The invention provides a device and a method for reckoning the fatigue crack propagation rate of a flat alloy by AC potentiometry, relating to the field of detecting material fatigue performance. The method comprises the following steps: in the process of a tension-tension fatigue test, two pairs of probes are arranged on the surface of a flat alloy sample, and the sample monitors electric potential change at the two sides of a crack in real time by an AC potentiometry sensor thereon when the fatigue crack propagates; the electric potential change is transmitted to a dual-trace oscilloscope by an amplifier; the dual-trace oscilloscope displays the electric potential oscillogram of the propagation of the two ends of the crack; and the electric potential oscillogram is input to a computer by an A/D converter, and is analyzed by a bundled software to obtain fatigue propagation rate such as the fatigue crack propagation rate and the like. The device of the invention mainly comprises a fatigue-testing machine, sample fixtures, the AC potentiometry sensor, potential measurement probes, lead wires, a signal amplifier, the dual-trace oscilloscope, the A/D converter, a CCD image acquisition system and the computer. The invention is applicable to research on the fatigue crack propagation behavior of the alloy.