What this calculator does
A pint is not one fixed volume worldwide: the US pint measures 473.176 mL, while the UK (imperial) pint measures 568.261 mL, about 20% larger. This pint to cups calculator lets you pick which pint you mean before converting, so half a pint of a US recipe and half a pint of a UK one do not get treated as the same amount.
The cup itself is held to the standard US cup of 236.588 mL for this conversion, which is the size most commonly meant when a recipe or measuring cup says "cup". Because a US pint is exactly two US cups, converting a US pint to cups is simple doubling; the UK imperial pint works out to a little over 2.4 cups by the same US cup measure.
The formula
Multiply the number of pints by the pint size in millilitres, then divide by the cup size in millilitres to get cups. Going the other way, multiply cups by the cup size and divide by the pint size to get pints.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| US pint | 473.176 mL, exactly two US cups. |
| UK / imperial pint | 568.261 mL, about 20% larger than a US pint. |
| Cup | Held here at the standard US cup, 236.588 mL. |
The inputs explained
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Amount | The quantity you are converting, in pints or in cups depending on the direction chosen below. |
| Convert | Whether to convert pints to cups, or cups back to pints. |
| Pint standard | Which pint definition to use: the US pint or the larger UK (imperial) pint. Pick the one that matches where the recipe or measurement came from. |
When to use it
Converting a US recipe measured in pints
US recipes sometimes give liquid quantities in pints rather than cups. Since a US pint is exactly two US cups, this direction is a simple check that a conversion by hand landed on the right figure.
Converting a UK or Commonwealth recipe or product label
UK recipes, and some Commonwealth product labels, use the larger imperial pint. Selecting the UK pint option avoids under-measuring by treating it as the smaller US pint.
Working back from cups to a pint quantity
When a recipe or shopping list is in cups but a container or bottle is labelled in pints, converting in the other direction shows how many pints of that container are needed.
Worked examples
Every figure in the tables below is produced by this page’s own calculator at build time, so the numbers and the tool always agree. Select any row to load that scenario.
Converting pints to cups (US pint)
A range of US pint quantities converted to cups.
| Pints | Result in cups |
|---|---|
| 0.25 pt | 0.500 cups |
| 0.5 pt | 1.000 cups |
| 1 pt | 2.000 cups |
| 2 pt | 4.000 cups |
| 4 pt | 8.000 cups |
| 8 pt | 16.000 cups |
Converting pints to cups (UK imperial pint)
The same pint quantities, converted using the larger UK imperial pint.
| Pints | Result in cups |
|---|---|
| 0.25 pt | 0.600 cups |
| 0.5 pt | 1.201 cups |
| 1 pt | 2.402 cups |
| 2 pt | 4.804 cups |
| 4 pt | 9.608 cups |
| 8 pt | 19.215 cups |
Questions
Is a UK pint bigger than a US pint?
Yes. A UK (imperial) pint is 568.261 mL, compared with 473.176 mL for a US pint, making the UK pint about 20% larger.
How many cups are in a US pint?
Exactly two US cups, since a US pint is defined as 473.176 mL and a US cup as 236.588 mL, and 473.176 divided by 236.588 is 2.
How many cups are in a UK imperial pint?
A little over 2.4 US cups, since the imperial pint (568.261 mL) is larger than the US pint but this calculator still measures cups using the standard US cup size.
Which pint should I use for a recipe?
Use the US pint for US recipes and the UK / imperial pint for UK, Irish, Australian or other Commonwealth recipes, since using the wrong one will under- or over-measure liquid by around 20%.
For other liquid volume conversions, see the mL to Cups Converter. For dry ingredients measured by weight instead of volume, see the Pounds to Cups (Dry Ingredient) calculator.