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Best WordPress Plugins for Reading Time

10 plugins compared · Updated August 2026 · Reading Time

All Free only 10 Premium only

Choosing a WordPress plugin for reading time comes down to a few things: whether it is still actively maintained, whether real users rate it well, and whether it does the specific job you need without dragging the rest of the site down.

We ranked 10 plugins using our WPScore, which weighs the user rating (adjusted for how many people actually rated it), how many sites run it, how recently it was updated, and which WordPress version it is tested against. 10 of them have enough public data to be scored; the rest are listed below the ranked block, clearly marked, rather than being given a number we cannot justify.

How this list is funded. Some links here earn us a commission if you buy. It costs you nothing extra, and it does not move anything up the list — the order comes from the WPScore, which is calculated from public ratings, install counts and update history. See the method.

At a glance

  1. 1. Reading Time WP Best overall 85/100
  2. 2. Read Meter 83/100
  3. 3. Reading Position Indicator 82/100
  4. 4. Worth The Read 81/100
  5. 5. Reading Time 77/100
  6. 6. WP Sessions Time Monitoring Full Automatic 76/100
  7. 7. Just Writing Statistics 63/100
  8. 8. Blog Post Reading Time 59/100
  9. 9. Timify 50/100
  10. 10. Post reading times 49/100
1 Reading Time WP
Best overall Free by yingles

Reading Time WP

Reading Time WP creates an estimated reading time of your posts that is inserted above the content or by using a shortcode.

4.8★
from 20 ratings
20k+
active installs
Updated
Aug 2026
Tested to
WP 7.1
85

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
2 Read Meter
Free by Brainstorm Force

Read Meter

The Read Meter plugin displays the estimated reading time for blog posts along with a progress bar.

4.5★
from 19 ratings
10k+
active installs
Updated
Aug 2026
Tested to
WP 7.1
83

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
4 Worth The Read
Free by brianmcculloh

Worth The Read

An adjustable progress meter showing how much of the post/page the user has scrolled through, and a read time commitment label near the post titles.

4.3★
from 27 ratings
3k+
active installs
Updated
Aug 2026
Tested to
WP 7.1
81

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
5 Reading Time
Free by whiletrue

Reading Time

Reading Time shows the estimated reading time and puts an animated progress bar inside the post.

3.7★
from 3 ratings
200+
active installs
Updated
Aug 2026
Tested to
WP 7.1
77

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
8 Blog Post Reading Time
Free by Rathod Narendrasinh

Blog Post Reading Time

Display estimated reading time and let your visitors listen to blog posts with a built-in text-to-speech option. Boost engagement by helping readers c …

100+
active installs
Updated
Sep 2025
Tested to
WP 6.8.8
59

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
9 Timify
Free by ThemeIM

Timify

With Timify, let your audience know about the last modified date, publish date, and reading time of your articles. You can also customize each setting …

5★
from 2 ratings
100+
active installs
Updated
Oct 2023
Tested to
WP 6.1.12
50

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org
10 Post reading times
Free by Dmitry Litvinov

Post reading times

A plugin that allows you to easily display the reading time of any article. Reading time is calculated based on a person's standard reading speed …

5★
from 3 ratings
700+
active installs
Updated
Apr 2023
Tested to
WP 6.2.11
49

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org