Free rota maker
A rota maker that takes a minute, not an evening
Type everyone’s name, choose the days, and say how many people you need each time. The rota comes out with the turns shared round, ready to print, pin up or open in Excel. No account and nothing saved.
Your rota appears here
Type the names, choose the first date and how it repeats, then press Make the rota. Each date goes to whoever has had the fewest turns so far, so the turns are shared out and nobody is skipped.
Rota, roster, schedule: the same list
In Britain and Ireland it’s a rota: the tea rota, the washing-up rota, the Sunday lunch rota at the cricket club. In Australia it’s a roster, and in the US a schedule. They all mean one thing: a list of who is on, and when. This page is the roster maker with the word you’d use, so the printed sheet says “rota” at the top.
How the rota is worked out
Every date is given to whoever has had the fewest turns so far. If two people are level, the one who has gone longest without a turn goes first, and after that it follows the order of your list. So with five names and one person a week, you get a clean round: everyone once, then everyone again.
Ask for two people on each date and it also tries not to put the same pair together every week, which matters more than you’d think when it’s the Friday fridge clear-out at work.
A few setups that work well
- Office kitchen: every weekday, one person, 20 dates. Each person ends up with about a week of mornings across the month.
- Flat bins: every week on Tuesday, one person, 26 dates. That’s six months of bin nights in one go.
- Club teas: every second week on Saturday, two people, 13 dates. A whole summer of home games.
- Monthly deep clean: same date every month, three people, 12 dates. A year in one sheet.
Print it, share it, or keep it live
Press Print for a plain sheet with the dates down the side. Save it as a PDF to post in the group chat.
Excel or Sheets
Download for Excel or Sheets gives you one row per date, ready to tweak or add to a bigger spreadsheet.
Live rota
Make the same rota in FairTurns and it sits on one link. When someone swaps with a colleague, you change it once and everyone sees the new version.
When a paper rota starts to wobble
Paper rotas usually fail in the same place: someone is on holiday, swaps with a friend, and the sheet on the noticeboard is out of date by Wednesday. A live rota in FairTurns keeps one copy that everyone reads:
- Each person marks the days they’re away, and Fill leaves them off those days.
- Repeating dates are kept up to 12 months ahead, so the rota never runs out.
- When someone leaves the team, Redistribute hands their dates round and shows you who gains one before anything changes.
- A public link shows the rota on any phone, with no sign-in and nothing to install.
All of that is free for any number of people. Pro adds the emails: the rota sent to the team, a reminder before each date, and finding someone else when a person can’t make it.
Questions
Is this rota maker free to use?
Yes, completely. There is no account and no limit on how often you use it. The rota is made on the page from what you type and nothing is stored.
Can I make a rota for the work kitchen?
Yes. Choose Every week, tick Monday to Friday, set one person per day and ask for 20 or 40 dates. Print it for the kitchen wall, or keep it live in FairTurns so any change shows up straight away.
How big a rota can it make?
Up to 60 names and 104 dates at a time, with up to 10 people on each date. That is two years of weekly dates.
Can people have different jobs on the same day?
Use the chore roster maker, which takes a list of jobs and rotates people through them. In a live FairTurns rota, set up positions such as Washing up and Drying.
Is there a rota template I can fill in by hand?
Yes, there is a printable rota template with blank rows. The maker here is quicker when you want the turns worked out for you.
Read next
Flatmate cleaning rota
Kitchen, bathroom, bins and hoovering shared out between flatmates, on a rota the whole flat can see.
House share cleaning rota template
A cleaning rota for housemates: bins, bathroom, kitchen and floors, rotating weekly.
Free rota apps in the UK
Free and cheap rota apps for UK teams, households and volunteers, checked against each one’s own pages.
Make your roster free
Click a day, add people, share one link. No card, no limit on people or dates.