by Mateusz Gbiorczyk 4.9 (165 reviews)

ACF: Better Search

Name: ACF: Better Search
Rating: 4.9 (165 reviews)
Author: Mateusz Gbiorczyk

This plugin adds to default WordPress search engine the ability to search by content from selected fields of Advanced Custom Fields plugin.

ACF ranks #821 among WordPress.org plugins with 40,000+ active installations, is #121 of 4,933 in the Utilities & Tools category, a 4.9/5 rating from 165 reviews, and was last updated Aug 18, 2026. Data from WordPress.org, refreshed twice daily — see methodology.

Compatible with WP 7.1

v4.5.1 Current Version v4.5.1

Updated 4 weeks ago Last Update on 18 Aug, 2026

Refreshed 12 hours ago Last Refreshed on

#121 of 4,933 in Utilities & Tools Top 5% by installs Downloads -26.6% this week Actively maintained

View on WordPress.org

Rank

#821

— No change

Active Installs

40K+

-16.4%

KW Avg Position

14.2

0.2 worse

Downloads

812.9K

+101 today

Support Resolved

— No change

Rating

98%

Review 4.9 out of 5

4.9 (165 reviews)

Next Milestone 50K

Total Progress 78.6%

40K+ 50K+

Ranks to Climb

Growth Needed

8,000,000

Active Installs

Pro

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Rank Changes

Current #821

Change

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Active Installs Growth

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Active Installs 0,000,000+

Growth +0.0%

Peak 0,000,000

Downloads Growth

Downloads

Growth

Peak

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Reviews & Ratings

4.9

165 reviews

Overall 98%

156 (95%)

5 (3%)

1 (1%)

2 (1%)

1 (1%)

Support Threads Overview

Resolved

Unresolved

Total Threads

Resolved

Unresolved

Resolution Rate

Security History

Source: WPVulnerability

2 known vulnerabilities on record · 0 in the last 24 months · checked 1 week ago

Jun 27, 2019

ACF: Better Search [acf-better-search] < 3.3.1

CVE-2019-14682 · Fixed in v3.3.1
Jun 27, 2019

ACF: Better Search [acf-better-search] < 3.3.1

Fixed in v3.3.1

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Plugin Details

Version: 4.5.1
Last Updated: Aug 18, 2026
Requires WP: 5.0+
Tested Up To: 7.1
PHP Version: 7.4 or higher
Author: Mateusz Gbiorczyk

Support & Rating

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 4.9
Reviews: 165
Support Threads: 1
Resolved: 0%

Keywords

acf search advanced custom fields better search extended search search

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TL;DR

AI summary of the plugin's readme

This plugin is for WordPress site owners using Advanced Custom Fields who want their search to include ACF field content. It solves the problem of default WordPress search ignoring custom field data by modifying the SQL search query instead of requiring a separate results page.

Search by ACF field content
Automatic setup, no coding needed
Modifies SQL search query
Phrase search support
Faster search performance

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about ACF: Better Search

Advanced Custom Fields in version 5 (also free). ACF below version 5 has a different data structure in database and is not supported.

Our plugin supports the following fields: Text, Text Area, Number, Email, Url, File, Wysiwyg Editor, Select, Checkbox and Radio Button. All these fields may be located in both the Repeater or Flexible Content field.

Plugin changes all SQL queries by extending the standard search to selected fields of Advanced Custom Fields. The plugin in admin panel works same as for the search page. It works for WP_Query class.

Everythings works automatically. For custom WP_Query loop and get_posts() function also if you add Search Parameter.

Sometimes it happens that the data in your database is incorrectly arranged. This happens when you import or duplicate posts. You can use Incorrect Mode. This is a slower search, but it does not take into account the order of records in the _postmeta table. This solution should help in this situation. Use of this mode is allowed without restrictions. This does not mean any problems with your website.

The default search in WordPress is to search for each of words listed. An additional option in the plugin settings allows you to search for occurrences of the whole phrase entered in the search field without word division. You can enable it at any time.

In this mode, the plugin does not check the field types. Phrases are searched in all ACF fields. Thanks to this, the query to the database is smaller and faster by about 25%. However, we do not have control over which fields are taken into account when searching.

Yes. The plugin is completely free.

Thank you for all the ratings and reviews. If you are satisfied with this plugin, please recommend it to your friends. Every new person using our plugin is valuable to us. This is all very important to us and allows us to do even better things for you!