Category Wise Search vs Relevanssi
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| Feature | Category Wise Search v1.3 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free · ★ 4.8/5 Visit Details | Relevanssi v4.28.5 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free + paid · ★ 4.8/5 Visit Details |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Active installs | 400+ | 100,000+ |
| Last updated | March 26, 2019 | October 23, 2026 |
| Editions | Category Wise Search Widget | Relevanssi · Relevanssi Premium ($) |
| Pros | Category dropdown in a search widget; Default category and excluded categories per widget | Relevance-sorted results with partial-word matching; Compatibility modules for WooCommerce, Polylang, WPML and ACF; Search log and did-you-mean suggestions |
| Cons | Uses create_function, removed in PHP 8, so it fails on current PHP; Last tested with WordPress 5.1.1; not maintained | Index tables can need hundreds of megabytes of database space; Some advanced features are only in Relevanssi Premium; Search log stores what visitors search for, which may need a privacy notice |
| Mentioned in our posts | 1 | 1 |
| More features | ||
| Other features | Category dropdown in the search form, Default category selection from the query string, Exclude categories and their children | Relevance-sorted search results, Custom search index table, Stop word list, Search log with optional IP recording, Did you mean block, Relevanssi admin menu with settings, Hooks into Premium-only features when installed ($) |
| Integrations | ||
| E-commerce | — | WooCommerce |
| Plugins | — | Polylang, WPML, Advanced Custom Fields |
| Requires WordPress | 2.9 | 4.9 |
| Requires PHP | — | 7.1 |
| Tested up to | 5.1.1 | 7.1 |
| Phones home | No | No |
| Blocks | — | 1 |
| Custom tables | — | 3 |