Free tip tracker template (Excel, Sheets and printable PDF)

Here's a free tip tracker template you can use tonight. The spreadsheet logs one shift per row, works out your take-home and hourly rate on its own, and totals each month. It opens in Excel, Google Sheets and Numbers. If you'd rather write by hand, there's a printable tip log too.

Free to download and use, with nothing to sign up for.

The longer answer

A good tip log answers two questions after every shift: what did I take home, and what did that work out to per hour? This template does both.

You fill in the white columns: date, job, hours, wage, cash tips, card tips, what you tipped out and what you got from others. The shaded columns fill themselves in with wages, net tips, take-home, your effective hourly rate and your tip percentage of sales.

A second sheet adds up any month you pick, so you can see shifts, hours, take-home and hourly rate for October next to November. The formulas cover 500 rows, which is more than a year of shifts for most people.

Three example shifts come filled in so you can see how it works. Clear the white cells in those rows when you start, and the formulas stay put.

What's in the spreadsheet

A filled-in example

These are the three sample rows that come in the file. The numbers are made up.

Take the dinner shift. Wages are 6 × $2.13 = $12.78. Net tips are $65 + $180 − $30 = $215. Take-home is $227.78, and over 6 hours that's $37.96 an hour.

On the Summary sheet, October shows 3 shifts, 18 hours and $751.18 take-home, or $41.73 an hour. That monthly figure divides total take-home by total hours. Averaging the three hourly rates instead would give you the wrong number.

How to open it

Excel

Download the .xlsx and open it. The shaded columns already have their formulas for 500 rows. If you ever run out, insert new rows above the last one so the monthly totals pick them up.

Google Sheets

In Google Sheets, go to File, then Import, then Upload, and pick the .xlsx. Choose "Create new spreadsheet". The formulas carry over, and you can open the sheet on your phone in the Sheets app.

Numbers (Mac and iPhone)

Numbers can open the .xlsx too. It converts the file when it opens, so check that the take-home column and the Summary sheet still add up before you rely on it.

Monthly totals

On the Summary sheet, type the first day of a month in column A, like 2026-11-01. Shifts, hours, wages, net tips, take-home and hourly rate fill in for that month.

The printable tip log

The PDF is one week per US Letter page: date, shift, hours, wage, cash tips, card tips, tip out, tip in and notes, with a row for the week's total at the bottom. Keep a few in your apron or locker and fill one in before you leave.

Paper is fine as long as you add it up. Once a week, copy each line into the spreadsheet so you get the monthly view.

Keeping it up

Most tip logs die in the second week, when a long Friday ends and nobody feels like typing. What helps:

• Log before you leave the building, while the numbers are on your checkout slip.
• Put card tips in the night you earn them, not when they show up on your paycheck.
• Write down tip-out even when it's small. It changes your real hourly rate more than you'd think.
• Use the Notes column for anything unusual: a big party, a slow night, a section change.

In the US, the IRS expects tipped employees to keep a daily tip record, and Publication 531 says tips of $20 or more a month from one job get reported to that employer by the 10th of the next month. This template is a record you keep for yourself. It isn't tax advice.

When an app is easier

Full disclosure: we make Tipling, a tip tracker app. A spreadsheet is a perfectly good choice if you sit down once a week. Tipling is for when you'd rather log in the parking lot.

• Say the shift out loud ("dinner, 6 hours, 65 cash, 180 card, tipped out 30") and check what it filled in. Voice logging is part of Pro and works in English.
• Take-home and hourly rate show up as you type, the same math as this template.
• Charts for any week, month or year, filtered by job, position, shift type or section.
• Split a tip pool by hours or equally for free, then log your share.
• At year end, a PDF income report with month-by-month and daily tables, or a CSV (both Pro).

It won't do your taxes or connect to your bank or POS; you enter the numbers. See the Tipling home page for the whole app.

FAQ

Is this tip tracker template really free?

Yes. Download the spreadsheet, the printable PDF or the CSV, no account or email needed, and use them as much as you like.

Does it work in Google Sheets?

Yes. Use File, Import, Upload in Google Sheets and pick the .xlsx file. The formulas and the Summary sheet come with it.

Can I track more than one job?

Yes. Put the job name in the Job column on each row. To total one job, filter by that column and select its Take-home cells; Excel and Google Sheets show the sum at the bottom of the window.

What's the difference between tip out and tip in?

Tip out is what you pay others from your tips, like the bar, bussers or kitchen. Tip in is what you receive from others, like a share of a pool. The template subtracts the first and adds the second.

Can I use it for delivery or rideshare tips?

Yes. Pick "Delivery" in the Shift column, put app tips under card tips and cash under cash. Mileage isn't part of this template, so track it separately if you need it.