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Ranking Tool

Paste a list and drag it into order — a strict number 1 to N, not tiers. Copy the finished ranking anywhere.

Drag any row up or down to move it — the numbers renumber themselves.

Prefer grouping to ordering? Use the tier list maker.

About this tool

When you want an order, not tiers

A tier list groups things into bands where everything in a row counts as equal. A ranked list commits to an exact order, so every position is its own claim. Both are useful and they answer different questions — this ranking tool is for when the order genuinely matters and second versus third is worth arguing about.

Paste your items, load them, then drag rows until the order looks right. The numbers renumber as you go. Shuffle is handy when you want to break out of the order you typed and judge each pairing fresh; Reverse flips a list you built bottom-up.

If you find yourself unable to separate items, that is usually a sign the material wants tiers instead — put them in a tier list and stop pretending the order inside a band matters. There is more on choosing between the two in what is a tier list.

Ranking, leaderboards and tier lists

Three things get called ranking and they are not interchangeable. A leaderboard is sorted by a number somebody already measured — points, times, sales — so the order is an output, not an opinion; that is the leaderboard maker. A tier list groups items into bands and refuses to separate things inside a band. This ranking maker does neither: it hands you the drag handle and makes you commit to a strict order, 1 to N, where every position is a claim you are making.

That difference decides which tool to open. If you can score the items, sort them. If you genuinely cannot separate four of them, they want a tier. If the argument is about whether something is third or fourth, you want this — a numbered list where sort order is a judgement rather than a formula.

What people put in order

Roughly half the use is personal — a top 10, a watchlist, albums, a shortlist of holidays, everything you own in the order you would replace it. The other half is work that dresses itself up as something more formal. Stack ranking a backlog, putting a quarter's projects in priority order, turning six job candidates into an order of preference, deciding which of nine features ships first. Paste the items, load them, drag until it stops feeling wrong.

Shuffle earns its place on those longer lists. Once you have typed twenty items you are anchored to the order you typed them in, and the first pass tends to just reflect that. Shuffling forces you to judge each pairing where it lands instead. It is a one-way door — there is no undo — so copy the ranking out first if the current order took effort. This runs entirely in your tab, which means no account, no shared board other people can vote on, and no link to send round; when you close it, it is gone.

FAQ

How does the ranking tool work?+

Paste one item per line and hit Load list. Then drag any row up or down to move it — the positions renumber automatically. Copy ranking gives you the finished list as numbered text.

What is the difference between this and a tier list?+

This produces a strict order: 1, 2, 3, with every position a separate judgement. A tier list groups items into bands where everything in a row is treated as equal. Use a ranking when the exact order matters and tiers when it does not.

Can I use it on a phone?+

Yes. Press and hold a row, then drag it to its new position — the same as on desktop.

Does Shuffle lose my work?+

It randomises the current order, which is useful for judging pairs fresh rather than anchoring on the order you typed. There is no undo, so copy the ranking first if you want to keep it.

Is the ranking maker free?+

Yes — free, no login, and it runs entirely in your browser.

What is the difference between a ranking and a leaderboard?+

A leaderboard is sorted by numbers that already exist — points scored, times run, deals closed — so the order is calculated for you. A ranking is your judgement: you decide that this item beats that one, with no score behind it. Use the leaderboard maker when you have the numbers, and this ranking tool when the order is the argument.

How many items can I rank?+

There is no set limit — paste as long a list as you like. In practice dragging gets tedious somewhere past forty or fifty rows, and the ranking itself gets less meaningful, since few people can honestly defend why something is 38th rather than 39th. Long lists are usually better cut down first.

Can other people vote on my ranking?+

No. This produces one person's ranked list, not a group result. There is no voting, no shared session and no way for participants to submit their own order — tools built for team prioritisation do that by keeping everything on a server. Here the list stays in your browser.

Can I embed the ranking or share a link to it?+

No embed code and no share link. Copy ranking gives you the finished list as numbered text, which pastes into a document, a chat, an email or a slide. That is deliberate: nothing you type is uploaded, so there is nothing on our side to link to.