Ajax Search Lite – Live Search & Filter vs Better Search – Relevant search results… (2026)
Detailed side-by-side comparison of two WordPress plugins, based on real-time data from WordPress.org.
Ajax Search Lite – Live Search & Filter
80K+ active installs
Free
Better Search – Relevant search results…
5.0K+ active installs
Free
Quick Verdict
As of April 2026, Ajax Search Lite – Live Search & Filter has a higher user rating (4.8/5 from 262 reviews) and leads in active installations (80K+ vs 5.0K+). Both are free WordPress plugins. Ajax Search Lite – Live Search & Filter has accumulated 2.1M+ total downloads while Better Search – Relevant search results… has 296K+.
Detailed Comparison
| Metric | Ajax Search Lite – Live Search & Filter | Better Search – Relevant search results… | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rating | 4.8/5 | ◄ | 4.5/5 |
| Total Reviews | 262 | ◄ | 60 |
| Active Installs | 80K+ | ◄ | 5.0K+ |
| Total Downloads | 2.1M+ | ◄ | 296K+ |
| Support Resolution | 67% | N/A | |
| Last Updated | 1 month ago | ► | 1 month ago |
| First Released | 2012 | 2009 | |
| Age | 14 years | 17 years | |
| WP Requires | 3.5+ | 6.6+ | |
| PHP Requires | 7.4+ | 7.4+ | |
| Business Model | Free | Free | |
| Latest Version | 4.13.5 | 4.2.4 |
Rating Breakdown
Ajax Search Lite – Live Search & Filter
Better Search – Relevant search results…
Download Trends
Over the past 30 days, Ajax Search Lite – Live Search & Filter averaged approximately 523 daily downloads while Better Search – Relevant search results… averaged 56.
Recent Reviews
Ajax Search Lite – Live Search & Filter Reviews
Works as advertised & thanks for support!
Already got thanks from a couple of our website users for the “new, fast search”. Special thanks to Ernest for quick support in our a bit peculiar fine-tuning case.
Long time happy user
This plugin does so much, but more importantly, Ernest and the team provide stellar support, which makes this such a worthy purchase. Have used for 5+ years on various projects.
Fantastic Plugin and Support!
Ajax Search Pro does exactly what I needed it to do: search a complex database of 23,000 rows with simple user controls. I had a very specific situation and Ernest at Ajax support unfailingly and pati
Better Search – Relevant search results… Reviews
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 Se
Creator Got Greedy, No Longer Recommend This Plugin
Used to be great, but then the creator got greedy and made it into a subscription service. There’s a free version but it’s so heavily limited and will break search functionality – specifically try sea
Excellent plugin and fantastic support
I was desperate to experiment with this Better Search plugin when I read the features. After installation I realised some incompatibilities with my existing mega menu plug-in I already had installed t
More Better Search Worth Comparing
Top alternatives in the same category as Ajax Search Lite – Live Search & Filter and Better Search – Relevant search results…
Relevanssi replaces the default search with a partial-match search that sorts results by relevance. It also indexes comments and shortcode content.
This plugin adds to default WordPress search engine the ability to search by content from selected fields of Advanced Custom Fields plugin.
Extends the default fulltext search with relevance, jet speed and ability to search any posts, metadata, taxonomy, shortcode content and more data.
Our FREE plugin makes your website’s search fast and more relevant. searchIQ helps you to manage content more effectively with real-time analytics.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Plugin data sourced from WordPress.org. Comparison and analysis by PluginSift.