How Splitwise works, from first expense to settling up

What does Splitwise actually do?

Splitwise keeps a shared ledger of who paid for what and who owes whom. You use it for dinners, rent, trips and shared bills, anywhere one person pays and several people share the cost.

It does not decide what is fair. You choose the split on each expense, and Splitwise does the arithmetic and keeps everyone’s balance current.

How do you get set up and bring people in?

You create an account first. Registration asks for your name, email, phone number and password, and an email address is required.

Splitwise says you cannot join a group on your own. A member of the group has to invite you by email, by phone or with an “Invite via link”. So if you want in on a group, ask a member to send you the invite.

The people you split with do not all have to be on Splitwise yet. A friend invited by email or phone can be added to expenses before they accept, and Splitwise sends one invite and one reminder. If you have neither for a friend, see adding a friend without their email or phone.

How do you add an expense?

Adding an expense takes a few taps, and the split is equal unless you change it.

1. Tap “Add expense”.
2. Enter a description and the amount.
3. Find the phrase “Paid by [you] and split [equally]”. Tap “equally” to see other split options, or “More options” to split unequally.
4. Set who paid and the date.
5. Save. Everyone’s balances update automatically.

A worked example: three friends, one dinner, one cab

Say Ana, Ben and Cleo have dinner and Ana pays the $90 bill. She adds “Dinner”, $90, paid by Ana, split equally. Each share is $90 ÷ 3 = $30. Ana paid $90 and owes $30 of it, so Ben owes her $30 and Cleo owes her $30.

Two days later Ben pays a $45 cab and splits it equally, $15 each. The balances after both expenses:

Person	Paid	Their shares	Balance
Ana	$90	$30 + $15 = $45	owed $45
Ben	$45	$30 + $15 = $45	even
Cleo	$0	$30 + $15 = $45	owes $45

Pair by pair that is three debts: Ben owes Ana $15, Cleo owes Ana $30 and Cleo owes Ben $15. Splitwise’s Simplify Debts setting restructures who owes whom inside a group so that fewer payments are needed, and it never changes anyone’s total balance. With it on, the three debts become one payment: Cleo pays Ana $45. Any group member can switch the setting in group settings. If a balance still looks wrong after that, auditing a Splitwise balance step by step shows where to look.

Where does the free plan stop?

Free Splitwise accounts can add up to 4 expenses a day, as of October 2026, and Pro removes that cap. EvenOut’s free plan has no daily expense limit and no ads. Here is where each app puts its free line:

What you want to do	EvenOut	Splitwise (as of October 2026)
Add more than 4 expenses in a day	Free, no daily expense limit	Pro (free accounts: up to 4 a day)
Charts and expense search	Free	Pro
Ad-free use	No ads	Listed as a Pro benefit
Groups, friends, equal or unequal splits	Free	Free
Percentages, shares, simplify debts	Free	Free
Recurring expenses, offline mode	Free	Free
Receipt scanning	Pro	Pro

On Splitwise, only Pro subscribers can scan receipts, but everyone in the group sees the result. EvenOut’s only paid features are receipt scanning and the assistant, at $9.99 a month or $79.99 a year. The full Splitwise Pro feature list has the rest, and the daily limit guide covers what to do when you hit the cap.

Should you use a group or a friend?

Splitwise says groups suit people you split with on an ongoing basis, and expenses with no group suit situations that do not need a dedicated group. You can add an expense with a friend and no group.

The difference matters for privacy. You see an expense if you are in it or in its group. An expense with no group is visible only to the people involved.

Who can change an expense after you save it?

Anyone involved in the expense or in its group. Splitwise says it does not support group admins or special permissions, so a typo can be fixed by whoever spots it, and a wrong edit can be made by anyone in the group. On mobile you tap the expense and then the pencil icon in the top right corner to edit it. The guide to editing, deleting and restoring an expense has the restore steps.

How do you settle up?

Tap “Settle up” to pay someone back or record that you have been paid. You can record a payment made outside Splitwise, such as cash or a bank transfer.

In the example, with Simplify Debts on, Cleo sends Ana $45 by bank transfer. Either of them taps “Settle up” and records the $45 payment, and both balances return to zero.

Splitwise can also send the money in some places (whether Splitwise connects to Venmo has the US setup). It names Splitwise Pay, Venmo and PayPal in the US and Pay by Bank in select European countries. Recording a payment on its own does not transfer any funds. If you record one by mistake, undoing a Splitwise settle up shows what can and cannot be reversed.

How does EvenOut handle the same dinner?

The steps are close. EvenOut has a floating “Add expense” button, and the “How to split” sheet offers Equally, Exact amounts, Percent, Shares and By item. Percent and Shares show each person’s dollar share under their name as you type. The “Settle up” screen records a payment too, and EvenOut does not move money or link to payment apps.

Two things differ for the same dinner:

• Charts and search are free. EvenOut shows spending charts for a group or a friend, by category and over time, and searches across your expenses. Splitwise lists both as Pro.
• Guests. A friend who is not on EvenOut can be added to a group as a guest in the app and invited later. Splitwise says name-only placeholder friends are added from its web app.

The EvenOut and Splitwise comparison lines the two up feature by feature.

What should you do first?

Start with one group and one real expense, such as the next dinner. Add it equally, check the balances, then try an unequal split. If you are still choosing an app, run the same dinner in EvenOut, where the free plan has no daily expense limit. The guide to Splitwise split types walks through percentages, shares and exact amounts on one dinner, and whether Splitwise is free shows what to expect once you pass 4 expenses in a day.