Expense sharing apps: which one to choose

What to look at before you choose

Almost every expense sharing app does the same basic job: you log who paid, and the app works out who owes whom. The differences are elsewhere.

• Who it's built for. Ten friends on vacation need to split among many; a couple needs one number, updated every day.
• What the free plan keeps. Some apps cap how many expenses you can add, some show ads, and one is free outright because it makes money another way.
• How long one expense takes. If logging a coffee takes five taps, you'll stop logging after two weeks.
• Expenses that aren't everyone's. A birthday gift for your partner shouldn't show up in the list you both see.

The apps side by side

App	Built for	What's free	Paid
Splitwise	groups and couples	a few expenses a day, with ads	Pro, $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year per person
Tricount	trips and groups	everything, with promotions for bunq's bank account	no paid version
Settle Up	groups	everything, with ads	$3.99 a month or $19.99 a year
Splid	trips and groups	one group	one-time purchase of a few dollars
Honeydue	couples (US)	everything	optional tips
DuoWallet	couples	unlimited expenses, balance, even splits	$3.99 a month or $17.99 a year, per couple

Splitwise

The best known, and it works well for fixed groups like a house of roommates. Since 2023 the free plan limits how many expenses you can add each day: Splitwise doesn't publish the number, and users report three or four. There are ads too. Pro removes the cap and adds charts and receipt scanning, but it's billed per person, so a couple pays twice.

Tricount

Started in Belgium and now owned by the bank bunq, Tricount is free with no limits and no ads: it makes money by offering bunq's card and account inside the app. It's ideal for a trip: create a group, share the link, and everyone adds their expenses without signing up. For a couple's everyday spending it's less handy, because it thinks in groups rather than one household balance that stays open.

Settle Up and Splid

Settle Up is a group app from the Czech Republic, free with ads; the paid version removes them and adds receipt photos and recurring expenses. Splid, from Germany, is very simple and works offline: free for one group, with a one-time purchase to unlock more. Both are built for groups.

Honeydue

A free US budgeting app for couples. It connects your bank accounts, lets each partner choose what the other sees, and lets you comment on transactions. Recent reviews mention bank sync problems and slow support, and its joint banking feature has been closed to new sign-ups since September 2023.

DuoWallet

This is the app we build, so read this part with that in mind. It's made for exactly two people: one balance ("Sam owes Alex $127"), expenses marked shared or personal (your partner never sees personal ones, not even in totals), and reactions on expenses. The free plan has unlimited expenses and even splits; the paid plan adds custom splits such as 60/40, budgets, subscriptions and automatic receipt reading. The limits: it doesn't connect to your bank, it isn't for groups of three or more, and each couple uses one currency.

Couple or group: why the choice changes

A group splits once, at the end of the trip. A couple's costs never stop: rent, groceries, utilities, Friday takeout. That's why a single, always up to date number matters.

An example. In one month one of you pays rent, $1,800; the other pays groceries and utilities, $920. That's $2,720 in total, $1,360 each, so whoever paid groceries and utilities owes the other $440. A couple app shows that $440 on the home screen and clears it when you settle up.

If your incomes differ, half may not be fair. With take-home pay of $5,000 and $3,500 a month, splitting by income means about $1,600 and $1,120 of the same $2,720. The split bills by income calculator does the math in a minute.

Which one to pick

• A trip with friends: Tricount, which is free and doesn't make anyone create an account to join.
• Roommates: Splitwise or Settle Up, if the daily cap and the ads don't bother you; otherwise Tricount.
• A couple: an expense sharing app for couples, like DuoWallet or Honeydue, because what matters here is one balance and personal spending that stays private.

More guides to the tools for managing money as two are in apps and tools.