How to Build a Leaderboard Widget for Your Website in 2026

Want to add competition and gamification to your website? Whether it's sales rankings, quiz scores, fitness challenges, or community contests, I'll show you how to build a custom leaderboard widget in minutes - no coding required.

Leaderboards display rankings, scores, and achievements - motivating participation and driving engagement through friendly competition.

In this guide, I'll walk you through creating a custom leaderboard widget using AI. If you're new to building custom widgets, check out our complete guide on how to build custom widgets first.

Why Add Leaderboard Widgets to Your Website?

Leaderboard widgets serve powerful purposes:

Drive Motivation: People strive to climb rankings
Increase Engagement: Regular check-ins to see standings
Recognize Achievement: Top performers get visibility
Build Community: Shared competition creates connection
Gamify Experiences: Make activities more fun and addictive

Sales teams use leaderboards, fitness apps track workout competitions, educational sites show quiz scores, communities recognize top contributors. Leaderboards tap into competitive psychology to drive engagement.

Building Your Custom Leaderboard with Embeddable AI

Creating a leaderboard with Embeddable's AI is incredibly straightforward. No coding, no complex sorting logic - just describe what you want and the AI builds it.

Step 1: Start with Your Leaderboard Concept

Before you begin, think about what your leaderboard needs:

Ranking Metric: What determines position (points, sales, time, etc.)?
Display Fields: Name, score, avatar, rank change?
Styling: How to highlight top performers?
Updates: Real-time or periodic?
Interactivity: Search, filtering, user lookup?

For our example, we're building a sales team leaderboard showing top performers with scores and rank changes.

Step 2: Describe Your Leaderboard to the AI

Open Embeddable and describe your leaderboard in natural language. Here's the exact prompt we'll use:

Build a leaderboard widget showing top 10 sales performers. Display rank, name, profile photo, and total sales amount. Highlight the top 3 with gold, silver, bronze styling. Include trend arrows showing rank changes from last week. Add a search to find specific people and pagination for full rankings.

That's it! The AI understands what you want and builds the complete leaderboard with:

Ranked list with positions
Profile photos and names
Sales amounts formatted as currency
Gold/silver/bronze highlighting
Trend arrows for rank changes
Search and pagination

Leaderboard Prompt Example

Step 3: Provide Your Website URL for Design Analysis

Here's where the magic happens. Give Embeddable your website URL, and the AI will:

Analyze your brand colors and apply them to the leaderboard
Match your website's fonts and typography
Style the rankings to feel native to your site
Ensure the leaderboard integrates seamlessly

The result? A leaderboard that looks like it was built by your design team, not a third-party widget.

Leaderboard Widget in Editor

Step 4: Refine Your Leaderboard

Once the AI generates your leaderboard, you can refine it through conversation:

"Add time period filter (daily, weekly, monthly)"
"Show 'Your Position' highlight for logged-in users"
"Include achievement badges next to top performers"
"Add animated confetti when viewing the #1 spot"
"Show team totals alongside individual rankings"

Each change happens instantly. The preview updates in real-time so you can see exactly how your leaderboard will look and work.

You can also use Embeddable's visual editor to make adjustments yourself - change colors, adjust spacing, modify text, or tweak the layout.

Step 5: Test Your Leaderboard

Before embedding, thoroughly test your leaderboard:

Verify Rankings: Ensure sorting is correct
Test Search: Find people by name
Check Updates: Verify data refreshes properly
Test Responsiveness: View on desktop, tablet, and mobile
Validate Styling: Ensure top positions are highlighted correctly

The preview environment shows exactly how your leaderboard will appear on your website, so you can catch any issues before going live.

Embedding Your Leaderboard on Any Website

Your custom leaderboard works everywhere. Once you're happy with it, you'll get a simple embed code that works on:

WordPress: Paste into any page or post
Shopify: Add to community or contest pages
Wix / Squarespace: Embed in any section
Custom websites: Add to any HTML page

The process is the same everywhere:

Get Your Embed Code: Click "Publish" and copy the code snippet
Paste Into Your Website: Add where you want the leaderboard to appear
Publish Your Page: The leaderboard goes live immediately

Your leaderboard automatically:

Sorts and ranks entries correctly
Adapts to different screen sizes (mobile, tablet, desktop)
Loads fast without slowing down your page
Works with all major browsers
Updates when scores change

Types of Leaderboards You Can Build

The same process works for any ranking display:

Sales & Business

Sales team rankings
Partner performance boards
Affiliate standings
Revenue leaderboards

Education

Quiz score rankings
Course completion leaders
Participation points
Grade rankings

Fitness & Sports

Workout challenge standings
Step competition boards
Race results
Tournament rankings

Gaming & Contests

High score tables
Tournament brackets
Prediction accuracy
Achievement boards

Community

Top contributors
Most helpful members
Content creator rankings
Volunteer recognition

Start with a Template or Build from Scratch

Not sure where to start? Embeddable offers free leaderboard templates you can customize:

Sales Leaderboard - Revenue and deals tracking
Quiz Scoreboard - Points-based ranking
Fitness Challenge - Workout competition board
Community Leaders - Contributor recognition
Tournament Standings - Competition results

Choose a template that's close to what you need, then customize it with AI to match your exact requirements. It's the fastest way to get a professional leaderboard on your site.

Why Leaderboards Drive Engagement

Leaderboards are engagement machines for several reasons:

They Tap into Competition: Humans are naturally competitive - rankings motivate improvement.

They Provide Recognition: Public acknowledgment rewards top performers.

They Create Goals: A visible target (moving up) gives people something to work toward.

They Build Community: Shared competition creates bonds between participants.

They're Addictive: The desire to see rankings keeps people coming back.

Making Your Leaderboard More Powerful

Take your leaderboard to the next level with these additions:

Time Period Filters

Show daily, weekly, monthly, and all-time rankings.

User Position

Highlight where the current viewer stands, even if not in top 10.

Achievement Badges

Award badges for milestones, streaks, or special achievements.

Team Competitions

Show team totals alongside individual rankings.

Social Sharing

Let leaders share their ranking on social media.

Real-Time Updates

Connect to live data sources for instant score updates.

Embeddable supports integrations to connect your leaderboard with CRM, analytics, and data sources.

Ready to Build Your Leaderboard?

That's it! No developers, no complex sorting logic, no design skills needed. Just describe what you want and AI builds your custom leaderboard in minutes.

Your leaderboard will:

Match your website's design perfectly
Rank and display scores correctly
Work on every platform and device
Motivate participation and engagement
Update easily as scores change

Ready to get started?

Option 1: Start with a Template Browse free leaderboard templates and customize to your needs.

Option 2: Build Custom with AI Head to Embeddable and describe your leaderboard - the AI will build it in minutes.

Need More Widget Ideas?

More Tutorials:

Start gamifying your website with custom leaderboards now!