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Simplify Menu Usage icon
Possibly abandoned Tested up to 5.5.23

Simplify Menu Usage

Have you ever been annoyed by being not able to insert a new item as submenu parent or to delete menu items without opening the menu item panel? A free and easy to use plugin saving you time working in WordPress.

Active installs<10New
Downloads · 30d40▲ +66.7% vs prev. 30d
Rating—0 reviews
Health score21/100At risk
All-time downloads1.1KSince Jul 2020
Support resolved—No recent threads
RequiresWP 5.0PHP 7.0+
Downloads · 7d9▼ -35.7% week over week
Our verdict

Consider an alternative

Simplify Menu Usage shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. Was last updated 6 years ago, and scores 21/100 on our health check.

  • Small user base (<10 active installs)
  • Very few reviews so far
  • No update in 6 years
  • Only tested up to WordPress 5.5 (latest is 7.1)

How does it stack up?

Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support

Daily downloads

123Jul 11Aug 24Oct 8
Yesterday0
Daily average (1y)1
Peak day5Nov 5, 2025
Last 12 months310

Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.

Rankings

Where Simplify Menu Usage stands today

WordPress.org search rankings

Live position in the plugin search, top 100
KeywordPositionCompeting pluginsCategory
menu >100 10,000 Best menu plugins →
menus >100 2,750 Best menus plugins →
nav >100 978 Best nav plugins →
navigation >100 6,186 Best navigation plugins →
simplify >100 1,803 Best simplify plugins →

About Simplify Menu Usage

From the official readme · v1.0.0

Description

Have you ever been annoyed by being not able to insert a new item as submenu parent or to delete menu items without opening the menu item panel? A free and easy to use plugin saving you time working in WordPress.

Your benefits

  • You can delete menu items in a 1-click process instead of opening the menu item panel.
  • You can move the menu items in 1-click process without opening the panel.
  • You see via icons on the left sidebar if a page, post, category etc. is already used in the current menu.
  • You see the used menu items by hovering over the items in the left sidebar.
  • You have the possibility to do quick inserts of menu items, where you can place them at the position you like.
  • You can modify the behavior of inserting/moving elements downwards.
  • It shows you additionally the original name of a menu item on the outer level like in the opened panel.
  • Saves you a lot of time by reducing clicks not needed to work with the menu items in the backend.
  • It´s free and easy to use.

Different behaviors

Inserting/moving menu items downwards is enriched by two new behaviors. Moving/inserting rightwards, upwards is the same as provided by WordPress.
Leftwards moving/inserting is a special case. The leftwards functionality is nearly the same as provided by WordPress expect the scenario when
the menu item becomes a menu parent and create a submenu by moving one step left.
The different behaviors can be seen in the Screenshots section.

Same-level behavior

When choosing this behavior menu items will be inserted/moved after submenus. The default behavior provided by WordPress inserts/moves the menu item into the submenu.
If you move/insert a menu item and the next menu item is the parent of a submenu it will stay on the same level, but the position is after the submenu.

Take-children elements behavior

When choosing this behavior menu items will become new submenu parents when inserted/moved if they would become the parent of the submenu children elements.
This is true for downwards/leftwards moving/inserting.

Quick insert multiple menu items

It can be very handy to insert multiple menu items to a specific menu element to create a submenu.

Compatible

The plugin is compatible with a multisite setup.

Future roadmap & wishlist

By future updates the plugin´s functionality will be enriched.
If you have any suggestion please hit me an email

Contribute

Want to help improve the plugin feel free to submit PRs via Bitbucket here.

Installation

Quick and easy installation:

  1. Upload the folder simplify-menu-usage to your plugin directory
  2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
  3. That´s it!

Changelog

1.0.0

  • Birth of Simplify Menu Usage: Stable Version

Full changelog on WordPress.org →

Screenshots

This is the view of the modified menu area in the admin dashboard.
This is the view of the modified menu area in the admin dashboard.
Shows the original name of the menu item on the outer level.
Shows the original name of the menu item on the outer level.
Shows the quick insert buttons on the right side.
Shows the quick insert buttons on the right side.
Shows inserting menu item leftwards.
Shows inserting menu item leftwards.
Shows quick insert of multiple menu items.
Shows quick insert of multiple menu items.
Shows movement of submenus at the same level.
Shows movement of submenus at the same level.

For developers

Is this your plugin? Show off the numbers.

Add a live badge to your site, docs or GitHub README. It updates on its own — no account needed.

Active installs badge Rating badge Health score badge

Best Simplify Menu Usage alternatives

All menu plugins →
Alternatives
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7 WP Mobile Menu – The Mobile-Friendly Responsive Menu WP Mobile Menu – The Mobile-Friendly Responsive Menu Need some help with the mobile website experience? Need an Mobile Menu plugin that keep… by Rui Guerreiro 70K+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 (256) 2 weeks ago 94
8 Nav Menu Roles Nav Menu Roles Hide custom menu items based on user roles. by HelgaTheViking 70K+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 (219) 7 months ago 52
9 Conditional Menus Conditional Menus This plugin enables you to set conditional menus per posts, pages, categories, archive… by themifyme 60K+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 (71) 2 months ago 76
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FAQ

Simplify Menu Usage: quick answers

Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.

Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 9, 2026

Is Simplify Menu Usage free?

Yes. Simplify Menu Usage is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.

Is Simplify Menu Usage safe to use in 2026?

Simplify Menu Usage shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. Was last updated 6 years ago, and scores 21/100 on our health check.

How many websites use Simplify Menu Usage?

Simplify Menu Usage is active on <10 WordPress websites and has been downloaded 1,090 times since it launched in July 2020. It was downloaded 40 times in the last 30 days.

Does Simplify Menu Usage work with WordPress 7.1?

Simplify Menu Usage is officially tested up to WordPress 5.5.23, while the latest release is 7.1.3. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.

What PHP version does Simplify Menu Usage need?

Simplify Menu Usage requires PHP 7.0 or higher. Most hosts run PHP 8.x today, so it works on any modern WordPress hosting.

When was Simplify Menu Usage last updated?

The latest version, 1.0.0, was released on October 9, 2020 (6 years ago).

Who makes Simplify Menu Usage?

Simplify Menu Usage is developed and maintained by Konstantin Kröpfl.

What are the best alternatives to Simplify Menu Usage?

The most popular alternatives to Simplify Menu Usage are Admin Menu Editor (300K+ installs), Max Mega Menu (300K+ installs) and Menu Image, Icons made easy (100K+ installs).

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