How To Create Two Different Search Filters On Wordpress

Searching for the best WordPress search filter plugins to help your visitors drill-down into your products or content?

By default, WordPress only lets visitors search by keyword, and it's quite bones at that. If you lot have a WooCommerce shop, yous'll get a few dedicated filter widgets, simply information technology's withal quite bones. Other WordPress sites don't even get that.

Thankfully, there are some quality advanced search plugins that permit yous create your own custom faceted search/filter organization based on whatever information on your site, including custom fields, taxonomies, and other information.

In this post, we'll compare 5 of the tiptop options to help you determine, with a special look at FacetWP and Search & Filter.

A quick note – in this mail, we're 100% focused on plugins that help you add a search and filter system, such every bit faceted search. We're not including plugins that merely office to improve the regular WordPress search function. For that, check out our collection of the seven all-time WordPress search plugins instead.

Put but, sometimes a single keyword search isn't enough to aid your visitors apace find the content that they're looking for.

The most common example would be eCommerce stores. Most shoppers aren't just looking for a "Sweatshirt", they want a sweatshirt that's available in their size, within their budget, and comes in the colors they like.

A search and filter arrangement, or faceted search*, lets them add all of those queries at in one case so that they can immediately find the perfect product. Faceted search tin can as well role as a kind of navigation, guiding people towards the content they're looking for.

* faceted search and search filtering are technically different things, just virtually people just lump them together.

This approach is and then common that y'all'll see it on almost every eCommerce shop, including Amazon:

Nonetheless, this blazon of search is by no ways limited to eCommerce stores – information technology tin can be useful in tons of other situations, including yours. Or maybe even helping your users search your knowledge base.

Basically, in whatsoever situation where your visitors might want to search content past more than than just a keyword, WordPress search filter plugins tin can help them notice content faster, which helps you lot create a improve user experience and/or sell more products.

When it comes to WordPress avant-garde search plugins, the two most pop options are FacetWP and Search & Filter. Both plugins let you create advanced faceted search systems based on taxonomies, custom fields, post data, and more.

Nosotros'll start by comparing these two plugins in depth. And then, we'll share 3 other quality avant-garde search plugins.

FacetWP

FacetWP is one of the most popular search and filter plugins for WordPress. It helps you add highly-customizable faceted search to WordPress sites and WooCommerce stores.

You can create your own faceted search layout using an intuitive builder or add faceted search to pop page builder plugins, such as Elementor.

Overall, FacetWP's most standout feature is how flexible it is, especially when it comes to working with custom content.

To come across how it works on the front-end, you can check out these 3 demos:

Cars
Power plants
Land parks

Primal Features

Create search and filter systems for any mail type or even WordPress users.
Use xiii+ input types in your filter system including drop-downs, range selectors, checkboxes, search box, and more than.
Create filters based on taxonomies, custom fields, and post data (e.g. writer, post type, etc).
Integrates with popular custom content plugins including ACF, Pods, Meta Box, and more.
Create your ain custom results template using a built-in layout builder, a folio architect, or your ain custom code.
Via the page builder integrations, you can display your facets alongside existing page builder content list widgets. For case, you can add faceted search beside Elementor Pro's Posts or WooCommerce Products list widgets.
Option to use Ajax, which ways users don't demand to reload the folio to utilise their filters
Integrates with WooCommerce, WP Job Manager, Polylang, and more.

Pros of Using FacetWP

It lets you create filters based on pretty much any content on your site, fifty-fifty custom fields.
You become a bunch of dissimilar facet types, which helps you create filters for different types of content.
It integrates with popular folio builder plugins, which makes it easy to add faceted search to your designs or theme builder templates.
You lot tin can build your own custom results templates using a simple template tag arrangement.
For developers, at that place are lots of hooks to customize things according to your needs.

Cons of Using FacetWP

At that place's no costless version and the paid version is more expensive than most alternatives.
Information technology can be a little complicated for casual users, though the improver of folio architect integrations makes information technology a lot simpler than it was before.

Pricing

FacetWP only comes in a premium version. Yous can pay $99 for three sites or $249 for upwards to 20 sites. Additionally, you need the $249 Professional license if you want to create filters for users. Other than that, the features are the aforementioned between both licenses.

Search & Filter Pro is another pop WordPress search filter plugin that comes in a free version at WordPress.org likewise as an affordable premium version.

Like FacetWP, it gives you the flexibility to create faceted search for whatsoever mail service type and based on custom fields, taxonomies, and postal service data.

If you want to meet information technology in activity, yous tin can check out the demo here.

Search & Filter WordPress plugin example

Key Features

12+ input types including drib-downs, radio buttons, unmarried/multi-select, search box, date/number ranges, and more.
Drag-and-drop search form builder.
Filter by taxonomy, custom fields, and post data (post blazon, author, dates, etc.).
Dedicated eCommerce integrations for WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, and WP eCommerce.
Integration with ACF for custom fields.
Dynamic filters that update based on the current search (to avoid pages with naught results).
Option to employ Ajax and so that users don't need to refresh the folio to run across results.
Integrations with Elementor Pro, Beaver Builder, and Divi for front-end brandish. For example, utilise Elementor Pro's Posts widget to display search results.

You're able to create filters based on pretty much any content on your site.
It includes a multifariousness of filter/facet types and is pretty much equal to FacetWP in that respect.
You can employ folio builders to control the design of your results list, which is super convenient for non-developers.
The premium version is super affordable, especially compared to FacetWP.

There's no built-in results templating system if you aren't using a page architect, though information technology does integrate with the third-party Custom Layouts plugin. Otherwise, you'll need to apply PHP to customize the template if y'all don't like the default layout.
There aren't equally many hooks for developers who want to easily customize things.
You can't create search filter forms to search users, which FacetWP allows.

Pricing

Search & Filter has a limited free version at WordPress.org. Nevertheless, you'll most probable want to get with the premium version for serious sites. Thankfully, the premium version is nevertheless quite affordable – you'll pay just $20 for a single-site license or $75 for an unlimited-site license.

Other All-time WordPress Advanced Search Plugins

While FacetWP and Search & Filter Pro are two of the best WordPress search filter plugins, there are also some other quality options that might piece of work for sure situations.

Ajax Search Pro

As the proper noun suggests, Ajax Search Pro's principal characteristic is to add existent-time Ajax search to WordPress. However, it likewise includes a lot of features that go across that, including the option to build your own custom filter organisation to go along with your search box.

Y'all'll become a elevate-and-drop builder to create your own filters from whatever taxonomy or custom field, which opens up a lot of flexibility. You tin can either add the filters to the built-in search box or display them alongside the Elementor Posts widget.

Fundamental Features

Existent-time ajax search box with instant suggestions.
Create filters based on taxonomy terms or custom fields.
Add filters to Elementor post listing widget.
Ajax filtering so no page reloads.

Pricing

While there is a gratuitous version, you need the $36 premium version to access the filter features.

JetSmartFilters

JetSmartFilters is an affordable WordPress avant-garde search and filter plugin designed to work with either Elementor or the native WordPress cake editor (Gutenberg).

Information technology lets y'all create a faceted search arrangement for any post type on your site, including full support for WooCommerce.

Yous'll be able to build your filter system via your editor of pick. For example, in the block editor, you'll go 15 dedicated blocks to help y'all add together different types of filters and control the layout – i.east. you go one block to add a checkbox filter, another cake for a number range filter, etc.

Primal Features

Build your filter system using defended blocks/widgets in Gutenberg or Elementor.
Faceted search system – users tin apply multiple filters at a time.
Dynamic Ajax filtering to update the results without a page reload.
Cull from 9 different filter types including checkboxes, ranges, search box, visual filter, and more than.

Pricing

JetSmartFilters costs $24 for employ on a single site or $49 for use on unlimited sites.

ElasticPress (Elasticsearch)

ElasticPress WordPress search filter plugins

ElasticPress is a heavy-duty avant-garde search plugin that helps you use Elasticsearch for WordPress, which makes a bang-up choice for sites with lots of content.

Elasticsearch will build a search index of your products using its own processing power, which both reduces the bear upon of search queries on your site's performance (great for high-content sites, like a WooCommerce store) and also offers more authentic results.

Yous can too add together faceted search to your site to let people filter by taxonomies and other information. You'll get checkboxes, number ranges, drop-downs, and more.

Considering of the added complexity of using Elasticsearch, ElasticPress is definitely not a proficient choice for casual users. Even so, developers and advanced users might appreciate its flexibility and functioning-friendly approach, peculiarly if your site has lots of content.

Primal Features

Because it'southward split up from your WordPress site, Elasticsearch can greatly improve search operation. It builds its ain index so that there are no database queries to your WordPress site's database.
Very authentic search results.
Create a faceted search arrangement to allow users filter search results.
Tin can filter by custom taxonomy and custom fields, though y'all might need to work with custom code.

Pricing

The ElasticPress plugin itself is free. However, you'll demand to connect it to an Elasticsearch case.

You lot tin self-host Elasticsearch for complimentary because information technology's open-source*. Or, you also might want to pay for a hosted service. Some hosts also offer tools/add-ons for Elasticsearch. For example, Kinsta has an Elasticsearch addition and Cloudways offers an Elasticsearch installer tool.

*Note – as we were finalizing this postal service, Elasticsearch made some changes to its license. It'due south likewise soon to know how this will shake out, simply yous might want to double-bank check before going this route. The ElasticPress team seems confident the plugin will notwithstanding be functioning, even if there might be some changes (such as using Amazon'southward fork of Elasticsearch).

In the end, the best plugin will depend on your needs and budget.

Overall, though, FacetWP is a corking place to start because of its flexibility, solid and well-established reputation, and integrations. Information technology'southward as well gotten more user-friendly cheers to its folio builder integrations, though it's still quite programmer-friendly with its hooks and templating organisation.

However, FacetWP is a bit pricey. For a cheaper option, yous might desire to consider the Search & Filter plugin, which offers a similar feature listing at a much lower price.

Still accept any questions nigh these WordPress search filter plugins? Leave a comment!