Last updated October 10, 2026 · Report an error
The classic group-trip "who owes whom" problem: everyone paid different amounts toward shared expenses, and you need the simplest way to even everyone out. This tool computes each person's balance (amount paid minus their fair share), then matches the largest creditor against the largest debtor repeatedly — a method that provably settles any group of N people in at most N−1 payments.
How it works
Enter how much each person paid. The fair share is the total spend divided by the number of people; each person's balance is their payment minus that fair share. The tool then greedily matches the biggest creditor to the biggest debtor until every balance reaches zero.
- Enter number of people.
- Enter person 1 name.
- Enter person 1 amount paid.
- Enter person 2 name.
- Enter person 2 amount paid.
- Enter person 3 name.
- Enter person 3 amount paid.
- Enter person 4 name.
- Enter person 4 amount paid.
- Enter person 5 name.
- Enter person 5 amount paid.
- Enter person 6 name.
- Enter person 6 amount paid.
- Enter person 7 name.
- Enter person 7 amount paid.
- Enter person 8 name.
- Enter person 8 amount paid.
- Click Calculate to see your results.
Examples
A 3-person trip
If Alice paid $300, Bob paid $0, and Carol paid $300 (total $600, fair share $200 each), the settlement is: Bob pays Alice $100, and Bob pays Carol $100.
Who should use it
- Settling up after a group vacation or trip.
- Splitting shared costs for any group event with uneven upfront payments.
Industry applications
- Personal/group travel finance
Advantages
- Minimizes the number of payments needed to settle everyone up.
- Handles any number of people and uneven payments.
Limitations
- Requires knowing each person's total contribution upfront — doesn't track itemized per-expense history.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Trying to track every individual expense and reimbursement separately instead of just netting out final balances — this creates far more transactions than needed.
Best practices
- Track only the TOTAL each person paid over the whole trip, then settle once at the end using this net-balance approach.
Tips
- For simply splitting ONE bill (not settling multiple uneven payments), use the Roommate Expense Splitter instead — it's simpler for that specific case.