Free calculator
Snowball or avalanche?
Both orders clear the same debts. One of them costs less. Put your numbers in and the difference shows up in money, not in advice — it runs in your browser and nothing is sent anywhere.
| Debt | Balance | APR % | Minimum |
|---|---|---|---|
$34,530 owed · $1,020 a month
Avalanche costs less
$1,304.31
less interest, and 1 month sooner.
| Plan | Months | Debt-free | Interest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Snowball | 42 | Mar 2030 | $8,050.84 |
| Avalanche | 41 | Feb 2030 | $6,746.53 |
Avalanche payoff order
- 1. Credit card ANov 2028
- 2. Credit card BFeb 2029
- 3. Store cardFeb 2029
- 4. Car loanApr 2029
- 5. Student loanFeb 2030
How the two differ
Snowball clears the smallest balance first. You see a debt disappear sooner, which is why people stay with it — and it usually costs a little more.
Avalanche clears the highest interest rate first. It is the cheaper of the two whenever the rates differ, but the first win can take longer to arrive.
The maths is the same either way: interest is charged monthly on the balance, minimums are paid on everything, and whatever is left over goes to whichever debt the strategy puts first. When a debt clears, its minimum joins the pot — that is the snowball.
What this does not do
This is arithmetic, not financial advice. It assumes your rates and minimums stay as you typed them, that interest is charged monthly on the balance, and that every payment lands on time.
Real lenders differ: some compound daily, some recalculate the minimum as the balance falls, some charge fees, and promotional rates expire. Check the figures against your own statements before acting on them.
The spreadsheet, live
This is the file, not a picture of it.
The dashboard below is the example workbook after it calculated — the same five debts you can edit above, worked out by the file itself. Scroll it, select the numbers, check the arithmetic.
| B | C | D | E | F | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Debt Payoff Tracker | ||||
| 3 | EXAMPLE FILE - five made-up debts, so you can see how it looks. Use the other file for your own. | ||||
| 4 | |||||
| 5 | |||||
| 6 | TOTAL DEBT | MONTHLY PAYMENT | |||
| 7 | $34,530 | $1,020 | |||
| 8 | |||||
| 9 | |||||
| 10 | Which strategy wins on your numbers | ||||
| 11 | Strategy | Months | Debt-free | Interest paid | Total paid |
| 12 | Snowball | 42 | Jan 2030 | $8,050.84 | $42,580.84 |
| 13 | Avalanche | 41 | Dec 2029 | $6,746.53 | $41,276.53 |
| 14 | |||||
| 15 | Avalanche costs less. Snowball clears your first debt sooner - pick the one you will actually stick to. | ||||
| 16 | |||||
| 17 | |||||
| 18 | Snowball payoff order | Avalanche payoff order | |||
| 19 | Debt | Cleared | Debt | Cleared | |
| 20 | Store Card | Nov 2026 | Credit Card A | Sep 2028 | |
| 21 | Credit Card B | Aug 2027 | Credit Card B | Dec 2028 | |
| 22 | Car Loan | May 2028 | Store Card | Dec 2028 | |
| 23 | Credit Card A | Apr 2029 | Car Loan | Feb 2029 | |
| 24 | Student Loan | Jan 2030 | Student Loan | Dec 2029 | |
The spreadsheet this came from
Keep the plan, not just the answer.
This page runs the same month-by-month projection as the Wedding Planner Spreadsheet, and then forgets it. The workbook keeps it: your debts, both payoff orders side by side, the month each one clears, and a chart of the two balances falling — in a file that is yours, works offline, and opens in Excel or Google Sheets.
See the Wedding Planner Spreadsheet — $8.50