Habit counter · Free · No sign-up
Habit Counter
A habit counter records how many times you did something today and counts the days you hit your target in a row. Give each habit a number to reach, count up as you go, and the day is earned when the count reaches the target. Miss a day and the streak returns to zero.
Everything stays in this browser. No account, no sync, no ads.
Most habit trackers give you a tick box, which cannot tell one glass of water from eight. This one counts to a target you set, and the day is earned when you reach it.
A habit counter is a counter that records a habit's daily quantity against a target and tracks the number of consecutive days the target was met, known as a streak.
- No sign-up
- No ads
- Counts never leave your browser
- Works offline
- Unlimited counters
Key facts
| Detail | Answer |
|---|---|
| Price | Free, unlimited habits, no ads, no sign-up |
| Tracking | A count toward a daily target, not a yes/no tick |
| Daily target | Any whole number from 1 upwards, set per habit |
| Streak | Consecutive days the target was met, plus your best run |
| Day boundary | An hour you choose, defaulting to 04:00, not midnight |
| Time zone | Your device's own, since nothing is sent to a server |
| Keyboard | Number keys 1 to 9 add one to that habit |
| Where data is stored | This browser only, never a server |
| History kept | Today's count, current streak and best streak. No dated log |
| Works offline | Yes, once the page has loaded |
How to set up a habit counter
The counter is the easy part. Defining what earns a day is what makes a streak hold.
Name the behaviour, not the goal
“Read 10 pages” rather than “read more”. The name has to tell you exactly what you are counting, or you will argue with yourself about it on a tired evening.
Set a target you can hit on a bad day
The target is a floor, not an ambition. Pick the smallest amount that still counts as having done the thing, and exceed it when you can. A target you miss twice a week is not measuring a habit, it is measuring your optimism.
Choose when your day ends
04:00 is the default because late-night counting should land on the day it belongs to. Set it to midnight if you keep conventional hours, or later if you do not.
Count as you go, not from memory
Press plus each time, or the habit's number key. Counting at the end of the day from memory is where the number stops being true.
Let a miss be a miss
When the target is not reached, the day is not earned and the streak goes back to zero. One missed day is an accident; the rule worth keeping is never to miss twice.
What people count with it
Anything with a daily amount attached. A tick box handles none of these without losing the number.
Water
Eight glasses a day is a count, not a tick. The target makes the half-done day visible instead of rounding it to yes or no.
Reading
Pages or minutes toward a daily floor, so a ten-page night and a one-page night are not recorded as the same thing.
Press-ups and bodyweight sets
Fifty a day, counted in sets through the day rather than logged in one go at the end.
Study and language practice
Cards reviewed or minutes practised, where the streak is the well-known motivator and the quantity is the actual work.
Cutting something down
Set the target at the number you are allowed and use the count as a ceiling you watch rather than a floor you chase.
Physio and rehab exercises
Prescribed repetitions each day, where doing some of them is genuinely different from doing none.
When does a day actually end?
Every streak counter has to answer one question before it can answer any other: when does a day end? Get that wrong and the streak is wrong, because a streak is nothing but a count of days. It is also the question the tools in this space almost never answer, which is why this section exists.
The obvious answer is midnight, and it is the wrong default. Someone who reads for ten minutes at half past midnight has not started a new day; they are finishing the previous one. With a midnight boundary that reading lands on the wrong date, the day just ended shows nothing, and a streak that was honestly kept is broken by the clock rather than by the person.
So the boundary here is an hour you choose, defaulting to 04:00. Anything counted before that hour belongs to the day before. The counting day in use is shown above the list, so there is never a question about which day a tap landed on.
| You count at | Midnight boundary | 04:00 boundary (default) |
|---|---|---|
| Tue 22:00 | Tuesday | Tuesday |
| Wed 00:30 | Wednesday | Tuesday |
| Wed 03:45 | Wednesday | Tuesday |
| Wed 04:15 | Wednesday | Wednesday |
| Wed 09:00 | Wednesday | Wednesday |
The middle three rows are the whole argument. A late-night habit counted at 00:30 or 03:45 is credited to the day it actually belonged to, and the streak survives.
What the clock is read from
The day is worked out from your device’s own clock and time zone, because nothing here is sent to a server and there is no account to hold a preference. Travelling across time zones therefore shifts the boundary with you, which is usually what you want and occasionally is not: fly far enough east overnight and a day can be shortened to the point where there was never a realistic chance to count. The streak is a record of what you did, not a referee, so adjust it by hand if the clock treats you unfairly.
Why the target matters more than the tick
A binary tracker asks whether you did the thing. It cannot tell the difference between one glass of water and eight, so the honest answer on a bad day is either a lie or a broken streak. Giving a habit a target and counting toward it removes that choice: the count is what actually happened, and the day is earned when the count reaches the target.
It also makes the streak reversible in the right way. Today’s credit is derived from today’s count rather than stored separately, so if you tap once too often and press minus, the day un-earns itself immediately. There is no separate tick to get out of step with the number beside it.
What this does not do
It keeps today’s count, the current streak and the best streak. It does not keep a dated history, a calendar heat map or a per-day log, because everything is held in this browser’s local storage and nothing is synced. Clearing site data clears the streaks with it. If a long-term record matters, write the number down somewhere that is not a browser.
Online counter vs a clicker, an app, paper and a spreadsheet
Every counting method trades something away. This is what each one actually costs you.
| Feature | This online counter | Handheld clicker | Counter phone app | Pen and paper | Spreadsheet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | $5–$15 | Free with ads, or paid | Cost of paper | Subscription |
| Anything to install | No | Buy the device | App store download | No | Yes, or a web login |
| Several counts at once | Unlimited | One per device | Usually limited | Yes, messy | Yes |
| Fix a miscount | Undo and redo | Start over | Sometimes | Cross it out | Edit the cell |
| Counts by more than one | Any step size | One at a time | Sometimes | Manual maths | Yes |
| Below zero | Yes | No | Rarely | Yes | Yes |
| Keeps the count if you close it | Saves automatically | Until you reset the dial | Yes | If you keep the paper | Yes |
| Works with no signal | Yes, after first load | Yes | Yes | Yes | Often not |
| Keyboard and shortcuts | Full | None | None | None | Partial |
| Sends your data anywhere | Never | Never | Often, for accounts and ads | Never | Yes, to the cloud |
Other counter types
The same counter, set up and explained for a specific job. Your counters are shared across all of them.
Online counter
The all-purpose counter. Any step size, any number of counters, negative values allowed.
Open online counter →Tally counter
Tally marks in groups of five for surveys, stock takes and wildlife counts.
Open tally counter →Click counter
A browser clicker that replaces the handheld thumb counter for door headcounts.
Open click counter →Lap counter
Count pool lengths, track laps and treadmill intervals without losing your place.
Open lap counter →Rep counter
Track reps and sets during a lifting session, with a step size for supersets.
Open rep counter →Score counter
A scoreboard for cards, darts and board games. One counter per player, negatives allowed.
Open score counter →Tasbeeh counter
A digital dhikr counter that stops at 33, 99 or 100 and keeps each dhikr separate.
Open tasbeeh counter →Differential counter
Six keys for a manual white cell differential, with an auto-stop and live percentages.
Open differential counter →Multi counter
Run as many counters as you like at once, side by side in a grid.
Open multi counter →Pitch counter
Count pitches, then get the rest days owed and the next eligible date.
Open pitch counter →Auto counter
Counts on its own from every 0.1 seconds to once an hour, and stops at your limit.
Open auto counter →Click speed test
Measure your clicks per second over 1 to 60 seconds, with your personal best kept on-device.
Open click speed test →People counter
In and out at a door, with live occupancy against a capacity and a fix for drift.
Open people counter →
Frequently asked questions
What is a habit counter?
A counter that records how many times you did a habit today and counts the consecutive days you reached your target. It differs from a habit tracker with tick boxes in that it keeps the quantity, so eight glasses of water and one glass are not recorded as the same day.
How does the streak work?
The streak is the number of consecutive days on which the count reached the target. Reaching today's target adds today to the streak straight away. If a day ends without the target being met, the streak returns to zero and the next completed day starts it again at one.
What if I forget to count until the next day?
The day is gone and the streak resets, because there is no dated history to backfill into. Setting the day boundary later than midnight helps most of the cases that feel unfair, since anything counted before that hour is credited to the previous day.
When does the day reset?
At an hour you choose, defaulting to 04:00 rather than midnight, read from your own device's clock and time zone. Anything counted before that hour belongs to the day before, so a habit done at half past midnight is credited to the day it actually belonged to.
Can I track more than one habit?
Yes, as many as you want, each with its own name, target, count and streak. They are independent, so missing one does not reset the others. The first nine can be counted with the number keys 1 to 9.
Does the streak save if I close the tab?
Yes. Habits, counts and streaks are kept in this browser's local storage and are there when you come back. They are not sent anywhere and do not sync between devices, so clearing site data or using a different browser starts from nothing.
How is this different from a habit-tracking app?
It keeps the quantity rather than a tick, needs no account, and stores nothing off your device. What it gives up is what accounts buy: there is no dated history, no calendar heat map, no reminders and no sync between your phone and laptop.
What happens if I count one too many and press minus?
The count goes down, and if it falls back below the target the day stops being earned and the streak drops with it. Today's credit is worked out from today's count rather than stored separately, so correcting a mistake corrects the streak too.
Should the target be hard or easy?
Easy enough to hit on your worst realistic day. The target decides what earns a day, so setting it at an ambitious level means a broken streak most weeks, which removes the only thing a streak is good for. Set a floor and beat it when you can.
Counting guides
Longer answers to the questions behind the counting.
- Swimming
How to count laps while swimming
Why swimmers lose count at length 14, and five methods that actually hold up.
- Tallying
Tally marks explained
Groups of five, the five-bar gate, and why the convention has survived for centuries.
- Events
How to do an accurate headcount
Counting people is easy. Counting them accurately, twice, is not.
- Habits
Track a daily habit streak
Why streak apps fail, and what a plain daily counter does better.
- Click speed
How to click faster
Hardware and grip account for most of the gap. Practice accounts for less than people think.
- Inventory
How to do a stock take
Counting is the easy part. Preparing, and knowing your count is right, is the job.
- Training
Reps and sets explained
How to read a programme, and why the rep range matters more than the total.
- Reference
Types of counters explained
Synchronous vs asynchronous, mod-N, ring and Johnson, plus mechanical and software counters.
- Build it
How to make a counter
Twenty lines gets you counting. Here is what to add after that, and why.
- Baseball
How to keep an official pitch count
Little League requires an official recorder at every game. Almost nobody explains the job.