Split Bill / Group Expense Calculator
For trips and shared expenses with multiple bills, not just one — add everyone, add each expense with who paid and who it should be split among, and get the exact list of who pays whom.
How Split Bill / Group Expense Calculator Works
This tool handles group expenses across multiple bills -- not just one -- by tracking who paid for each expense and who it should be split among, then working out each person's overall balance and the shortest list of payments needed to settle everyone up.
Formula & Method
For each expense, the amount is divided evenly among the people checked as participants for that expense, and the full amount is credited to whoever paid. Each person's balance is total paid − total owed across all expenses -- a positive balance means they're owed money, a negative balance means they owe money. To settle up, the calculator repeatedly matches the person owed the most against the person who owes the most, records a payment for the smaller of the two amounts, and repeats until every balance is zero. This greedy approach minimizes the number of separate payments needed, rather than having everyone pay everyone else individually.
Worked Example
With Alice, Bob, and Carol splitting a ₹300 dinner (paid by Alice, split 3 ways), a ₹60 taxi (paid by Bob, split only between Alice and Bob), and ₹90 snacks (paid by Carol, split 3 ways): Alice ends up owed ₹140 overall, while Bob owes ₹100 and Carol owes ₹40. The settle-up list reduces this to just two payments: Bob pays Alice ₹100, and Carol pays Alice ₹40 -- fully clearing all balances.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Why does the tool suggest only 1 or 2 payments instead of everyone paying everyone?
- It uses a greedy debt-settlement approach that always pairs the biggest creditor with the biggest debtor first. This naturally minimizes the total number of payments needed to zero out every balance, compared to a naive approach where each pair of people settles their own expenses separately.
- What happens if an expense isn't split evenly among everyone?
- You can uncheck anyone who shouldn't share a particular expense -- like the taxi in the example, which only Alice and Bob split even though Carol was in the group. The expense amount is divided only among the people left checked for that row.
- Can one person pay for an expense they're not part of splitting?
- Yes -- the "paid by" person and the "split among" participants are tracked separately, so someone can cover a bill entirely for others without being included in the split themselves (just uncheck them from that expense's participants).
- Is my data saved anywhere?
- No -- all people, expenses, and balances exist only in your browser for this session. Refreshing the page resets everything back to the example data.