Stop one team carrying the whole game. Rate each player 1–5 and we'll split them into teams whose total skill is as even as possible.
Tip: set ratings with the ★ pickers below, or paste them inline like Alice, 5 on each line.
The free version does the job. The optional template pack just makes brackets look beautiful for events, classrooms and clubs.
Free forever for basic use · No signup required
Best for mixed-skill groups: weekly five-a-side, padel friendlies, gaming sessions where skill ranges from beginner to ranked, classroom group projects where you want every team to have a strong reader.
One per line.
Already enabled here. Rate each name 1–5.
Each team's total skill will sit within 1–2 points of the others.
We sort participants by rating, then snake-draft them across the chosen number of teams (1 → 2 → 3 → 3 → 2 → 1 → 1 → 2…). Snake-drafting is provably optimal for small groups and minimises the gap between team totals. If two ratings are tied, the tool randomises their order so the result is not always the same. Re-roll for variations.
1 = clear beginner, 3 = average, 5 = strongly above the rest. Don't overthink it — broad strokes work better than fine-grained scores. If you're unsure, leave the rating at 3.
When we say a split is fair we mean two specific things. First, team sizes differ by at most one — never by two — regardless of how the headcount divides. Second, in skill-balanced mode the total rating per team stays within roughly one rating point of the average. Those are mathematical guarantees of the algorithm, not marketing language. If you want to verify, generate the same input twice with different seeds: the per-team totals will land in the same narrow band each time. Pure-random mode trades that balance for surprise — useful when the ratings are noisy or the activity is recreational. Read the full algorithm description on the methodology page if you want the snake-draft maths.
Three small habits make the output noticeably better. (1) Strip leading numbers and bullets from your list — paste plain names, one per line, so the parser doesn't treat '1. Alex' as a name. (2) If you have ratings, append them after the name with a space, e.g. 'Alex 4'. The generator accepts integers and decimals from 1 to 10. (3) Decide up-front whether absentees should be excluded or kept as ghosts. Excluding gives tighter teams; keeping them lets you swap names back in later without regenerating. The 'Copy as text' button preserves your line order so you can edit and re-paste.
Leave them at 3. The algorithm still balances around the rated players.
Not in the free version — but a quick mental sum tells you. Each team's stars usually add up within ±2.
No. The team generator runs entirely in your browser using JavaScript. The names you paste are kept in component memory only and are never transmitted, logged, or persisted unless you explicitly export them. Closing the tab clears the data. See the privacy and methodology pages for the technical detail.
Yes. After generating, click any name to swap it with another, or use drag and drop in the team panel. For one-off groupings (siblings, carpool partners) this is the fastest path. For repeated locks across many regenerations, give the locked group a shared rating that's slightly above average and use balanced mode — they'll cluster together most of the time.
On very small inputs (under ~10 names) there are only a handful of mathematically distinct splits, so repeats are inevitable. The shuffle is cryptographically random — it's just that the space of valid outputs is small. Either add more names or accept the duplicate; either is fine.
Drop in any list of names and we will split it into two even teams in seconds — random, or balanced by skill rating if you prefer.
OpenFour-team splits are the sweet spot for tournaments — enough variety for a real competition, small enough to fit in one afternoon.
OpenEight friends, one console, one trophy. Generate balanced FIFA teams so the same player doesn't lift the cup every night.
OpenStop the same striker carrying the same team every Tuesday. Rate your group, generate two balanced fives.
OpenUse member ratings (1–5 stars as a stand-in for ELO bands) to form even teams for club matches and rapid leagues.
OpenFree forever for basic use. No signup required. The free version really does do the job.
Want prettier prints? See the optional template pack
