Reading Time WP creates an estimated reading time of your posts that is inserted above the content or by using a shortcode.
As of April 2026, Reading Time WP is a WordPress time plugin with 30K+ active installations and a 4.8/5 rating from 20 reviews. It has been downloaded 426K+ times in total. Requires WordPress 3.0.1+ and PHP false+. Available on WordPress.org since 2014. Last updated 1 year ago — may have compatibility concerns. Downloads are down 16% this week. Top alternative: WP Maximum Execution Time Exceeded.
WP Reading Time let’s you easily add an estimated reading time to your WordPress posts. Activating the plugin will automatically add the reading time to the beginning of your post’s content. This can be deactivated in the Reading Time settings which can be accessed from your Dashboard’s Settings menu. You can also edit the label and postfix from this menu.
If you’d prefer more control over where you add your reading time you can use the the [rt_reading_time] shortcode to insert the time into a post. This shortcode also excepts values for label and postfix. These are optional. Ex. [rt_reading_time label=”Reading Time:” postfix=”minutes” postfix_singular=”minute”].
A plugin that performs the function for which it was created without unnecessary load. Thanks to the author for the beautiful work!
Great plugin!
Gr
1st plugin in this niche that I’ve tried, and love it! Except ..
.. it would be even better if we could customize the colors and other typical css features from our WP backend. Now I have to mess about with custom code again to make it look the way I want it. Hence the 4-star rating.
| WordPress | 3.0.1+ requiredTested up to 6.7.5 |
| PHP | false+ required |
rtwp_filter_reading_time_output passes 4 arguments: $output, $label, $reading_time, $postfixPlugin data sourced from WordPress.org. Analysis and metrics by PluginSift.