14 Best WordPress Menu Plugins (Most Are FREE) 2024
Here are the best WordPress menu plugins to improve UX.
Website design is mainly about enhancing user experience. What does a menu have to do with this?
Once visitors land on your website, they must easily move about within it to find what they’re looking for.
That’s why great navigation is necessary.
This post covers:
A menu is like a map that guides visitors within your website and is, therefore, important to the success of a site.
It can encourage visitors to spend more time on your website, leading to a better conversion rate. Which ends up becoming a positive signal to search engines.
If they bounce, that’s bad. If they don’t, that’s good.
And your site navigation can contribute to a better bounce rate.
Besides a practical function, menus occupy prime screen space on your site and can improve its appearance.
Though WordPress has built-in menu features, you often than not need more options. That’s when these plugins come into play.
You can create any style of menu that best suits your website or blog. Sticky, mega (add links and images), drop-down, mobile, and set visibility are all possible.
Having a great WordPress navigation plugin makes everything a lot easier. But what to look for in a menu plugin when picking one?
These are the six most common features we looked at in each tool when researching to pick the best options for this collection:
(The first four are a must!)
- It must be responsive and work smoothly on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.
- Customization functions allow you to easily tailor the menu to your needs (without coding).
- Predefined templates that allow you to save extra time by avoiding extensive configuration.
- Integration with WordPress themes, builders and WooCommerce.
- Function to create a mega menu with images and links (not all plugins).
- Option to set the navigation as sticky or floating (not all plugins).
Take your site navigation to the next level now.
TL;DR – Best Menu Plugins for WordPress
- UberMenu: Best all-around mega menu plugin for beginner and expert users.
- Max Mega Menu: Best plugin to create an advanced and responsive mega menu fast.
- WP Responsive Menu: Best tool to enhance WordPress’ default menu functionality.
- Groovy Mega Menu: Best WordPress mega menu plugin with endless configurations.
- If Menu: Best plugin to set various rules and restrictions for menu visibility.
- WP Mobile Menu: Best WP plugin to boost your website’s mobile menu.
- Menu Icons: Best plugin to add custom menu item icons.
- Advanced Sidebar Menu: Best plugin to create optimized sidebar navigation.
- My Sticky Menu: Best WordPress plugin to create a floating menu.
- Float Menu: Best plugin for setting up unique sticky navigation that slides to the right/left.
- WooCommerce Menu Cart: Best plugin to expand your WooCommerce site with a menu cart.
- QuadMenu: Best plugin for advanced users who require many configuration options.
- Admin Menu Editor: Best plugin to modify your WordPress admin menu.
- Hero Menu: Best WP menu plugin that supports simple and advanced menu creation.
UberMenu is a popular plugin for building complex mega menus that involve many levels.
Its outstanding feature lets you add advanced content, like Google Maps, to the menu. You can even let it display blog post grids. Not only that, configure the grid to pull specific content and featured images.
You can align the menu vertically or build multiple UberMenus with independent configurations if you wish.
The plugin integrates well with the WordPress menu system, but your theme needs to include an UberMenu-specific style sheet.
Note: You can also use an optimized mega menu WordPress theme.
It includes an intuitive builder that anyone can use to create responsive grids with multiple columns. The live preview feature lets you watch the building phase in real time while customizing it.
With UberMenu, you can keep it simple or add even more functionality by integrating third-party widgets
Note: If you feel the menu is too complex for smaller devices, you may use the free mobile menu plugin ShiftNav. This helps to build app-style menus for mobile.
Key features:
- CSS3 transitions
- Live customize with 50+ styles
- Touch support
- Advanced submenus
- Easy option to create horizontal and vertical menus
- Entirely responsive and mobile friendly (but use ShiftNav if you plan to add a lot of content)
- You can add images, shortcodes, widgets and custom HTML
Best WordPress menu plugin for: Beginner and professional users who need to sort out an advanced mega menu.
Pricing:
- Regular license ($26): Limited to one client/user
When you install Max Mega Menu, it automatically converts your existing menu into a mega menu. The drag-and-drop builder helps build the menu from your dashboard, skipping coding altogether.
You can convert your menu into a touch-friendly, easily accessible navigation with a few clicks.
You can style the mega menu using your theme editor and alter the menu behavior using native WordPress settings, giving you many customization options.
This plugin can also build complex menus, adding interactive elements like maps. It can also include functions like calendars and contact forms and integrate with third-party plugins.
Usually, the mega menu feature is found only in the premium or advanced plugins, but it’s free in Max Mega Menu. Despite its range of features, it is lightweight and fast loading.
You may want to upgrade to the paid version for additional features like WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads support.
Key features:
- Drag and drop builder
- Interactive elements
- Sticky menu
- Search box
- Custom styling
- The premium version sorts out even the most complex mega menus
- Well-coded and lightweight, ensuring it doesn’t slow down your site’s page loading speed
- The free version is pretty limited
Best WordPress menu plugin for: Building advanced mega menus quickly and effortlessly within your favorite WordPress theme.
Pricing:
- Free: Multiple menu locations, supports widgets, various transitions
- Personal License ($29): 1 site, all features (support and updated expire after 12 months)
- Business License ($49): 5 sites, all features (support and updated expire after 12 months)
- Developer License ($99): 99 sites, all features (12 month support and lifetime updates)
You should try WP Responsive Menu to convert your WordPress menu into a cool sliding menu that perfectly fits mobile devices.
It integrates seamlessly with the WordPress admin interface and packs many user-friendly tools.
What’s cool is that you can hide unnecessary mobile features. But desktop users can see everything.
WP Responsive Menu is a standout because the menu creation process is streamlined. This allows you to create a beautiful and functional menu in seconds using the dozens of customizable options available.
Additionally, it supports swipe gestures and pinch-to-zoom features and integrates well with all platforms.
And you can also add a search function to the menu, making finding content even easier. The plugin works well with any theme framework, as well as with Multisite and WooCommerce.
For more features, check out the premium version.
Key features:
- Custom logo
- Two display options
- Social media icons support
- Integrates with WooCommerce
- Support for RTL languages and smooth translation to fit any local audience
- You don’t need any experience creating custom WordPress menus
- Support and updates end after one year (need to renew if you want it continues to work properly)
Best WordPress menu plugin for Everyone who needs a quick and easy solution to improve WordPress’ default navigation with a better-performing one.
Pricing:
- Free: Responsive layout, configurable style, swipe gestures
- Single Site ($35): All features
- 2-5 Sites ($89): All features
- Unlimited Sites ($159): All features
If you are ready to take your website navigability to a whole new degree, you better choose Groovy Mega Menu WordPress menu plugin and make a difference.
This tool offers you the complete creative freedom to establish the mega menu and header you fancy. While it comes with predefined layouts out of the box, you can also develop your custom version.
Horizontal, vertical, and, of course, mega menus; it is all possible with the amazing functionality of Groovy Mega Menu.
Moreover, Groovy Mega Menu is also compatible with all the major drag and drop builders, like WPBakery, Elementor, Beaver Builder, and Gutenberg.
You have 200+ options for styling the menu for your particular online presence. Let the menu take your website’s user experience to new heights.
Key features:
- Horizontal and vertical menu
- Widget ready
- One-page menu with smooth scroll
- Ajax cart
- Compatibility with popular WordPress page builders, plugins and themes
- Optimized for excellent mobile performance
- Multiple styles of menu appearances/locations
Best WordPress menu plugin for: Building a modern mega menu for any website quickly and effectively. You can add as many elements to your new navigation as you want.
Pricing:
- Free: Mega, vertical and one-page menus, RTL support, smooth scroll, etc.
- Pro ($28): Submenu, sidebar menu, off-canvas navigation, ready-to-use presets, etc.
You can do a lot of fancy stuff with your website menu, making it more navigable and appealing to the eye (just for some users).
What do you mean by “some users?”
If Menu is an exciting tool, you should consider limiting your menu’s visibility.
You can set restrictive rules based on admins, editors, geolocation and logged-in users with If Menu.
In other words, if there are sections that you would like only admins to access and have your editors see only one part of the menu, this is the plugin you need.
Get busy, download If Menu for free, and see the magic happen.
Key features:
- Multiple rules
- Display menu for active WooCommerce subscribers
- Detects user’s subscription level
- Excellent control after menu visibility for users, devices, locations, and more
Best WordPress menu plugin for: Every user who would like to restrict menu visibility per user role, device, and more. Ideal for membership sites.
Pricing:
- Free
- More Visibility Rules addon ($20): Geo location, 3rd-party plugin integration, premium support
There is a good chance that the major part of your traffic is mobile. That said, you might need to customize and optimize mobile users specifically.
You might need to enhance your mobile menu to make it better performing and easier to use. You will boost the mobile website experience with the power of the WP Mobile Menu plugin.
The collection of features WP Mobile Menu offers is vast for a tool that costs nothing.
It includes a multilevel dropdown feature (don’t miss our exclusive WordPress dropdown menu plugins collection), naked header, overlay mask, and background image, and supports a custom logo.
Of course, you can also modify the menu style to precisely fit your branding regulations. Make sure your page’s mobile experience is as first-class as its desktop experience.
Key features:
- Naked header
- Live search
- Visibility rules
- Animated icons
- WooCommerce support
- Built to improve the website’s mobile experience
- Works with all modern and responsive WordPress themes
- Pro plans can get pricey if you use the plugin on more than one site
Best WordPress menu plugin for: Improving your website’s mobile experience with an optimized menu.
Pricing:
- Free: 3-level menu, naked header, custom styling
- Professional ($6.49+/month): All free features, footer menu, overlay menu
- Business ($9.99+/month): All Professional features, sliding cart, mobile product filter
- Enterprise ($29.99+/month): All Business features, success manager, private Slack channel
One simple way to elevate your menu section is by adding icons. As simple as it sounds.
You can add icons to your menu with the Menu Icons plugin – EASILY! This excellent WordPress plugin is effortless and takes barely any time to set it up.
We recommend considering even the smallest detail for a better site.
After installing and activating Menu Icons, go to the appearances section of your admin dashboard and locate the menus.
Pick the icon that best resonates with the section, add it, save the menu, and you are done. From then on, you can edit your menu accordingly.
Menu Icons is an adaptive tool that works with most modern themes. It also supports different icon sets, such as Font Awesome, Fontello, TI Icons, and Foundation Icons.
Note: Take a peek at our list of the best WordPress icons plugins if you need more options.
Key features:
- 200,000+ active installs
- Regular updates
- Custom SVG icons
- Custom markup
- 8+ icon packs
- The easiest way to add icons to your WordPress menu and get the user experience up
Best WordPress menu plugin for: Spicing up your menu items with catchy icons.
Pricing:
Sometimes, having a menu in a sidebar can increase your page’s user experience.
You can achieve great results when creating a sidebar menu with Advanced Sidebar Menu. This WordPress menu plugin goes slightly against the norm compared to the menus we normally see at the top of a site.
However, it is still super simple to use and set up, just like any other tool in this collection.
Advanced Sidebar Menu brings page and category widgets to the table that you can add to your sidebar easily. It also has page and category blocks, making it compatible with Gutenberg.
Use the one that best resonates with you or even stick to both if you find them fit your project.
Key features:
- Widgets and Gutenberg blocks
- Show/exclude pages and categories
- 7 bullet styles
- Custom post types
- Global or custom menu display
- Easy to work with and set up a sidebar menu for any WordPress site
Best WordPress menu plugin for: If you want to add your WordPress sites’ navigation to the sidebar instead at the top.
Pricing:
- Free: Blocks and widgets, page ordering, custom category and page visibility
- Pro ($64/year or $174/lifetime): Multiple styling options, bullet or no-bullet styles, custom taxonomies
To improve your website’s navigability, use My Sticky Menu plugin and make an immediate difference.
Keep in mind that My Sticky Menu also works great for all sorts of promotions and notifications you would like to put an extra shine on. You do not have to limit yourself just to floating menus.
Moreover, you do not need coding knowledge to activate My Sticky Menu and make it work on your website or blog.
Let your visitors have constant access to the menu without needing to scroll back to the top of your page to visit a different section.
Key features:
- Show on scroll (up or down)
- Hide on small devices
- Custom CSS style
- Show/hide on specific pages
- User-friendly admin dashboard
- An all-around solution for creating sticky/floating elements on your site, including menu
- Small issues can occur (but the team will quickly fix them)
Best WordPress menu plugin for: Users who would like to benefit from the easy activation of a floating menu.
Pricing:
- Free: Fade and slide effects, custom transition time, RTL support
- Basic ($25/year): 1 site, all features
- Plus ($59/year): 5 sites, all features
- Agency ($99/year): 50 sites, all features
Float Menu is the WordPress menu plugin to consider if you want to float your menu. The plugin has a unique feature of sliding to the side when scrolling.
No matter the section of your page and how long you scroll, the menu will always be there, offering to jump to a different location without scrolling back to the top.
Also, the menu takes a small portion of the screen, not causing any disturbance.
As for the features, Float Menu comes with many, ensuring everyone gets the most out of it and with little work.
You can employ Float Menu to create the exact floating menu you fancy, positioned on the right or left. Moreover, you can add custom button labels, modify the color, introduce any link you want, and even set the button’s background.
Key features:
- Left or right side floating menu
- Custom background color
- Multiple animations
- Visibility rules per pages, posts, IDs, etc.
- Easy to use and create a floating side menu
- Various customization and configuration options
- No submenu functionality in the free version
Best WordPress menu plugin for: Everyone who would like to float their site menu with a unique slide to the right/life function.
Pricing:
- Free: Custom labels and buttons, link support, square-shaped buttons
- Pro ($25+): 1+ site, great customizations, translatable, custom display rules
When running a WooCommerce WordPress site, you might want to add a shopping cart button in the navigation bar for your shoppers’ convenience.
This provides your customers access to their cart at all times. And WooCommerce Menu Cart plugin will make it happen in a little breeze.
It only takes a few clicks to set up this WordPress menu plugin and deliver an additional comfort level.
You can do all sorts of stuff to display details with WooCommerce Menu Cart.
You can showcase items only, price, or even both. Moreover, the cart can only appear in the menu when they add an item but stays blank when there is nothing in it.
You can also set the shopping cart to float left or right or use it in your menu’s default settings. In addition to WooCommerce compatibility, WooCommerce Menu Cart also works with Easy Digital Downloads, Jigoshop and others.
Key features:
- Display cart icons, items, prices
- Float left or right
- CSS customization
- Shortcode to display cart anywhere
- 10+ cart icons
- Multiple configuration options so you add the exact cart appearance you want
- May require some extra configurations
Best WordPress menu plugin for: Every WooCommerce user who wants to display a shopping cart in the menu section.
Pricing:
- Free: CSS customization, visibility rules
- Pro (29€+): 1 site+, 10+ cart options, flyout, multilingual support, 3rd-party plugin support
QuadMenu is one of the rare free mega menu plugins for WordPress. It allows you to create mega menus, tab menus, and carrousel menus simply and natively.
This responsive menu fits all screen sizes and is developed under the “mobile-first” concept. It also incorporates touch screen friendliness to improve user experience.
Another key feature that highlights this plugin over other alternatives, such as Ubermenu or Max Mega Menu, is the variety of available layouts.
This is the first mega menu that’s all-in-one solution. You’ll be able to create a horizontal or vertical menu on desktop devices and a collapsible or off-canvas menu on mobile.
QuadMenu’s admin panel was strategically integrated, so it feels like it’s WordPress’s default.
The drag & drop user interface allows you to manage all menu content by adding widgets and other elements available in your native WordPress menu boxes.
Customizer
Integrating the customizer dashboard allows you to tweak all menu color schemes and layout settings with a real-time preview.
QuadMenu is a freemium plugin with free and paid versions that include features like login and registration forms, tabs menu and carousel menu.
Key features:
- Drag and drop editor
- Native widgets
- Horizontal and vertical menus
- Various practical menu elements
- Easy configurations via the theme customizer (real-time editing)
- Multiple developer filters to take the menu to the next level
- Set up might be too time-consuming for beginner users
Best WordPress menu plugin for: Advanced users who need multiple configuration options to create the ideal menu for their website or blog. You can use the plugin for mega menus, off-canvas menus, carousel menus, etc.
Pricing:
- Free: Automatic and manual integration, drag and drop builder, vertical, horizontal and off-canvas menu
- Personal ($49): 1 site, all features
- Agency ($99): 5 sites, all features
- Developer ($149): Unlimited sites, all features
Admin Menu Editor helps you manually edit your dashboard menu.
You can create specific menu items, change menu titles, and organize menu items via drag-and-drop.
Shift menu items to the sub-menu levels, and create custom menus that direct to any part of the dashboard or an external URL.
If things go wrong, you can restore the default version as the administrator easily.
Moreover, you can set it up as a global plugin in a multisite network. This will enable the network administrator to edit the dashboard for all the sites and users simultaneously.
You can also set custom menu permissions, so not everyone sees everything. Admin Menu Editor also works with WordPress shortcodes and can open menus in a new window (but that’s exclusive to premium version).
Key features:
- Easy organization with drag-n-drop
- Hide and show menu and its items
- Login and logout redirects
- Shortcodes
- You can easily reset the menu configuration and go back to default settings in case you mess things up
- 60-day money-back guarantee (!)
- Interface isn’t the slickest
Best WordPress menu plugin for: Configuring your WordPress admin’s menu.
Pricing:
- Free: Editor, hide and show menu or menu items
- Personal ($29/year): 2 sites, all free features
- Plus ($39/year): 5 sites, use on client sites
- Agency ($59/year): Unlimited sites, use on client sites, toolbar editor
Hero Menu‘s terrific customization options help you build any menu you want. This plugin makes both the typical Hero menu and a simple dropdown menu possible.
The 650 Google fonts, 60 color presets, and a custom background make customization easy. And menu building is effortless with a drag-and-drop editor.
What’s sure to delight you if you’re managing an eCommerce store is the plugin’s complete integration with WooCommerce.
You can assign icons to menu items and display product thumbnail images and prices in the menu. Besides, all regular content like text, forms, and maps can be found in the menu.
The sticky menu is always visible to readers, and the menu will automatically scale down to smaller devices.
You can hide menu items depending on user roles to keep some content visible only to logged-in users. A recent update adds an eyebrow menu, a little text feature, and a login link in a thin strip at the top.
Key features:
- Drag and drop builder
- Sticky menu
- Built-in search fields
- Custom CSS
- Awesome styling functions
- An all-around WordPress menu plugin that can do a lot of things, from simple menus to advanced mega menus
- Easy integration with WooCommerce
Best WordPress menu plugin for: Simple and advanced WordPress menus with effortless drag and drop builder.
Pricing:
- Regular License ($20): Limited to one client/user
After performing much more extra research and testing on business, eCommerce and blog sites, we concluded that UberMenu is the ultimate WordPress menu plugin.
Why?
It’s an easy-to-use and very affordable (one-time payment) tool for building any menu.
You can use UberMenu for a simple (multi-level) drop-down menu or an advanced mega menu with a contact form and Google Maps.
It’s all possible.
Plus, we experienced only good conversations when speaking to UberMenu’s support.
Create a WordPress menu that’ll benefit your visitors and boost user experience.
The simplest and quickest way of adding a mega menu in WordPress is by using a plugin. Our long-time recommendation is UberMenu because of its flexibility and a vast collection of features.
Yes, WordPress has a default menu functionality which you can access by going to Appearance > Menus. Moreover, it depends on the theme you use how advanced or basic the navigation is.
A mega menu is expandable, two-dimensional navigation that can feature multiple content, like images, product links, Google Maps, contact forms, etc.
A flyout menu is one of the cleanest site navigations because it only appears when a visitor interacts with it, aka clicks the (hamburger) menu icon.
You can easily activate the sticky menu function in WordPress with a plugin. One of our favorite plugins for floating navigation is My Sticky Menu. (Remember, you can also add sticky navigation manually via code, but that’s for advanced users.)
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