plugin

New features from version 3.2! (2014.10.07)

• It is possible to change the search logic now: OR, OR with exact words, AND, AND with exact words
• Categories and taxonomies can be returned as results
• In Old internet explorer versions the search falls back to the default wordpress search box

New features from version 3.1! (2014.09.19)

• The plugin can now override (replace) the default WordPress search results on the results page!
• BuddyPress support: Search in groups, users and activities
• The ‘More results..’ and the default results URL is now customizable

Check the full changelog here.

New features from version 3.0! (2014.08.04)

• New latout type: Isotopic
• 2 New theme groups: Underline and Simple
• New retina ready SVG icons
• Smaller CSS files
• Better javascript compatibility
• WPML support
• Google Analytics Integration module
• Brand new backend
• Scroll-to-results option
• Keyboard navigation for vertical results
• Multiple instances of search boxes are now possible
• Better preview
• Shortcode buttons on the Post editor
• Better image options and image handling

Features

• 400+ possible options on admin panel
• 70+ pre-defined fully customisable themes
• Vertical / Horizontal / Polaroid and Isotopic styled results list
• Multiple search plugins on one page – You can configure all of them separately!
• Google Keyword Suggestions on no results, witch a language selector
• Responsive width
• Search caching & image precaching for better performace
• Search in public custom fields is now possible!
• 2 New widgets: Latest searched keywords and Top searched keywords! – You can setup a sidebar widget of the latest/top used keywords and even trigger a search by clicking on them!
• Results filtering by: categories, terms, tags, custom fields, date
• Search relevance options with adjustable weight values
• Retina ready SVG icons
• WPML support
• Polylang support
• qTranslate(x) support
• Dynamic string translations via Polylang or WPML string translations
• .pot file included for a fully translatable Admin Section
• Google Analytics Integration module
• Scroll-to-results option
• Keyboard navigation for vertical results
• Multiple instances of search boxes are now possible
• Better preview
• Shortcode buttons on the Post editor
• Better image options and image handling
• Hooks – Filters & Actions for developers
• For the full list see the changelog down below!
• Search statistics page
• Default search text
• Intelligent image parsing (possible from post featured image, post content, post excerpt, possible to set priorities as well)
• Custom Post Types support – You can select which post types do you want to search! Tested with BBPress!
• Font, color, border, box shadow options
• Keyword Highlighting in search results
• Works in templates and in post and pages as well
• Search widget also included
• Preview window on the admin page
• Mobile support
• Frontend Search options popup
• Possible to search in Posts, Pages and Products (WooCommerce, Jigoshop, WP-ecommerce etc..)
• Image caching for bandwidth saving
• Very easy installation and set up
• Powerful api for controlling the search from other frontend applications
• jQuery powered, for the best possible compatibility
• Show more results link below the search box
• WordPress 3.5+ compatibility!
• Multisite support!
• Search autocomplete with search statistics or google keywords!
• Error checking module
• Shortcodes can be executed in search results
• Search result content HTML tag stripping is possible
• Category selectors on the frontend – It’s possible to filter the posts by categories
• You can select custom fields as post title and description
• Post grouping by category or post type!
• Search in comments
• It’s possible to exclude categories or posts from the search!
• Stable, custom built jQuery for maximum compatibility
• Shortcodes strippable/executable in results
• Supports pages with categories/taxonomies
• PeepSo Groups & Group activities search
• Index table search capabilities:
  • Indexing titles, content, exceprt, authors, custom fields, categoires, tags etc…
  • Indexing shortcodes content
• Compatible with PODs – including indexing PODs custom table meta fields
• Compatible Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) plugin’s:
  • Text field
  • Textarea field
  • Date field
  • Number field
  • Email field
  • WYSIWYG editor field

Index table and Regular search engine

As of version 4.5 the plugin provides index-table search capabilities including:

• High performance keywords index table – lightning fast with 100 000+ posts
• Indexing titles, content, excerpt, custom fields, author, categories, tags, taxonomy terms etc..
• Indexing shortcode contents
• Indexing IFRAME contents
• Lots of configuration options, to customize indexing for to your needs
• Automatic and WP_Cron based indexing included.

By default the plugin uses the Regular search engine, but you can change it anytime on the search General Options page.

Check the index table engine section of the documentation for more information about the index table engine.

Development roadmap and Beta Testing

For transparency and more inside information, feature requests and bug reports you can visit the Ajax Search Pro Development github repository. You can even join our Slack channel to see notifications about daily code changes.

Do you want to be more involved and become a beta tester? Sure! All you need is to fill out this form, and we will review your application

Are you a developer?

You don’t need to worry about touching the code and loosing all the changes with upgrades. The search is packed with hooks for the most convenient access. Check out the guidelines in the knowledge base. No frustration = faster coding.

Check out our other products as well!