String locator vs Search Everything (2026)
Detailed side-by-side comparison of two WordPress plugins, based on real-time data from WordPress.org.
Quick Verdict
As of April 2026, String locator has a higher user rating (4.6/5 from 124 reviews) and leads in active installations (100K+ vs 10K+). Both are free WordPress plugins. String locator has accumulated 1.4M+ total downloads while Search Everything has 1.3M+.
Detailed Comparison
| Metric | String locator | Search Everything | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rating | 4.6/5 | ◄ | 4.1/5 |
| Total Reviews | 124 | ◄ | 86 |
| Active Installs | 100K+ | ◄ | 10K+ |
| Total Downloads | 1.4M+ | ◄ | 1.3M+ |
| Support Resolution | N/A | N/A | |
| Last Updated | 1 year ago | ◄ | 8 years ago |
| First Released | 2013 | 2006 | |
| Age | 13 years | 20 years | |
| WP Requires | 4.9+ | 3.6+ | |
| PHP Requires | false+ | false+ | |
| Business Model | Free | Free | |
| Latest Version | 2.6.7 | 8.1.9 |
Rating Breakdown
String locator
Search Everything
Download Trends
Over the past 30 days, String locator averaged approximately 270 daily downloads while Search Everything averaged 15.
Recent Reviews
String locator Reviews
Great
Great
Great for support
I’ve used this plugin now a dozen times to track down plugins conflicts for my customers. Truly one of the best debug utilities, up there with Query Monitor!
A translation passepartout
Some plugins don’t allow translations in a standard way. For those, there is String locator.
Search Everything Reviews
Dead plugin, makes attempting to search return a critical error
As others have noted, this plugin has been abandoned, and has broken sites’ search functions for quite some time. Don’t install this, and if you have it installed, delete it.
Abandoned and No longer works
I am updating my rating for this plug-in. The Search Everything plug-in used to work great and allow my Easy Digital Downloads content to be fully searchable. It appears that the functions which this
Breaks WooCommerce order search
When the plugin is active, a backend search on the Orders page of WooCommerce always loads zero results. It’s just a custom post type so I’m not sure what the issue is but be aware if you use Woo. /wp
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is String locator or Search Everything more popular?
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Plugin data sourced from WordPress.org. Comparison and analysis by PluginSift.