Standard Search
Included free with every Benecaster plan
Full-text episode search. Included in your plan. No API key, no ongoing cost.
Looking for AI-powered semantic search? See AI Search →
Keyword search across your entire episode archive — included free.
Standard Search is built into Benecaster at every plan level. It adds a search widget to your site that searches across episode titles, descriptions, and show notes — with full-text indexing, no external API required. Results are tier-aware: subscribers only see episodes available at their access level.
No API key. No per-query cost. No add-on purchase. Install Benecaster and it works.
What’s included.
- Full-text keyword search across episode titles, descriptions, and show notes
- Transcript search (when Transcription Service add-on is installed)
- Tier-aware results — subscribers only see episodes at their access level
- Sidebar widget, full-page, or modal placement
- Gutenberg block and Elementor widget (via Blocks & Widgets Library add-on)
- Shortcode:
[benecaster_search] - No API key required
- No ongoing per-query cost
- Included at every plan level — Launch through Studio
Standard Search or AI Search — which one?
| Standard Search | AI Search ($79/yr) | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Included free | $79/year |
| Search type | Keyword matching | Semantic / natural language |
| API key required | No | Yes |
| Ongoing API cost | None | Yes (typically $1–5/month at podcast scale) |
| Finds “Episode 42” | ✓ | ✓ |
| Finds “productivity while traveling” (without those words in the title) | ❌ | ✓ |
| Setup complexity | None | Provider selection + API key |
Standard Search is the right call for most podcasters. It’s fast to set up, has no ongoing API cost, and handles the majority of subscriber searches — finding episodes by title, guest name, or topic keyword. AI Search is worth it when your back catalogue is large and you want subscribers to discover episodes by concept rather than keyword.
Pairs well with
- Transcription Service — transcript text is included in Standard Search results when installed
- AI Search — run both; Standard Search as the default, AI Search as an optional deeper-dive mode for power users
- Blocks & Widgets Library — wraps the
[benecaster_search]shortcode as a native Gutenberg block and Elementor widget
