Random Team Generator

About this tool

Paste a list of names (one per line) and split them into random teams — either by choosing how many teams you want, or how many people per team. Uses a fair shuffle so every arrangement is equally likely, not just alternating down the list.

Why "alternating down the list" isn't actually random. A common shortcut for splitting a list into teams is assigning person 1 to team A, person 2 to team B, person 3 to team A, and so on — but that only randomizes anything if the original list order was already random, and it produces a predictable, repeatable split every time for the same input order. This tool instead shuffles the whole list first using a proper Fisher-Yates shuffle (powered by the browser's cryptographically secure random number generator), then divides the shuffled result into teams — so every possible team arrangement is genuinely equally likely, not just alternating.

Two ways to split: "Number of teams" fixes how many teams you want and spreads everyone across them as evenly as possible (useful when you know you need exactly, say, 4 teams for 4 stations). "People per team" instead fixes the team size and lets the number of teams fall out of that (useful for "we need teams of exactly 5" regardless of how many teams that ends up being).

Uneven splits. Names rarely divide evenly by the number of teams — 13 people into 4 teams doesn't split into four even groups of 3.25. When that happens, the remainder is spread one at a time across the first few teams, so team sizes never differ by more than one person (in that example: three teams of 3, one team of 4) — nobody ends up on a team dramatically smaller or larger than everyone else's.

Common uses: splitting a class into project groups, dividing players into teams for a pickup game or tournament bracket, assigning a workplace group to breakout sessions, or any situation where you want a genuinely fair, unbiased random split instead of picking teams by hand (which tends to unconsciously cluster friends together or reproduce the same groupings every time).

To instead pick one single random name from a list (not split everyone into groups), use the random name picker. For deciding something with just two options, the coin flip; for one of several options with custom weights, the spinning wheel picker.

Frequently asked questions

What happens if the names don't divide evenly?

The extra people are spread across the first few teams one at a time, so team sizes never differ by more than one person.

Is the shuffling actually random?

Yes — it uses a Fisher-Yates shuffle powered by the browser's cryptographically secure random number generator, so every possible ordering is equally likely.

Does it remove duplicate names?

No — if the same name appears twice in the list, it's treated as two separate people and may end up on different teams.

What's the difference between "Number of teams" and "People per team"?

"Number of teams" fixes the team count and distributes everyone across that many groups. "People per team" fixes the group size instead, and the resulting number of teams depends on how many names you entered.

Can I generate a new random split without re-entering the names?

Yes — click "Generate teams" again with the same name list still in the box for a fresh shuffle and a completely different arrangement.

Why not just alternate down the list (1st person to team A, 2nd to team B, etc.)?

That only produces a random-looking result if the list was already in random order, and it's fully predictable/repeatable for the same input — genuinely fair splitting requires shuffling first, which is what this tool does.

Is the name list sent anywhere?

No — the shuffling and grouping happen entirely in your browser; nothing is uploaded or stored.