Trip cost splitter: who owes whom

How it works

Add everyone who shares the costs. Then add each expense: what it was, how much, who paid and who it was for. The splitter adds it all up and shows who pays whom, with as few payments as possible. When someone pays back, tap Mark paid and the list updates.

Each expense can be in its own currency. The splitter converts it with the euro reference rates of the European Central Bank, or with the rate you type in, and settles everything in one currency of your choice.

Everything stays in this browser, on this device. There is no account, and nothing is sent to travelfrugally.com. To show the trip to the others or move it to another phone, use Share link.

An example

Anna, Ben and Chiara spend a weekend in Rome. Anna pays the hotel (€360) and Colosseum tickets for herself and Ben (€36). Ben pays dinner in Trastevere (€84). Chiara pays the train from Zurich to Milan for all three: CHF 126, which is €135.31 at the ECB rate.

Together they spent €615.31. Two payments settle everything: Ben pays Anna €127.10, and Chiara pays Anna €57.79. Split three ways, €135.31 leaves one cent over. It is the trip’s first spare cent, so it goes to Anna, the first on the list, and the shares add up to the exact total. The next spare cent would go to Ben.

Load this example

Tips for sharing costs on a group trip

• Agree on the rules before you go. Rooms, fuel, food shopping and tickets are usually shared. Drinks, snacks and souvenirs often are not.
• Add each cost the same day. Two minutes in the evening beat an hour of receipts at the end.
• Use shares for couples and families. A couple takes two shares of the hotel, a family of four takes four shares of the food shopping. Leave the children out of the bar bill.
• Pay in the local currency. When a card terminal or cash machine abroad offers to charge you in your home currency, say no. The rate offered on the spot is usually worse than your bank’s.
• Type your bank’s rate if you know it. Then the split matches what really left your account.
• Settle soon. Small debts are easy to forget. Copy the summary into the group chat and settle within a week.

Questions

How does it keep the number of payments low?

It works out each person’s balance: what they paid minus their share. Then it splits everyone into as many small groups as it can whose balances add up to zero. Each group settles among itself, with one payment fewer than it has people, so more groups mean fewer payments. For example, Anna is owed €50 and Ben €40; Chiara owes €40, David €30 and Eva €20. Chiara pays Ben €40, David pays Anna €30 and Eva pays Anna €20: three payments. Starting with the largest debt would take four. With up to 18 people, it tries every way of grouping, so you always get the fewest payments. In a bigger group, it first pairs people who owe and are owed the same amount; if more than 18 are still left, the person who owes the most pays the person who is owed the most, and so on.

Which exchange rates does it use?

The euro foreign exchange reference rates of the European Central Bank of 12 October 2026, for 29 currencies, plus the euro. The date shows next to each converted amount. Banks and card companies add their own margin, so your statement can differ a little. To match it, type your own rate next to the currency. For the UAE dirham, the Albanian lek, the Egyptian pound, the Moroccan dirham, the Serbian dinar and the Vietnamese dong, the ECB publishes no rate: type the one from your bank or exchange receipt.

Can one person pay more than the others?

Yes. In the expense, tick Unequal shares and give each person a number of shares. Two shares cost twice as much as one.

Two people paid one bill together. How do I enter it?

As two expenses, one for each payer, each for the same people.

Everyone ordered something different. What then?

Enter each person’s part as its own expense, for that person only, and the shared part, like the wine or the tip, as one expense for everyone.

How do I record that someone paid back?

Tap Mark paid next to the payment. It goes into the list as a payment, and the balances update. To undo it, delete the payment from the list.

Where is my data saved?

Only in this browser, on this device. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no account. Start over, or clearing the browser’s data for this site, deletes it.

What does the share link contain?

The whole trip, packed into the link: names, amounts and what they were for. Anyone with the link can read it, so send it only to the group. On another phone the link opens a separate copy. Changes made there do not come back to yours, so whoever adds expenses sends a new link.

Does it work without internet?

Once the page is open, yes. All the sums happen on your device.

How are cents rounded?

Each expense is split to the cent, and the shares always add up to the exact total. If an expense does not divide evenly, the spare cents go round in turn: each goes to the next person on the list who shares the expense, after the one who got the last spare cent. So they do not always fall on the same person.

Is it free?

Yes. No sign-up, and no app to install.

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Help with sums, not financial advice. Exchange rates: euro foreign exchange reference rates of the European Central Bank, 12 October 2026, published for information only. Your bank’s rate will differ. Check the amounts before you pay anyone.

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