Group challenge tracker with a leaderboard
A shared target, a progress bar and a leaderboard on one page. For clubs, offices, families and friends taking on a challenge together.
Any challenge, any unit
Steps, miles, push-ups, pages, cups of tea poured at a coffee morning: you name the unit and set the target. Sum Effort adds it all up and shows how close the group is.
A leaderboard that keeps everyone going
On a paid tracker, each person joins with a display name and password and logs their own entries. The leaderboard ranks everyone by their total, so the quiet competitive types finally have somewhere to shine, and the bar shows what the group has done together.
Ideas for group challenges
- Office step challenge: a million steps as a team before Christmas.
- Running or cycling club: club miles for the month, with a leaderboard.
- Family fitness: grandparents against grandchildren in squats.
- Book club: pages read across the year.
- Charity coffee morning: cups served and money raised, side by side.
- Plastic-free challenge: bottles avoided, logged by everyone.
Simple for everyone
Nobody needs to install an app or give an email address to take part. Participants log in with a display name and password; if someone forgets theirs, the organiser can reset it. A join code keeps your group to the people you invite.
Running a challenge that people finish
Keep the rules simple
Decide up front what counts: does a walk to the shops count as steps, does a bike ride count as miles? Put the rules in the tracker's description so nobody has to ask.
Give it an end date
A challenge with a finish line gets more effort than an open-ended one. Four to six weeks is long enough to build a habit and short enough to stay exciting.
Celebrate the group, not just the top spot
The leaderboard is fun, but the shared bar is what keeps the people near the bottom going. Celebrate when the group passes each quarter of the target, not only who's winning.
Mix it up
Try a double-points weekend, a mid-challenge team swap, or a bonus for the most improved. Small surprises keep the updates coming.
Pair it with a good cause
Plenty of groups turn a challenge into a fundraiser: set one tracker for the effort and another for the money raised, and share both.
How to start a group challenge
- Create a tracker with the target and unit.
- Upgrade it to turn on participant logins and the leaderboard, and set a join code if you want.
- Share the link and the code. Everyone joins and logs their own.
Go on — make sum effort.
A live progress page in a couple of minutes, free to start.
Frequently asked questions
How many people can join a challenge?
As many as you like. There's no per-person charge; a paid upgrade covers the whole tracker for 12 months.
Do participants need an email address?
No. They join with a display name and password on that tracker only.
Can I stop strangers joining?
Yes. Set a join code, and you can remove anyone from the tracker's edit page.
Does it sync with fitness trackers?
No. Everyone types in their own numbers, so it works for any challenge, not just steps.
Can the organiser add entries for people?
Yes. The organiser can add entries for any participant, or for someone who isn't signed up.
Can we split into teams?
Not as a built-in feature yet. A simple workaround is to run one tracker per team, or have each team log under a single team name so the leaderboard ranks the teams.
Is it free?
A basic tracker, where the organiser adds every entry, is free. The leaderboard and participant logins come with a 12-month upgrade for that tracker.
What happens when the challenge ends?
When the paid period ends, the page stays online read-only, showing the final total and leaderboard.