How the RICE score is calculated
RICE = reach × impact × (confidence ÷ 100) ÷ effort. This calculator accepts zero reach or confidence and requires positive effort. Blank or invalid fields do not receive a score. Ties stay in the order you entered the ideas.
Use the same time period and reach unit for every idea: for example, distinct active users affected in the next quarter. Effort is total person-months, not calendar duration. Two people spending half a month each is one person-month.
The impact choices are 3 for massive, 2 for high, 1 for medium, 0.5 for low, and 0.25 for minimal. Confidence is your explicit estimate from 0% to 100%. The approach comes from Intercom’s RICE framework.
Check the result against a worked example
A score does not account for every dependency, safety requirement, contractual constraint, or maintenance cost. Record those separately. The prioritization guide shows how to use the calculation within a real decision process.
From an exercise to a decision
Download the CSV to keep your assumptions with the discussion. The free calculator does not save scores to a BuildCaster workspace. When the team has decided, explain the outcome on the request and update the roadmap deliberately.
BuildCaster’s feature request workflow keeps the customer need and decision history together. It does not automatically turn a high score or vote count into a commitment.