Random group generator

Fair random groups, made on your device

This random group generator splits your list into evenly sized groups using the same crypto.getRandomValues shuffle the WheelMigo wheel uses, so every arrangement is equally likely and no name is quietly favoured. Group sizes never differ by more than one, so no group is left short-handed.

Choose “Number of groups” to split a class or crowd into a set number of teams, or “People per group” to fix the size and let the count follow. Duplicate names are kept as separate people, because two people can share a name. Reshuffle as many times as you like — each shuffle is independent.

It works for classroom group work, breakout rooms, project teams, secret-santa style draws, and game sides. Nothing you type is sent to a server: the list and the groups live only in this browser on your device.

What the shuffle means for your groups: because the list is shuffled before it is dealt, every arrangement is equally likely. A class of 12 split into 3 groups of 4 can be divided in 34,650 different ways when the group labels are ignored (12! divided by 4! three times), and each of those ways is equally likely.

Will two students end up together again? The chance that two named people land in the same group is the group size minus one, divided by the number of other people: 21.7% for 24 people in 4 groups. We ran the real code 1,000,000 times on exactly that case and the pair shared a group 21.744% of the time. A repeated pairing after a reshuffle is therefore ordinary chance, not a sign that the shuffle is stuck.

Number of groups or people per group? Choose a number of groups when the room dictates it, such as four breakout rooms. Choose people per group when the size matters, such as pairs or trios; the number of groups then follows, rounded up, so 17 people at 5 per group become four groups of 5, 4, 4 and 4. Sizes never differ by more than one, and when the numbers do not divide evenly the extra people go to the first groups, so Group 1 is the largest.

For classroom work, breakout rooms and project groups, paste a class list, split it, and use Download to keep the result as a text file. If you are sharing your screen, remember that the names you paste will be visible. The list accepts up to 1,000 names of up to 120 characters each, and names that repeat are treated as different people.

Want to pick one name or a turn order instead of splitting into groups? Use the name picker, the classroom picker, or the team picker. Curious whether a random tool is really fair? See our 7-million-draw fairness test.