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April 28, 2026
The best way to add a life progress bar to Notion is with Blocs – a free embeddable widget that drops straight into any Notion page as an iframe. No databases, no formulas, no template hacks. The free tier covers basic progress tracking; Pro ($17 one-time) adds custom date ranges, themes, and analytics.
A life progress bar is a visual indicator – usually a horizontal fill bar – that shows what percentage of a defined time period has elapsed. Common use cases include:
The idea is borrowed from developer dashboards and terminal tools, but it resonates strongly with the Notion productivity community because it creates a persistent, ambient reminder that time is moving – and that goals need action, not just planning.
Notion doesn't ship with a native progress bar widget. You can approximate one using formulas and property values, but those live inside database tables and don't give you a clean, glanceable visual on your dashboard. That's the gap a dedicated widget fills.
Blocs embeds as a standard iframe, which Notion supports natively using the /embed block. Here's the full setup:
Go to blocs.me/progress-bar-widget and copy the embed URL shown on the page. For the progress bar, the base embed path is https://blocs.me/progress-bar.
In any Notion page, type /embed and select the Embed block from the menu that appears.
Paste the Blocs URL into the embed dialog and click "Embed link." The progress bar widget will appear inline on your page.
Drag the edges of the embed block to resize it. The progress bar looks best at full page width or as a column block alongside your daily notes or dashboard.
That's it. No sign-up, no API keys, no Notion integrations to configure. The free version of the widget is live immediately.
Blocs is upfront about what's free and what isn't. Here's the breakdown for the progress bar widget specifically:
| Feature | Free | Pro ($17 one-time) |
|---|---|---|
| Basic progress bar embed | Yes | Yes |
| Year progress tracking | Default settings | Custom start/end dates |
| Custom date ranges (life progress, project deadlines) | No | Yes |
| Color and theme customization | No | Yes |
| Daily/weekly/monthly analytics | No | Yes |
| Cloud sync across devices | No | Yes |
| Blocs branding removed | No | Yes |
| Access to all other Blocs widgets | No | Yes |
The free tier is genuinely useful for a simple year or day progress bar. If you want to track something specific – a custom life expectancy range, a 100-day challenge, or a project sprint – Pro's custom date ranges are what make that possible. At $17 once (not a monthly subscription), it's also significantly cheaper than comparable tools that charge recurring fees.
The DIY approach to a Notion progress bar usually involves a formula property that outputs a string of filled and empty emoji blocks (e.g., ▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░ 54%). It works, but it has real limitations:
A dedicated widget like the Blocs Progress Bar updates in real time, requires zero formula knowledge, and looks significantly more polished on a dashboard. It's also paired with other widgets – so if you're already using the Blocs Habit Tracker or the Pomodoro Timer, you get a unified aesthetic across your workspace.
Here are some practical configurations people use with progress bar widgets in Notion:
There are a handful of services that offer embeddable Notion widgets. The main differences come down to pricing model, widget variety, and how well they integrate into Notion's embed block.
If you're comparing Blocs to monthly-subscription widget tools, the break-even is typically under two months. After that, Blocs Pro is the cheaper long-term option by a wide margin.
Yes. The basic progress bar widget is free to embed with no account required. You get a working progress bar in your Notion page immediately. Custom date ranges, themes, and analytics require Blocs Pro ($17 one-time).
Yes. Notion's free plan supports the /embed block, which is all you need to embed a Blocs widget. There are no Notion plan restrictions on using embeds.
Custom start and end dates are a Pro feature. With Pro, you can set any date range – a 100-day challenge, a semester, a project sprint, or a life progress bar based on your own birth year and expected lifespan.
Yes. The widget is a live iframe, so it reflects the current date and time whenever the Notion page is open. There's no manual refresh needed.
Absolutely. You can embed as many Blocs widgets as you want on a single page. A common setup is a progress bar at the top of a dashboard alongside a habit tracker and a Pomodoro timer below it.
No. Your existing free embeds keep working. Upgrading to Pro unlocks additional configuration options for those same widgets, and gives you access to Pro-only widgets like the Countdown Timer, Calendar, and Weather widget.
If you want a life progress bar in Notion today, the fastest path is the Blocs free embed. Copy the URL, paste it into a /embed block, and you're done in under two minutes.
For custom date ranges, themes, and access to the full widget suite, Blocs Pro is $17 one-time – no subscription, no renewal.