Even, itemised, or by consumption
| Method | How it works | Fair when |
|---|---|---|
| Even split | Grand total ÷ number of people. | Everyone ordered roughly the same, or the group agreed up front to share equally. |
| By share / consumption | Each person gets a weight; tax and tip divide in the same proportion. | Orders differ in size but not wildly — one person had two courses and a cocktail, another had soup. |
| Itemised | Total each person's own dishes, then apply the tax and tip percentages to each subtotal. | Orders are very uneven, or someone had only water and a side. |
The by-share mode here is the middle path: set a weight of 2 for the big eater and 1 for everyone else and the whole check — food, tax and tip — divides 2:1:1:1.
Tipping on the pre-tax amount vs the total
Sales tax is money the restaurant collects for the government, not a service it performed, so etiquette guides say the tip belongs on the pre-tax subtotal. Tipping on the post-tax total is common anyway because that figure is printed largest on the check. The gap is small but real: on a $100 meal with 8.875% tax, a 20% tip is $20.00 pre-tax or $21.78 on the total. Pick whichever base your group uses — the calculator keeps them separate.
The rounding problem
A grand total almost never divides cleanly by the number of people. If four people split $128.71, the true share is $32.1775. Round every share the same way and the amounts collected drift from the check by a cent or two. This tool floors each share to the cent, then hands out the leftover cents one at a time from the first person down, so the sum of what everyone pays is exactly the grand total. The note under the table names whoever picked up the extra cent — swap that person each time you eat out and it evens out.
Group-dinner etiquette
Agree on the tip percentage before the check lands so nobody debates it at the table. If you are hosting or celebrating someone, lower the headcount by one and cover that share yourself rather than announcing it. For work meals where one person expenses the whole thing, a single clean per-person figure is usually all the finance team wants. And when one person clearly under-ordered, offer to itemise rather than making them pay an even quarter of everyone else's steak.
Questions
Pre-tax or post-tax tip?
Pre-tax is technically correct; post-tax is common because it is the bigger number on the check. This tool does both — use the "Tip is calculated on" selector.
People ordered very different amounts — what now?
Switch to by-share mode and give each person a weight proportional to what they had. Tax and tip follow the same ratio.
Why don't the shares add up to a round number?
The total rarely divides evenly, so someone absorbs one or two cents. The calculator floors each share and adds leftover cents from the first person, then tells you who paid extra.
Is anything sent to a server?
No. Everything is computed in your browser. Nothing is uploaded or stored.
What tip percentage should I use?
In the US, 18–20% pre-tax is standard for table service, 15% is the low end. The presets are a starting point, not a rule — other countries and counter service differ.