A Splitwise alternative that also budgets.
Splitwise solved shared expenses first, and is still the name most people reach for when a bill needs splitting. It does one job well. Spendthrift does that job and the budgeting job it was never built for, in one ledger.
| Splitwise | Spendthrift | |
|---|---|---|
| Splits a shared bill | Yes | Yes |
| Simplifies group debts | Yes | Yes |
| Budgets by category | No | Yes, envelope based |
| A shared bill lands in your own budget automatically | No | Yes |
| Free tier | 3 expenses logged a day, with ads | Splitting, free permanently |
| Paid tier | Splitwise Pro, $4.99/mo or $49.99/yr | Budgeting, one time payment |
What Splitwise does well.
Splitwise made "who owes whom" a solved problem for millions of households, flatmates and travel groups, years before most budgeting apps considered shared expenses at all. Its debt simplification, turning a tangle of individual debts into the fewest payments, is the same idea behind Spendthrift's own group settle, because it is the right way to solve it. Splitwise Pro's receipt scanning and multi-currency support are genuinely useful for frequent travellers.
Where it stops.
Splitwise only ever answers one question: who owes whom. It has no concept of a monthly plan, a category, or an envelope, and does not intend to; that is a different product. Anyone using Splitwise for splitting and a separate app for budgeting is doing, by hand, the reconciliation that Spendthrift does automatically: the payer's own share of a shared bill lands in their own envelope as real spending, and the rest is recorded as owed back, in the same ledger, the moment the bill is entered.
The sum Splitwise cannot show.
Splitting and budgeting, in one ledger
A dinner paid by one person becomes two things at once: real spending in a budget, and money owed back. Splitwise shows the second half. Spendthrift shows both, because it is the one place both halves of the ledger live.
Questions.
Does Splitwise do budgeting
No. Splitwise tracks who owes whom and settles it. It has no envelope, category or monthly plan, that is a different product category entirely.
Is Splitwise free
The core is free, capped at logging 3 expenses a day with ads shown. Splitwise Pro removes the cap and ads and adds receipt scanning, currency conversion and spending charts, for $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year, checked 1 September 2026.
How does Spendthrift work with people who do not have it
The same way any splitting app does: a debt owed by someone without the app is still tracked and shown, labelled as still owed, never silently dropped.
Is Spendthrift trying to replace Splitwise
For splitting alone, they answer the same question. The difference is what happens next: in Spendthrift, the payer's own share of a shared bill lands in their budget as real spending, in the same ledger, which Splitwise does not do because it does not budget.
What happens to your share after the bill is split.
Drawn as our own chart
The bridge: a shared dinner splits, and only your own share lands in your food budget as real spending.
- ₹1,200 Your food budget
- ₹3,600 Owed back to you
- ₹4,800 total
The half a splitting app cannot reach.
A ₹4,800 dinner divides into ₹1,200 of your own food budget and ₹3,600 owed back to you. One entry, both halves.
When they pay you back.
Three weeks later the ₹3,600 arrives, the receivable clears, and the food envelope does not move. Money arriving is a debt clearing, not income.
The person who is not in the app.
A guest is a weight on your own share. A named person has a balance and a display name and nothing else. A full user has their own ledger, and their history transfers when they install.
See how settle up and debt simplification work, the budgeting apps for couples roundup, or the split calculator to try the splitting side now.