Tip, total, and the split,sorted in one tap.
Nobody wants to do arithmetic over a closing tab. Drop in the bill, slide to the tip you mean to leave, and say how many people are paying. You get the tip, the grand total, and the exact amount each person owes — no rounding fights, no quiet overpaying.
Your numbers
The pre-tip total on the check.
What you want to leave as a percentage of the bill.
How many ways to split the total.
The verdict
Tip amount
$11
Total
$71
Per person
$35
Split 2 ways.
Tip per person
$5.40
What you're paying
Reverse-solve · keep each person under a budget
Tip that fits
33.3%
Bill per person
$30
With the $60 bill split 2 ways, each person's share before tip is $30. To keep them at $40 total, you'd tip about 33%. That clears the standard tip with room to spare.
What-if · the tip ladder
Same bill, every tip level
| Tip | Tip amount | Total | Per person |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10% | $6.00 | $66 | $33 |
| 15% | $9.00 | $69 | $35 |
| 18% | $11 | $71 | $35 |
| 20% | $12 | $72 | $36 |
| 25% | $15 | $75 | $38 |
Every row is the same $60 bill — only the tip moves. The jump from 18% to 20% on this check is $1.20, or $0.60 a head. Small at the table, real over a year of dinners.
Your move
Quick math on a check. Sharper math on your margins.
18% tip on $60 = $11 tip, $71 total ($35 each).
Pricing, AOV, and the cost of every discount you give run on exactly this kind of arithmetic — just with more zeros and a lot more at stake. If you run the place rather than just split the tab here, send me the numbers behind it and I'll show you where the money's leaking. Free, and you keep it whether you hire me or not.
Plain English
A tip is a percentage. The total is the part you actually pay.
A tip, or gratuity, is the amount you add on top of a bill to thank the people who served you. It's expressed as a percentage of the pre-tip total, so the bigger the bill, the bigger the same percentage works out to be. Fifteen percent on $40 is $6; fifteen percent on $400 is $60. Same generosity, very different number.
The figure that matters at the counter is the grand total: the bill plus the tip. That's what comes out of your account. And the moment more than one person is paying, the question changes from 'how much do I tip' to 'what do I owe' — which is where the napkin math usually goes wrong.
This calculator does all three at once. It shows you the tip in dollars, the total you'll actually pay, and the exact per-person share so the split lands even. Move the percentage and everything updates live, so you can settle on a number that feels right before the card ever leaves the table.
The formula
Tip = Bill × Tip% ÷ 100 · Total = Bill + Tip · Per person = Total ÷ People
A $60 bill at 18% gives an $11 tip (60 × 0.18 = 10.80, shown as $11) and a $71 total. Split two ways, that's about $35.40 each. Bump the tip to 20% and the total moves to $72, or $36 a head — the kind of difference that's easy to feel and hard to do in your head mid-conversation.
Picking the right percentage
Sit-down restaurant, normal service.
15% to 20% is the standard band in the US. 18% is the safe default most people reach for; 20% reads as genuinely happy with the service.
Service was excellent.
20% to 25% rewards a server who clearly went out of their way. The few extra dollars cost you little and mean a lot to someone tipping out a whole shift.
Counter or coffee, no table service.
A tip is optional and 10% to 15% is plenty. The tip jar isn't an obligation the way a full-service table is.
Large party splitting the check.
Check the bill first — many restaurants auto-add 18% to 20% gratuity for groups. Set the tip here to 0% so you don't pay it twice, then split the total.
Splitting the bill without the awkwardness
01Agree on the percentage first
Decide the tip as a table before anyone reaches for a card. One number, applied to the whole bill, beats four people each guessing their own.
02Split the total, not the tip
Tip on the full pre-tip bill, then divide the grand total. Splitting only the tip and paying for your own items separately almost always leaves the server short.
03Round up for an even split
Per-person shares rarely land on a clean number. Round each person up a dollar or two — the small surplus covers the rounding and nudges the tip up, not down.
04Watch for an auto-gratuity line
Groups of six or more often have a service charge already on the check. Set the tip to 0% here before you split, or you'll tip on top of a tip.
05Tip on the pre-tax amount
Strictly, the tip is calculated on the bill before sales tax. Tipping on the post-tax total is more generous, not wrong — just know which one you're doing.
06Carry a little cash
A cash tip reaches the server faster and skips processing fees. Even when the card covers the bill, a few dollars in hand is always welcome.
The vocabulary
- Tip / gratuity
- Money added on top of a bill to reward service, usually a percentage of the pre-tip total.
- Bill (subtotal)
- The cost of what you ordered before any tip is added. The base the percentage is applied to.
- Grand total
- Bill plus tip — the full amount you actually pay.
- Per-person share
- The grand total divided by the number of people splitting it.
- Auto-gratuity
- A service charge a restaurant adds automatically, often for large parties. Already a tip, so don't add another.
Tipping questions, straight answers
15% to 20% of the pre-tip bill is the US standard for sit-down service. 18% is the comfortable default most people land on, and 20% signals you were genuinely happy. Set the slider to your number and this tool gives you the dollar amount and the total instantly.
Keep going
A calculator tells you what. A call tells you what to do about it.
Send me the account behind these numbers. I'll tell you straight where the money's leaking and what I'd fix first — free, and you keep it whether you hire me or not.