Quick start

You need a browser and nothing else. This page uses the live app at penny-self.vercel.app. To run Penny on your own machine, see Run it locally.

Try the sample tripCopy Anchor Link

1. Open the home page. The headline reads "Split shared costs to the penny." Press "Try a sample trip". The button shows "Making your sample trip..." for a moment, then the group opens.
2. You land on the "Lisbon trip" group. It is a new copy every time, so nothing you do touches anyone else's. It has four people (Ana, Ben, Cy, Dev), seven expenses in euros, and one of them, a surf lesson, in US dollars.
3. Read the "Balances" section. You should see:
   • "Ana is owed 155.74 EUR"
   • "Ben is owed 81.34 EUR"
   • "Cy owes 95.15 EUR"
   • "Dev owes 141.93 EUR"
   • "Total: 0.00 EUR"
4. Read the "Settle up" section. You should see three lines and the proof line under them. The order of the lines can differ between groups.
   • "Cy pays Ana 13.81 EUR"
   • "Cy pays Ben 81.34 EUR"
   • "Dev pays Ana 141.93 EUR"
   • "3 payments settle 7 expenses."
5. Press "Mark as paid" on one line. It moves into the "Payments" list, and the balances and the plan change at once. Press "Undo" and the line comes back.
6. In the "Expenses" list, press "Edit" on "Surf lesson". The form is headed "Edit expense" and holds 150.00 USD at the rate 0.92. The list shows "= 138.00 EUR at 0.92" under the expense. Press "Cancel" to leave it unchanged.
7. Press "Copy link". The page says "Link copied". Paste the link into a private window and the same group opens, because the secret after # is the key.

The sample trip is a real group. Anyone who holds its link can change it, so treat it like any group you share.

Start a group of your ownCopy Anchor Link

1. Go back to the home page and press "Start a group". You arrive at the page with the fields "Group name", "Base currency" and "Members".
2. Type a group name, for example "Flat 4B". Leave "Base currency" on EUR or pick another. This is the currency every balance is shown in.
3. Type two member names. The form starts with two name fields. Press "Add member" for each extra person, up to 20, and "Remove" to drop a field.
4. Press "Create group". The group page opens with a banner: "Group created. Share this link with your group:", followed by the full link and a "Copy link" button.
5. Under "Add an expense", fill in "What was it for?", "Amount", "Paid by" and a split, then press "Add expense". The expense appears at the top of the list, and the balances and the settle-up plan update.

What you should see after one expense of 12.00 EUR paid by Ana and split equally between Ana and Ben: "Ana is owed 6.00 EUR", "Ben owes 6.00 EUR", the plan "Ben pays Ana 6.00 EUR" and the line "1 payment settles 1 expense."

What to read nextCopy Anchor Link

• Start a group and Add an expense cover every field and every message.
• How it works explains why the numbers always add up.
• The group link explains why there is no sign-in and what a link holder can do.