Expense Splitter
✦ Finance & MoneyUse this expense splitter to share costs between 2–10 people — a trip, a flat, a weekend away — and see who owes who. Enter each expense, who paid it and how to split it (equally, by shares or by income), and it lists the transfers that settle every balance, to the cent.
- ✓ Calculated in your browser
- ✓ Nothing you type is stored
- ✓ No sign-up required
- ✓ Formula and sources shown
The formula
Net position per person, then greedy settlement
\text{Share}_{i,e} = A_e \times \frac{w_i}{\sum_{j \in e} w_j} \quad (w = 1,\; \text{shares},\; \text{or income}) \\[4pt]
\text{Net}_i = \sum_e \text{Paid}_{i,e} - \sum_e \text{Share}_{i,e} \qquad \sum_i \text{Net}_i = 0Each expense is divided among the people who shared it, in whole cents: everyone gets the whole cents of their exact share, and the few cents left over go to the largest fractions (the largest-remainder method; in an equal split, to the first people listed). Paid minus share is each person's net. The settlement pays the person owed the most from the person who owes the most, repeatedly — at most one transfer fewer than the people with a balance.
Calculating it by hand
- Enter each person's name; add a monthly income only if an expense will be split by income.
- For each expense, enter what it was, the amount and who paid it.
- Choose the split — Equal, By shares or By income — and untick anyone who did not share that expense.
- For a split by shares, give each person a share count (2 for a couple, 1 for one person, 0.5 for a child).
- Read the total to settle up, the list of transfers, and each person's net position in the chart.
- Copy the link, print, or download the CSV to keep the ledger; nothing is saved anywhere.
Worked examples
A trip hotel split equally three ways
People: Alex, Jordan, Sam. One expense: Hotel $90.00, paid by Alex, split Equal, shared by all three.Each share = $90.00 ÷ 3 = $30.00 (no odd cents).Net: Alex $90.00 − $30.00 = +$60.00; Jordan −$30.00; Sam −$30.00.Transfers: Jordan pays Alex $30.00; Sam pays Alex $30.00.
Total to settle up $60.00 · Jordan → Alex $30.00 · Sam → Alex $30.00
Rent split by income
People: Alex $3,000, Jordan $2,500, Sam $1,500 monthly income. One expense: Rent $700.00, paid by Sam, split By income.Shares: $700 × 3,000/7,000 = $300.00; $700 × 2,500/7,000 = $250.00; $700 × 1,500/7,000 = $150.00.Net: Sam $700.00 − $150.00 = +$550.00; Alex −$300.00; Jordan −$250.00.Transfers: Alex pays Sam $300.00; Jordan pays Sam $250.00.
Total to settle up $550.00 · Alex → Sam $300.00 · Jordan → Sam $250.00
A month of flat costs (the page defaults)
Rent $1,200.00 paid by Alex, equal: $400.00 each. Groceries $90.00 paid by Jordan, equal: $30.00 each.Utilities $60.00 paid by Sam, by income ($3,000 / $2,500 / $1,500): $25.71, $21.43, $12.86 — the 2¢ left after whole cents go to Jordan and Sam.Shares owed: Alex $455.71, Jordan $451.43, Sam $442.86 (total $1,350.00).Net: Alex $1,200.00 − $455.71 = +$744.29; Jordan $90.00 − $451.43 = −$361.43; Sam $60.00 − $442.86 = −$382.86.Transfers: Sam pays Alex $382.86; Jordan pays Alex $361.43.
Total to settle up $744.29 in 2 transfers
Methodology
How splitting shared expenses works
Most groups don't need one payment per receipt. Add up what each person paid and what each person owes, and a few transfers settle everything — as long as each cost is split the way the group agreed.
Read sources and limitsWhat does an expense splitter do?
An expense splitter keeps a ledger of shared costs: for each expense it records who paid and divides the amount among the people who shared it, then totals what each person paid and what each person's share came to. A short list of transfers then settles every balance.
The difference between what someone paid and their share is their net position — positive if they are owed money, negative if they owe it — and the transfers bring everyone to zero.
At the page defaults three flatmates share a month: Alex paid the $1,200.00 rent, Jordan $90.00 of groceries and Sam $60.00 of utilities. Rent and groceries are split equally; utilities are split by income ($3,000, $2,500 and $1,500 a month). Alex has paid $744.29 more than his share, so Sam pays Alex $382.86 and Jordan pays Alex $361.43 — $744.29 in two transfers.
How do you split shared expenses fairly?
Pick the split that matches how the cost was used. Equal is the default for things everyone used about the same — a shared taxi, a hotel room, the groceries for a weekend. By shares gives each person a weight: a couple counts 2, a single person 1, a child 0.5.
By income splits a cost in proportion to what each person earns, which some households use for rent and bills when incomes differ.
No split is the fair one in general. The calculator does the arithmetic for whichever convention your group agrees on, expense by expense, and you can mix them: equal for groceries, by income for rent. Untick anyone who did not share a cost — a dinner only two people went to — and it is divided among the rest.
How do you split rent by income?
Divide each person's income by the group's total income and apply that fraction to the rent. With incomes of $3,000, $2,500 and $1,500 (total $7,000), rent of $700 splits as $700 × 3,000 ÷ 7,000 = $300, $250 and $150. If Sam paid the landlord, Alex pays Sam $300 and Jordan pays Sam $250.
Amounts rarely divide into whole cents. The default $60.00 utilities bill splits by income as $25.714…, $21.428… and $12.857…. Each person gets the whole cents first ($25.71, $21.42, $12.85 — $59.98 in all) and the 2¢ left over go to the two largest fractions, Jordan and Sam, giving $25.71, $21.43 and $12.86. This is the largest-remainder rule the U.S. Census Bureau describes for apportionment; the page names who carries each extra cent.
Who owes who, and how many transfers does it take?
Add up each person's net. Anyone positive is owed money; anyone negative owes it, and the two sides always cancel exactly. The settlement here repeatedly matches the person owed the most with the person who owes the most and moves the smaller of the two amounts, so one of them is settled at every step.
That never needs more than one transfer fewer than the number of people with a balance: three people, at most two transfers; ten people, at most nine.
It is a good settlement, not always the shortest possible one — finding the absolute minimum can take checking many combinations — and it is not the only fair one. Another order can move money differently with the same totals. Whatever the order, the total moved is the same.
What does the expense splitter not do?
It treats all expenses as one period: no dates, interest or currency conversion, so convert to one currency first. It does not know about money already repaid — enter a repayment as an expense paid by the person who repaid, shared only by the person repaid, or leave it out and settle the difference.
Nothing you enter is stored, and there are no accounts or group invitations: the ledger lives in the page and in the link you copy. If you settle up through a payment app, the Federal Trade Commission's advice is to send money only to people you know and to check the recipient before you pay.
Expense Splitter questions
How do you calculate who owes who?
For each person, subtract their share of every expense from what they paid. A positive result means they are owed money, a negative one that they owe it, and the results add to zero. At the page defaults Alex is +$744.29, Jordan −$361.43 and Sam −$382.86, so Sam pays Alex $382.86 and Jordan pays Alex $361.43.
How do you split expenses between roommates?
List each shared bill, who paid it and who uses it, and choose a split per bill — equal for things everyone uses alike, by shares or by income where the group agrees on it. The ledger nets everything off, so a month of rent, groceries and utilities among three people settles in at most two transfers.
How do you split rent fairly with different incomes?
One convention splits rent in proportion to income: each person pays their income ÷ total income of the rent. Incomes of $3,000, $2,500 and $1,500 split $700 rent as $300, $250 and $150. It is one option among several — equal shares, or by room size, are others; the calculator does whichever the group picks.
What is the minimum number of payments to settle group expenses?
With the greedy settlement used here, never more than one fewer than the number of people with a non-zero balance: two transfers for three people, nine for ten. It is not guaranteed to be the absolute minimum in every case — that can take checking many combinations — but the total of money moved is the same in any valid settlement.
What happens to the leftover cent when an expense does not split evenly?
Everyone gets the whole cents of their exact share and the leftover cents go, one each, to the largest fractions of a cent. $10.00 split three ways is $3.34, $3.33 and $3.33 (equal fractions, so the first person listed). The page names who carries every extra cent, and each expense adds back exactly.
Can I split some expenses with only part of the group?
Yes. Untick anyone under "Shared by" who did not take part, and that expense is divided only among the people still ticked. A $90 dinner shared by two of three flatmates costs each of them $45, and the third person's balance is unchanged.
How does splitting by shares work?
Each person gets a weight and pays amount × their shares ÷ total shares. A $100 dinner with Alex on 2 shares and Jordan and Sam on 1 each costs Alex $50 and the others $25 each. Decimals work too: 0.5 for a child halves their share.
Does the expense splitter save my group or send reminders?
No. Nothing you type leaves your browser; there are no accounts, invites or history. To keep or share a split, copy the page link — the people and expenses are carried in the address — print it, or download the ledger as a CSV.
Is this like a group expense app?
It does the same arithmetic — net positions and who pays whom — for one session, without an account. Apps keep a running ledger that several people edit over time; here you enter the expenses, read the settlement and copy, print or download it.
Source notes
Method, sources & limitations
Every figure on this page comes from the formula above applied to the values you enter. Nothing is estimated from market data, and no result is a forecast. These are the sources behind the method and any fixed figures it uses:
- U.S. Census Bureau — Methods of Apportionment (the Hamilton / largest-remainder rule used for the odd cents)
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — Your Money, Your Goals toolkit (tracking income, bills and spending)
- Federal Trade Commission — Mobile payment apps: how to avoid a scam when you use one (settling up)
Educational information only. Results are estimates produced from the assumptions you enter, and are not financial, tax, legal or medical advice. Check anything that matters against a qualified professional and the cited sources.