Do Counting Crochet Hooks Work, and Are They Worth It?

A counting crochet hook has a stitch and row counter in the handle, and many add a light. Whether one is worth buying depends on how often you lose count and what you make.

We sell one, the LineaCraft Counting Crochet Hook Set ($59.99), so we have a stake in the answer. The owner feedback below comes from the reviews Amazon displays for 14 counting hook sets from 13 brands, ours included, plus Amazon’s own review summaries, read on October 24, 2026. That’s 6 to 13 displayed reviews per set, so treat the counts as rough.

Are counting crochet hooks worth it? The short answer

A counting hook is worth it if you lose count often or crochet most days. It keeps the count on the hook and spares you the paper tally, and ours also saves the count when you switch it off. If you rarely lose count, a finger counter and a few stitch markers cover the counting for under $10.

If you get one, we’d pick ours. Of the 14 sets we checked, it’s the only one whose Amazon review summary lists button placement as a positive, and the buttons are the part you touch on every stitch. The other reasons are at the end of this post.

Do counting crochet hooks work?

They work as counters, but they don’t count stitches by themselves. You tap one button after each stitch and another at the end of each row. In the reviews we read, wrong counts rarely came up, though a few owners report buttons that stop registering or a counter that stopped working. The recurring complaints are about the tapping itself: you press a button for every stitch and row, the buttons are hard to reach with some grips, such as holding the hook like a knife, and a few owners press them by accident.

A 2021 blog review of another brand’s counting hook ended with “Absolutely not!”, because clicking between stitches felt awkward and a $3 finger counter did the job. The first point depends on your grip and on where the button sits. On ours, S is on the white collar next to the hook, under your fingertip, and Amazon’s review summary for our set lists button placement as a positive topic. The second point is fair on price, but a finger counter is just as manual, since you press it after every stitch or row too. What a counting hook adds is the button on the tool you’re already holding, a count that ours saves when you switch it off, and a light in the clear tips.

If you already have a counting hook, our guide on how to use a counting crochet hook covers the buttons, undo and reset.

What owners like

Amazon’s topic lists for these sets praise the light most often: it’s a positive topic on 10 of the 12 sets that list a lighting topic. Comfort and hook-size variety are positive topics on about half of the 14. A few owners of light-up sets say one charge lasted them weeks.

Reviews of ours mention the comfort of the handle, the light, the case and the button placement most, and one reviewer praises the metal tips for gliding through yarn without snagging.

What owners complain about

Handles that crack

The complaint that comes up most is a handle, or the part that holds the hook tip, that cracks or stops holding the tip tight. In Amazon’s review summaries for the 14 sets, durability or hook attachment is flagged as negative or mixed on 12 of them. Before you buy any set, check what happens if the handle breaks: only 2 of the 15 listings whose bullet points we read mention a warranty.

Tapping and button reach

Some owners find the buttons hard to reach in their grip, and a few tap by accident. Some counting hooks, ours included, let you take a tap back by holding the button for a second, and others use a minus button, so check the manual.

The light

A few owners find the light too bright or say it reflects off the yarn, and a few find it too dim. Owners of several sets that mix metal and clear tips say only the clear tips light up, or that the light is weak through the metal ones. On ours the light shines through the 6 clear tips, 9.0 to 14.0 mm, so it doesn’t help with dark yarn on the 12 metal sizes.

Plastic tips

Owners of some plastic-tip sets say the tips are thick at the base or make the yarn squeak. One reviewer of ours says the yarn glides on its metal tips, and an owner of another metal-tip set says there’s no squeak.

Chargers and plugs

One owner says their set uses a round DC plug that isn’t a common cable, and an owner of another set says the charger can’t be bought on its own. Check the plug before you buy, and keep the cable with the case. Ours charges with the USB cable in the box.

What counting crochet hooks cost

In five Amazon searches on October 24, 2026, we found 45 listings of counting hook sets with a light. They cost from $20.70 to $79.99, and half cost $32.99 or less. Seven cost $50 or more.

If you only want the two features, you can buy them separately. A finger counter costs about $7, and a single light-up hook that runs on a coin battery costs about the same, so together they come to about $14 for one hook size. A counter plus a rechargeable light-up set of 11 to 17 sizes came to about $24 to $29.

Who a counting hook suits

It suits people who count a lot: rounds of amigurumi, granny squares, or long rows where one missed stitch shows. Beginners who lose their place are another fit, since ours keeps the count when you set a project down mid-row, and so are people who crochet dark chunky yarn in the evening, when the clear tips light up. As a present, it fits someone who crochets often and keeps losing count. Our gift guide for crocheters has more ideas.

When to skip it

Skip it if stitch markers or a counter already work for you, if tapping a button after every stitch sounds like a chore, or if you want a light in every size, since the metal sizes on mixed sets stay dark. It’s also a poor fit for someone who loves the feel of one particular hook, because you crochet with the set’s own tips.

What to check before you buy a counting crochet hook

• What happens if the handle breaks: a warranty, or replacement handles sold on their own.
• Which tips light up, and whether those are the sizes you use with dark yarn.
• Whether the count is saved when the hook switches off.
• What the charger is, and whether you can replace the cable.
• Where the stitch button sits, and whether you can reach it in your grip.

Cheaper ways to keep count

• A finger counter, a small counter you wear on one finger and press after each stitch or row, for about $7.
• Stitch markers clipped in every 10 or 20 stitches, so you only recount from the last marker.
• A row counter app on your phone.
• Pencil and paper, with one tally mark per row.
• For dark yarn, a single light-up hook on a coin battery, for about $7.

Why we’d pick ours

• The stitch button sits on the white collar under your fingertip, away from the row and light buttons. One reviewer says it’s easy to change the stitch count without hitting the row button, and of the 14 sets we checked, ours is the only one whose Amazon review summary lists button placement as a positive.
• 12 metal tips for the sizes from 2.0 to 8.0 mm, so the yarn glides, and 6 clear tips from 9.0 to 14.0 mm that light up for chunky yarn.
• Both counts stay saved when the hook switches off. Only 7 of the 15 listings we read promise that.
• About 15 minutes to charge, about 7 to 8 hours of light, and weeks of counting on one charge.
• A zippered sage vegan-leather case, so it looks like a gift before you wrap it.

It’s the LineaCraft Counting Crochet Hook Set, $59.99 with 30-day returns.