Splitwise

What Is Splitwise?

Splitwise is an expense splitting app. You add an expense, say who was involved, and Splitwise keeps a running tally of who owes whom. It’s been around since 2011, has millions of users, and is the default recommendation whenever someone asks “how do I split costs with my roommate/partner/friend group?”

It’s not a debt payoff app. It doesn’t know what an APR is. It can’t tell you whether to use snowball or avalanche. But if you’re managing debt as a couple and you need to track which partner is paying what, Splitwise fills a very specific gap that most debt apps ignore.

Who Is Splitwise Best For?

Couples splitting debt payments. Say you and your partner have a shared credit card bill of $500/month, but you’ve agreed to split payments 60/40 because one person earns more. Splitwise tracks that split cleanly, showing who’s paid what and what the running balance is. It keeps the math out of arguments.

Roommates with shared bills. If you share a household and have joint bills or debts, Splitwise prevents the “I paid last time” debate. Everyone can see the history.

People who want accountability without a joint account. You don’t need to merge finances to use Splitwise. Each person maintains their own accounts and just logs shared expenses. The app handles the math of who owes whom.

What It Does Well

The core experience is polished. Adding an expense takes about 10 seconds: enter the amount, select who’s involved, choose how to split it, done. The running balance updates instantly. When someone owes you $47.30, you can settle up through Venmo or PayPal directly from the app.

The multi-platform support is a genuine advantage. iOS, Android, and a full web app that all sync. In a world where many finance apps are mobile-only or single-platform, having a web interface for entering larger expenses at your computer is convenient.

Recurring expenses — like a monthly debt payment you’re splitting — can be set to repeat automatically. This is useful if you have a fixed shared payment that happens every month.

What It Doesn’t Do

Splitwise has no concept of debt payoff planning. You can’t enter an interest rate, model different payoff strategies, or see when a debt will be paid off. It tracks what you’ve spent and who owes whom, period.

If you need actual debt payoff tools — strategy comparisons, payoff timelines, interest savings calculations — you need a dedicated debt app like Ascent, Debt Payoff Planner, or Undebt.it.

Pricing

The free tier handles basic expense splitting with ads. Splitwise Pro ($4.99/month or $49.99/year) adds receipt scanning, expense search, currency conversion, charts, and removes ads.

For debt payment tracking between partners, the free tier is probably sufficient. The pro features are more useful for people who use Splitwise heavily across multiple groups (trips, roommates, shared subscriptions).

Our Take

Splitwise is very good at one thing, and it doesn’t pretend to be anything else. If your specific need is “track who’s paying what portion of our shared debt payments,” it handles that cleanly. The cross-platform availability and payment integrations make settlement friction-free.

But calling it a debt payoff app would be misleading. Think of it as a tool that solves a specific coordination problem between people who are working on debt together. It answers “who paid what” — it doesn’t answer “what should we pay next” or “when will we be debt-free.”

If you’re a couple managing debt, you might use Splitwise alongside a debt payoff app. Splitwise tracks the who-owes-whom of shared payments. Your debt app tracks the actual payoff strategy and timeline. They solve different problems.