Split expenses calculator

How it works

1. Add everyone in the group. In Total per person, enter how much each person paid in all, and leave it empty for anyone who didn't pay. In Expense by expense, add each expense with its amount, who paid it and who shares it.
2. Each expense is split equally among the people who share it, to the cent; in Total per person, that's everyone. Each person's balance is what they paid minus their share.
3. People who paid less than their share pay the people who paid more. The largest amounts are matched first, so the group settles up in a few payments: at most one fewer than the number of people.

How who owes whom is calculated

Take the example the page opens with. Ana paid 120, Ben paid 45 and Chris paid nothing, so the group spent 165 and each person's share is 165 ÷ 3 = 55. Each person's balance is what they paid minus their share: Ana is owed 65 (120 − 55), Ben owes 10 (45 − 55) and Chris owes 55 (0 − 55). The balances always add up to zero: 65 − 10 − 55 = 0.

Then the debts are matched against the credits, largest first: Chris pays Ana 55 and Ben pays Ana 10. Two payments and everyone is square. Nobody pays Ben, even though he paid for something, because what he paid was less than his share. A group of five never needs more than four payments, and often fewer.

Shares are rounded to the cent so they add up to exactly what was paid: 100 split three ways is 33.34, 33.33 and 33.33, not 33.333 each. It's the same arithmetic you'd do on paper, and the same math the Spliteo app uses to settle a group, so the two always agree.

When not everyone was in on every expense

Total per person assumes every expense was for everyone. On a trip that's rarely true: someone skips a dinner, or only three of the five took the taxi. Switch to Expense by expense and enter each expense with its amount, who paid it and who shares it. Say Ana paid 120 for the cabin, shared by all three, and Ben paid 45 for a dinner Chris wasn't at. The cabin is 40 each; the dinner is 22.50 each for Ana and Ben. Ana's share is 62.50, Ben's is 62.50 and Chris's is 40. Ana is owed 57.50, Ben owes 17.50 and Chris owes 40, so Chris pays Ana 40 and Ben pays Ana 17.50.

Each expense is split equally among the people ticked. If one bill was paid by two people, enter it as two expenses, one per payer, shared by the same people. If someone paid only for themselves, leave it out: it isn't a shared expense.

What this calculator doesn't do is split one expense unequally: two shares for a couple, exact amounts, or percentages. Sometimes you can work around it by splitting the expense into two lines, for example the couple's room as its own expense shared by the two of them. For anything beyond that, or for a group that keeps spending together, a Spliteo group splits by parts, amounts or percentages, in any currency, and keeps the history.

Settling up afterwards

Tap "Share summary" to copy the result as text and paste it into the group chat: the total, each person's share and the list of who pays whom. Each payment is between two people, so everyone can pay however they like, by bank transfer, in cash or with whatever app the group uses. The calculator doesn't move money or record payments; once each one is made, you're done.

Two habits save arguments: agree on the list before anyone pays, and settle soon, while everyone remembers what the numbers mean. If the same people split expenses every week, a group in Spliteo keeps balances up to date as expenses come in, and its settle-up proposes the same kind of short payment list, with each payment recorded when it's made.

Questions

Can I use this to split costs online, with no account?

Yes. It runs in the browser on a phone or a computer, with nothing to install and no signup. Enter the names and what each person paid, and the result is there as you type. The page's link holds everything, so you can come back to it or send it to the group.

Is it like a Splitwise calculator, without the app?

For a one-off split, yes: who paid what goes in, who owes whom comes out, in the fewest payments, the same way a group's settle-up works, with no account and no daily limit on expenses. What it doesn't do is keep a history, update balances over time, hold several currencies or split one expense unequally. For that, a group in Spliteo is free.

How do I work out how much each person has to pay?

In Total per person, each person's share is the total divided by the number of people, shown under the result. Compare it with what each person paid: whoever paid less than their share pays the difference, whoever paid more gets it back. In Expense by expense, each person's share is the sum of their part of every expense they're in, and the table shows what they paid next to it.

What if not everyone shared every expense?

Switch to Expense by expense. Add each expense with its amount and who paid it, then untick anyone who wasn't part of it: the taxi only among the people who rode in it, the dinner without whoever stayed in. Each expense is split equally among the people ticked, and everything is netted into one list of payments.

Why are there fewer payments than people?

Instead of everyone paying everyone, the calculator first works out each person's net balance across everything. Whoever is owed money is only paid by people who owe it, so a group of five never needs more than four payments.

Can I split unequally, or in more than one currency?

Here each expense is split equally among the people who share it. To split by parts or exact amounts, add expenses in different currencies and keep a history the whole group can see, create a group in Spliteo. It's free.

Does it work with any currency, and how many people?

Amounts are just numbers, so use pesos, dollars, euros or anything else, as long as one split stays in one currency. Type decimals with a dot; commas group thousands. You can add up to 30 people and, in Expense by expense, up to 100 expenses.

How do I save or share a split?

As you type, the page's link updates with the names, the amounts and, in Expense by expense, each expense. Bookmark it to come back later, or tap "Share this split" and send it to the group: whoever opens it sees what you see and can keep editing.

Is anything I type saved?

Not on our servers. The calculation runs in your browser and nothing is sent. Names and amounts live only in the page's link, after the #, and browsers never send that part to a server.