5 Best Apps to Split Costs on a Trip

Managing shared expenses on a trip can be tricky, especially when you're traveling with a group. From splitting meal costs to dividing transportation and activities fees, keeping track of who owes what can get confusing fast. To add on to the complexity, there is also the issue of whether you are paying in local currency, or whether you are using your credit cards. Luckily, several apps are designed to take the hassle out of splitting costs and help maintain financial harmony during your travels.

In this article, we’ll explore the best apps to split costs on a trip that make it easy to track expenses, settle debts, and ensure everyone pays their fair share.

Most of these apps work in a similar manner - you simply create a group, add how much was paid, and indicate for what purpose, and who paid it. At the end of your trip, you will then be able to easily tally up the balances and work out your sums.

1. Splitwise

When it comes to splitting costs among groups, Splitwise is a household name. It’s designed specifically for groups sharing expenses—whether for a road trip, vacation, or even a group dinner.

Splitwise simplifies the process of tracking group expenses across multiple activities, ensuring everyone pays their fair share without awkward confrontations. You can also set up different groups for various activities or trips, making it highly versatile.

While Splitwise had generally been regarded as the best group expense tracking app, users on the ‘Free’ tier will only be able to add up to 3 expenses a day. A subscription to the ‘Pro’ tier is needed if you needed to add more than 3 expenses a day - which would likely be the case for most users.

2. Tricount

Another fantastic app for splitting travel costs is Tricount, which focuses on simplicity and clarity. It’s perfect for managing expenses when traveling in groups, as it’s designed to break down costs efficiently.

Tricount offers a clean, easy-to-use interface with features tailored for travel. Its multi-currency support makes it especially useful for international trips. It is a very popular option for those who are seeking alternatives to Splitwise.

The drawback of Tricount is its limited offline support - but it wouldn't exactly be an issue if you had a good internet connection throughout your trip.

3. Settle Up

Settle Up is another excellent app designed for splitting expenses in a group. Its clean interface and ease of use make it popular among travelers looking to track shared expenses quickly.

Settle Up offers an intuitive design and easy sharing options. The features that are available on the Free tier would be sufficient for most travelers, but you can expect to run into quite a bit of ads.

4. Venmo

While Venmo is primarily known for its peer-to-peer payment system, it now also has a feature for splitting expenses. You can use the app to send or request money for shared costs, such as splitting a meal or hotel stay.

If you’re traveling domestically and everyone in your group uses Venmo, this app is a great way to send and request payments. It’s particularly useful for quick settlements.

Unfortunately, if you will be traveling internationally or if you are from a region where Venmo is not supported, this might not be a viable option.

5. Splid

Splid is a fuss-free and very simple option which goes straight to the point. It doesn’t have tons of features, but it works well if your primary purpose is to simply split expenses within a group.

On the free tier, Splid allows you to only have a maximum of 2 groups at any one time, but you are free to edit and delete the group as required. This could be frustrating for daily use, but if you’re simply using it for your trip, this shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

Categorisation of your expenses is also not possible on the free tier (but available in the premium tier), so it might not be the best option if you wanted to manage your expenses in greater detail.

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