Custom Search by BestWebSoft – WordPress Custom Search Plugin

How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.

Directory rank vs rivals

wp.org popularity rank over time · higher is better · when a rival's line climbs above yours, they've overtaken you

How often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.

Share of active installs on each version of this plugin · 36% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.

Refined from the date this plugin crossed into its current band.

No paid tier is visible, so we don't put a figure on revenue or sale value: that would be guessing. The install base is a real asset to an acquirer, just not one public data lets us price. A small install base leaves thin data to model from.

15 of the last 20 four- and five-star reviews came from accounts created within a month of posting the review.

Registering a wp.org account just to leave a review is common and often entirely legitimate. The share here is unusually high for the sample, so it's worth keeping in mind while reading the reviews.

1. ★★★★★ delphineous

   4.5y ago

   Allows me to enable searching the custom fields in Easy Digital Downloads. Now it is easier to find my products by sku and other custom data.

   Read on wp.org ↗
2. ★★★★★ misticx

   7.2y ago

   Almost no options at all in a free version, bad explained.

   Read on wp.org ↗
3. ★★★★★ aptharsia

   8.3y ago

   I don’t know why the new version (from the old discontinued plugin) is so much slower. It would also be nice to have an option on excluding excerpts and only search titles along with the custom fields. This topic was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by aptharsia. This topic was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by aptharsia. Reason: more info

   Read on wp.org ↗
4. ★★★★★ Moshje

   10.8y ago

   “This plugin allows searching by custom post types on your website.” Nope. That’s a PRO feature.

   Read on wp.org ↗
5. ★★★★★ matiwati

   10.8y ago

   dobry

   Read on wp.org ↗
6. ★★★★★ flukesh

   10.9y ago

   If you’re using this for anything where you need a development, staging, and live environments, forget it. They go to such great lengths to validate your license and then break the plugin, it’s rendering it essentially useless for me even though I bought three separate licenses for all my environments. If they would release a version without this licensing issue and rely a bit more on the decency of people to buy a valid license, maybe I would stay a user.

   Read on wp.org ↗
7. ★★★★★ GRV

   11.3y ago

   Does exactly what I needed it to do.

   Read on wp.org ↗
8. ★★★★★ wp-newbee

   11.4y ago

   Thank you, even works with other search plugin 🙂 Nice!

   Read on wp.org ↗

1 disclosed vulnerability on record for this plugin, fixed in the current version. Sites on older versions stay exposed until they update.

1. Medium · 6.1 Custom Search by BestWebSoft <= 1.35 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting ↗
   2017-04-12 CVE-2017-18494 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') Affects <= 1.35 Patched in 1.36

Automated install-time checks, tested on PHP 8.1.12 · WP 7.0.1

Translated into 133 languages, 2 at 90% or more

Plus 109 more locales with partial translations.

Growth timeline

Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow

1. 2026-06-30 1K+ → 900+ down

Competes with

The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach, closest match first. The letter on the right is each plugin's health grade (A best, F worst).

• Better Search Replace 1M+ installs · 4.3★ B
• Search Regex 100K+ installs · 4.6★ A
• Relevanssi – A Better Search 100K+ installs · 4.7★ A
• String locator 100K+ installs · 4.6★ C
• Ivory Search – WordPress Search Plugin 100K+ installs · 4.9★ A
• Go Live Update Urls 90K+ installs · 4.4★ A

Embed this report card

Drop a live Pulse card for Custom Search by BestWebSoft – WordPress Custom Search Plugin into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.

Custom Search by BestWebSoft – WordPress Custom Search Plugin: 900+ active installs, 3.9★ (29 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-08-29. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/custom-search-plugin