10 Smart Mega Menu Plugins for WordPress Websites

Effective navigation is crucial for any website, allowing users to easily find what they need. For WordPress sites, mega menus can greatly improve navigation and user experience.

Mega menus feature drop-down menus with multiple columns and rows to display nested navigation and related content. This provides users with access to substantially more links/content than a standard menu, reducing clicks to reach inner pages.

There are several ways to implement mega menus in WordPress:

Hard-coded Navigation – Manually adding custom HTML, CSS and jQuery. Gives precise control but requires development skills.

Page Builders – Some premium page builders like Elementor have mega menu widgets. More beginner-friendly but limited customization.

Mega Menu Plugins – Dedicated plugins that add mega menu building options to WordPress. The easiest and most powerful option for most users.

In this guide, we‘ll explore the top mega menu plugins for WordPress to help you find the right solution.

Why Use a Mega Menu Plugin?

Mega menu plugins provide a user-friendly way to add full-featured mega menus without coding:

• Drag and drop builders make it easy to create any mega menu layout.
• Built-in access to WordPress menus ensures easy integration.
• Multiple layouts like horizontal, vertical, accordion, tabbed etc.
• Display posts, pages, categories, custom content in nested sub menus.
• Customize design – colors, fonts, borders, backgrounds etc.
• Responsive support for optimal mobile experience.
• Some plugins have header/navigation bar builders for complete header customization.
• Advanced options for hover effects, animations and transitions.
• Detailed documentation and support forums to help you.

For most WordPress site owners, a dedicated mega menu plugin is the best way to add this navigation feature. Let‘s look at the top options.

1. WP Mega Menu

WP Mega Menu from MyThemeShop is a highly customizable plugin with an easy drag and drop interface to create any mega menu design.

Some key features:

• Build using WordPress menus for easy integration.
• Horizontal, vertical, accordion and tabbed menu layouts.
• Display categories, posts and custom content.
• Customize design – colors, borders, typography etc.
• 500+ Google Fonts support.
• Background image option.
• Responsive mobile menu with configurable breakpoints.
• Retina-ready resolution support.
• Inbuilt page builder to design custom content blocks.
• Translation ready and WPML compatible.

WP Mega Menu is very lightweight yet packed with features. It‘s a great option for users looking for maximum customization capabilities from their mega menu plugin.

Price: $39 for 1 site. Get WP Mega Menu

2. UberMenu

UberMenu is a free mega menu plugin for WordPress that gives you advanced configuration options.

Some notable features:

• Create mega menus using the default WordPress menu system.
• Horizontal, vertical and accordion menu orientation support.
• Display posts, pages, custom post types in submenus.
• Custom submenu layouts with grid columns.
• 100+ styling options for menu items, submenus, typography etc.
• 600+ vector icons included.
• Background image option.
• Touch swipe support.
• Responsive support down to mobile.
• Extensive developer hooks and filters.

The powerful customization options make UberMenu a great pick for designing pro-level mega menus on WordPress.

Price: Free

3. Max Mega Menu

Max Mega Menu is another great free WordPress mega menu plugin with a user-friendly drag and drop builder.

Key features:

• Build using default WordPress menus.
• Horizontal, vertical and accordion layouts.
• Display posts, pages and custom content.
• 100+ styling options for menus and items.
• Custom icons and hover effects.
• Background images and patterns.
• Touch/swipe support.
• Responsive configurable breakpoints.
• Built with accessibility in mind.

Max Mega Menu keeps things beginner-friendly while still packing a ton of customization options. It‘s among the top options for quickly setting up a mega menu on your WordPress site for free.

Price: Free

4. Nav Menu Roles

Nav Menu Roles enables you to display different menu content to users based on their role.

For example, show an admin mega menu with dashboard links only to logged-in admins. Or display account/profile navigation to logged-in users.

Works great combined with other mega menu plugins to build role-specific mega menus.

Some useful features:

• Display menus based on user role e.g. member, editor etc.
• Show different content to logged-in vs logged-out users.
• Works with all WordPress menu plugins.
• Mobile responsive support.
• Translation ready.

If you want to build mega menus tailored to different users, Nav Menu Roles is a must-have.

Price: Free

5. QuadMenu

QuadMenu is a premium mega menu plugin with advanced JavaScript-based capabilities.

Some standout features:

• Drag and drop mega menu builder.
• Horizontal, vertical, accordion and off-canvas menus.
• Custom widgets, icons and menu elements.
• Easily embed third party content.
• Conditional logic for smart menus.
• Custom JS/CSS for advanced customization.
• Developer-friendly hooks.

QuadMenu combines ease of use with developer-level control over your mega menus. A good fit for advanced customizations.

Price: Starts at $15 for 1 site. Get QuadMenu

6. WP Mega Menu (Themeum)

WP Mega Menu from Themeum is a great freemium plugin for building navigation and menus.

Notable features:

• Drag and drop mega menu builder.
• Horizontal, vertical, accordion layouts.
• Display posts, pages, categories in nested menus.
• 900+ font icons included.
• Background images/patterns.
• Widget support – add search, social icons etc.
• Touch swipe and responsive support.
• Theme integration ready.

WP Mega Menu makes it very easy to create any type of mega menu style on your WordPress site.

Price: Free. Pro version $29 for 1 site. Get WP Mega Menu

7. Unfold

Unfold is a lightweight mega menu plugin for Elementor page builder users.

Why choose Unfold:

• Specifically built for Elementor.
• Use Elementor widgets to design your mega menu.
• Horizontal, vertical and accordion layouts.
• Create multi-level nested menus.
• 500+ font icons included.
• Mobile responsive menus.
• Template import for quick setup.

If you already use Elementor for your site, Unfold makes it easy to create mega menus without learning new tools.

Price: $39 for 1 site. Get Unfold Mega Menu

8. Superfly

Superfly provides a unique vertical mega menu solution for WordPress.

Some useful capabilities:

• Left or right vertical menu.
• Multi-level fly-out submenus.
• Touch enabled and mobile friendly.
• Custom page templates for pages shown in menu.
• Menu trigger effects like slide over and push.
• CSS3 animations for menus.
• Custom widget support.
• Translation ready.

If you want a modern vertical mega menu, Superfly is a great choice.

Price: $22 on CodeCanyon. Get Superfly

9. Liquid Menu

Liquid Menu is an Elementor-based responsive mega menu builder.

Why Liquid Menu stands out:

• Drag and drop builder within Elementor.
• Use Elementor widgets for custom menus.
• Horizontal, vertical and accordion menus.
• 500+ icons included.
• Mobile collapse settings.
• Menu triggers like click, hover etc.
• Template import for easy setup.

For mega menus using the power of Elementor, Liquid Menu is a great plugin.

Price: $39 for 1 site. Get Liquid Menu

10. Mega Menu by MaxGalleria

Mega Menu from MaxGalleria is a free WordPress mega menu plugin with a visual builder.

Notable features:

• Drag and drop menu builder.
• Vertical, horizontal and accordion layouts.
• Display posts, pages and custom links.
• 800+ vector icons included.
• Mobile responsive support.
• Retina display support.
• Template import.
• Developer friendly hooks.

It‘s a lightweight yet powerful free plugin to create responsive mega menus for your WordPress site.

Price: Free

How to Choose the Best Mega Menu Plugin

Here are some tips when selecting a mega menu plugin:

• Consider your site‘s navigation needs and menu layout requirements.

• Look for an intuitive drag and drop builder for easy menu creation.

• Determine if you need access to posts, categories etc. within submenus.

• Check responsive and mobile menu support.

• Factor in design customization needs – fonts, colors, borders etc.

• Evaluate if you need advanced features like conditional logic or custom code support.

• Choose plugin support and documentation that fits your skill level.

• Look for plugins that provide importable templates for quick setup.

• Consider free vs paid plugins based on your budget and needs.

• Check for good support and frequent updates from the plugin developer.

Take your time to evaluate the options. Most plugins have demo sites to test out the features and menus before deciding.

Get Started with Mega Menus

Mega menus can greatly improve navigation and usability for WordPress sites. The right plugin makes it easy to add this feature.

Focus on finding a mega menu builder that is intuitive yet powerful enough for your specific needs. Testing demos is highly recommended before choosing a plugin.

With flexible WordPress mega menu plugins, you can create nested navigation to help visitors easily find content on your site and have a smooth user experience.