Your items become a priority matrix
One row per item, two scores from 1 to 10, and the cloud places itself across the four quadrants. Impact versus effort to arbitrate a backlog, or important versus urgent for an Eisenhower matrix. You get a sharp visual for a steering committee or a workshop. No sign-up.
The + adds an item, the × removes it, and the handle moves the row. Both scores run from 1 to 10: that is what lets you separate two items sitting in the same quadrant, where a simple tick box would say nothing more. You can also drag an item straight in the preview: grab its dot or its name, and both scores follow.
Leave empty to keep the names from the reading grid you picked.
Grab a dot or its name in the preview to move it
What is it for?
A priority matrix is how you decide when everything looks urgent. You place each item against two criteria only, and the question "where do we start?" stops being a matter of opinion: you read it off the visual. It's the artefact for a scoping workshop, a backlog arbitration, or a committee that has to cut a list that got too long.
Its real benefit isn't the ranking, it's the conversation. Two people who score the same item 8 and 3 disagree about something specific, and the gap makes it visible in ten seconds.
How to use it
- Pick the reading grid: impact versus effort, or the Eisenhower matrix.
- Add your items with the +, one per row.
- Score each from 1 to 10 on both axes. The dot places itself in its quadrant.
- Rename the axes if your criteria differ, for instance customer value and technical complexity.
- Pick the font, the text colour and the colour scheme, then download as PNG, JPG, SVG or PDF.
Impact versus effort, the four quadrants
Quick wins (high impact, low effort): do these first, no debate. They're what buys the trust the rest will need.
Projects (high impact, high effort): worth doing, but they get planned and split up. A crowded quadrant here means you have to choose, not launch everything.
Fill-ins (low impact, low effort): slot them into the gaps. The trap is spending your days here because it's easy.
Avoid (low impact, high effort): the quadrant that justifies the whole exercise. Saying no out loud is easier once it's written down.
What about the Eisenhower matrix?
Same visual, two other axes: important vertically, urgent horizontally. The quadrants become Do, Schedule, Delegate and Delete. The Eisenhower button switches every label at once.
The two matrices don't answer the same question. Impact versus effort arbitrates what is worth doing, Eisenhower arbitrates what comes first in a day. An item that is important and not urgent is still important: it's the quadrant people sacrifice most often, and the only one that gets expensive over time.
FAQ
Why scores from 1 to 10 rather than a quadrant to tick?
Because ticking "quick win" files the item away without arbitrating it. When you have to choose between two quick wins, a tick box says nothing more, whereas two scores give a position, and therefore an order inside the quadrant itself.
Can I drag an item straight on the visual?
Yes. Grab its dot, or the name written next to it, and drop it wherever you want: both scores in the table follow immediately. That's the gesture that matters in a workshop, when people are talking in front of the screen and someone says "that one is higher" without going back to find its row. The dropdowns are still there to set an exact score.
Can I change the axis names?
Yes, the two fields below the grid. Quadrant names follow the reading grid you picked, and they still hold: quick win means the same thing whether your criteria are called impact and effort or value and complexity.
Two items land on the same spot, is that a problem?
No. The labels shift downwards on their own to stay readable. It's normal early in a workshop, when everything is still scored in the middle.
How many items?
Up to 14. Beyond that a matrix projected in a meeting turns into an unreadable cloud, and sorting works better in two passes than one.
Can I come back to my matrix later?
Yes. What you type is kept in your browser, and the Save button lets you keep several matrices. Ctrl+Z undoes the last action.
Is it really free?
Yes, no sign-up and no limit on how many matrices you make. The free version adds a small site credit at the bottom of the image and lets you keep up to 3 saved matrices.
All the frequently asked questions, across the seven tools.