Group expenses: who owes what, shared as a read-only link
Working out who owes what does not need an app on every phone or an account for every friend. One person enters the expenses in a browser, and everybody else gets a link they can open and read, but not edit.
A worked example
Mia, Dan, Lena and Paul rent a house for a weekend.
- Mia paid 240.00 for the house, shared by all four: 60.00 each.
- Dan paid 10.00 for a taxi that only Mia, Dan and Lena took: 3.34 for Mia, 3.33 for Dan and 3.33 for Lena.
- Lena paid 68.50 for dinner, shared by all four: 17.13 each for Mia and Dan, 17.12 each for Lena and Paul.
Paul paid for nothing but still owes a share of the house and the dinner. The taxi is split only between the three who took it, and its odd cent goes to the first of them on the list.
| Person | Paid | Share | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mia | 240.00 | 80.47 | is owed 159.53 |
| Dan | 10.00 | 80.46 | owes 70.46 |
| Lena | 68.50 | 80.45 | owes 11.95 |
| Paul | 0.00 | 77.12 | owes 77.12 |
The shares add up to 318.50, the group total. Three payments settle everything: Paul pays Mia 77.12, Dan pays Mia 70.46 and Lena pays Mia 11.95.
What a read-only link is good for
The organiser keeps the group link, which reopens the whole group for editing. Everyone else gets a page that only displays their own part: what they pay or receive, what they paid, their share and the group total. Nobody can change a number by accident.
Try it
Enter your own group in the Per-Person Owe Links tool: add the people, then each expense with who paid and who took part. For groups of up to 10 people it finds the fewest possible payments.
Privacy and limits
- Your data lives only in the link. Nothing is stored on a server, and anyone with a link can see its contents.
- This tool does not process payments, does not hold money and gives no financial advice. It only does the arithmetic; people pay each other however they choose.
- It is offered as-is, with no warranty. Check the numbers before anyone pays.