Free tool
Trip cost splitter
Treader is a free group trip planner that puts every stop on one live map and checks the plan against sunset and public holidays on your dates. Made in Canada.
List who came and what each person paid. You get each person’s share, who is owed, and a short list of payments that settles everyone up.
Work out who owes who
Name everyone who shared the trip, up to 20, then add each cost, up to 50, and who paid it. Every cost is split evenly between everyone listed. Your figures stay on this page.
Amounts are never converted. Use one currency for the whole split.
Name at least two people to see how the costs split.
Every cost is split evenly between everyone listed, and amounts are rounded to the cent. Everything runs in your browser: nothing you type is sent or saved.
01
How the split works
Add up everything the group spent and divide it by the number of people: that is each person’s share. Then compare each person’s share with what they actually paid. The difference is their balance.
- Share = total ÷ number of people
- Balance = what a person paid − their share
- A positive balance is money owed to that person; a negative one is money they owe
- Amounts are rounded to the cent, so a total that does not divide evenly can leave a payment a cent off the exact share
02
A worked example
Alex, Sam and Priya share a cabin weekend and put these costs on their own cards:
- Cabin, 3 nights: CAD 780.00, paid by Alex
- Groceries: CAD 150.00, paid by Sam
- Fuel: CAD 90.00, paid by Alex
- Boat rental: CAD 180.00, paid by Priya
- Together that is CAD 1,200.00, so each share is CAD 400.00
03
Keeping the payments few
Once every balance is known, the settle-up picks the person owed the most and the person who owes the most, and has the one pay the other the smaller of the two amounts. That settles at least one of them, so it repeats until everyone is square. It is a simple rule, not a search through every possible arrangement, so it does not promise the single smallest set of payments for a big group. It keeps the payments few, and each one easy to read.
- Alex paid CAD 870.00, so is owed CAD 470.00
- Sam paid CAD 150.00, so owes CAD 250.00
- Priya paid CAD 180.00, so owes CAD 220.00
- Sam pays Alex CAD 250.00 and Priya pays Alex CAD 220.00: 2 payments, against 8 if every cost were paid back on its own
04
When an even split is not the right one
Everyone listed shares every cost equally, whether they came for the whole trip or not. That suits a cabin, the groceries and the fuel split among friends. It is not a weighted split, and it has no per-item shares and no way to leave one person out of one cost.
- A cost only some of you shared, like a tour or a ferry for two: run the splitter once for that group, with only those people and only that cost
- A couple or a household that pays one share: list them under one name. To give each person a share, list each person
05
Keeping the split with the trip in Treader
Treader’s own cost split uses the same even split and the same settle-up, kept on the trip so it stays current as people log what they paid.
- It lives on the People tab of the Trip Hub: add everyone sharing the bill and log who paid what. Receipts with someone set under Paid by count toward it automatically.
- The Settle up panel shows each even share and who pays whom. A settle-up card you can share by link shows what each person paid and who pays whom, with no itinerary or dates.
- Starting a split takes Pro, $4.99 CAD a month, or Discovery, for whoever on the trip starts it. After that, everyone who can edit the trip can add to it, whatever their own plan.
- It is separate from the trip budget, which tracks planned costs against a ceiling. The split tracks money that actually changed hands.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
What people ask before they plan a first trip. The docs go further.
Read the docs01 How do I split trip costs fairly?
Add up every cost, divide by the number of people to get each share, then compare each share with what that person paid. Anyone who paid more than their share is owed the difference, and anyone who paid less owes it. In the example above, CAD 1,200.00 for 3 people is CAD 400.00 each. An even split is fair when everyone shared every cost. When only some of you shared a cost, split that cost between just those people.
02 How do I work out who owes who?
Subtract each person’s share from what they paid. The result is what they are owed or, if it is negative, what they owe. Then match the person owed the most with the person who owes the most and have one pay the other, until everyone is square. In the example, that is Sam pays Alex CAD 250.00 and Priya pays Alex CAD 220.00. The calculator does this as you type.
03 Can one cost be split between only some people?
Not in this calculator. It splits every cost evenly between everyone listed, with no weights and no way to leave one person out of one cost. To split a cost between only some of the group, run it once with just those people and that cost. Treader’s own split works the same way: the total divides evenly across everyone on the roster.
04 Does it convert currencies?
No. The currency you pick only labels the figures: nothing is converted and no exchange rate is looked up. Use one currency for the whole split. If some costs were paid in another currency, convert them first at the rate you actually paid, and type them in the currency you are settling in.
05 Is anything I type saved or sent?
No. The calculator runs in your browser. The names and amounts you type are not sent to Treader or saved, and they are gone when you close or reload the page. The summary only goes to your clipboard when you press Copy the summary.
06 Can I keep the split with my trip in Treader?
Yes, in Treader’s own cost split, on the People tab of the Trip Hub. It uses the same even split and settle-up. Starting a split takes Pro, $4.99 CAD a month, or Discovery, for whoever on the trip starts it. After that, everyone who can edit the trip can add people and costs, whatever their own plan, and viewers can look. Nothing you type in this calculator carries over, so add the people and costs again in the trip.
Split the costs, then plan the next one together.
Put the trip on one map, invite an editor to plan it with you and let everyone else follow along. Free to start; starting a cost split takes Pro, $4.99 CAD a month.
Start a group trip free Still deciding? Open a finished trip