Grade A

Shortcode in Menus

Name: Shortcode in Menus
Rating: 4.7 (82 reviews)
Author: Gagan Deep Singh

⤓ Download v3.5.1 on WordPress.org ↗

by Gagan Deep Singhupdated 2026-02-10✨The Quiet Achiever

A lightweight menu helper that is currently ghosting its users.

HealthyDeclining

71/100

The plugin works well for many but lacks developer support and regular updates.

Loved24/40

Trustworthy13/15

Fair & Honest15/15

Maintained15/18

Momentum4/12

✂️

You might not need this plugin. Its core job is small enough to live in your theme's functions.php.

Show the snippet

add_filter( 'walker_nav_menu_start_el', function( $item_output, $item, $depth, $args ) {
    if ( strpos( $item->title, '[' ) !== false ) {
        $item_output = str_replace(
            $item->title,
            do_shortcode( $item->title ),
            $item_output
        );
    }
    return $item_output;
}, 10, 4 );

Keep in mind:This covers shortcodes in menu item titles; HTML in menu items works natively once shortcodes are resolved.

More plugins you can skip →

Active installs

~55,000

our estimate · wp.org shows 50k+

Rating

4.7★

82 ratings

Trend · vs a year ago

-12%

Declining

51 → 45 installs/day

Downloads over time

real new installs per day · release spikes shown separately from the trend

2025-04-302025-08-082025-11-162026-02-232026-06-03

organicrelease spikerelease tailorganic trend · 14d rolling median

Declining · -12% in the last year

51/day a year ago→45/day today

Reviews

what people actually say

Shortcode in Menus is a lightweight, well-liked plugin for its simplicity and core functionality, but it has a notable reliability problem for some users and shows signs of being effectively abandoned by its developer.

What people like

+Works as advertised for most users — renders shortcodes inside nav menus without complications×8
+Reported to be compatible with various themes, including Elementor menus×2
+Simple and fast with no performance complaints×3

Common complaints

−Does not work for some users — shortcode in a custom link field triggers a WordPress 'Please provide a valid link' error, contradicting the plugin's own example images×2
−Developer support is largely absent; many support topics go unacknowledged×2
−Plugin has not been updated in over a year and is considered by at least one user to be no longer meaningfully supported
−Shortcode entry disappears from the menu item field after saving, making it hard to review or edit
−Settings/documentation are unclear or do not match what users actually see in the admin panel

Review trustReviews look organic

4.73★Verified rating — holds steady vs the raw 4.70★
6%One-shot reviewers — most reviewers are active community members

Reviews per month · 5★ vs lower

2023-08-192025-01-102026-06-04

5★ reviews1–4★ reviews

All-time ratings · 82 total

5★

4★

3★

2★

1★

Latest reviews · 82 analyzed

2026-03-10★★★★★‘Please provide a valid link.'andrebell82
2024-03-12★★★★★Please don't let this plugin die..Namaste
2023-12-11★★★★★Didn't work for me madbirdesign
2023-09-15★★★★★Didn't work for me….pebworthbells1-shot
2023-08-05★★★★★Thank you!schroederskater
2023-02-10★★★★★The perfect shortcode in menu plugin!basbuis
2023-02-01★★★★★Excellent Plugin Wordaspect
2022-12-14★★★★★Work Great, no need mega menu, i just need this aldhydany1-shot
2022-06-09★★★★★Works Wonderfully!Website Dude
2022-05-18★★★★★Works with Elementor Menu also igenlabs

Releases

recent versions from WordPress.org SVN

2026-02-10v3.5.1
2020-08-20v3.5
2017-09-12v3.4
2017-08-31v3.3
2017-05-23v3.2
2015-10-24v3.1
2015-07-16v3.0
2014-11-04v2.1

For developers & the curious

the raw signals behind the grade — none of this is on the friendly summary above

Download signals

Baselines are computed on organic days only — release spikes and their tails are excluded, so they're not inflated by the auto-update wave.

Baseline · median of last 7 organic days

Prior 7-day baseline

Floor · 25th percentile over 14 days

Latest day · 2026-06-03(organic)

+7.3%

Week-over-week organic trend

Review signals

Concentration and drive-by metrics drive the review-burst and fake-review flags. 30–40% solo reviewers is normal; we only flag the extremes.

20%

Max month share · biggest single 30-day window

2.45

Distribution CV · <0.6 even, >1.5 bursty

90%

5★ share in analyzed sample

Solo reviewers · only this one wp.org activity

—

Volume velocity · last 6mo vs prior 6mo

4.70 → 4.73★

Sample avg · raw → solo-filtered