Ajax Search Lite vs WP Extended Search
Compare WordPress plugins and tools side by side. Pick products with “Compare” in the software directory.
| Feature | Ajax Search Lite v4.14.7 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free + paid · ★ 4.8/5 Visit Details | WP Extended Search v2.2.1 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free · ★ 4.9/5 Visit Details |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Active installs | 70,000+ | 20,000+ |
| Last updated | October 19, 2026 | December 7, 2025 |
| Editions | Ajax Search Lite · Ajax Search Pro ($) | WP Extended Search |
| Pros | Live results as visitors type; Custom post types, custom fields and categories searched; Free, with WooCommerce price fields in results | Search in post meta, authors, taxonomies and selected post types; Several search settings for different search forms; Widget, shortcode and PHP function for search forms; Works with WooCommerce SKUs, attributes and product fields |
| Cons | Pro features need a paid licence; Upgrade prompts appear in the admin menu and sidebar; Google keyword suggestions call an external Google endpoint | Meta and taxonomy joins can slow large sites (no index); Adds settings for every search form, so setup takes some planning |
| Mentioned in our posts | 1 | 1 |
| More features | ||
| Other features | Live AJAX search results as the visitor types, Search by custom fields, Category and taxonomy search, Google keyword suggestions, Cached search results with hourly retention cron, WooCommerce price field in results, Upgrade to Pro menu item | Search selected post meta keys, Multiple search settings (custom post type), Search form shortcode, Search widget, Search categories, tags and custom taxonomies, WooCommerce product search fields, bbPress search detection |
| Integrations | ||
| E-commerce | WooCommerce | WooCommerce |
| Plugins | WPML, Polylang, BuddyPress, Divi | WPML, bbPress |
| Other | Google Suggest | — |
| Requires WordPress | 3.5 | 4.9 |
| Requires PHP | 7.4 | 7.0 |
| Tested up to | 7.1 | 6.9 |
| Phones home | No | No |
| External services | suggestqueries.google.com | — |
| Blocks | 1 | — |
| Shortcodes | — | 1 |