Tip Calculator.

Guide

How to use the Tip Calculator

The whole thing takes about ten seconds, which is the point. You want to settle the check without doing long division on a napkin.

1. Type the check total into the Bill amount field. If you want to tip on the pre-tax amount, enter the subtotal instead of the final total (more on that below).
2. Pick a percentage with the 15%, 18%, 20%, 22% and 25% buttons, or type any other number in the Tip field.
3. If you are splitting the check, set Number of people. Leave it at 1 if the bill is all yours.
4. Check Round each person's share up to the nearest dollar if you want whole-dollar amounts for cash or a quick payment app transfer. Everyone pays a few cents more, nobody is hunting for coins.
5. Read the Tip, the Total, and the Each person pays and Tip per person lines. The Quick reference table underneath shows what 15, 18, 20, 22 and 25 percent would each cost so you can compare at a glance.

How the math works

A tip is a percentage of the bill, so the calculator multiplies the bill by the percentage and divides by 100. Add that to the bill and you have the total. Splitting divides the tip and the total evenly across however many people you entered.

Rounding up is applied to each person's share, not to the total. So with the rounding box checked, each person's number goes up to the next whole dollar, and the group ends up paying slightly more than the exact total. The calculator counts that extra as tip and shows it on the Extra from rounding up line.

Worked example

Say the check comes to $86.40, you want to leave 20%, and four of you are splitting it evenly.

• Tip: 86.40 × 20 ÷ 100 = $17.28
• Total: 86.40 + 17.28 = $103.68
• Tip per person: 17.28 ÷ 4 = $4.32
• Total per person: 103.68 ÷ 4 = $25.92

With Round each person's share up to the nearest dollar checked, $25.92 becomes $26 each. Four people at $26 is $104, which is 32 cents more than the exact total, so the tip effectively lands at $17.60, or about 20.4%. Nobody is going to notice the difference except the server, who gets a little more.

Here is the same $86.40 bill at every preset, split four ways.

Tip %	Tip	Total	Each (4 people)	Each, rounded up
15%	$12.96	$99.36	$24.84	$25
18%	$15.55	$101.95	$25.49	$26
20%	$17.28	$103.68	$25.92	$26
22%	$19.01	$105.41	$26.35	$27
25%	$21.60	$108.00	$27.00	$27

Notice how small the gaps are once the bill is split. The difference between 18% and 22% on this check is 86 cents per person. The argument at the table usually costs more energy than the money involved.

Pre-tax or total, and other judgment calls

Tipping on the pre-tax subtotal is the traditional rule, and it is perfectly fine. Tipping on the after-tax total is simpler and slightly more generous. On this bill, if the $86.40 total included 8% tax on an $80.00 subtotal, 20% of the subtotal is $16.00 and 20% of the total is $17.28.

The difference is $1.28 for the whole table, 32 cents a person. Pick one approach and stop thinking about it.

Look for a service charge before you tip. Larger parties often have an automatic gratuity added, and some restaurants add a service fee to every check. If it is already on the bill, you are not expected to tip on top of it unless you want to. Read the bottom of the receipt; it is usually labeled.

Counter service, takeout and delivery each have their own norms, and those norms shift by city and by year. The calculator does not have an opinion on what is appropriate. It does the arithmetic for whatever number you decide on.

Quick mental math

If your phone is dead, anchor on 10%. Move the decimal point one place to the left: 10% of $86.40 is $8.64. Then:

• 20% is 10% doubled: $17.28.
• 15% is 10% plus half of 10%: 8.64 + 4.32 = $12.96.
• 18% is 20% minus 2%, and 2% is two pennies on the dollar: 17.28 − 1.73 = $15.55.
• 22% is 20% plus 2%: 17.28 + 1.73 = $19.01.
• 25% is a quarter of the bill: 86.40 ÷ 4 = $21.60.

Round the bill first if you want it even faster. Call $86.40 "86," so 10% is $8.60 and 20% is $17.20. Close enough, and the server would rather have a tip that is eight cents off than wait while you do exact math.

Splitting without the awkwardness

Even splits work when everyone ordered roughly the same. When one person had three cocktails and another had a side salad, the fair move is for each person to tip on what they ordered, and the calculator still helps: enter each person's items as the Bill amount with Number of people set to 1.

If you are the one paying and collecting from the group, the round-up box is your friend. Whole-dollar amounts are easy to say out loud and easy to send, and the small overage covers the rounding on your end so you are not quietly subsidizing the table.

Splitting a larger expense, like a group trip or a shared gift, is a percentage problem rather than a tipping problem. The Percentage Calculator handles that kind of share math directly.

What this calculator doesn't do

It does not know your local tax rate, so it cannot separate tax from the subtotal for you. If you want to tip on the pre-tax amount, read the subtotal off the receipt and enter that. It also does not detect a service charge that is already on the bill; check the receipt yourself.

Splits are even only. For uneven splits, run the calculator once per person with their own portion of the bill.

Frequently asked questions

Results are computed in your browser from the numbers you enter; nothing is sent to us. Double-check anything you rely on. See the terms of use.