Splitwise vs Tricount: which one should your group use?

Two people in the group chat have each recommended an app. One swears by Splitwise because every trip they’ve ever taken ran on it; the other uses Tricount because it’s free and nobody had to sign up. Both are right about their own group; the question is which one is right for yours.

It comes down to how many expenses your group logs and whether you will pay. Tricount is the pick if you want free and uncapped with nothing to set up; Splitwise is the pick if your circle is already there, you want a web app, or you’ll pay for Pro. If you want receipts read for you and bills split item by item without paying, neither is the answer — there is a third option at the end.

What each app is built for

Splitwise is the app that taught the world to split a bill. It has a mature web app and a large network of existing users. Its free tier has shrunk, though: a cap of around three expenses a day, ads between screens, and a $4.99/month Pro tier that holds receipt scanning, currency conversion and itemized splitting.

Tricount earned its 21 million users by being genuinely free and dead simple. There is no cap on expenses, you can start a “tricount” without making an account, it handles multiple currencies, and it is especially popular across Europe. The trade-off is that it does less: no receipt scanning and no item-by-item split, so every expense is typed in by hand and divided as a whole.

Pricing and the daily cap

On the Splitwise free plan you can add around three expenses a day. For a couple splitting groceries and a monthly bill, that never bites. For a group on holiday it bites on day one.

Take a realistic case: six friends, ten days, one rented house. Car hire, the supermarket, the ferry, lunch, dinner, ice creams, fuel — a trip like that logs about forty expenses, so four a day on average and six or seven on the arrival and departure days. Whoever is logging on Splitwise free hits the cap on exactly the busiest days, and either waits until tomorrow, upgrades, or keeps the overflow in their head. That last one is how balances go wrong.

On Tricount the same forty expenses go in as they happen. You will see some ads, but nothing stops you logging. If the cap is why you are reading this, the Splitwise free limit, explained covers what still costs nothing, and Splitwise free vs paid lists exactly what Pro unlocks.

Getting the group in

On Splitwise, everyone needs an account before they can see the group. That is fine when everyone already has one, and it means each person’s groups are tied to them, whatever phone they use.

Tricount lets you start without an account and bring people in by link. For a one-off weekend with a friend-of-a-friend who will never install a second expense app, that matters: the group exists within a minute and nobody was asked to sign up. The flip side is that secure sign-in through Google or Apple is only partial, so a tricount is held less firmly to a person than an account-based group is — worth a thought for a flatshare you will keep for years.

Splitting power

Both apps cover the four everyday ways to divide an expense: equally, by exact amounts, by percentage, and by shares. For rent, groceries and a shared taxi, either one does the job.

The fifth way — item by item — is where they separate. On Splitwise it is a Pro feature. On Tricount it doesn’t exist, and that matters more than it sounds.

Four friends have dinner. Nadia, Omar, Lucía and Tom each order a main — 22 €, 19 €, 24 € and 19 € — and the three drinkers share two bottles of wine at 36 €. Nadia doesn’t drink. The bill is 120 €.

Split equally, Nadia pays 30 € for 22 € of food — 8 € of someone else’s wine. Split by item, everyone pays for what they had and the numbers still close: 22 + 31 + 36 + 31 = 120. On Splitwise you get the second version if you pay for Pro. On Tricount you do it with a calculator and four separate expenses, or Nadia eats the 8 €. The arithmetic behind all five methods is in the 5 ways to split an expense.

Receipts and currencies

Splitwise will read a receipt for you — on Pro. Tricount will not read one at all; you type the total and move on. Over forty expenses in ten days, the gap between photographing a bill and typing it is the gap between logging it now and logging it “later” — and later is where expenses get lost.

Currencies go the other way. Tricount handles multiple currencies on its free tier. On Splitwise, currency conversion sits behind Pro, so a trip that crosses a border — or a group whose members live in different countries — costs money to track properly.

Settling up

Both apps net the balances down and suggest the fewest transfers that clear the group, so six people and forty expenses end in a handful of payments rather than forty. Neither moves money for you. There is no real gap here — how debt simplification works shows why so few payments are needed.

Side by side

Splitwise’s two strengths — the web app and the network — don’t fit in a feature row, and they are real. For the per-app detail, see Donget vs Splitwise and Donget vs Tricount.

Which one your group should use

A long trip with lots of small expenses. Tricount. The cap is the one thing that will actively get in the way.

A group already on Splitwise that logs a few expenses a week. Stay. The cap won’t bite and moving people is a cost in itself. If you do go, how to switch from Splitwise keeps the balances intact on the way out.

A group that won’t sign up for anything. Tricount: start without an account, share the link, done.

A group that splits dinners by what each person ordered. Neither, unless you’ll pay for Splitwise Pro — Tricount can’t do it at any price.

Someone who does the books on a laptop. Splitwise, for the web app.

Where Donget comes in

The third option exists because the two above leave a gap: the things Splitwise charges for, Tricount doesn’t do. Donget does them free, with no cap on expenses and no ads. Scan receipt with AI turns a photo of the bill into a draft expense with the items listed; in Items and Costs you assign each line to whoever had it, so Nadia pays 22 € and the wine lands on the three who drank it. Equal, Amount, Percentage and Multiplier cover everything else, each group has its own Currency setting with expenses allowed in others, and Settle up suggests the fewest transfers that clear Everyone’s balance. People join through an Invite link, preview the group and pick their name.

Where it loses: it is mobile-first, so there is no web app to rival Splitwise’s; its network is smaller than either; and while you can try it as a guest with a couple of groups, you sign in with Google or Apple to keep more. If those three don’t matter to your group and the cap or the paywall does, “free” and “does the whole job” stop being different answers. Expense splitting apps compared sets the whole field side by side without a brand in the question.

Frequently asked questions

Is Tricount really free?

Yes. No cap on expenses, multi-currency included, some ads — and no receipt scanning or item-by-item splitting at any price.

Does Splitwise still limit free users?

Yes. Around three expenses a day on the free plan, with ads between screens. Receipt scanning, currency conversion and itemized splitting sit in Pro at $4.99 a month.

Can I use Tricount without creating an account?

Yes — start a tricount without an account and invite the others by link. The trade-off is that secure sign-in through Google or Apple is only partial.

Which is better for a long trip with lots of expenses?

Tricount, or any other app without a daily cap. Six people on a ten-day trip log around forty expenses — more than Splitwise’s free plan allows on the busy days.

Can Splitwise or Tricount split a restaurant bill item by item?

Splitwise can, but only on Pro. Tricount cannot: it divides a whole expense. Donget includes item-by-item splitting free, with AI receipt scanning to read the bill.

Can I move from Splitwise to Tricount without losing balances?

Yes. Settle the balances in Splitwise first, while everyone still has it. Anything unsettled goes into the new app as the group’s first expense — paid by the person who is owed, split among the people who owe.

Is there an app that covers what both of them miss?

Donget does: no daily cap, no ads, AI receipt scanning and item-by-item splitting free, multi-currency and settle-up in the fewest transfers. It loses on the web app and the network, and you need a Google or Apple account beyond the guest mode’s two groups.

The bottom line

Splitwise sells a network and a web app, and meters the free tier to push you toward Pro; Tricount gives you an uncapped, account-free splitter and stops at the basics. Pick Tricount for the trip, Splitwise if everyone is already there or you need the laptop — and if what you want is the Pro feature list without the Pro price, Splitwise alternatives: 5 free apps compared and Tricount alternatives cover the rest of the field.

Download Donget free and split the next dinner by what each person actually had — no cap, no ads, no Pro tier at the end of it.