Comparison

Comparison

HOF vs the other guys. Honest takes only.

Note

This is a positioning document by the HOF team. We try to be fair, but we're not unbiased. Verify claims for yourself.

the landscape

The WordPress facet-filter space has been dominated by two paid plugins for years:

• FacetWP — the workhorse. Mature, stable, expensive.
• WP Grid Builder — newer, prettier UI, also paid.
• Search & Filter Pro — solid for simple sites.

HOF enters with a specific bet: modern stack, open core, dev-friendly, fair pricing.

quick comparison

	hooked on facets	FacetWP	WP Grid Builder
Frontend stack	Preact + Signals	jQuery	jQuery + custom
Admin UI	React + @wp/components	Custom PHP/jQuery	React (partial)
Architecture	PSR-4 + Composer	Procedural-heavy	OOP, mixed
Open source core	✅	❌	❌
WP.org listing	Planned	No	No
Pricing	Open core + TBD pro tier	$99–$249/yr	$69–$249/yr
Dev environment included	✅ docker-compose	❌	❌
Live URL state	✅	✅	✅
Indexed queries	✅	✅	✅
WooCommerce focus	First-class	Strong	Strong
Page builder support	Gutenberg, Bricks, Elementor, Divi, Breakdance	All major	All major
Multilingual	Planned	✅	✅
Last major rewrite	Built fresh 2025+	2017 era	2020 era

where HOF wins (or aims to)

• Bundle size. Preact's ~4kb runtime vs jQuery's ~30kb plus the plugins' own UI code.
• Developer experience. PSR-4, Composer, real namespaces, Vite, HMR, Docker dev env.
• Theme-ability. CSS custom properties everywhere. No !important arms race.
• Openness. Core is open source. You can read the indexer, audit it, fix it.

where the others win (today)

• FacetWP: maturity. Years of edge cases handled. A vast user base. Bulletproof.
• WPGB: visual polish. The admin UI is genuinely gorgeous. Their card builder is strong.
• Both: integrations. Years of integration work with every page builder, theme, CPT plugin.

HOF is new. We don't pretend to match FacetWP's edge-case coverage on day one. We're betting that modern stack + open core + good defaults gets us competitive faster than they can modernize.

who should pick what

If you...	Pick
Need it working in production today	FacetWP
Want the slickest admin UI	WP Grid Builder
Are building a new project and want modern code	hooked on facets
Want open source you can audit and extend	hooked on facets
Run a dev shop and value DX	hooked on facets
Need WPML / Polylang on day one	FacetWP or WPGB (HOF planned)

migration

Automated migration tools are on the post-1.0 roadmap. The planned scope:

• Migrating from FacetWP
• Migrating from WP Grid Builder