Splitwise vs Tricount vs Settle Up: Which Should You Actually Use?

Splitwise, Tricount, and Settle Up are the three apps most groups end up choosing between. They solve the same problem, and they charge for it in three completely different ways, which is where most of the confusion comes from.

This is a comparison of all three on the things that actually decide it: what the free tier lets you do, what the paid tier costs, and where each app stops. Everything below was checked against each company's own store listing, help center, or feature pages in 2026. Where a company doesn't publish a number, that's noted rather than guessed at.

Quick Verdict

The short version, before the detail:

• Group trip and nobody wants to pay: Tricount. It's free with no subscription tier at all, no expense cap, and multi-currency conversion is included.
• Your friends already use Splitwise: Splitwise. The network effect is real, and its ledger is the most mature of the three. Just expect a daily cap on the free tier.
• Roommates who want recurring bills and categories: Settle Up Premium. Recurring transactions and custom categories are the features the other two don't advertise.
• One trip, and you want everyone on the paid version: Settle Up. Its Group Premium is a one-time purchase for the whole group, and you can add it to the group as an expense and split it.
• You split restaurant bills item by item: Splitwise, but only on Pro. Itemization is a paid feature, and neither Tricount nor Settle Up advertises line-item extraction from a receipt.

If you want the wider field rather than these three, our roundup of the best expense splitting apps covers more options.

Splitwise

Splitwise is the default. It's the app that most people mean when they say "the splitting app," and its long-running shared ledger is still the thing it does best.

Where Splitwise Is Strong

• Everyone already has it: Adding someone to a group usually doesn't require convincing them to install anything.
• Balance accuracy over long periods: Splitwise handles a ledger that runs for years without drifting, which matters for friend groups that never fully settle.
• Debt simplification: It reduces the number of payments needed to clear a group, so five people don't end up making twelve transfers.
• Full platform coverage: iOS, Android, and a web app that's genuinely usable rather than an afterthought.

Where Splitwise Falls Short

The free tier caps how many expenses you can add per day. Splitwise doesn't publish the exact number, and it appears to have changed over time; it's commonly reported as 3 expenses per day, with some sources reporting a range of 3 to 5. Once you hit it, you can't add another expense until the next day unless you upgrade. The free version also shows ads.

The feature list behind the paywall is long. According to Splitwise's own Pro page, upgrading unlocks unlimited expenses, transaction import (listed as US only), currency conversion, charts and graphs, receipt scanning with itemization, expense search, default split settings, early access to new features, and an ad-free experience. Currency conversion being a paid feature is the one that surprises people planning a trip abroad.

Splitwise doesn't list a price on its Pro page; the tiers appear on the upgrade screen. As of August 2026 they are $59.99 per year for an individual plan billed annually (advertised as $4.99 per month), $89.99 per year for a Duo plan covering two people, and $7.99 per month if you pay monthly. The annual plans include a 7-day free trial; the monthly plan doesn't. Note that many third-party roundups still cite an older $49.99 annual figure (pricing varies by region). We go deeper on the free tier in is Splitwise still free?

Who Splitwise Is Best For

Groups that already use it, and anyone whose splitting is steady and low-volume. Roommates rarely see the daily cap, because rent, utilities, and a few grocery runs are spread across a month rather than stacked into one day. Travelers see it constantly.

Tricount

Tricount is the European entry, owned by the bank bunq since 2022. It's the only one of the three with no paid tier to compare, because there isn't one anymore.

Where Tricount Is Strong

• Genuinely free: Tricount's help center states that Tricount Premium has been deprecated, and its App Store listing describes the app as free and unlimited with no subscription, no hidden fees, and no limit on tricounts or expenses.
• No ads: Reviewers consistently report an ad-free interface, which is unusual for a free app in this category.
• Multi-currency included: Expenses in different currencies are converted automatically into a single currency for the group, at no cost.
• Offline entry: You can add expenses without a connection, which is the realistic condition on a trip abroad. Syncing and currency conversion need a connection.
• Link-based sharing: Groups are shared by link, which lowers the friction of getting everyone in.

Where Tricount Falls Short

Since bunq acquired it, account creation is tied to bunq's onboarding, and the app's recent updates note changes to when and why login is required. Some people are fine with this and some aren't, and it's worth knowing before you commit a group to it.

Feature depth is the other tradeoff. Tricount lets you attach photos to an expense, but it doesn't advertise line-item receipt scanning, recurring expenses, or spending charts. Several third-party reviews report that a major version update removed data export and some advanced split options; Tricount doesn't document that change publicly, so treat it as reported rather than confirmed and check the current app if export matters to you.

Who Tricount Is Best For

Trips, and any group where the cost of the app is the deciding factor. If your requirement is "track a shared trip in multiple currencies without anyone paying anything," Tricount is the best answer of these three, and it isn't close. Our guide to splitting travel expenses covers what to track on a trip regardless of which app you use.

Settle Up

Settle Up, built by Step Up Labs, is the most feature-dense of the three and the one with the most flexible pricing.

Where Settle Up Is Strong

• Group Premium: You can buy Premium for the entire group as a one-time purchase and add it to the group as an expense so the cost gets split. No other app here does this, and for a one-week trip it's the cheapest way to get everyone onto a paid tier.
• Recurring and future expenses: Premium supports recurring transactions, which is the single most useful feature for households with monthly bills.
• Real-time currency conversion: Its App Store listing states support for all currencies with real-time exchange rates.
• Broad Apple support: The listing covers iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision, alongside Android and a web app.
• Transaction minimization: Like Splitwise, it reduces the number of payments needed to settle a group.

Where Settle Up Falls Short

The free version is ad-supported, and the ads are the most common complaint in reviews. Ad frequency is commonly reported as appearing after roughly every third expense. There's no published daily expense cap, so the free tier limits your experience rather than your record-keeping.

Several features that feel basic sit behind Premium: receipt photos, custom categories, recurring transactions, spreadsheet export, and spending statistics. As listed on the US App Store, the individual plan is around $3.99 per month or $19.99 per year, with group plans running from roughly $5.99 for one week up to $39.99 for a year and $149.99 for lifetime group access (pricing varies by plan and region, and third-party sources cite slightly different monthly figures).

Who Settle Up Is Best For

Households that want recurring bills handled automatically, and one-off trips where the group is willing to split a single Premium purchase. It's also the strongest pick if you want your data out as a spreadsheet, since export is an advertised Premium feature rather than something to hope for.

Head-to-Head Comparison

Figures below reflect what each company publishes or lists in 2026. Where a number isn't published, the entry says so.

Which One Fits Your Situation

The right answer depends less on features than on the shape of your splitting.

• A two-week trip abroad: Tricount. Currency conversion is free, there's no daily cap on the days when you're logging six things, and offline entry covers the hours you have no signal. Splitwise's free tier is the worst fit here, because its cap bites hardest on exactly the days that generate the most expenses.
• Rent and utilities with roommates: Settle Up Premium if you want recurring bills entered automatically. Splitwise free if you don't, since a household's daily volume almost never reaches the cap. Our rent splitting guide covers the setup either way.
• A couple tracking shared costs: Any of the three works. Low volume means the caps and paywalls rarely come up, so pick the interface you like.
• One dinner with people you'll never split with again: Tricount, because a link-based group is the least you can ask of five people who don't want another app account.
• A long-running friend ledger: Splitwise. It's the most mature at holding an unsettled balance over years, and your friends are probably already on it.
• Restaurant bills split by what each person ordered: Splitwise Pro is the only paid option of the three that advertises itemization. If you do this weekly, that's the feature you're paying for.

One thing worth saying plainly: switching apps has a social cost. Getting four people to move a working group to a different app is harder than any feature comparison suggests. If your current app works, staying is a reasonable decision.

A Fourth Option Worth Knowing About

We build SplitterUp, so weigh this accordingly. It sits closest to the gap the three apps above leave open: no daily expense limit, no ads, item-level AI receipt scanning, multi-currency, and settlement optimization, on iOS, macOS, Android, and a web app. It's free for a limited time with no subscription.

The honest caveat is that it's newer, so your friends are less likely to already have it. If the deciding factor is what your group already uses, that matters. Our comparison page puts the specifics side by side.