Group expense calculator
Built for groups where money moves in every direction: friends on a trip, housemates, teammates, families. Log spending as it happens and the balances stay correct.
Short answer
Add everyone to the group, log each expense with who paid and who it covers, and the calculator keeps a running balance per person throughout — settle whenever you want with the fewest possible payments.
People
Expenses
Balances
- Alex$375.00
- Sarah$15.00
- Mike$165.00
- Emma$195.00
+ gets money back · − owes money
💸 Settle up
Only 3 payments needed.
- EmmaAlex$195.00
- MikeAlex$165.00
- SarahAlex$15.00
Who paid what
- Alex$600.00
- Sarah$180.00
- Mike$60.00
Saved on this device. No account needed.
How it works
- 1Create the group and add everyone by name.
- 2Log each expense as it happens — it takes about five seconds.
- 3Balances update live: plus means owed money, minus means owing.
- 4The settle-up panel reduces everything to the smallest number of payments.
- 5Share the result as an image or text when it is time to pay.
A group expense calculator earns its keep over time, not on a single bill. Trips, house shares and recurring social groups accumulate dozens of expenses paid by different people, and the point isn't any single transaction — it's the net position after all of them.
Because balances are cumulative, someone can pay for three expensive things in a row and still not be 'owed' if they've also been on the receiving end of other people's spending. The only number that matters is the total: paid minus share, across everything logged.
Settling doesn't mean everyone pays everyone else back individually. The calculator finds the smallest number of transfers that zeroes out every balance, which is usually far fewer than one per expense.
Worked examples with real numbers
A weekend away, five expenses, four friends
Jo, Kai, Liam and Mia go away for a weekend. Jo pays 220 for the cottage, Kai pays 75 for the food shop, Liam pays 50 for petrol (only Jo and Liam drove, but the cost is shared by all four as agreed beforehand), and Mia pays 96 for a group activity.
| Expenses | Amount |
|---|---|
| CottageJo paid, split 4 ways | 220.00 |
| Food shopKai paid, split 4 ways | 75.00 |
| PetrolLiam paid, split 4 ways | 50.00 |
| ActivityMia paid, split 4 ways | 96.00 |
| Total | 441.00 |
| Person | Paid | Fair share | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jo | 220.00 | 110.25 | +109.75 |
| Kai | 75.00 | 110.25 | −35.25 |
| Liam | 50.00 | 110.25 | −60.25 |
| Mia | 96.00 | 110.25 | −14.25 |
- KaiJo35.25
- LiamJo60.25
- MiaJo14.25
Total spend is 441 across four people, so each fair share is 110.25. Jo is owed 109.75 in total, and three transfers into Jo's account — 35.25 from Kai, 60.25 from Liam, 14.25 from Mia — add up to exactly that and clear the group.
A running house group over a month
Three housemates — Noor, Omar and Petra — log eight separate expenses across a month: bills, a shared food shop, a plumber call-out split unevenly, and a few small top-ups. By the end their total paid figures are 310, 180 and 260 against equal shares of 250 each.
| Month totals | Amount |
|---|---|
| Noor — total paid | 310.00 |
| Omar — total paid | 180.00 |
| Petra — total paid | 260.00 |
| Total | 750.00 |
| Person | Paid | Fair share | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Noor | 310.00 | 250.00 | +60.00 |
| Omar | 180.00 | 250.00 | −70.00 |
| Petra | 260.00 | 250.00 | +10.00 |
- OmarNoor60.00
- OmarPetra10.00
Omar is short of his fair share by 70 in total. Noor is owed 60 and Petra is owed 10, so two payments from Omar — 60 to Noor, 10 to Petra — settle the whole month despite eight separate expenses being logged.
How running balances work
1. Track cumulative paid
sum of every amount a person has paid across all expenses
2. Track cumulative share
sum of that person's share across every expense they were included in
3. Running balance
cumulative paid − cumulative share, updated after each new expense
4. Settle anytime
apply the minimal-transfer algorithm to whatever the current balances are
Mistakes that cause arguments
Settling up after every single expense
Paying each other back transaction by transaction defeats the purpose of tracking a group balance — let it accumulate and settle with one or two payments at natural breakpoints.
Not excluding people from expenses they weren't part of
If someone leaves early or joins late, uninclude them from the relevant expenses rather than adjusting amounts by hand afterwards.
Losing track of who's actually in the group
Adding a one-off guest to the permanent group list distorts every future balance calculation — remove them once their expenses are settled, or use a separate group for one-off events.
Practical tips
- Set up the group once at the start of a trip or house share, not retroactively — logging in real time avoids reconstructing receipts later.
- Check balances periodically so nobody is surprised by a large number at the end.
- Name expenses clearly (venue, item, date) so a balance can be explained later if someone asks.
- For long-running groups, settle at natural checkpoints — end of month, end of trip — rather than never.
- If a large one-off cost (rent, a deposit) will distort the balance for months, consider settling it immediately rather than letting it sit in the running total.
Questions
- How many people can I add?
- There is no hard limit. It stays readable well past a dozen people on a phone screen.
- Do I need an account or an app?
- Neither. Open the page, use it, share the result. Your group stays on your device.
- Can I edit or delete an expense later?
- Yes — every expense row has edit and delete buttons, and deletes can be undone.