ToolDropTrip & Group Expense Splitter — Who Pays Whom, With Fewest Payments
Add the group and every expense. You get a short list of payments that settles everyone up, without an app or an account.
How the group expense splitter works
- Add everyone in the group.
- For each expense, enter what it was, the amount, who paid, and who shared it (everyone by default).
- Read the settle-up list: it shows who pays whom, and how much.
Instead of everyone paying everyone, the tool nets out what each person paid against what they owe, then finds the fewest payments that cancel out all the balances.
Worked example
Ana pays $300 for a cabin, Ben pays $90 for groceries, and Cy pays $60 for gas that only Ana and Cy shared.
| Person | Paid | Their share | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ana | $300.00 | $160.00 | +$140.00 |
| Ben | $90.00 | $130.00 | -$40.00 |
| Cy | $60.00 | $160.00 | -$100.00 |
Settle up: Cy pays Ana $100.00, Ben pays Ana $40.00. That is 2 payments for a group of 3. These numbers come from the same calculator code that runs above.
Frequently asked questions
How does the settle-up calculation work?
For each person the tool adds up what they paid and subtracts their share of every expense. That leaves one balance per person: positive means they are owed money, negative means they owe money. The balances always add up to zero. The tool then finds the smallest set of payments that brings every balance to zero.
Is it really the minimum number of payments?
For groups of up to 16 people, yes. The tool checks every way of splitting the group into sub-groups that already balance among themselves and picks the one that needs the fewest payments. For larger groups it uses a fast method that is still correct but may occasionally use one payment more than the theoretical minimum.
Can some expenses be shared by only some people?
Yes. For each expense you can untick the people who were not part of it, for example a dinner one person skipped. The cost is split equally among the people who are ticked.
What if the amount does not divide evenly?
Amounts are handled in whole cents. When a bill cannot be split exactly, the extra cents rotate between people across expenses so one person is not always the one rounding up.
Does it work for things other than trips?
Yes: weekend houses, group gifts, shared dinners, weddings, and household costs all work the same way. Everything is "who paid what, and who shared it".
Does anything get sent to a server?
No. The calculation runs in your browser, and your numbers are stored only inside the link you choose to copy.