Do you wish to make your website’s menu stand out from others? Do you want to have your menu be ultra-responsive and can create a mega menu?
You can accomplish all these things by using a WordPress Menu Plugin. But not with any WordPress menu builder plugin or the default WordPress menu option. You have to use the best menu builder WordPress plugins.
Furthermore, you can create responsive menu layouts with cool animated effects using any of the best WordPress menu plugins.
Why Do You Need a Menu Plugin?
Installing a WordPress menu plugin on your WordPress website will increase the overall navigation experience, increase user interaction, and add some advanced features that are not inherently a part of the default WordPress menu system. Here’s why you might need a menu plugin:
- Advanced Menu Design and Customization: Menu plugins allow you to create visually appealing menus that match your website’s branding. You can customize colors, fonts, backgrounds, and more, offering the design flexibility the default menu system lacks.
- Mega Menus: For websites with a lot of content, a menu plugin can help you create mega menus that display multiple columns, images, videos, and even widgets within the menu, making it easier for users to navigate complex sites.
- Responsive Menus: Many menu plugins are designed with a mobile-first approach, ensuring your menus work seamlessly across all devices, including smartphones and tablets. This is crucial in providing a good user experience, especially given the increasing number of mobile users.
- Interactive Elements: Plugins often include interactive features like hover effects, animations, and slide-in menus, which can make your site’s navigation more engaging and intuitive.
- Hierarchical Menus: For large websites with many pages, menu plugins enable you to create hierarchical or multi-level menus that organize content logically, reducing the risk of users getting lost or overwhelmed.
- Search and Filter Options: Some menu plugins include search bars and filtering options, making navigating to specific content easier.
- Optimized Menus: Menu plugins are often optimized for performance, ensuring that your menus load quickly and do not negatively impact your site’s speed, which is crucial for user experience and SEO.
A menu plugin is essential when you need more than basic navigation on your WordPress site.
Best WordPress Menu Plugins
If you look online for the best WordPress menu plugins, you will find several, and the most challenging part is choosing one from several.
However, it would be best to focus on your specific needs, such as high customization, specific types of menus, mega menus, mobile optimization, or integration into other plugins.
Today, we have handpicked the 7 Best WordPress Menu Plugins to help you achieve all the features we have discussed above. To find out more, keep reading the post.
Plugins | Active Installs | Ratings | Free Version | Download |
Responsive Menu | 100,000+ | |||
WP Mobile Menu | 90,000+ | |||
Max Mega Menu | 400,000+ | |||
WP Responsive Menu | 40,000+ | |||
UberMenu | 89,600+ (Sale) | |||
Superfly | 10,600+ (Sale) | |||
Hero Mega Menu | 6,600+ (Sale) |
Responsive Menu
Best For : Users looking for a simple yet powerful responsive menu solution.
Responsive Menu can be your first choice if you’re looking for a free WordPress menu plugin. It has over 150 customization options to match your menu’s overall website design.
You can easily customize the font, text, size, colors, layout, and overall appearance. Setting an image as your menu’s background can also make your menu stand out.
And when it comes to choosing the menu position, you can choose between horizontal or vertical. You can even choose which direction the menu will come from. You can also select an animation effect to make your menu look even better.
The speed of animation and the controls related to the effects are also customizable. As the name goes, it is 100% responsive and will support any modern device screen size. They also feature a pro version to let you add more functionality to your collection.
Key Features
- 150+ Customizations
- Image as the Menu Background
- Background Menu Color Opacity (Pro)
- Header Bar for an Announcement (Pro)
- Custom HTML Component
- Menu Animation Effects and Speed Control
- Typography Modification
- WPML and Polylang Supported
- Vertical and Horizontal Menu
- Mega Menu (Pro)
- Color Opacity for all colors (Pro)
Price: You can try the Free Version or purchase the Pro Version for $49 yearly for a single site.
WP Mobile Menu
Best For : Creating responsive and mobile-first menus.
WP Mobile Menu is another great choice if your main objective is to create a stylish, responsive mobile menu. It lets you add an overlay mask to your leading site while navigating the menu.
You can add up to 3 menu level dropdowns to make sub-categories, though anybody roughly needs more than that for small screens. You can add custom Google fonts, your site’s logo, and menu background images.
The best thing about the plugin is it also works great on the desktop. You need to set breakpoints to trigger the mobile menu, suggesting that desktop users can enjoy the same menu without hassle.
The more striking features are available when you buy the premium version. The premium version lets you access the sliding menu, a copyright section, and a header banner. Overall, it’s an excellent menu plugin that can help you create a better menu for your site.
Key Features
- Multi-Level Submenu
- Header Banners (Premium)
- Google Fonts
- Two Display Types
- Overlay Mask
- Import & Export Existing Menu (Premium)
- Highly Customizable Menu
- Breakpoints to Trigger Mobile Menu
- Background Image for Menu
- Alternative Menu Per Page (Premium)
- 2000+ Icons (Premium)
- Animated Icons (Premium)
- Copyright Sections (Premium)
Price: Try the standard features of the plugin for free. To access the premium features, you must purchase the Premium Version, which costs $6.49/month.
Max Mega Menu
Best For : Creating complex mega menus with ease.
Creating a mega menu for your WordPress site is not easy. But not anymore when you have Max Mega Menu. This mega menu builder plugin is the best free instant solution for creating a mega menu.
Max Menu will not disappoint you when you want to control how the mega menu looks and works. With their intuitive drag-and-drop menu builder, you can quickly organize your layout and content. You can also customize the outer appearance, including text, color, background, etc.
To give your menu a professional touch, you can also set animation effects such as flyout, hover triggers, etc. With the Max Mega Menu, you have the full potential to control the animation speed and styling features so that the menu works smoothly.
This WordPress menu plugin also lets you control how your menu would look on the desktop and mobile screens. If you want to show other things like images and other links, you can show them using WordPress widgets inside the menu.
What’s more interesting is that you can define whether your menu will be sticky or regular and add cool icons.
Key Features
- Sticky Menu (Pro)
- WordPress Widgets to show links and images
- Drag-and-Drop Menu Builder
- Hover, Hover Intent, or click event to open sub-menus
- Align menu items or submenus.
- Menu transitions
- Grid layout builder
- Tabbed mega menu
- Menu logo (Pro)
- Custom Item styling (Pro)
- Vertical & Accordion menu (Pro)
Price: Get the free version from the WordPress repository. The Pro Version costs $29 yearly for a single site.
WP Responsive Menu
Best For : Create swipeable menus that work seamlessly across all devices, focusing on mobile responsiveness.
If you are looking for a menu builder plugin for WordPress that is simple yet highly customizable, the WP Responsive menu is worth checking out. This plugin will help you get an excellent slide menu in less than a minute.
As the name goes, this menu is 100% responsive, and it lets you hide anything cluttering or unwanted when the menu goes into responsive mode. For instance, you can define which elements to show on different screen sizes.
This plugin is best for people who do not want to spend much time designing their mobile-friendly menu. But that does not suggest that you cannot customize it. You can customize every aspect of your menu.
You can set menu direction, swipe commands to open or close the menu, animate menu icons, typography, menu style, etc. On top of that, you can also add an optional menu search box. What’s more interesting is that it offers a premium feature for free.
It lets you add your site’s logo and icons to the menu items using the free version. The pro version unlocks features like RTL support, social media icons, Google font support, WooCommerce integration, etc.
Key Features
- Slide menu
- Easy customization without coding
- Menu directions
- Font size and styles
- Two different menu display options
- Menu icon and animation
- RTL support (Pro)
- WooCommerce integration (Pro)
- Custom or Google fonts (Pro)
- Social media icons in the menu (Pro)
- Demon import for creating a menu in a single click (Pro)
Price: Get the plugin for free. The price of the Pro Version costs $35 for a single site.
UberMenu
Best For : Advanced users who need a fully customizable mega menu solution.
UberMenu is the most-sold premium Menu plugin that lets you create a menu with unlimited possibilities. It is one of the best ultimate responsive WordPress menus packed with every advanced feature you might need while making a menu for your site.
When it comes to the menu types you can create using this plugin, It offers you the best menu types, such as flyout menus, drop-down image menus, tabbed menus, and the most wanted Mega menus.
The exciting part is that it lets you add more extreme menu content, such as maps, search bars, and contact forms. Thanks to its custom HTML, shortcodes, and widgets, you can add your custom code to display anything in the menu area.
Moreover, UberMenu also lets you generate menu items automatically from your blog posts. The visual customizer has over 50 style options to adjust the menu according to your brand.
This menu is fully customizable, so you can modify its background, color, icons, layout, and categories. You can also add custom CSS to further style your menu’s look. This is a unique plugin to check out if you want to try out a premium WordPress menu builder plugin.
Key Features
- Flexible Layouts
- Easy to Customize
- Dynamic Item Generation
- 100% Responsive
- Add Advanced Content
- Full Grid System with individual layout controls
- Advanced Customizer
- Fully Customizable
- Tabled Submenu
- Custom CSS
Price: Get the plugin for $29.
Superfly
Best For : Creating unique and visually appealing vertical and sliding menus.
Next, we have Superfly, another brilliant WordPress plugin that lets you quickly create unique-looking menus. It allows you to add stunning vertical menus, making the plugin special.
It also includes side menus that feature some fantastic, unique designs that hold the prominence to make your menu stand out from others. Items like images, icons, social media buttons, etc., can be added.
Superfly supports advanced styling options, which makes it a better plugin. You can create a full-screen menu using Superfly and add a video background to your menu to make your menu look more striking. Adding logos, custom fonts, and Google fonts is also possible.
You can give your menu items a new look with the valuable icons. On top of that, you can also add animation effects. The content area can be modified using shortcodes or custom coding. It comes with menu modes such as slide-in, static, compact, and skewed mode.
What’s more interesting is that you can create multi-level menus with each layer sliding further onto the screen. Surprisingly, it is better and more responsive in all display sizes. So it would look great on your mobile screen, too.
Key Features
- Different Menu Types
- Responsive Menu Design
- Menu Image and Video Background
- Full-screen Menu
- Add Advanced Content using a widget, custom HTML, & shortcodes
- Multi-level Menu
- Advanced Customization options for styling and animations
- Menu Export & Import
- Shiny Icon Bar
- Smooth Scrolling
Price: Get the plugin for $29 only.
Hero Mega Menu
Best For : E-commerce sites needing WooCommerce integration and custom menu options.
Finally, we have the last plugin on our list today, and it is Hero Menu that helps you stand out your menu and make it exceptional. If you use WooCommerce, the Hero Menu could be the best solution.
Using the Hero menu, you can add or display some of your products as menu items. Create excellent menus with their intuitive user interface and drag-and-drop menu builder. You can control overall everything from their dashboard.
Even the plugin comes with sixty color presets designed by professional graphic designers to ensure your menu looks visually stunning. If you want, you can always choose your custom background colors and images for your menu.
Hero Menu has over 270 handcrafted icons you can use before or after a menu item. Like UberMenu, you can add highly advanced menu items with shortcodes and custom HTML.
You can create any menu type using the plugin, like mega, static, slide, etc. There are endless possibilities when making a menu with Hero Menu.
Key Features
- Intuitive User Interface and Dashboard
- Integrates with WooCommerce
- Drag & Drop Menu Builder
- 60 Color Presets
- Responsive Layouts
- Three Steps to building a mega menu builder
- 270 Icons
- Mobile Navigation
- Sticky Menu
Price: Get the plugin for $20 from Codecanyon.
Conclusion
We hope you have enough information about WordPress menu plugins to make your menu stand out.
Hopefully, you have been able to choose one from the list. Before choosing one, go through the top features section of every plugin.
If you want the best premium WordPress menu plugin, you can choose UberMenu, Hero Menu, Superfly, etc. If you will try out the best free one, try the Responsive Menu. Max Mega Menu is best for creating a mega menu for free.
All of the best 7 WordPress menu plugins can make a gorgeous menu. But if you want a dedicated free mobile menu builder, try WP Mobile Menu.
If you have liked the post, consider sharing the bar on your social media with your friends. Please let us know your thoughts about these plugins in the comment section.
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