EachSplit
Split a bill

Itemized splitting

Split a bill by item, so nobody subsidizes the steak

Dividing the total by four is quick and slightly unfair to everyone who ordered a salad. Splitting by item takes about a minute longer and gets it right: each person pays for their own lines, plus their share of tax and tip in proportion to what they had.

Split a receiptQuick split, no account

How the arithmetic works

Three people, one check. Ana had the steak, Ben had the pasta, Chi had the salad, and they shared a bottle of wine.

A worked example of an itemized bill split
Steak — Ana$32.00
Pasta — Ben$18.00
Salad — Chi$10.00
Wine — shared three ways$30.00
Subtotal$90.00
Tax$7.20
Tip (18%)$16.20
Total$113.40

The wine divides three ways at $10 each. That gives Ana $42 of the subtotal, Ben $28 and Chi $20 — so they carry 46.67%, 31.11% and 22.22% of the tax and tip respectively:

Each person's final total
PersonItemsTaxTipOwes
Ana$42.00$3.36$7.56$52.92
Ben$28.00$2.24$5.04$35.28
Chi$20.00$1.60$3.60$25.20

$52.92 + $35.28 + $25.20 = $113.40, the printed total exactly. Split the same check evenly and Chi would have paid $37.80 — $12.60 more than they owe, for a salad.

Why this is annoying by hand

The percentages are fiddly

Every shared item changes everyone's proportion, so one late addition means recalculating all of it.

Rounding does not behave

Three people and a tax bill ending in an odd cent will not divide cleanly. Somebody has to absorb it, and by hand that somebody is usually whoever is holding the calculator.

People remember wrong

Asking the table what they had produces a different answer from asking the receipt. Letting each person tap their own lines removes the argument.

It happens at the worst moment

The bill arrives when everyone wants to leave. Doing arithmetic on a napkin while six people wait is the actual problem.

Let everyone claim their own

Scan the receipt, share the link, and watch the totals settle themselves.

Split a bill by item

Groceries instead of a restaurant? Splitting a grocery bill with real tax rates

Questions, answered

How do you split a bill by item?

List every line on the receipt, assign each one to whoever ordered it, then share the tax and tip in proportion to what each person's items came to. Anything shared — a starter, a bottle of wine — gets divided between the people who had it. The result is that everybody pays for what they actually ordered instead of the table average.

How should tax and tip be split when everyone ordered different things?

Proportionally. If your items come to 30% of the subtotal, you pay 30% of the tax and 30% of the tip. Splitting tax and tip evenly per head is the common shortcut, and it overcharges whoever ordered the cheapest meal — which is usually the person who was already trying to spend less.

What if two of us shared one dish?

Claim it jointly and it divides between you. If a line has a quantity — six beers, say — you can also claim part of it, so taking two of the six costs you two beers rather than a third of the line.

Does the split always add up to the exact total?

It has to. Every split is calculated in whole cents and checked to sum exactly to the receipt total; if it ever failed to, the app would refuse to show it rather than display a number that is a cent off. Rounding is distributed rather than dropped.

Is there a free itemized bill splitter that does not need an account?

Yes — this one. You can split as a guest without signing up, and the people you are splitting with never need an account at all; they open a link, type their first name and tap their items.

Can I do it without scanning a receipt?

Yes. Typing the lines in by hand is always free and unlimited. Scanning just saves you the typing.