Settle up calculator
Everyone paid for different things. Type in what each person spent and this works out who owes whom — and reduces the whole tangle to the fewest payments that clear it.
Why the fewest payments matters
Once several people have paid for several things, the obvious approach is for everyone to settle with everyone. With five people that is up to ten separate transfers, and in practice the group gives up after two.
Netting the balances first collapses that. Each person is then either owed money or owes it — never both — and the payments only ever run from one side to the other. Six people owing each other in circles usually settles in three or four transfers rather than fifteen.
How it works out the list
- Add up everything paid, and divide by the number of people to get each person's fair share.
- Compare what each person paid against their share. Paying more than your share means you are owed; paying less means you owe.
- Match anyone who owes exactly what someone else is owed — a single payment clears both of them at once.
- Then repeatedly settle the largest debt against the largest amount owed. Every payment clears at least one person completely, so the list stays short.
Splitting to the last paisa
Amounts rarely divide evenly. ₹1,000 between three people is ₹333.33 recurring, and three equal shares of ₹333.33 come to ₹999.99 — a paisa short of what was actually spent.
So the leftover is handed out rather than rounded away: one person pays ₹333.34 and the other two pay ₹333.33. The shares always add up to the total, which is what keeps the payment list exactly correct instead of approximately correct.
When someone shared less than the others
Equal shares are the common case, not the only one. If somebody joined the trip late, skipped the expensive dinner, or had their own room, an equal split overcharges them.
This calculator divides the pot equally. For expenses that need splitting differently, a Splitly group handles it per expense — you choose who each expense was for, so the airport taxi three people took is charged to those three and nobody else.
Frequently asked questions
- Is this the same maths Splitly uses?
- Yes — deliberately. It runs the same settlement algorithm the app does, so working a trip out here and then entering it into a group gives you the same list of payments in the same order.
- What is the largest number of payments it will ever produce?
- One fewer than the number of people. Every payment fully clears at least one person, so a six-person group never needs more than five transfers, and usually needs fewer.
- Do I need an account?
- No. This page works entirely in your browser and nothing is sent anywhere or saved.
- Can I use it if some people paid nothing?
- Yes, and that is the usual case. Enter zero for them — they will simply owe their share, and the calculator works out who they should pay.
- What if everyone already paid their share?
- Then nothing needs to change hands, and the calculator says so rather than inventing offsetting payments.