Expense Split Calculator
Enter who paid for what, and see who owes whom in the fewest payments.
| # | Paid by | Amount | What for | Shared by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ||||
| 2 | ||||
| 3 | ||||
| 4 |
Leave Shared by empty when everyone shared the cost.
- Dee pays Ann$79.50
- Cy pays Ann$43.50
- Ben pays Ann$1.50
Ann paid the most, $240.00, and gets back $124.50. Dee owes the most, $79.50. 3 payments settle everything; a group of 4 never needs more than 3.
Who is up and who is down
Tap a person to see their paymentsAnn gets back $124.50. Ben owes $1.50, Cy owes $43.50, Dee owes $79.50. The balances add up to zero.
Settle-up summary
$426.00 shared by Ann, Ben, Cy, Dee
- Dee pays Ann $79.50
- Cy pays Ann $43.50
- Ben pays Ann $1.50
Paid, share and balance
| Person | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Ann | $240.00 | $115.50 | +$124.50 |
| Ben | $96.00 | $97.50 | −$1.50 |
| Cy | $54.00 | $97.50 | −$43.50 |
| Dee | $36.00 | $115.50 | −$79.50 |
Balance is what each person paid minus their share. Shares are split to the cent, and any leftover cent goes to the first person listed for that expense.
Payments
| From | To | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Dee | Ann | $79.50 |
| Cy | Ann | $43.50 |
| Ben | Ann | $1.50 |
The fewest payments that settle every balance. People whose balances cancel out pay each other, so no money passes through a third person.
How it's worked out
Each expense is split equally among the people who shared it. Add up everything a person paid, take away their share of everything they took part in, and you have their balance.
A positive balance means the group owes you money. A negative one means you owe the group. Every dollar one person is owed is a dollar someone else owes, so the balances always add up to zero.
Settling up is a separate step. The tool looks for groups of people whose balances cancel out exactly, because each such group can settle among itself. The more of those groups it finds, the fewer payments everyone makes. With n people who are owed or owe money, it never takes more than n − 1 payments, and often fewer.
Shares are worked out in whole cents. When an amount does not split evenly, the leftover cents go to the first people listed for that expense, so the shares add up exactly to what was spent.
Worked examples
A cabin weekend for four
Ann booked the cabin for $240, Ben bought $96 of groceries and Cy paid $54 for gas. Dee paid $36 for a taxi that only she and Ann took. That is $426.00 in all. Ann's balance is +$124.50, so everyone pays her: Dee pays Ann $79.50, Cy pays Ann $43.50, Ben pays Ann $1.50.
Three roommates at the end of the month
Sam paid the $2,100 rent, Lee paid $180 for utilities and $240 for groceries, and Kai paid $60 for internet. Each share is $860.00. Sam is owed $1,240.00, and it takes 2 payments: Kai pays Sam $800.00, Lee pays Sam $440.00.
Two outings in one list
Ana paid $90 for a dinner with Dev and Eli. Bo paid $80 for a concert with Cleo. If you pair the biggest debt with the biggest credit, you get 4 payments, and Dev ends up paying both Ana and Bo. The tool sees that the dinner and the concert each cancel out on their own, so it needs only 3: Cleo pays Bo $40.00, Eli pays Ana $30.00, Dev pays Ana $30.00.
Reading your result
The big number is how many payments settle everything, and the list under it says who pays whom. Each payment is a real transfer, so nobody has to collect money and pass it on. The bar chart shows the same thing as balances: bars to the right are people who get money back, bars to the left are people who owe.
The table of balances is the place to check if someone asks why they owe what they owe. It lists what each person paid, their share, and the difference. Tap a name on the chart to see only that person's payments.
Small differences of a cent are the rounding at work. Split $10 three ways and the shares are $3.34, $3.33 and $3.33. Over a whole trip those cents rarely add up to more than a few.
The Settle-up summary card puts the payments in plain lines. Copy it into your group chat, or print the page so everyone has the same list.
Common mistakes
- Splitting everything among everyone. If only two of you took the taxi, put their names in Shared by. Otherwise the people who stayed behind pay for a ride they never took.
- Mixing currencies. Pick one currency for the whole calculation. Convert foreign receipts first, at the rate on the card statement or one the group agrees, and include card fees if the group agrees to share them.
- Spelling a name two ways. Names must match the People list, though capital letters do not matter. The tool names the row with a name it does not know.
- Forgetting money already paid back. If Cy already gave Ann $20 for gas, add a row with Cy as the payer, $20 as the amount and Ann alone in Shared by. It cancels out of their balances.
- Splitting rent evenly when rooms differ. This tool splits each cost equally among the people who shared it. For a split by room size or income, enter the rent as separate rows for each person's part.
Questions people ask
Sources
- Independent computation: balance = paid − share; balances sum to zero; greedy settlement uses at most n − 1 transfers
Maintained by Anil ShahUpdated October 28, 2026Checked against 8 reference values