FindAstra vs WPSOLR

FindAstra is AI product search for WooCommerce. It helps your store understand what shoppers actually mean, not just the exact words they type. Someone searching for “comfortable shoes for hiking” will find your “Trail Running Sneakers” even when the title never mentions comfort or hiking. Ordinary keyword search only matches products that literally contain the words a shopper types. So a customer who describes things in their own way lands on a “no results” page and leaves. FindAstra closes that gap. It reads the intent behind each search, puts the most relevant products first, and offers helpful suggestions instead of dead ends. And the free version runs completely on its own. There are no API keys to paste, no account to create, and no monthly fees. The AI runs right inside the shopper’s browser, so nothing about your catalog or your customers is sent to an outside server, and you can index your entire catalog with no product limit. What your shoppers get Answers, not just matches. Searches are understood by meaning, so shoppers reach the right products even when their wording differs from yours. Live suggestions as they type. A search-as-you-type dropdown attaches to your existing search bar, with no theme editing. A results page that makes sense. Your normal WooCommerce results page is simply re-ordered by relevance, keeping your theme’s design exactly as it is. No more empty pages. When nothing is a strong match, shoppers see popular products instead of a dead end. What you get as a store owner Set up in minutes. Activate, click index once, and AI search is live. No keys, no account, no configuration headaches. Private by default. Your products and your customers’ searches stay on your own site. Fits your store. Works with classic and block themes, and includes a search block, a shortcode, and a sidebar widget. Developers also get filter hooks and a REST endpoint to build on. How it works, in plain terms When you click index, FindAstra reads each product and builds a small understanding of what it is. When a shopper searches, it compares their wording to that understanding and lists the closest products first. The first time it runs, the browser downloads a small AI model (about 33 MB) and reuses it from then on, so searches stay fast. FindAstra Pro (optional) A separate paid version is available at findastra.com for stores that want more. It adds optional server-side engines for very large catalogs (using your own OpenAI or Hugging Face key), multilingual search for WPML and Polylang, and built-in search analytics. The free version here is complete on its own, and nothing in it is locked or time limited. External services Which external service (if any) FindAstra contacts depends on the search engine you choose during setup. Each is described below, including what data is sent and when. Hugging Face model hub (huggingface.co) Used by the default Local engine. The first time the Local engine runs (when you index products in wp-admin, or when a shopper performs a search), the browser downloads a roughly 33 MB open-source AI model from the Hugging Face model hub and caches it locally for later visits. Only the model files are fetched. No store, product, shopper, or site data is ever sent. After the download, all search runs entirely in the browser. Hugging Face terms of service: https://huggingface.co/terms-of-service . Privacy policy: https://huggingface.co/privacy OpenAI API (api.openai.com) Used only if you select the OpenAI engine and enter your own API key. At index time, the text of each product (its title and the fields you choose to include) is sent to OpenAI to generate an embedding; at search time, the shopper’s query text is sent. Requests are authenticated with the API key you provide and are made only while the OpenAI engine is the active provider. OpenAI terms of use: https://openai.com/policies/terms-of-use . Privacy policy: https://openai.com/policies/privacy-policy Hugging Face Inference API (router.huggingface.co) Used only if you select the Hugging Face engine and enter your own access token. The same data as the OpenAI engine (product text at index time, query text at search time) is sent to the Hugging Face Inference API to generate embeddings, authenticated with the token you provide, and only while the Hugging Face engine is the active provider. Hugging Face terms of service: https://huggingface.co/terms-of-service . Privacy policy: https://huggingface.co/privacy

Give your WooCommerce clients a better search experience — without building the technology yourself. Shorts playlist 100 Days of Weaviate 100 Days of Vespa.ai 100 Days of Elasticsearch 100 Ways WooCommerce Agencies Can Grow Client What is WPSOLR? WPSOLR is a professional search and product discovery platform for WordPress and WooCommerce agencies. Use it as the technology behind advanced search, product recommendations, personalization and AI-powered product discovery for your clients. ⚠️ This isn’t a simple WordPress plugin We’re deliberately upfront about this. WPSOLR is powerful because it’s not a one-click search widget. It can connect WooCommerce stores to powerful search technologies such as PostgreSQL AI, OpenSearch, Weaviate AI, Vespa AI, Elasticsearch and Apache Solr. That means technical configuration, indexing, relevance tuning and infrastructure can be involved. For an agency, that’s an advantage. You get the flexibility to build the right solution for each client instead of being locked into a black-box search SaaS. If your clients only need basic WordPress search, WPSOLR is probably overkill. If you build serious WooCommerce stores where search and product discovery impact revenue, keep reading. Turn search into a service you can sell Your clients already pay you to build and improve their WooCommerce stores. WPSOLR gives you another capability to bring to those clients: 🔎 Advanced WooCommerce Search Deliver better product discovery with powerful relevance controls, filters, facets, synonyms and ranking. 🛍️ Product Recommendations Add relevant product recommendations to key areas of the customer journey. 🧠 AI & Semantic Search Go beyond keyword matching with semantic and AI-powered search technologies. 🎯 Personalization Build more relevant discovery experiences based on customer behavior and context. 📈 Conversion Optimization Make search and product discovery part of your client’s conversion strategy — not just a technical feature. Built for agencies, not just developers WPSOLR gives your agency the technology layer. You bring the client relationship. You design the solution. You deliver the project. You create the recurring service. WPSOLR provides the search and recommendation technology underneath. That means you can build your own WooCommerce search, discovery and conversion offering without developing an entire search platform from scratch. And yes, it requires technical expertise That’s intentional. WPSOLR is designed to give agencies control over: Search infrastructure Indexing Relevance Ranking Facets and filters Synonyms Product discovery Recommendations Semantic search AI integrations Custom development You can start simple and add sophistication as the client’s requirements grow. The complexity is the capability. Why agencies use WPSOLR Add another high-value service Offer advanced search and product discovery without developing your own technology. Increase revenue from existing clients Bring new optimization opportunities to WooCommerce clients you already manage. Create recurring revenue Search, recommendations and conversion optimization can become ongoing services rather than one-off development projects. Differentiate your agency Don’t compete only on design and development. Offer capabilities that directly influence your client’s ecommerce performance. Keep control Use your own expertise and implementation approach instead of handing your client relationship to another SaaS provider. Is WPSOLR right for your agency? Yes, if you: Build or manage WooCommerce stores Work with medium to large product catalogs Have technical development capabilities Want to offer advanced search or recommendations Want to improve ecommerce conversion Want additional revenue opportunities from existing clients Probably not, if you: Only build small brochure websites Need a basic search box Don’t want any technical configuration Are looking for a completely managed, zero-configuration SaaS That’s OK. WPSOLR is built for agencies that want to do more. Start with a client project Install WPSOLR and explore what you can build. Then, when you find a client who needs more powerful search, better product discovery or conversion-focused recommendations, turn it into a service your agency can sell. Want to see how agencies can use WPSOLR? Book a demo. We’ll show you the technology, the possible client use cases and how you can integrate WPSOLR into your agency offering. → Book an Agency Demo Your clients don’t need another plugin. Your agency needs another revenue opportunity. WPSOLR gives you the technology to build it. Ready for More? Start with WPSOLR Free, then unlock enterprise-grade search and AI capabilities with WPSOLR Enterprise.