Introducing ReadNinja

After months of testing and refining, we're thrilled to release ReadNinja — a reading progress bar plugin built from the ground up for modern WordPress.

Why another progress bar plugin?

We were frustrated with the existing options. Most plugins:

Kill performance — loading heavy scripts that tank your Lighthouse score
Offer no real control — one color, one position, take it or leave it
Can't target anything — no per-article overrides, no device targeting
Look generic — the same thin bar every other site uses

ReadNinja solves all of this.

What's in v1.0

Free features

The free version includes everything you need to get started:

Smart progress bar that tracks real article reading, not just page scroll
Full appearance control — color, height (2–20px), top/bottom/custom position, opacity, z-index, track background
Floating reader indicator — show percentage, time remaining, or both, with custom reading speed and label format
Display & device targeting — posts, pages, hide on homepage, desktop / mobile / both
Sticky header auto-offset — automatic or fixed offset value
Per-article overrides — force show/hide and override color, position or selector per post

Pro features

ReadNinja Pro adds advanced targeting, engagement triggers and analytics:

Reading analytics dashboard — 4 KPIs, 7d/30d/all filter, top 50 articles with depth and completion bars, anonymous via sendBeacon
Threshold trigger — fire a scroll-to-top, reveal a CSS element or run custom JS when a reader hits any percentage
Gradient bar colors — two-color gradients with direction or custom angle and live admin preview
Sequential stepped progression — discrete reading milestones with configurable step animation
Advanced display conditions — archives, search, 404, blog index, custom post types, taxonomies and Full Site Editing templates

Installing ReadNinja

Search for ReadNinja in the WordPress plugin directory, or download directly from WordPress.org.

Once activated, the bar appears on all posts immediately — no configuration required.

Have feedback? Leave a review on WordPress.org or reach out directly.