Guides5 min readLast updated 21 Oct 2026

How to track group expenses in Google Sheets

Give each expense its own row, with who paid, the amount and a share weight for each person. Each person's balance is then what they paid minus their share: positive means they get money back, negative means they owe. Three formulas do the work. They're below, with a worked weekend for four people that settles in 2 payments. A sheet suits a few organised people in one currency; past that, an app like SuperSplit, which we make, does the same maths for you.

How should the sheet be laid out?

Name the first tab Expenses and give it these columns, with headings in row 1:

This layout is for four people. For more, add a column per person before Shares and widen the ranges in the formulas below.

Weights cover every way of splitting. Equal shares are all 1s. A couple taking two places is a 2. For percentages, enter them as weights (60 and 40), and for exact amounts, enter the amounts themselves (30 and 70 for a $100 bill split $30/$70), because each person gets their weight's fraction of the total.

What formulas work out who owes whom?

Add a second tab called Balances. Put the four names across row 1, from B1 to E1, in the same order as on Expenses, and the labels Paid, Share and Balance in A2 to A4. Then fill in column B:

B2  Paid     =SUMIF(Expenses!$C$2:$C$500, B$1, Expenses!$D$2:$D$500)
B3  Share    =SUMPRODUCT(Expenses!$D$2:$D$500, Expenses!E$2:E$500 / (Expenses!$I$2:$I$500 + (Expenses!$I$2:$I$500 = 0)))
B4  Balance  =B2-B3

• Copy B2:B4 across to column E. The references shift so each column reads its own person's weights.
• Paid adds up every amount where that person is the payer (SUMIF).
• Share divides each expense by its total weight and adds up this person's part (SUMPRODUCT). The + (… = 0) adds 1 to the total on empty rows so the formula never divides by zero; those rows have no amount, so they add nothing.
• Check the sheet with =SUM(B4:E4). It should be 0. If it isn't, a row has an amount but no weights, or a payer's name is spelled differently from the column heading.

What does it look like with real numbers?

Four friends rent a cabin for a weekend. Chris brings his partner, so he takes a double share of the cabin, groceries and dinner. Bea skips the boat; Dana drives separately and misses the gas and the coffee run:

The Balances tab then shows:

How do you settle up with the fewest payments?

Have the person who owes the most pay the person who's owed the most, as much as one of them needs, and repeat until everyone is at zero. Each payment clears at least one person, so it never takes more than n − 1 payments for n people (how debt simplification works).

Here, Chris pays Alex $465 and Bea $20, and Dana is already even: 2 payments, against 15 if everyone paid back each expense separately. We ran the same example through SuperSplit's settle-up code, and it suggests the same 2 payments.

How do you handle more than one currency?

Add a Rate column, type in the rate from the card or bank statement for each foreign expense, and make Amount the converted figure (the original amount times the rate). That way the sheet matches what was actually charged. Google Sheets' GOOGLEFINANCE function can fetch market data, and its help page includes a currency example, but Google says quotes may be delayed by up to 20 minutes and are provided "as is". SuperSplit Pro converts expenses in any of 148 currencies into the group's currency automatically, at a daily rate saved with each expense.

When is an app easier than a spreadsheet?

A sheet holds up for two or three organised people in one currency. It gets fragile when someone forgets to log a cost, types a name differently or overwrites a formula. SuperSplit's core splitting is free, with no ads and no expense limit; Pro is optional.

Quick answers

• Is there a free group expense template for Google Sheets? The layout and formulas above make one: two tabs, three formulas, for up to 499 expenses as written.
• How do I split one expense unevenly? Change the weights on that row: 2 for a double share, 0 for someone who wasn't there, or the exact amounts themselves.
• How do I know the totals are right? The balances should add up to 0.
• Can the sheet say who pays whom? Not with these formulas. Settle by hand, largest debt to largest credit first, or let an app suggest the payments.

Sources

• Google Docs Editors Help: SUMIF — checked 21 Oct 2026
• Google Docs Editors Help: SUMPRODUCT — checked 21 Oct 2026
• Google Docs Editors Help: GOOGLEFINANCE — checked 21 Oct 2026

Skip the formulas.

SuperSplit keeps the balances and suggests the fewest payments. Free on iPhone and Android.

See how SuperSplit works →