Compare debt avalanche and snowball payoff plans with a fixed monthly budget, rolled-over payments, payoff dates, and interest estimates.
A quick decision brief for this specific tool
Every debt balance, fixed APR, stated minimum payment, and one non-negative extra monthly amount
Avalanche and snowball payoff horizons, total interest/payments, fixed-budget extra-payment comparisons, individual minimum-only outcomes, and a balance timeline
Month-by-month interest accrual with a fixed starting budget; minimums are covered first and every freed payment or final-payment remainder rolls to the next strategy target
Choose your path
Build a mathematically valid debt payoff plan across balances, APRs, minimums, and an extra-payment budget without claiming an impossible payoff or hiding strategy tradeoffs.
Compare avalanche and snowball ordering with the same monthly budget.
Enter each debt and payment, choose a strategy, and inspect payoff order, time, and total interest.
Can explain why the strategies differ and verify every balance reaches zero.
Know when the payment cannot cover accruing interest or required minimums.
Enter the actual budget and inspect explicit infeasibility/negative-amortization guidance.
Does not receive a fabricated payoff date and knows when to seek creditor or professional help.
Edit debts and compare the plan on a phone.
Add/remove debts, adjust extra payment, expand the schedule, and copy/export a summary.
All debt actions remain named, tap-sized, and free of horizontal overflow.
This tool is part of these guided projects. Each project provides step-by-step instructions with checklists and all the tools you need in one place.
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The calculator accrues one month of interest on each balance, applies every active minimum payment, and sends the remaining fixed monthly budget to the strategy target. The final payment is capped at the remaining balance.
Next balance = Current balance + monthly interest − actual paymentThe modeled monthly budget equals the starting minimum-payment total plus the entered extra amount. When a debt closes, its former minimum and any final-payment remainder stay in that budget and roll to the next target.
Monthly budget = Starting minimums + Extra paymentAvalanche directs available extra budget to the highest APR; snowball directs it to the smallest current balance. Both comparisons use the same budget. A plan that does not finish within 1,200 months is shown as having no modeled payoff.
Avalanche target = highest APR; Snowball target = lowest balanceUpdated: August 2026
Paying off a high-interest credit card balance with fixed monthly payments.
→ Modeled payoff: 49 months; total interest: about $4,158
Standard repayment on a federal student loan with fixed monthly payments.
→ Modeled payoff: 113 months; total interest: about $9,835
A borrower enters both cards and the same extra monthly amount, then compares avalanche and snowball order, payoff time, and total interest without changing the overall budget.
Card minimums and rates can change. Enter the current stated payment, then verify each statement, promotional period, fee, penalty, and creditor allocation rule.
Use the same total monthly budget for both methods. Avalanche generally reduces modeled interest; snowball changes the payoff order. Neither result is a lender quote or guarantee.
Model multiple debts locally in your browser with a fixed monthly budget. Compare avalanche and snowball plans, see where freed payments roll next, and get an explicit warning when the entered budget does not produce a payoff within the model horizon.