# Serve a live leaderboard from a Google Sheet

A leaderboard is just rows sorted by score, and a spreadsheet handles that natively. PasteSheet publishes your Google Sheet as a live, cached JSON API, so your game or app reads the standings with a descending sort and pulls the top N with pagination — no database to run and no backend to build for a scoreboard.

*Last updated: 2026-07-11 · Source: <https://pastesheet.com/use-cases/google-sheets-leaderboard>*

## Key facts

- A Google Sheet is capped at **10 million cells** (or 18,278 columns), which is the real ceiling on using one as a database. ([source](https://support.google.com/drive/answer/37603))
- The board holds up to **500 players on Free** and **5,000 on Starter ($9/mo)**; **Pro ($19/mo)** lifts the row cap for a full ladder.
- A new high score lands as fast as your cache TTL: a fixed **5 minutes** on Free, or a custom **30 seconds to 1 hour** on paid plans.
- Nobody can spoof a score through the API: the endpoint is **read-only by design**, with no write path. You record scores by writing to the sheet yourself.

## Why a Sheet makes a fine leaderboard

A ranking is a table sorted by one number: player, score, maybe a level or a region. A spreadsheet is already that, and you can eyeball it, sort it, and fix a bad entry by hand. For a jam game, a community contest, or an internal scoreboard, standing up a database and an API for that is more work than the feature deserves.

PasteSheet serves the sheet as clean, typed JSON over a fast, cached endpoint, with sorting and pagination built into the URL. Your front end asks for the scores sorted high-to-low and renders the top ten — the same read-only pattern behind a [live dashboard](https://pastesheet.com/use-cases/google-sheets-live-dashboard).

## What the API gives you

One tab of scores, and the query parameters do the ranking:

- Descending sort — `sort=-score` puts the highest score first.
- Top N — `per_page=10` returns just the leaders; `page` walks the rest.
- Scoped boards — filter with `?region=eu` or `?season=3` for per-slice rankings.
- Aggregates on Pro — `group_by` with `avg` or `count` for per-team or per-level stats.

## Fetch the top scores as JSON

Sort descending and page for the top N. No query language, just URL parameters:

```bash
curl "https://pastesheet.com/your-endpoint/Scores?sort=-score&per_page=10"

{
  "data": [
    {
      "rank": 1,
      "player": "nova",
      "score": 48210,
      "level": 27,
      "region": "eu"
    }
  ]
}
```

## Read-only, so nobody can spoof a score

Because the endpoint is **read-only by design**, it is safe to expose publicly or hand to a teammate: consumers can read and query the data but can never change the sheet. And there is **no Google Cloud project, OAuth screen, or service account** to set up — you paste a share URL and get a live API.

## What it costs

**Starter — $9/month.** For indie makers shipping a real app.

- Endpoints: 10
- Requests: 50,000 / month
- Rows per endpoint: 5,000
- Tabs per endpoint: 5
- Rate limit: 300 / minute

**Start on Starter ($9/mo)** for a custom cache TTL, so a fresh high score shows up in seconds. Free is fine for a slow-moving board on a 5-minute cache; Pro adds aggregation (`avg`, `count`, `group_by`) for per-team and per-level stats.

## Frequently asked questions

### How do I get just the top ten?

Sort descending and cap the page size: sort=-score with per_page=10. The API returns the ten highest rows; increase per_page or step through pages to show more of the board.

### How fresh are the scores?

As fresh as your cache TTL. The Free plan refreshes every 5 minutes; paid plans let you set a TTL as low as 30 seconds, so a new high score reaches the board almost immediately.

### Can players write scores through the API?

No. PasteSheet is read-only by design — there is no write path. The endpoint only serves the standings, so nobody can spoof a score through it. You record scores by writing to the sheet yourself.

### Can I have separate boards per region or season?

Yes. Keep a region or season column and filter with ?region=eu or ?season=3. One sheet can back many scoped leaderboards, each just a different query against the same rows.

## Sources

- [Files you can store in Google Drive (size limits)](https://support.google.com/drive/answer/37603) — Google

## Related use cases

- [Feed a Live Dashboard From Google Sheets](https://pastesheet.com/use-cases/google-sheets-live-dashboard) — Power a live dashboard from a Google Sheet: PasteSheet serves rows and count/sum/avg rollups as cached JSON your charts read — no backend, no database.
- [A No-Code Backend From a Google Sheet](https://pastesheet.com/use-cases/google-sheets-app-backend) — Skip the server. PasteSheet turns a Google Sheet into a live, read-only JSON API your web or mobile app reads from — no database, no backend, no Google setup.
- [A Reporting API Backed by Google Sheets](https://pastesheet.com/use-cases/google-sheets-reporting-api) — Expose a Google Sheet of report data as a JSON API for BI tools, scripts, and embeds — with count/sum/avg summaries and no backend to build.
- [Use a Google Sheet as a Next.js Data Source](https://pastesheet.com/use-cases/google-sheets-nextjs-data) — Fetch a Google Sheet as typed JSON in Next.js or React — from a Server Component, getStaticProps, or ISR. Cached, read-only, set up by pasting a share URL.

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[PasteSheet](https://pastesheet.com) turns any Google Sheet into a live REST API and MCP server for AI agents — no backend, no code. Canonical HTML version of this page: <https://pastesheet.com/use-cases/google-sheets-leaderboard>