 <p>You can consider to check the number of displayed elements in the <code>open</code> event, if the <code>len</code> is 0 you can display another element accordingly.</p> <p>Other solutions are to use a custom <code>_renderItem</code> function or a custom extended widget, but in this case this can be a simpler solution.</p> <p>Code:</p> <pre><code>$("#project").autocomplete({ minLength: 0, source: projects, open: function (event, ui) { var len = $('.ui-autocomplete &gt; li').length; $('#count').html('Founded ' + len + ' results'); } }); </code></pre> <p>Demo: <a href="http://jsfiddle.net/IrvinDominin/DZ9zU/" rel="nofollow">http://jsfiddle.net/IrvinDominin/DZ9zU/</a></p> <h2>UPDATE</h2> <p>Better using <a href="http://api.jqueryui.com/autocomplete/#event-response" rel="nofollow"><code>response</code></a> event:</p> <blockquote> <p>Triggered after a search completes, before the menu is shown. Useful for local manipulation of suggestion data, where a custom source option callback is not required. This event is always triggered when a search completes, even if the menu will not be shown because there are no results or the Autocomplete is disabled.</p> </blockquote> <p>Code:</p> <pre><code>$("#project").autocomplete({ minLength: 0, source: projects, response: function (event, ui) { var len = ui.content.length; $('#count').html('Founded ' + len + ' results'); } }); </code></pre> <p>Demo: <a href="http://jsfiddle.net/IrvinDominin/DZ9zU/1/" rel="nofollow">http://jsfiddle.net/IrvinDominin/DZ9zU/1/</a></p>