diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 3c928eb..b302e59 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ group :development, :test do
   gem 'pry-byebug'
   gem 'rspec-rails'
   gem 'rubocop-rails', require: false
+  gem 'ruby-progressbar'
   gem 'selenium-webdriver'
   gem 'simplecov'
   gem 'simplecov-lcov', '~> 0.8.0'
diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index 17966e6..6a3b88c 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -349,6 +349,7 @@ DEPENDENCIES
   rails (~> 7.0.4)
   rspec-rails
   rubocop-rails
+  ruby-progressbar
   selenium-webdriver
   simplecov
   simplecov-lcov (~> 0.8.0)
diff --git a/app/services/sub_guide_loading_service.rb b/app/services/sub_guide_loading_service.rb
index 2b8cbbf..2482eac 100644
--- a/app/services/sub_guide_loading_service.rb
+++ b/app/services/sub_guide_loading_service.rb
@@ -1,23 +1,29 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
 require 'csv'
+require 'ruby-progressbar'
 # service for loading SubGuide cards data
 class SubGuideLoadingService
-  attr_reader :csv_location
+  attr_reader :csv_location, :progressbar
 
   # @param csv_location [String] location of source data for SubGuideCards
-  def initialize(csv_location: nil)
+  def initialize(csv_location: nil, progressbar: nil)
     @csv_location = csv_location || Rails.root.join('data', 'dbo-subguides', 'dbo.Subguides.17917.csv')
+    @progressbar = progressbar || ProgressBar.create(format: "\e[1;35m%t: |%B|\e[0m")
   end
 
   def import
     sub_guide_card_data = CSV.parse(File.read(csv_location), headers: true, liberal_parsing: true)
-    sub_guide_card_data.each do |entry|
-      print '#'
-      $stdout.flush
+    @progressbar.total = sub_guide_card_data.count
+    sub_guide_card_data.each_with_index do |entry, index|
+      progress_bar_random_color if (index % 100).zero?
+      @progressbar.increment
       import_sub_guide_card(entry)
     end
-    puts 'task completed!'
+  end
+
+  def progress_bar_random_color
+    @progressbar.format = "%t: |\e[#{rand(91..97)}m%B\e[0m|"
   end
 
   private
diff --git a/spec/services/card_image_loading_service_spec.rb b/spec/services/card_image_loading_service_spec.rb
index 8fd18a7..d0d1fca 100644
--- a/spec/services/card_image_loading_service_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/services/card_image_loading_service_spec.rb
@@ -5,7 +5,8 @@
 describe CardImageLoadingService do
   let(:cils) { described_class.new }
   let(:sgls) do
-    SubGuideLoadingService.new(csv_location: Rails.root.join('spec', 'fixtures', 'subguide_card_fixture.csv'))
+    SubGuideLoadingService.new(csv_location: Rails.root.join('spec', 'fixtures', 'subguide_card_fixture.csv'),
+                               progressbar: ProgressBar.create(output: ProgressBar::Outputs::Null))
   end
   let(:s3_response) do
     "2023-07-19 14:39:38       3422 imagecat-disk9-0091-A3037-1358.0110.tif\n2023-07-19 14:39:38       7010 imagecat-disk9-0091-A3037-1358.0111.tif\n"
diff --git a/spec/services/sub_guide_loading_service_spec.rb b/spec/services/sub_guide_loading_service_spec.rb
index 94cba12..881ae89 100644
--- a/spec/services/sub_guide_loading_service_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/services/sub_guide_loading_service_spec.rb
@@ -1,9 +1,13 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
 require 'rails_helper'
+require 'ruby-progressbar/outputs/null'
 
 describe SubGuideLoadingService do
-  let(:sgls) { described_class.new(csv_location: Rails.root.join('spec', 'fixtures', 'subguide_card_fixture.csv')) }
+  let(:sgls) do
+    described_class.new(csv_location: Rails.root.join('spec', 'fixtures', 'subguide_card_fixture.csv'),
+                        progressbar: ProgressBar.create(output: ProgressBar::Outputs::Null))
+  end
   it 'can instantiate' do
     expect(sgls).to be_instance_of described_class
   end
@@ -18,7 +22,9 @@
     expect(SubGuideCard.count).to eq 7
   end
 
-  it 'displays progress status during import' do
-    expect { sgls.import }.to output("#######task completed!\n").to_stdout
+  it 'displays ruby-progress bar during import' do
+    expect(sgls.progressbar.to_h['percentage']).to eq 0
+    sgls.import
+    expect(sgls.progressbar.to_h['percentage']).to eq 100
   end
 end
diff --git a/spec/system/guide_cards_spec.rb b/spec/system/guide_cards_spec.rb
index ea769e7..ccccae8 100644
--- a/spec/system/guide_cards_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/system/guide_cards_spec.rb
@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@
   let(:subguide_card_fixture) { Rails.root.join('spec', 'fixtures', 'subguide_card_fixture.csv') }
   before do
     GuideCardLoadingService.new(csv_location: guide_card_fixture).import
-    SubGuideLoadingService.new(csv_location: subguide_card_fixture).import
+    SubGuideLoadingService.new(csv_location: subguide_card_fixture,
+                               progressbar: ProgressBar.create(output: ProgressBar::Outputs::Null)).import
   end
 
   describe 'GuideCards index page' do