Both methods start the same way: keep paying the minimum on every debt, and aim every spare dollar at one target debt until it is gone. Then roll what you were paying into the next target. The only difference is which debt you target first, and that one choice is where the argument lives.

Avalanche: highest interest rate first

Target the debt with the highest rate, regardless of size. Mathematically this is the undisputed winner: every dollar aimed at the most expensive debt kills more interest than a dollar aimed anywhere else, so you pay less in total and finish sooner. There is no version of the arithmetic where avalanche loses.

Snowball: smallest balance first

Target the smallest debt, regardless of rate. The maths is slightly worse, and the psychology is dramatically better. Say you owe $800 on an afterpay account, $3,000 on one card and $7,000 on another: snowball clears the $800 within weeks, and suddenly the list is shorter. One whole debt gone is a feeling spreadsheets do not capture, and it is the feeling that keeps people going in month four.

So which one?

The honest answer: the best method is the one you will still be following in six months. If you are motivated by numbers, run avalanche and enjoy being right. If you have started and stopped before, run snowball and buy momentum with a slightly higher total cost. The difference between the two is usually smaller than the difference between finishing and giving up.

There is a hybrid worth knowing: knock off one tiny balance first for the quick win, then switch to avalanche for everything else.

The step both methods skip

Neither method reduces the rates you are paying; they just organise the repayments. If several of your debts are cards, BNPL and high-rate loans, it is worth pricing a third option alongside them: rolling the lot into one fixed loan, so there is one repayment, one rate, and a finish date on paper rather than on a spreadsheet. Our guide on when consolidation works and when it costs more gives that option the same honest treatment, including the ways it goes wrong.

Whichever route you take: stop adding new debt while you run it, put windfalls (tax refunds, sold gear, extra shifts) at the target debt, and track the finish date, not the balance. The date is the thing that moves.