Free ARC tracking tools: what each one handles, and where it stops
You don't need to pay anything to track an ARC team. Plenty of authors run successful launches from a spreadsheet. The question is which free tool matches how many readers you have, how many launches you're planning, and how much manual chasing you're willing to do.
Every option below can record who got a copy and who reviewed. They differ on three things that matter more as your list grows: how readers get into the list, whether anything reminds them about the deadline, and whether a reader's record carries over to your next book.
The short version
| Tool | Good for | Where it stops |
|---|---|---|
| Spreadsheet (Excel / Google Sheets) | A first launch, up to a few dozen readers | Every update is manual; history lives in last launch's file |
| Google Forms + Sheets | Collecting sign-ups and review links without typing them in | No reminders, no download tracking, no record across books |
| Airtable | Authors who like building their own database | You build and maintain everything; free-plan limits apply |
| Notion | Keeping ARC notes next to the rest of your launch plan | Weak at counting and scoring; no emails to readers |
| ArcRoster (Free plan) | Running a real campaign end to end for one book | 1 active campaign and 50 reviewers until you upgrade |
Free-plan limits for Airtable and Notion change often - check their pricing pages. ArcRoster's limits are on our pricing page.
1. A spreadsheet
One row per reader, a column per stage: invited, downloaded, reviewed, review link. Add a column for the review date and you can see who reviewed late. It's the fastest thing to start and the one you already know how to use.
The cost is your time. Every download and every review is something you notice and type in, and every reminder is an email you write. The bigger problem shows up on your second book: the new campaign gets a new tab or a new file, and what you learned about each reader stays behind in the old one.
If you go this route, start from our free ARC tracking spreadsheet template. It already has the columns and an automatic reliability score for each reader.
2. Google Forms feeding a sheet
A form solves the typing. One form for applications (name, email, Goodreads profile, genres they read) and one for review links, both writing into the same Google Sheet. Readers do the data entry and you get a timestamp for every response.
What it can't see is the middle of the campaign. A form doesn't know who opened the email or downloaded the file, so "downloaded but hasn't reviewed" - the group most worth a reminder - is invisible. You still send the copies and the reminders yourself, and you still need to match each review link back to the right reader by hand.
3. Airtable
Airtable is a database that looks like a spreadsheet. You can keep one Readers table and one Campaigns table, link them, and see every campaign a reader has been part of - the cross-book history a plain spreadsheet lacks. Add a public form for sign-ups and you have a decent home-made ARC CRM.
The catch is that you are the developer. Formulas for a review rate, automations for reminders, and any change to the setup are yours to build and fix, and the free plan limits records and automations. Authors who enjoy that kind of setup do well with it. Everyone else tends to drift back to a spreadsheet by the third launch.
4. Notion
Notion is good at the launch plan around your ARCs: the timeline, the reader email drafts, the to-do list. A Notion database can hold your readers too, with a status per reader.
It is less suited to the arithmetic. Working out each reader's review rate across several books, or a campaign's completion rate, is awkward in Notion, and it doesn't send emails to readers. Use it for planning and keep the reader tracking somewhere that can count.
5. A dedicated ARC tool on a free plan
The free tools above all leave three jobs to you: sending the copies, reminding readers before the deadline, and remembering how each reader did last time. That's what a dedicated ARC tool is for.
ArcRoster's Free plan covers one active campaign, 50 reviewers, and one pen name. You upload your EPUB once and send it; each reader gets their own fingerprinted copy; the campaign dashboard shows who has been invited, downloaded, and reviewed; and automatic reminders go out before the deadline. Readers submit their review links, and each confirmed review feeds that reader's reliability score, which stays with them in your reviewer CRM for the next book. When you outgrow the Free plan, paid plans are $7, $17, or $39 a month.
It doesn't find readers for you. For that, you'd pair it with a public sign-up page (ArcRoster gives each pen name one) or a discovery platform - our ARC platforms comparison covers the paid ones.
Which one to pick
- First book, under about 30 readers: the spreadsheet template. You'll learn what you need to track.
- Readers signing up from your newsletter: add a Google Form so you stop copying emails by hand.
- You enjoy building systems: Airtable, with linked Readers and Campaigns tables.
- Second or third book, or tired of sending reminders: a dedicated tool, so each reader's record carries over and the reminders send themselves.
Whatever you pick, track one thing above all: whether each reader reviewed, and when. That single column, kept across launches, is what tells you who to invite first next time - and it's the reason most low review counts come from the list, not the book.