If you’re looking for a plugin to customize the menu of your WordPress, surely you have found a wide variety of options.
There are paid and free ones, up to 20 plugins or some more. All very good to customize menus in WP and create spectacular mega menus, leaving aside some of the free ones.
Below we analyze in depth three of the best: UberMenu vs Hero Menu vs QuadMenu. We compare the different features of each plugin in several sections, each covering a specific topic that concerns the three plugins.
Before you keep looking and going blind trying one and another plugin, you have to know in detail these plugins, three of the best you can find out there.
Here is a review of UberMenu vs Hero Menu vs QuadMenu:
Main Features
These three plugins offer a complete variety of customization and configuration options that allow you to create almost any imaginable mega menu.
It’s the only one that offers the distinctive feature of inserting content in carrousel format.
Also it has a complete collection of icons, fonts and it’s possible to customize almost everything through an intuitive and easy to use user interface.
Another unique feature is that it’s a plugin designed both for advanced developers and for the average user, with little or no technical knowledge.
Heromenu
It lacks some advanced features, such as the option to import menus or advanced developers tools.
It offers a set of 60 color combinations to use and more than 650 google fonts available.
A plugin that will fit perfectly in any website with a few modifications or even with the default configuration.
UberMenu
This plugin combines a powerful and intuitive user interface with a high quality end result.
Like QuadMenu, it integrates with the native WP customization page, so you can see the changes made to the menu in real time. Something very useful to save time in the process of creating the mega menu.
UberMenu vs Hero Menu vs QuadMenu
Responsiveness
How could it be otherwise, the three plugins are responsive and works perfectly on any device.
With HeroMenu and QuadMenu it is possible to hide menu items when accessed from devices with smaller screen sizes such as smartphones. This could be very useful in some cases, for example when you want to simplify a very complex megamenu in smarthpones.
As for the responsive design, HeroMenu stands out, it looks really good in smartphones and devices of all kinds.
However the best score is for QuadMenu. Not only for its responsive design, also because It’s designed under the first mobile concept, which means that the plugin is made specifically for mobile devices, and then adapted for other screen sizes.
This has many advantages if we take have in mind that every day more and more people use their smartphones when surfing the net.
But that’s not all, in addition QuadMenu is optimized for touch screens. Something that goes beyond the responsive and that many responsive designs forget.
Theme integration
It’s obvious that with the large number of themes that exists, it’s impossible for any plugin to be 100% compatible with all of them.
In each update patches are released and modifications are made so that the plugins are compatible with more templates each time. But that’s not enough, there are more than 10,000 templates out there.
With UberMenu it is usually necessary to do a manual integration, for which it’s required to have basic programming skills. Nothing complicated in most cases. Just copying and pasting a few lines of code or using a shortcode in most of the cases.
Same thing happens with QuadMenu. It may be necessary to perform a manual integration in some cases.
But the good thing about QuadMenu is that it offers some addons to make that integration quick and easy. At the moment it offers one click integration for Divi, Astra, Ocean WP, Avada, Storefront. And the list keeps growing.
HeroMenu is compatible with many of the most popular themes, so it does not require manual integration in most cases. If necessary, everything is correctly documented.
Anyway, you can always ask for support. All these plugins have quality support and will solve any conflict that may arise.
Front End
Design
The three plugins are very well designed and have a great good-looking on any website. But of course, everything depends on the skills of the user when creating a mega menu.
With HeroMenu you can get very good results using the default values. For simple menus it’s possible to create the desired mega menu by making few modifications
This is not the case in UberMenu, it requires a little more work to achieve the same. Also, the final design could be a little better.
QuadMenu has a good design in all its aspects. Animations, different menu settings, submenus and all the menu items are designed impeccably. Impossible to be disappointed with the design of this plugin.
User experience
Once again, everything here will depend on the user’s ability to create a mega menu that offers a good UX.
However, we find subtle differences in the layout of the contents within the tabs. At this point, UberMenu and QuadMenu have a slight advantage over HeroMenu.
HeroMenu seems to be more aggressive every time an element is selected. This does not happen with UberMenu or QuadMenu wherein each click the elements open in a way that is more pleasing to the eyeview.
In the three plugins the search box is well integrated into the design as well as the social elements.
In Ubermenu and QuadMenu you can search without leaving the menu. This does not happen with Heromenu where searches are made on a separate page. They are two different concepts that affect the UX in some way.
As a noteworthy note, the option to insert contents in carousel format offered by QuadMenu is very attractive to boost the UX.
Speed
These plugins are the result of the work of professional developers and programmers. They have worked hard to achieve a quality product, and they’ve made it.
The three plugins are efficient and don’t slow down at all the loading speed of the websites where they’re installed.
However, for better testing of this we must analyze mega menus with a large amount of content. With multiple tabs, submenus and numerous content of all kinds. This is where we can really appreciate the quality of each plugin code.
We detect complaints from some HeroMenu users regarding this issue. In complex mega menus with more than 100 contents (including links, texts, images, videos, widgets and others) there may be delays in loading time, especially in the back end.
Vertical / Offcanvas layouts
The vertical menus are quite useful when thinking about mobile devices. Also for when you want to create an alternative menu and place it in the sidebar or somewhere else vertically.
With UberMenu and QuadMenu this is possible, not so with HeroMenu that lacks this feature.
Once again, QuadMenu stands out with its design offcanvas layout. Something very convenient for mobile devices, especially for those that are obsolete and have smaller screen sizes.
Back End
User Interface
The experience of creating a mega menu with any of these three plugins is simple and efficient. Something difficult to achieve considering the myriad of customization and configuration options available.
They offer an intuitive and comfortable user interface, although with certain differences.
In UberMenu it’s a can be a little dificult to understand the operation of some options, but that happens only when you use it the first few times. It requires some time of learning until you can master all the controls.
On the other hand, QuadMenu and HeroMenu have a user interface unbeatable.
Everything is very well organized and it is easy to find what you are looking for. Even for the most inexperienced users.
Developers tools
The three plugins have a CSS box editor for developers.
With HeroMenu it’s possible to use your own shortcodes and insert html code..
But UberMenu and QuadMenu offer tools for more advanced developers.
UberMenu has its own PHP and JavaScript API while QuadMenu has a set of hooks – the same method that WP uses – to modify the behavior of the plugin in the desired way.
Overall performance
In general, the three plugins are efficient and allows to create mega menus that perfectly adapt to the needs of any website.
They are highly recommended plugins and without doubt they are among the best in the market.
About HeroMenu, we can say that it’s a perfect plugin for those who want something simple but effective and with an attractive appearance.
For those complex menus that large Web sites require, UberMenu is a good choice. An option that will certainly satisfy the most demanding users. Although perhaps more work is needed to achieve good results.
QuadMenu is a serious choice to have in mind when buying a mega menu plugin. It offers unique features absent in other plugins, it’s also very powerful and easy to control.
A plugin made by developers for developers, at the same time it offers simplicity and quality for the average user.
Here a comparative table to remember:
UberMenu | HeroMenu | QuadMenu | |
---|---|---|---|
Responsive | Yes | Yes | Mobile first |
Price | 15 | 19 | 13 |
Extended license | No | Yes | Yes |
Preview | Yes | No | Yes |
Coding skill needed | Yes | No | No |
Developers features | Yes | No | Yes |