TL;DR — 3 lines
- Equal-split trips → Tricount. Roommates with fixed ratios → Settle Up. Treasurers who need exports → Splid. Happy to pay for Pro → Splitwise Pro (price varies by region; check in-app).
- Worth knowing: free tiers have limits — Splitwise caps daily entries on its free tier, and Tricount no longer offers CSV/PDF export.
- If nobody in your group will install anything: a browser-based splitter shared as a URL.
(Transparency note: I build FAMI-KAN, a free browser-based splitter — read my rankings with that in mind. I hands-on tested Splitwise, Tricount, Splid, and Settle Up on real free accounts in August 2026. Claims from official docs are marked †.)
Best by situation — the short answers
- Best for a normal trip with equal splits: Tricount. Type the total and every person's share updates live before you save — the best entry experience I tested. No entry caps, accounts optional. (Official site: tricount.com)
- Best for roommates and couples with fixed ratios: Settle Up. The only app where a member's ratio ("Default share") is saved and applied to future expenses. Set 60/40 once and forget it. (Official site: settleup.io)
- Best for the group treasurer: Splid. PDF/Excel export, multiple payers on one expense, exact-amount splits with an auto remainder — no signup needed. (Official site: splid.app)
- Best if you'll pay: Splitwise Pro. The clearest UI of the four, plus saved default splits and receipt scanning† — but the free tier's daily entry cap — not a fixed number: our own test hit it at 2, and user reviews report 2–4 — makes it hard to recommend unpaid. Here's what to do when you hit the cap. (Official site: splitwise.com)
- Best when nobody will install an app: a browser splitter. The organizer shares a URL; everyone opens it in a browser — no downloads, no accounts. (FAMI-KAN, the one I build, is at famikan.tetras-ltd.com)
- Best for multi-family groups: honestly, none of the apps. No app on this list treats a family as one unit with kids in the headcount. That's the specific problem FAMI-KAN was built for — details in my full four-app comparison.
The compressed scorecard
Every cell from my own testing unless marked †(official docs).
| Splitwise (free) | Tricount | Splid | Settle Up | FAMI-KAN (browser) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daily entry cap | Yes — varies (2–5) | No | No | No | No |
| Works without install | No | No | No | Viewing only | Yes — URL |
| Live share preview while typing | No | Best | Partial | Yes | Yes |
| Ratios remembered | Pro only | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Family as one unit | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Export (PDF/Excel/CSV) | CSV† | Removed 2024† | PDF/Excel | CSV/Excel | No |
| Calculator in amount field | Web only† | Yes (iOS)† | Unknown | Yes† | Yes (on entry) |
| Pay from the app | Venmo/PayPal, US only† | Unclear† | No | Bank link, Central Europe† | No |
(For readers in Japan: in my tests, none of the five connected to PayPay — money always moved outside the app.)
Free tiers have limits
Splitwise added a daily cap to its free tier (Splitwise help page). Tricount's official FAQ lists CSV and PDF export among the features that are no longer available. Each decision is defensible on its own, but it's worth checking what your chosen app still includes before the trip, not during.
The ratio ladder, in one paragraph
Most groups split equally and never need more — any app above works. Groups with stable adult ratios (roommates at 60/40, income-based couples) should look at Settle Up's saved shares. And groups with families — where toddlers ride free, schoolkids count as half, and each household wants one balance — will find that no app models this. I wrote up the full ladder, with screenshots from my tests, in the four-app comparison.
How to choose in 30 seconds
- Will everyone install an app? If no → browser splitter (URL, zero setup).
- Equal splits only? → Tricount.
- Fixed ratios, same group every month? → Settle Up.
- Need exports for a report? → Splid.
- Already deep in Splitwise and fine paying? → Pro.