Who owes whom?
Type what everyone paid for something you're sharing evenly: a weekend away, a dinner, a gift. See what each person owes or gets back, and the fewest payments to square up.
How to use it
- Put in everyone who's sharing, including anyone who didn't pay for anything.
- Next to each name, what they paid in total. Leave it empty if they paid nothing.
- Read off who pays whom. The payments add up to exactly what's owed, to the cent, and there are never more of them than one fewer than the number of people.
When a calculator isn't enough
A calculator is perfect for one dinner. For a trip or a shared house, where the costs come in over days and not everyone shares everything, it's easier if everyone adds their own as they go. That's what a potluck is: start one, send the link to the group chat, and your friends add what they paid from their own phones. Nobody downloads an app or makes an account, there's no limit on how much you add, and at the end it shows the same fewest payments as above.
Questions
How does it work out who owes whom?
It adds up what everyone paid and divides by the number of people to get each share. Anyone who paid more than their share gets the difference back; anyone who paid less owes it. Then it matches the people who owe with the people who are owed, largest first, so it takes as few payments as possible.
Why fewer payments than people?
Because money doesn't have to go back the way it came. If Ben owes Ana and Ana owes Cleo, Ben can pay Cleo directly. Settling up in the fewest payments is the same total, with less sending back and forth.
What if it wasn't split evenly?
This calculator splits everything evenly between everyone. In a potluck you can split each expense between some people, by exact amounts, by percentages or by shares, and it still works out the fewest payments.
Does it save anything?
No. It runs in your browser and nothing you type is sent anywhere. To keep a running tally with your friends, start a potluck: they join from a link, with no app and no account.