WP Reading Progress

78 Quality Score

Active Installs

16/30

With around 3,000 active installs it is a mid-tier plugin in this niche, scoring above the popularity baseline but well behind the 10,000-install leaders.

Update Freshness

25/25

Last updated in May 2026 and tested against WordPress 7.0, the maintenance signal is excellent and suggests an actively maintained codebase.

User Rating

15/15

A perfect 100 out of 100 from 19 reviewers is impressive, though the small sample size means the rating carries less statistical weight than larger plugins.

Support Health

8/15

There are zero support threads, which means no public track record of either quick fixes or unresolved complaints, giving an ambiguous support signal.

WP Compatibility

15/15

Compatible from WordPress 4.9 through 7.0 on PHP 5.6 and up, giving it one of the widest compatibility ranges in its category.

Scores higher than 65% of indexed plugins

About

Light weight fully customizable reading progress bar. Sticks to top, bottom or sticky menu, with fallback for small screens. Includes ert (beta).

Active Installs 3k+

Rating ★★★★★ 5/5

Last Updated 2026-08-15 1:24pm GMT

Requires WordPress 4.9+

Tested Up To 7.1

Requires PHP 5.6+

✓ No known vulnerabilities

What It Does

WP Reading Progress adds a slim, customizable progress bar to your WordPress site that fills as a visitor scrolls through a post or page. It can be pinned to the top, bottom, or a sticky menu, and includes a fallback layout for small screens. The plugin also ships with an estimated reading time feature, currently marked as beta.

Who It's For

This plugin suits publishers, bloggers, and content-heavy sites that want to give readers a visual cue of how far they are through an article. It is a good fit for news outlets, educational platforms, documentation libraries, and membership sites where long-form reading is the norm. Anyone who values a lightweight, no-frills front-end widget will appreciate its approach.

Who Should Skip It

If your site is mostly short posts, landing pages, or product pages, a reading progress bar adds visual clutter without much benefit. Sites that already use a theme or builder with a built-in progress indicator do not need the extra plugin overhead.

The Bottom Line

WP Reading Progress is a tidy, well-maintained plugin with perfect user ratings, even if the sample is small and public support activity is nonexistent. It earns a 78.07 overall quality score, slotting it just below the top alternative Reading progressbar at 79.42. If you need a clean, lightweight scroll indicator with a beta reading-time bonus, it is a solid pick; if community proof matters to you, the 6,000-install competitor is the safer bet.

Related Plugins

Reading progressbar 79/100

Pick this if you want a similar lightweight bar but with double the install base, suggesting a more battle-tested option.

Ultimeter 74/100

Choose Ultimeter if you need highly stylized progress bars and counters with more visual flair than WP Reading Progress offers.

Catch Scroll Progress Bar 71/100

Go with Catch Scroll Progress Bar if you prefer a more design-forward bar and do not need built-in estimated reading time.

Read Meter – Reading Time & Progress Bar 66/100

Opt for Read Meter if reading time estimates are your priority, since it leads on installs and focuses heavily on that feature.

Progress Bar 57/100

Pick the generic Progress Bar plugin if you want simple, configurable progress indicators that extend beyond just reading position.