Members
94The best WordPress membership and user role editor plugin. User Roles & Capabilities editor helps you rest...
Free
300k+ installs 4.9★ (1,274)
Nav Menu Roles
Hide custom menu items based on user roles.
The facts
- Rating
- 4.9★ from 219
- Active installs
- 70k+
- Price
- Free
- Last updated
- 26 Mar 2026
- Added
- Sep 2012
- Requires WP
- 6.6.0
- Tested up to
- WP 6.9.0
- Requires PHP
- 7.4
- Downloads
- 1,809,396
Our analysis
AI-assistedNav Menu Roles is a WordPress plugin that allows you to hide custom menu items based on user roles. You can set menu items to be visible only to logged in users, logged out users, or everyone, with additional flexibility to customize visibility based on specific user roles and capabilities.
This plugin is suitable for users who want to control the visibility of menu items in their WordPress site without restricting access to content itself. It is particularly useful for membership sites or any site that requires differentiated navigation based on user status.
Best for: This plugin suits WordPress site owners who need to manage menu visibility based on user roles.
What it does well
- ✓Hides menu items based on user roles
- ✓Customisable with additional check boxes using filters
- ✓Easy to set up through the WordPress menu interface
- ✓Compatible with user meta values and custom attributes
Where it falls short
- •Does not restrict access to content, only menu visibility
- •Support is limited and does not cover custom implementations
Verdict
Nav Menu Roles provides a straightforward solution for controlling menu item visibility, but users should be aware of its limitations regarding content access.
From the developer
HelgaTheViking's own description of Nav Menu Roles, lightly tidied.
This plugin lets you hide custom menu items based on user roles. So if you have a link in the menu that you only want to show to logged in users, certain types of users, or even only to logged out users, this plugin is for you.
Nav Menu Roles is very flexible. In addition to standard user roles, you can customize the functionality by adding your own check boxes with custom labels using the nav_menu_roles filter and then using the nav_menu_roles_item_visibility filter to check against whatever criteria you need. You can check against any user meta values (like capabilities) and any custom attributes added by other plugins.
Important note
In WordPress menu items and pages are completely separate entities. Nav Menu Roles does not restrict access to content. Nav Menu Roles is only for showing/hiding nav menu items. If you wish to restrict content then you need to also be using a membership plugin.
Usage
- Go to Appearance > Menus
- Set the “Display Mode” to either “logged in users”, “logged out users”, or “everyone”. “Everyone” is the default.
- If you wish to customize by role, set the “Display Mode” to “Logged In Users” and under “Restrict menu item to a minimum role” check the boxes next to the desired roles. Keep in mind that the role doesn’t limit the item strictly to that role, but to everyone who has that role’s capability. For example: an item set to “Subscriber” will be visible by Subscribers and by admins. Think of this more as a minimum role required to see an item.
Support
Support is handled in the WordPress forums. Please note that support is limited and does not cover any custom implementation of the plugin. Before posting, please read the FAQ. Also, please verify the problem with other plugins disabled and while using a default theme.
Please report any bugs, errors, warnings, code problems to GitHub
Tagged as
Alternatives
Other plugins for membership sites.
Build membership sites with tiered plans, content restriction, drag-&-drop custom registration & login...
Free
50k+ installs 4.8★ (828)
Membership & community plugin with user profiles, registration & login, member directories, content re...
Free
200k+ installs 4.4★ (1,444)
Bulk import and export WordPress users and WooCommerce customers from CSV, including roles, passwords and any...
Free
70k+ installs 4.7★ (256)
Simple membership plugin adds membership functionality to your site. Protect members only content using conten...
Free
40k+ installs 4.6★ (475)
wpForo Forum
87Number one WordPress forum plugin with AI features. Full-fledged forum solution with modern forum design. Comm...
Free
20k+ installs 4.7★ (390)