Debt Snowball vs Avalanche Calculator

How to use the calculator

1. Each debt — the current balance, the APR from your statement and the required minimum payment. Leave unused rows blank.
2. Extra payment — what you can pay each month on top of all the minimums.

Both plans pay exactly the same total every month. The only difference is which debt gets the extra money first, so the comparison shows the pure effect of the order.

Snowball vs. avalanche: how each works

• Debt snowball — pay the minimum on everything and put all extra money on the smallest balance. When it's gone, add its payment to the next-smallest. The method was popularized by personal-finance author Dave Ramsey.
• Debt avalanche — same idea, but the extra money goes to the highest interest rate first. Mathematically this charges the least interest, because the most expensive balance shrinks fastest.

In both, the payment from a paid-off debt "rolls" to the next target, so the amount attacking the remaining debts grows over time.

Worked example

Two debts and $200 a month in total:

• Debt 1: $3,000 at 12% APR, minimum $50
• Debt 2: $1,000 at 0% (a promotional rate), minimum $100
• Extra: $50, so $200 a month in total

Avalanche sends the extra $50 to Debt 1 (12%), so it gets $100 a month while Debt 2 gets its $100 minimum. Debt 2 is gone after 10 months; from month 11 all $200 goes to Debt 1. Everything is paid in 23 months with $418.93 of interest.

Snowball sends the extra $50 to Debt 2 (the smaller balance): $150 a month clears it in month 7, while Debt 1 gets only $50 a month and its interest keeps building. Payoff also takes 23 months, but interest totals $438.37 — $19.44 more, the price of the earlier win.

With the calculator's default example — four debts totaling $22,700 and $780.00 a month — the snowball takes 35 months and $4,202.94 of interest; the avalanche takes 35 months and $3,996.85.

Which method should you choose?

If the only goal is to pay the least, the avalanche wins or ties. But debt payoff is a long project, and motivation matters. A 2012 study in the Journal of Marketing Research by David Gal and Blakeley McShane, using records from a debt settlement company, found that consumers who closed out individual accounts were more likely to eliminate their whole debt. The authors suggested small wins help people stay motivated; the data were observational, so they show an association rather than proof.

A practical approach: run both plans here. If the avalanche saves only a little, the quick wins of the snowball may be worth it. If it saves hundreds or thousands, the avalanche is hard to ignore.

How the calculator works and its limits

• Each month, interest is added at APR ÷ 12 on every balance, every minimum is paid, and the rest of the budget goes down the target list. Card issuers usually charge interest on the average daily balance, so real figures differ slightly.
• Minimum payments are held fixed. Card minimums usually fall as the balance falls; keeping the payment fixed is part of what makes either plan work.
• If a debt's minimum doesn't cover its own interest, the result warns you. If your total payment doesn't cover the first month's interest on all debts, there is no payoff date and the calculator says so.
• Promotional 0% rates end. If a promotion expires before the debt is paid, enter the rate that will apply afterward to be safe.

For one card at a time, try the credit card payoff calculator; to find money for the extra payment, the budget calculator.

Frequently asked questions

Last updated: October 8, 2026