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Advanced Sidebar Menu

By Mat Lipe

Site Structure & Navigation / Menu Management & Mega Menus

Reviewed by Omar Dabbas

Trusted WordPress expert with 20+ years of experience evaluating plugins for the WP ecosystem.

Advanced Sidebar Menu Review - In-Depth Analysis

Automatically generates sidebar menus based on page and category hierarchy. Keeps menus clean and relevant to the current section of your site.

Performance Overview

WPS Score

6.87/10

User Rating

4.5/5 (based on 37+ reviews)

Active Installations

10,000+

Update Frequency

Outstanding It is calculated using the weighted average of same category plugins.

Security Score

1 / 10 (Very Low Risk) It is calculated using the weighted average of all versions.

What It Does

The Advanced Sidebar Menu plugin creates fully automatic sidebar menus that utilize the parent/child relationship of your pages or categories. This means you can assign a page or category to a parent, and the plugin will generate the appropriate menus for you.

With this plugin, only related items are displayed, ensuring your menus remain clean and usable. You won't have to worry about updating custom menus or showing links that don't belong.

Blocks are available for displaying menus wherever you need them, such as in page content, widget areas, or the theme customizer. You can also use classic widgets for compatibility with older sites.

Comparing to Alternatives

Advanced Sidebar Menu stands out among sidebar menu plugins with its customization options and ease of use, but there are several other plugins that offer similar functionality.

Top alternatives

Strengths

Highly customizable and easy to set up
Works well out of the box or with heavy customization
Excellent support praised by users
Effective for organizing large site side navigation
Well thought out design

Weaknesses

Pro version can cause menu items to become invisible
Limited documentation causing confusion
Some compatibility issues with certain themes
Block version requires additional plugins for full functionality

User Sentiment Analysis

With a strong majority of 5-star ratings, users generally appreciate the plugin's functionality and support, though a minority report significant issues especially with the pro version and theme compatibility.

Positive highlights

Very helpful and well written plugin with above and beyond support (deeholzman)
Extremely customizable and easy to set up (deeholzman)
Great plugin that met user needs (EleanorR Greenawalt)
Really useful product that gets the job done (tomsugar1)

Common complaints

Does not work with the TwentyTwentyOne theme (zihniates)
Pro version causes menu items to become invisible and requires additional plugins (WillOfTheWeb)

Weaknesses

Poor documentation leading to confusion
Pro version instability and compatibility issues
Limited support for listing individual posts within categories
Block version functionality is subpar without extra plugins

Who Should Use This?

Best for

Users who need a highly customizable sidebar menu plugin that works well for large sites and are comfortable with some setup and customization.

Not ideal for

Users relying on the pro version expecting seamless functionality, those using the TwentyTwentyOne theme, or those needing extensive documentation and support for listing individual posts.

Pricing & Value

Free version includes

The free version offers robust sidebar menu customization suitable for most users, including organizing large site navigation and multiple subsections.

Pro version

Premium features include enhanced menu options and additional customization, but users report significant issues such as menu invisibility and the need for extra plugins for full functionality.

Final Verdict

Advanced Sidebar Menu is a powerful and flexible plugin that excels in organizing complex side navigation with strong user support and a high satisfaction rating. Its free version is valuable for most users seeking customization and ease of use.

However, the pro version has notable stability and compatibility issues, and the plugin may not work well with certain themes or for users needing detailed documentation. Alternatives may be preferable for those requiring guaranteed pro support or specific theme compatibility.

Other Notable Features

Here are a few other notable features of this free Advanced Sidebar Menu plugin.

Category Menus

Page Menus

Sidebars

Screenshots

FAQ

The menu in this plugin is smart enough to not show up on pages or categories where the only thing that would display is the title. While it may appear like the menu is broken, it is actually doing what it is intended to do.

The most common causes for this confusion come from one of these reasons:
1. The incorrect menu was selected. Categories have their own widget/block as pages have their own widget/block.
2. “Display the highest level parent page” or “Display the highest level parent category” is not checked.
3. The Pages menu is currently not being viewed on a page.
4. The Categories menu is not currently being view on a category.

You may add CSS to your theme’s style.css to change the way the menu looks.

For example, the following CSS would:
1. Remove the dot to the left of the menu item.
2. Change the link color.
3. Add a background on hover.

.advanced-sidebar-menu li.current-menu-item a {     color: black; } .advanced-sidebar-menu li.current-menu-item {     list-style-type: none !important; } .advanced-sidebar-menu li.current-menu-item > a:hover {     background: teal; }

To style your menu without using any code upgrade to PRO.