WP Extended Search 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, WP Extended Search has a higher user rating (4.9/5 from 72 reviews) and leads in active installations (20K+ vs 10K+). Both are free WordPress plugins. WP Extended Search has accumulated 348K+ total downloads while Search Everything has 1.3M+.
Detailed Comparison
| Metric | WP Extended Search | Search Everything | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rating | 4.9/5 | ◄ | 4.1/5 |
| Total Reviews | 72 | ► | 86 |
| Active Installs | 20K+ | ◄ | 10K+ |
| Total Downloads | 348K+ | ► | 1.3M+ |
| Support Resolution | 0% | N/A | |
| Last Updated | 3 months ago | ◄ | 8 years ago |
| First Released | 2014 | 2006 | |
| Age | 12 years | 20 years | |
| WP Requires | 4.9+ | 3.6+ | |
| PHP Requires | 7.0+ | false+ | |
| Business Model | Free | Free | |
| Latest Version | 2.2.1 | 8.1.9 |
Rating Breakdown
WP Extended Search
Search Everything
Download Trends
Over the past 30 days, WP Extended Search averaged approximately 57 daily downloads while Search Everything averaged 15.
Recent Reviews
WP Extended Search Reviews
Fantastic plugin! Works, and works well. Bravo. 👏
WordPress default search is absolutely terrible. This plugin dramatically improves the search capabilities of WordPress.
Works brilliantly with Pods
Works brilliantly! Simple to set up and supports custom post types and custom fields created with Pods.
Fantastic plugin
Fantastic plugin, got me out of a serious issue I was having with search functionality. Works flawlessly, highly recommend. Thank you…
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
Frequently Asked Questions
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Plugin data sourced from WordPress.org. Comparison and analysis by PluginSift.