TripSanity › Compare › TripSanity vs Splitwise
TripSanity vs Splitwise: splitting a group trip, honestly compared
At a glance
| TripSanity (Money tab) | Splitwise | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | One trip: the plan, the day and the money together | Shared expenses for any group — trips, roommates, couples, standing dinners |
| Cost | Ledger free on every trip, including the free tier (1 active trip, unlimited guests). Pro is $19 one-time per trip and the ledger isn't behind it | Free plan · Pro is a subscription; price varies by plan and country. Yearly plans include a Trip Pass (Pro features for one trip group, 30 days) |
| Daily entry limit | None (a trip holds up to 2,000 entries) | Free: up to 4 expenses a day · Pro: unlimited |
| Who needs an account | Only the organizer. Guests use the trip link + password and type their name | Anyone who wants to see their balance or add an expense signs in. You can split with people who haven't joined yet |
| Splitting | Evenly, by shares (a family of four counts as 4) or by exact amounts — between everyone, or only the people who were there. One payer per expense | Equal, exact amounts, percentages, shares or adjustments. Multiple payers per expense. Saved default splits are Pro |
| Currencies | One currency symbol per trip, no conversion | 100+ currencies; converting between them is Pro |
| Receipts | — | Scan and itemize a receipt (Pro) |
| Settling up | Automatic who-pays-whom list with as few payments as possible. Once the person owed adds a handle, the row opens Venmo, Cash App or PayPal with the amount filled in, or copies where to send a Zelle; Mark paid records it. No money moves through TripSanity | Simplified debts, plus record a cash payment. In the US, pay inside the app with Splitwise Pay (a linked checking account) or hand off to Venmo or PayPal; Pay by Bank in select European countries |
| Fixing a mistake | Edit or delete an entry you added; the organizer can edit or remove any entry. An edited entry says so, but there's no history of what it said | Edit any expense, with edit history; deleted bills can be restored |
| Where it lives | A tab inside the trip, next to the itinerary, check-offs and photos | Its own app (iOS, Android) and website |
| After the trip | It stays with that trip | Balances carry on across every group you share with a person |
| Install | Nothing — web only, by design | iOS app (4.0★, about 28,000 ratings), Android, web |
Splitwise facts as of October 2, 2026, from Splitwise's help center, its Pro and Splitwise Pay pages and its US App Store listing. Splitwise doesn't publish one Pro price; the store shows the price before you pay. Check splitwise.com for current details.
What Splitwise does better (which is most of the money part)
Splitwise has been the default answer to "who owes who" for over a decade, and it has earned it. It handles the splits real life produces: the friend who skipped the steak dinner and pays a third, the rental split 40/60, the dinner two people each put a card down for. It takes expenses in any currency, and on Pro it converts them, scans a receipt and lets you assign each line to a person. In the US you can pay a friend from inside the app with Splitwise Pay, or hand off to Venmo or PayPal. Every expense has an edit history, deleted bills come back, and your balance with your brother-in-law follows you from the ski trip to the beach house to the fantasy-league buy-in.
TripSanity's ledger covers the common cases and stops there. It splits evenly, by shares or by exact amounts — no percentages, one payer per entry, one currency, no receipts, and no edit history (you can change or delete an entry you added, and the organizer any entry, but nobody sees what it said before). It never holds or sends money either: its Venmo, Cash App and PayPal buttons open your own app with the amount filled in, and the payment happens there. That's a choice, not an oversight — but if an international trip with three currencies and a stack of receipts is what you're planning, Splitwise is the right tool and we'd tell you so in person.
Where a separate money app hurts on a group trip
The friction isn't Splitwise's math. It's what happens when a money app meets a big, mixed group for one week.
- Somebody has to get everyone in. To check their own balance or log the gas they paid for, each person signs in to Splitwise. For six friends who already use it, that's nothing. For a nineteen-person reunion, it's a week of "did you get the invite?" — and Grandma is never getting the invite. (You can split with people who never join; they just can't see anything.)
- The free daily limit meets the trip's bookkeeper. Splitwise's help center says free users can add up to 4 expenses a day. Most trips have one person logging everything, and four entries is lunch on day one. Pro removes the limit, and yearly plans include a Trip Pass that lifts it for a whole trip group for 30 days — a fair fix, and a paid one.
- It's a second place to look. The plan is in one app, the money in another, and the group chat in a third. Nobody opens the money app until the last night, when every receipt has been lost and the reconstruction begins.
How TripSanity's ledger works
The Money tab is on from the start (it's free on every trip), and the organizer types in who's splitting — including the people who will never open the link, like the aunt who paid for the boat or the friend who fronted the house deposit. From then on, anyone on the trip can open Money and log an expense in a few taps: how much, what for, who paid, and how to split it — evenly between everyone or only whoever was there, by shares (a family of four is 4, a couple is 2, set someone to 0 to leave them out), or by exact amounts when one person owes more. Entries made during the trip are stamped with the day, so the list reads like the week did.
The top of the tab always shows the trip total, your share of it, and the settle-up: a short list of who pays whom, worked out so the group makes as few payments as possible. The math runs in whole cents, so every split adds back up to the exact amount paid — no "you owe $41.33" and "I paid $124.00" that are a penny apart.
Paying is still yours to do, with one less step. Add your Venmo, Cash App or PayPal handle once and whoever owes you gets a button on their row that opens that app with the amount already filled in. Zelle has no link to open, so its button copies your Zelle email, number or tag and shows the steps for the bank's app. Mark paid records the payment and the row drops off the list. TripSanity never touches the money — it keeps the list honest.
The honest trade-off: names, not accounts
No accounts means the ledger runs on names and trust. Anyone holding the trip link and password can log an expense, and they could type any name into "who paid." Guests can edit or delete only the entries they added from their own phone, and the organizer can edit or remove anything, but there's no identity check behind a name. For a family or a group of friends, that's the whole point: the settle-up includes everyone, whether or not they ever touch a phone. If the people splitting the money don't trust each other, Splitwise's accounts are the better design, and we'd use them.
Using both
If your group already lives in Splitwise, keep it. Use TripSanity for the itinerary and switch the Money tab off in the editor — two ledgers for the same trip is how numbers stop agreeing. The ledger is for the groups that aren't already there: the reunion, the wedding weekend, the golf trip where half the people would sooner eat the cost than download another app.
Who should choose which
Use Splitwise if…
- The trip crosses currencies, or splits are by percentage
- You want receipts scanned, or money sent from inside the same app
- You split money with these people all year, not just this week
- The group doesn't fully trust a name typed into a box
Use TripSanity's ledger if…
- It's one trip, and splits are "everyone," "whoever came" or "the family of four counts four times"
- Some of the people splitting will never sign up for anything
- One person logs everything and shouldn't hit a daily limit
- You'd rather the money live next to the plan than in another app
Try the ledger on a real trip. The Money tab is on from the start and free on every trip — nobody you split with signs up.
Create a trip — free or try the demo’s Money tab →Common questions
Can TripSanity replace Splitwise for a group trip?
For one trip's shared costs — groceries, the house, gas, the big dinner — often yes. TripSanity's ledger logs each expense, splits it evenly, by shares or by exact amounts between everyone or only the people who were there, and works out who owes whom, free on every trip and with no accounts for guests. It is not a replacement when you need several currencies with conversion, splits by percentage, more than one payer on a bill, receipt scanning, payments sent inside the app, or a running balance with the same people across many trips. Splitwise does all of those.
Can TripSanity split an expense unevenly?
Yes, two ways. By shares: a family of four counts as 4, a couple as 2, and anyone set to 0 is left out. Or by exact amounts, which have to add up to the total before it saves. It doesn't split by percentage and it takes one payer per expense; Splitwise does both.
Does Splitwise limit how many expenses you can add per day?
Yes, on the free plan. As of October 2026, Splitwise's own help center says free users can add up to 4 expenses each day; Splitwise Pro removes the limit. TripSanity's ledger has no daily limit (a single trip holds up to 2,000 entries).
Does everyone in the group need a Splitwise account?
Not to be split with — you can add expenses with someone you invited by email or phone before they join, and Splitwise's web app lets you add a name-only placeholder friend. But to see their own balance or log an expense themselves, a person signs in to Splitwise. In TripSanity only the organizer has an account; guests open the trip link, type the trip password and their name, and can see the settle-up and add expenses with no account and no download.
Does TripSanity send money or connect to Venmo?
It doesn't send money, but it will open Venmo for you. The ledger is a shared notepad, not a bank: it tells you that Eric owes Dad $319. If Dad has added his Venmo, Cash App or PayPal handle, that row gets a button that opens the app with the amount filled in, and Mark paid records it. The payment itself happens in your own app. Splitwise goes further in the US: Splitwise Pay moves money from a linked checking account inside the app, alongside hand-offs to Venmo and PayPal.
Put the money next to the plan
Open the live demo's Money tab, add an expense and watch the settle-up change — or start a free trip. The Money tab is on from the start, and nobody you split with has to sign up.
Disclosure: TripSanity, LLC publishes this page and makes TripSanity. Splitwise is a product of Splitwise, Inc. and we have no affiliation with it. The Splitwise facts above come from its own help center, Pro and Splitwise Pay pages and App Store listing as of October 2026; if something has changed, their site is the authority and we'll correct this page.