AARRR (Pirate Metrics)
Prioritization Framework Template

Score every growth idea against the five stages of the funnel — Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral, Revenue — coined by Dave McClure of 500 Startups, so the funnel decides what ships next, not the loudest voice in the room.

Use Template

Five funnel stages. One growth score.

AARRR — Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral, Revenue — is a set of metrics for understanding user behavior across the growth funnel, coined by Dave McClure of 500 Startups. Read how to customize AARRR for your growth goals .

Acquisition

Users arrive from marketing channels that tell them about the product.
Scored 0–1–2–4–8 by traffic and signups driven.

Activation

Visitors convert into active users — e.g. they complete onboarding.
Scored 0–1–2–4–8 by first-value delivered.

Retention

Users come back to use the product again.
Scored 0–1–2–4–8 by D7/D30 return rate.

Referral

People spread the word about the product to others.
Scored 0–1–2–4–8 by shares and invites sent.

Revenue

Active users convert into paying customers.
Scored 0–1–2–4–8 by conversion to a paid plan.

// the formula

Growth Score = (Acquisition + Activation + Retention + Referral + Revenue) − Effort

The five funnel scores sum into a growth number. Add an Effort criterion with a negative weight — time and engineering cost, also scored 0–1–2–4–8 — so a cheap idea with modest impact can still outrank an expensive one.

Ducalis computes the score live as your team fills in each field, no spreadsheet required.

┌─ AARRR · GROWTH SCORE ─────────────────────────┐
│  Acquisition                                4  │
│  Activation                                 2  │
│  Retention                                  4  │
│  Referral                                   8  │
│  Revenue                                    2  │
│                                                │
│  Effort                                    −5  │
│                                                │
│  Growth = 4+2+4+8+2 = 20                       │
│  Score = 20 − 5 = 15                           │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

// ranked output

Every growth idea, ranked by the same funnel math

Once every growth idea carries an AARRR score, the backlog sorts itself. No more guessing what's next — the highest-scoring idea sits at the top.

Learn how scores sync back to your task tracker.

┌─ BACKLOG · RANKED BY AARRR ────────────────────────┐
│  "Add referral rewards"                   15 · #1  │
│  "Simplify onboarding"                    11 · #2  │
│  "Launch affiliate program"                6 · #3  │
│                                                    │
│  ▸ re-ranks live as inputs change                  │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Example: scoring a real growth backlog

Three ideas, five funnel inputs plus effort each, one ranked list — this is what an AARRR-scored backlog looks like in practice.

Idea / Task	Acquisition	Activation	Retention	Referral	Revenue	Effort	Score	Rank
Add referral rewards	4	2	4	8	2	5	15	#1
Simplify onboarding	2	8	4	1	1	5	11	#2
Launch affiliate program	1	1	1	4	1	2	6	#3

// native scoring

Score with AARRR natively in Ducalis

AARRR is a built-in framework — no setup, no custom fields to wire up. Open a board, pick AARRR, and start scoring your growth backlog.

Prefer RICE, WSJF, REAN, or your own criteria? Switch frameworks anytime — the same backlog carries over.

┌─ SCORE THIS IDEA / TASK ───────────────────────┐
│  "Add referral rewards"                        │
│                                                │
│  Acquisition                          [  4  ]  │
│  Activation                           [  2  ]  │
│  Retention                            [  4  ]  │
│  Referral                             [  8  ]  │
│  Revenue                              [  2  ]  │
│  Effort                               [  5  ]  │
│                                                │
│  ▸ Growth Score  15 · auto-computed            │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Where teams use AARRR

AARRR fits anywhere a growth team has more ideas than budget — here's where it shows up most.

┌─ GROWTH BACKLOG ─────────────────────────┐
│  Add referral rewards                15  │
│  Simplify onboarding                 11  │
│  Launch affiliate program             6  │
│                                          │
│  ▸ top of list = next sprint             │
└──────────────────────────────────────────┘

Growth Backlog

Pull the top-scoring growth ideas straight into the next sprint — no separate ranking meeting needed.

┌─ TEAM SCORING SESSION ───────────────────┐
│  Growth   Acq 4 · Ref 8                  │
│  Product  Act 2 · Ret 4                  │
│                                          │
│  Consensus score → 15                    │
└──────────────────────────────────────────┘

Team Prioritization

Bring growth, product, and marketing into one scoring session instead of a single opinion — or a HiPPO — driving the backlog.

┌─ QUARTERLY GROWTH REVIEW ────────────────┐
│  Top 20% by growth score                 │
│  auto-promoted to roadmap                │
│                                          │
│  ▸ rest stay visible, not lost           │
└──────────────────────────────────────────┘

Quarterly Growth Review

Promote the highest-scoring growth bets onto a public roadmap so stakeholders see the funnel logic, not just the ask.

┌─ IDEA #23 → SCORE 15 ────────────────────┐
│  "Add referral rewards"                  │
│  58 upvotes folded into Referral         │
│                                          │
│  ▸ scored, ranked, ready                 │
└──────────────────────────────────────────┘

Feedback Linking

Customer upvotes and referral mentions feed straight into Referral, so growth work never loses to louder feature requests.

Ducalis—The Decision-Making Toolkit

Ducalis helps growth teams capture ideas, estimate effort, and prioritize the backlog with AARRR — or any framework your team prefers.
No credit card required. Unlimited users. No time limit.

Use AARRR for Features Use AARRR for Marketing

┌──────────────────────────────────┐
│  ACQUISITION + ACTIVATION        │
│  + RETENTION + REFERRAL          │
│  + REVENUE − EFFORT = SCORE      │
└──────────────────────────────────┘