84
Search Regex
Powerful regex magic that requires a very steady hand.
HealthyGrowing
84/100
The regex power is incredible but the delete function lacks essential safety warnings.
Active installs
~150,000
our estimate · wp.org shows 100k+
Rating
4.7★
98 ratings
Trend · vs a year ago
+50%
Growing fast
293 → 440 installs/day
What to watch out for
- MINORreviews unevenly distributed over time
Downloads over time
real new installs per day · release spikes shown separately from the trend2025-04-302025-08-082025-11-162026-02-232026-06-03
organicrelease spikerelease tailorganic trend · 14d rolling median
Growing fast · +50% in the last year
293/day a year ago→440/day today
Reviews
what people actually saySearch Regex is a well-regarded and powerful search-and-replace tool for WordPress databases, valued especially for migrations and bulk edits, but carries a serious safety hazard: the "Delete Matches" action silently deletes entire posts and attachments with no warning or trash recovery.
What people like
- +Highly effective for bulk find-and-replace across a WordPress database, especially during site migrations or URL updates×5
- +Supports genuine regex search, which users find more capable than competing plugins×3
- +Preview feature lets users review matches before committing changes×2
- +Free, with a capable interface that rivals paid alternatives×2
- +Preset/lock-to-no-action feature allows safe read-only searching in production environments
Common complaints
- −"Delete Matches" deletes entire posts and associated attachments — not just the matched text — with no warning, no confirmation, and no trash recovery×4
- −The delete action is easy to trigger accidentally due to its proximity to other UI controls
- −A recent version significantly changed the interface, making it confusing and harder to use for existing users
- −Search results can be incomplete or unreliable, missing a large number of records that should match a given query
- −Regex mode is not enabled by default and is buried in a dropdown, which is counterintuitive given the plugin's name×2
Review trustReviews look organic
- 4.78★Verified rating — holds steady vs the raw 4.70★
- 8%One-shot reviewers — most reviewers are active community members
Reviews per month · 5★ vs lower
2023-08-192025-01-102026-06-04
5★ reviews1–4★ reviews
All-time ratings · 98 total
Latest reviews · 90 analyzed
- 2026-05-03★★★★★Très bien !Mick83
- 2025-07-21★★★★★Handy for search-and-replace, but “Delete Matches” is dangeroushakuna4matata
- 2025-01-16★★★★★Amazinghumananimal
- 2024-12-16★★★★★Incredibly powerful!kelson
- 2024-10-03★★★★★The Best Regex ReplaceAlex
- 2024-10-01★★★★★Dangerous Deletion Bug: Entire Posts Deleted Instead of Keywords !!tatsujin20241-shot
- 2024-09-01★★★★★Only efficient Search&Replace I foundfranckmee
- 2024-08-20★★★★★REGEX?brian7997
- 2024-05-12★★★★★Best search & replace plugincarlosmtnez
- 2023-12-11★★★★★BEWARE – EXTREMELY DANGEROUS !!!argaliano151-shot
Releases
recent versions from WordPress.org SVNFor developers & the curious
the raw signals behind the grade — none of this is on the friendly summary aboveDownload signals
Baselines are computed on organic days only — release spikes and their tails are excluded, so they're not inflated by the auto-update wave.
392
Baseline · median of last 7 organic days
458
Prior 7-day baseline
342
Floor · 25th percentile over 14 days
487
Latest day · 2026-06-03(organic)
-14.4%
Week-over-week organic trend
Review signals
Concentration and drive-by metrics drive the review-burst and fake-review flags. 30–40% solo reviewers is normal; we only flag the extremes.
17%
Max month share · biggest single 30-day window
1.70
Distribution CV · <0.6 even, >1.5 bursty
86%
5★ share in analyzed sample
8%
Solo reviewers · only this one wp.org activity
—
Volume velocity · last 6mo vs prior 6mo
4.71 → 4.78★
Sample avg · raw → solo-filtered