Ivory Search – WordPress Search Plugin

85 Quality Score

Active Installs

23/30

A solid install base of 100,000 sites puts Ivory Search in the upper tier of search plugins, indicating broad real-world trust.

Update Freshness

25/25

Updated June 2026 and tested against WordPress 7.0, this is among the most actively maintained plugins in its category.

User Rating

15/15

A 98 out of 100 rating across 1,553 reviews signals exceptional user satisfaction with very few complaints.

Support Health

8/15

With 3 total support threads and a 0% resolution rate shown here, formal support channels look thin and may be inconsistent.

WP Compatibility

15/15

Compatible with WordPress 3.9 onward and PHP 5.2.4, it runs on essentially any host, though older PHP versions are no longer recommended.

Scores higher than 95% of indexed plugins

About

Advanced WordPress custom search plugin. Provides Search Form Customizer, WooCommerce Search, AJAX Search & Live Search support!

Active Installs 100k+

Rating ★★★★½ 4.9/5

Last Updated 2026-08-24 10:43am GMT

Requires WordPress 3.9+

Tested Up To 7.1

Requires PHP 5.2.4+

Security History

15 known vulnerabilities, all patched

15 Medium

Most recent: June 26, 2026

View details ▸

Ivory Search <= 5.5.15 - Authenticated (Administrator+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via 'menu_title' and 'menu_magnifier_color' Settings Medium

June 26, 2026 Patched in ["5.5.16"] CVE-2026-11356

Freemius <= 2.10.1 - Reflected DOM-Based Cross-Site Scripting via url Parameter Medium

April 30, 2026 Patched in ["5.5.9"] CVE-2024-13362

Ivory Search <= 5.5.13 - Authenticated (Administrator+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via 'menu_gcse' and 'nothing_found_text' Parameters Medium

January 27, 2026 Patched in ["5.5.14"] CVE-2026-1053

Ivory Search <= 5.5.12 - Missing Authorization Medium

September 28, 2025 Patched in ["5.5.13"] CVE-2025-63069

Ivory Search – WordPress Search Plugin <= 5.5.9 - Authenticated (Admin+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting Medium

May 27, 2025 Patched in ["5.5.10"] CVE-2025-5209

Ivory Search – WordPress Search Plugin <= 5.5.6 - Information Exposure via AJAX Search Form Medium

September 4, 2024 Patched in ["5.5.7"] CVE-2024-6835

Ivory Search – WordPress Search Plugin <= 5.5.5 - Missing Authorization to Authenticated (Subscriber+) Index Creation Medium

April 12, 2024 Patched in ["5.5.6"] CVE-2024-3233

Freemius SDK <= 2.5.9 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting via fs_request_get Medium

July 18, 2023 Patched in ["5.5.2"] CVE-2023-33999

Ivory Search <= 5.4.6 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting Medium

July 4, 2022 Patched in ["5.4.7"]

Freemius SDK <= 2.4.2 - Missing Authorization Checks Medium

March 4, 2022 Patched in ["5.4.4"] CVE-2022-4974

Ivory Search <= 5.4 - Multiple Admin+ Stored Cross-Site Scripting Medium

January 10, 2022 Patched in ["5.4.1"] CVE-2021-25105

Ivory Search <= 4.7.1 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting Medium

November 2, 2021 Patched in ["4.8"]

Ivory Search <= 4.6.6 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting Medium

October 1, 2021 Patched in ["4.7"] CVE-2021-36869

Ivory Search <= 4.6 - Reflected Cross Site Scripting Medium

March 30, 2021 Patched in ["4.6.1"] CVE-2021-24234

Ivory Search – WordPress Search Plugin <= 4.5.10 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting Medium

February 1, 2021 Patched in ["4.5.11"]

What It Does

Ivory Search replaces the default WordPress search with a customizable solution that supports AJAX live search, WooCommerce product indexing, and image or file content searches. It provides a Form Customizer so you can match the search box to your theme without touching code, and it indexes custom post types, taxonomies, and PDF or Office documents out of the box.

Who It's For

This plugin fits content-heavy sites, WooCommerce stores with large catalogues, real estate or job board listings, and membership sites where visitors need to find specific posts, products, or files quickly. It is a good fit for site owners who want richer search than WordPress core offers without building a custom solution.

Who Should Skip It

If your site is small, has under a few dozen posts, or you only need basic title matching, the default WordPress search or a lightweight AJAX option will be simpler and faster. Developers who prefer to index content with Elasticsearch, Algolia, or WP_Query tweaks should also look elsewhere.

The Bottom Line

Ivory Search earns an 84.59 quality score thanks to high ratings, strong maintenance, and wide compatibility. The only meaningful concern is the apparent lack of resolved support threads, so buyers who rely on fast ticket responses may want to test it carefully first. Overall, it is a dependable upgrade over core WordPress search for most non-trivial sites.

Related Plugins

Relevanssi – A Better Search 85/100

Choose Relevanssi if you want fuzzy matching, synonym control, and better default ranking than Ivory Search offers.

FiboSearch – Ajax Search for WooCommerce 85/100

Pick FiboSearch if WooCommerce product search with filters is your primary concern and you want a more focused tool.

Ajax Search Lite – Live Search & Filter 84/100

Go with Ajax Search Lite if you only need a simple live search overlay without deep customization or PDF indexing.

Search Regex 84/100

Use Search Regex when your goal is admin-side content replacement rather than visitor-facing site search.

YMC Filter 86/100

Consider YMC Smart Filter if you need visual AJAX filter grids for taxonomies and custom fields in editorial layouts.