search
top

13 free writing meters, progress trackers, and word counters

writing word counterWhether you’re trying to keep up with NaNoWriMo or a New Year’s resolution, competing with fellow writers, or just looking for a little extra boost to your public accountability factor, using a visual word count meter can be just the ticket to keep your fingers moving.

Below are the 13 best places I found to get free word counters for your blog, social profile, or website. (If you see one you like, click the site name in large print to get it for yourself.) Some are simple. Others have a bunch of options to let you play with the design and style. Each of them will let you measure your writing progress as you go, and that’s the main thing. Please note: I have not tried all of these, so — as always — use your own good judgement.

With any of these tools, unless noted otherwise, you can manually adjust the number to reflect your own individual writing goal. Also, if you select one of the meters which relies on outside image hosting, keep in mind the image you’ve chosen could experience some overload the first few days of November and go blank for a moment or two as the WriMos descend back into the cybersphere. Hang in there. You know we drop off like flies.

(Click the bigger, underlined link above each list item to visit any of these sites and get your own meter.)
.

Here’s where to find the good stuff:

*

Writertopia

There are two meters available at this site. One is a simple HTML tag, which looks like this:

 

1-writertopia-counter-screencap-1

 

The other is a cartoon featuring an unwitting writer guy with a mood you can tweak at will. According to rumor, he celebrates with a drink when he’s reached his goal. Here’s what he looks like in the throes of full-tilt computer rage:

 

2-writertopia-counter-screencap-2-300x189*

Honorless.net

This word tracker is a simple HTML progress bar which does not rely on outside images. The site gives clear instructions on how to tweak and recolor it to your liking.

 

3-honorless-counter-screencap-300x88*

Language is a Virus

The counter below is another self-hosted cut-and-paste HTML code, and color can be modified easily.

 

4-languageisavirus-counter-screencap*

StoryToolz

Here’s another HTML tool, but this one displays a word meter which can be clicked on — by you or anyone else — to view your daily progress statistics. This is the meter:

.

5-storytoolz-counter-screencap-1

 .

And this is a screencap of the sample report shown on the site:

 

6-storytoolz-counter-screencap-2-300x208*

Sarra’s Word Meter

This counter does not have to be manually updated (as a few of the others do), so the benefit is that your code only has to be pasted in once. It works by using your Facebook login info, and you can toy with various color combinations to customize the display.

 

7-sarra-counter-screencap-300x118*

Critique Circle

This is a visually clean and streamlined meter with more rounded edges. (And possibly my personal favorite in terms of style, though I haven’t really decided which one to use on my own blog.)

 

8-critique-circle-counter-screencap*

Svenja Liv

Here’s another rounded word bar, and I have to point and giggle at the instructions: “Don’t enter anything except numbers, because the form can’t generate a percentage with non-numeric characters. You can’t really blame it; bet you can’t, either.” I love her already.

9-svenja-counter-screencap1

From the same artist, there’s a NaNoWriMo spreadsheet you can download which comes in several designs:

10-svenja-counter-screencap2-300x240

 

And if you’re tracking your work across the entire year, she offers a yearly spreadsheet, too:

11-svenja-counter-screencap3-300x170*

ProgPress

For those of you, like me, using WordPress, here’s a plugin to help you manage your writing goals. It works via shortcode, can be modified using CSS, and could be pasted anywhere into your theme or layout. The developer includes coding tips on how to take it from basic black all the way to textured and image-based:

12-progpress-counter-screencap-whole-gamut-181x300*

Dave’s Whizmatronic Widgulating Calibrational Scribometer

I definitely didn’t Google any of those words. But how cool is that name? (Very, I know!) This scribometer — I swear, I’m going to figure out how to work that word into conversation once a day from now on — also comes in the form of a WordPress plugin and can be pulled in as a widget into your sidebar. It can be modified to various colors and sizes, too, and the site shows this as a basic starting point:

13-dave-counter-screencap-300x167*

iGoogle gadgets

If the iGoogle homepage is your thing, the gadget directory shows several NaNoWriMo-specific tools which look pretty neat. (Actually, it shows it  even if it’s not your thing. Semantics. You know what I mean.) One of the tools will compare the progress of your whole NaNo buddy list at a glance, and another will track the word counts for you and a competing friend side-by-side. Unfortunately, these may not be as cool as they sound; the time may have passed when they’d work properly. When NaNoWriMo reworked their site from scratch,it may have affected the compatibility of the Google toys. On the bright side, if there’s was enough demand for these to exist before, there’s a good chance they’ll exist again or be upgraded themselves.

__________________

*

I had a heck of a time finding these things! I’m a Google fanatic, and usually pretty quick on the keys, but it took me more than ten minutes and twenty searches to find exactly what I wanted. I looked for a word counter. I looked for a manuscript progress meter. Display of word count. Writing word count. Novel widget. Word tracker, word counter, word tool. Book progress tracker. NaNoWriMo counter for blog. Sidebar counter, sidebar meter, sidebar bar, even. “Stupid progress thingie!!!!111.”

Nada.

I tried lots of things, but until I got to the magic phrase, which turned out to be “word count meter”, most of my searches were completely fruitless. And stressful. And aggravating. Therefore, I decided to gather what I found into one post, include all those remixed phrases, and hopefully save someone else the same hassle. I’m sure there are more.  That’s why I’m asking: If you’ve had success with any of these or if you know of others that should be on the list, please let me know in the comments!

 
(top image credit)

39 Responses to “13 free writing meters, progress trackers, and word counters”

  1. Lauren Wayne says:

    Thanks so much for doing the Googling work for me! 🙂 I’m trying to find a good progress meter for editing my novel. From my NaNo experience, I know I need the visual feedback that I’m getting somewhere. I’m going to check out all the links you’ve collected — thanks!

  2. Svenja Liv says:

    Hey there, thanks for the link to all my stuff! I’m glad you liked my instructions too. 😀

    • Tracy Lucas says:

      I loved your sense of humor, haha, and of course, the images were gorgeous. I couldn’t resist.
      Thanks for making them available in the first place! 🙂

      • Tushar says:

        Maureen / on TwitterI tried NaNoMo once and I froze. Which is weird for me. Up until last year I wrote three full pages in my juronal every. I have over 60 books full of my words that came because I wanted them to and not because of NaNoMo.I stopped because I’ve acquired arthritis in my right hand and can barely hold a pen. I know I can write a juronal on my computer but I’m a proponent of Julia Cameron and she always insisted in writing by hand. I’m sure she would say that if I had no other choice but to type she would be okay with it… but I’ve hit a brick wall with this.I also tell myself that I’ve run out of space to put all the juronals. I even told my kids when I die they can have them. They both looked like deer caught in my headlights.My daughter commented that she had no desire to read what I wrote about her and her rocky journey in High School. My son blanched at the thought. LOL kids

  3. nina says:

    thanks for the info. I have been looking for a good word count widget all day.

  4. Rob Kroese says:

    Thanks for finding them! I was having a heck of a time finding them myself.

  5. Anjani M says:

    The best app for writing/editing a novel I’ve found is Scrivener. Made by and for writers. It’s invaluable!

  6. For word counter tool, I would like to suggest this site also: http://wordcounttools.com. It’s handy and reliable.

  7. I wish instead of html codes and such that someone actually had a word platform (like King Software or Microsoft word) that actually kept track of what I wrote for that day. I am in the middle (literally) of two books I am writing. So it’s not like I can just use my cursor the copy what I wrote and paste it into a word counter lol. I literally have words everywhere because I am adding to the story in various stages in the book.

    • Tracy Lucas says:

      Good point! Hmm. What I’d love to see is something that runs in the background and tracks a total keystroke for the whole computer, which you could ideally turn on and off. I wonder how many words I spend every day in emails and Facebook posts.

      I might be afraid to know that.

      • Well, if you try Scrivener, it has a very handy gadget that you can pop up in a tiny window and it will track your progress and show a meter to your daily goal as well as overall goal. It’s kind of addicting, actually!
        It’s not for the whole computer, but just what you’re putting into the ms, no matter where you’re writing.
        I just tried Scrivener with the free trail for NaNo, and I’m very pleased! Doesn’t have it’s own thesaurus like Word, (it wants to go online for that) but it’s great for tracking, and also for rearranging scenes.
        Hope that might help someone!
        Elizabeth

      • AM Gray says:

        For counting words within Drive try this guy
        http://www.jamierubin.net/2013/07/11/my-google-writing-tracker-scripts-now-available-on-github/
        I am not techie at all, and I manged to install and run the script in Google Drive. BUT you have to remember to work in the ‘sandbox’ file and DO NOT open yesterday’s copy. It compares today’s copy of the doc with yesterday’s and then counts the word difference. As a bonus, it emails you a copy of what you wrote so you can never lose it.
        I have scrivener and LOVE it, but sometimes I write shorter fics in Drive or want to share with my betas.

    • Use ywriter. It gives a total word count at a glance without going through any menus and how many you’ve written that day. Also with two clicks you can access you’re writing count for every day you’ve worked on it.

  8. enote says:

    TRACKING WRITING PROGRESS
    I’d love to find a Mac OS program or website that would allow me to
    1. record amount of time spent writing and number of pages written,
    2. visualize progress in bar charts displaying data over different time intervals (weekly, monthly, etc.),
    3. add daily notes on progress and plans, and view them in a continuous feed, like a journal,
    4. share all of the above with one or two fellow writers using the same progress tracker so we can provide each other with accountability and support.
    Anyone have any tips?

  9. jerry says:

    I’m for real gonna do NANO this year and these are great tools to help

  10. Maya G says:

    Here is the Best Word Counter Tool that i found http://rapidwordcounter.com/

  11. Thanks so much !!! Exactly what I was looking for !!!

  12. Seth Swanson says:

    I just put out a new tool this year called Word Keeper Alpha (http://wordkeeperalpha.com) based on the NaNoWriMo tools and graph. Track your daily word counts, set goals and projects. While I’ve slowed development down a little bit to work on my own book (arguably what I should have been working on instead) I’m still going to be adding more features and refining things as time goes on.

  13. Megaera says:

    I need a wordcount widget for FB. The html ones just show the raw code, not the widget. Help?

  14. Lee Pletzers says:

    My google search term was Social Widget for writing word counts and your page showed up. Thanks for doing the work for me 😉

  15. Ben says:

    For WordPress users, I would consider WP Word Count, which I have found is the most flexible word count tool for WordPress. With a shortcode, writers can insert a word count into any piece of content on their site. The plugin also allows writers to keep track of the total words published, both across the whole site and for specific post types. Hope this helps.

  16. Lily says:

    Coming in [very] late on this one (just found your page while searching for word count trackers), but pacemaker.press is pretty much perfect for word count tracking for NaNoWriMo or just writing in general.

  17. tzivia adler says:

    I tried to use 2 of these widgets in my wordpress blog, no joy.

    Wordtopia’s
    and
    ProgRess’s [progpress title=”My Project” goal=”100000″ current=”1234″]

    both show up as regular text, not a pic.

  18. Piper says:

    If you’re looking for something prettier than just the HTML based wordcount trackers, try https://www.tickerfactory.com/counter.

    You have to sign up and create an account but it is free.

  19. Alen says:

    I would also recommend to check countwordsfree.com

  20. Thanks for your listing. I’ll be sure to link it up when I do a round up post! Another great program that’s free, makes graphs, and tells you how many more words to go with your project is Write Track by David S. Gale. writetrack.davidsgale.com I really enjoy using the NaNoWriMo style calendar tracking. Plus you can connect with other users.

  21. Angela says:

    Thank you for your hard work in linking up so many different options! Camp nano here I come! Happy Writing!

  22. Al says:

    I had the WIP Progress Bars for wrtiters plug-in created. It’s for self-hosted WordPress websites only but it’s free and creates cool looking word count tracking bars. https://wordpress.org/plugins/author-work-in-progress-bar/

  23. David Jace says:

    I’m not sure how old this post is, but just to update:
    Sadly, Writertopia is dead. That was my favorite because of the cute cartoon visual. Sadly, though the page exists, the application no longer runs.

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. Academic Writing Month 2012: Writing Tracker for #AcWriMo - [...] me with the idea of public tracking, and so I looked through the writing meters featured in “13 Free…
  2. Change is Good | Being Passionately Curious - [...] why I picked the bar I did.  If you are in need of a good way to track your…
  3. Emily Ann Ward Finish Your Nanowrimo Novel – Part 1: Keep the Fire - [...] updated word counts, anymore, but you can still track your progress! Use a word count widget (here’s a list…
  4. Think BIG - [...] progress will be fun and I hope that you’ll be interested in it too. I’ve added my own progress meter…
  5. COBG'S Guide to Surviving NaNoWriMo! | Cheapest Online Books - […] NaNoWriMo Trial Offer -BEST writing software (IMO)YWriter - Free Writing Software. A list of Progress trackers and word countersCliche…
  6. Could Not Catch Them All | The Road of a Writer - […] a more upbeat note: wordcount meters! I found the link from this lovely lady’s blog, and I just love…
  7. Writing Resources, Links and Books | The Road of a Writer - […] Wordcount widgets – links to some free writing meters for blogs and sites, to keep track of your wordcount.…
  8. NaNoWriMo 2014 Word Tracking Spreadsheets and Tools | Sara Toole Miller - Fiction & Non-Fiction Writer - […] Free Writing Meters […]
  9. Plugins and Word Count | dannyneedstoaccomplishsomething - […] or when I decide to move to my own domain and the full installation of WordPress, here’s a list…
  10. It’s NaNoWriMo Time: How To, Tips, Techniques, and Survival Advice | Writers in the Grove - […] 13 free writing meters, progress trackers, and word counters – Tracy Lucas […]
  11. How Can I Avoid Distractions When I'm Writing? - […] There are a lot of different ways to track your wordcount goals and remind yourself of your progress. A…
  12. Surviving NaNoWriMo: Tips for Getting Through the Month | Nicole Naito - […] likely you’ll finish it! You can also use your own word count widgets to post (here’s a link for…
  13. Its That….NaNoWriMo Time of the Year! | marshaprescod - […] And here, on Tracy Lucas’ site: http://www.tracylucas.net/13-free-writing-tools-meter-tracker-word-counter-widget/606 […]
  14. 17 important tune-ups for your blog | Inkwell Basics - […] every once in a while, throw back something that still has legs. At my solo blog, there’s a post…
  15. Discussions Video: Priorities, Hobbies & How to Make Money | CurtisAndersen.com - […] For those looking for a writing tracker, I’m still trying to get the info on the one my friend…
  16. Publishing! – Tzivia Adler, Writing Consultant - […] As motivation toward a new article, I found a widget! (Credit where credit is due: someone else found it…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

top