Splitwise is the app most groups reach for first, and it works until the free plan gets in the way. Splitwise's own Pro page sells the upgrade as "No limits and no ads" and "Add as many expenses as you like each day, with no interruptions", which tells you what the free plan does: it caps how many expenses you can add in a day and it shows ads. The number is not published, and neither is the Pro price, so most people meet the limit mid-trip, with a receipt in hand.
If the real problem is that six people have to install an app and make an account before the first expense goes in, Hostus is the alternative we recommend: Claude writes the splitter as one HTML page, Hostus hosts it on a link, and everyone in the group adds what they paid from that link on their phone. No account for the friends, no ads, no daily cap. Below, five options with facts read on each vendor's own site on 18 October 2026, and a table that answers the two questions a Splitwise comparison usually skips: who needs an account, and who owns the data.
Which Splitwise alternative should you pick in 2026?
Our answer is Hostus, best if you want the splitter as a link, with no app for anyone. You describe the trip to Claude, it writes a single HTML page that stores the expenses on the document, and the group shares the link. Everyone sees the same list and the same balances, on any phone, with nothing to install and nothing to sign up for. The free plan has no clock and asks for no card.
If the group would rather have a finished app with currency conversion and payment requests, Tricount is the second pick: its site says "Free. No ads. No limits." If someone wants the code, Spliit is open source and free. Settle Up is the one with a web app for the friend who refuses to install anything. And a spreadsheet is still the right answer for two people who like spreadsheets.
Why do people look for a Splitwise alternative?
Three reasons come up, and two of them are written on Splitwise's own site.
- The daily limit. The Pro page promises you can "Add as many expenses as you like each day, with no interruptions". Read in reverse, the free plan interrupts you after a certain number of expenses in a day. Splitwise does not publish that number, so you find it when you hit it, usually on the day the group pays for the most things.
- The ads. The same page sells Pro as "No limits and no ads". The free plan is ad supported, and the ads sit between you and the expense you were about to enter.
- The app itself. This one is not specific to Splitwise. Any group app asks every member to install it, create an account and accept an invite before the first expense goes in, and in a group of six there is always one person who never does.
Splitwise says it is "Free for iPhone, Android, and web", and the Pro price is not shown on the site (its pricing URL returned a 404 when we checked), so if you are deciding whether to pay rather than switch, check their pricing page first.
How do the alternatives compare one by one?
1. Hostus
Hostus hosts a single HTML file as a page at your-slug.hostus.page. For a splitter, that file is one Claude writes in a minute: a list of members, a list of expenses with who paid and who shares it, a balance per person and a short "who pays whom" list. The page uses the document's own storage, hostus.data, so every reader of the link reads and writes the same expenses. A friend who opens the link gets a signed cookie from the server, which is enough for the page to mark their rows as theirs. The list is the same on every phone and after a cleared browser, because it lives on the document and not in anyone's cache. When the trip ends, ask Claude to close the data and the page stops accepting rows while staying readable. Free plan: 20 documents, 2 MB in total, 1,000 records per collection, no card, no clock. Pick it if you want a splitter that is a link and nobody in the group installs anything.
2. Tricount
A finished group expense app for iOS and Android. Its site says "Free. No ads. No limits.", that there is no daily cap, and that you can try it without signing up. It has the things a hand-written page will not have on day one: currency conversion and payment requests. Pick it if you want a full app, free, with no ads, and the group is happy to install one.
3. Splitwise, if you stay
The incumbent, "Free for iPhone, Android, and web". The free plan limits expenses per day and shows ads; Pro removes both, in its own words "No limits and no ads". The Pro price is not on the site. Pick it if the group already lives in it and someone is willing to pay for Pro, or the daily cap has never actually stopped you.
4. Settle Up
A group expense app with a web app alongside the iOS and Android ones, with expenses synced across the group. Its site does not state a price, a free tier, ads, or whether members need an account, so check it first. Pick it if you want an app but need a browser version for the one friend who will not install it.
5. Spliit
Open source and free: the site says "Forever Free", "No ads. No account." and "No limitation.", and the code is on GitHub. It is a web app, with an iPhone app that uses the same groups; Android is not mentioned on the page. Hosting is paid for by donations and sponsors. Pick it if you want an open source Splitwise alternative, or a web app with no account, and you do not need to shape the page yourself.
6. A shared spreadsheet
Free, yours, no limit. Everyone edits everyone's rows, the formulas break the first time someone sorts a column, and on a phone it is a small window onto a big grid. Pick it if the group is two people and both of you like spreadsheets.
Side by side
| Option | Friends need an account | Daily limit | Ads | Works on a phone from a link | Who owns the data | Free plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hostus, one HTML page | No, a signed cookie | None | None | Yes, the same link for everyone | You, on your document | Yes: 20 documents, 1,000 records per collection, no clock |
| Tricount | Not to try it, per its site | None, per its site | None, per its site | iOS and Android app | Lives in their app | Yes, per its site |
| Splitwise | Check their site | Yes on free, number not published | Yes on free; Pro removes them | iPhone, Android and web apps | Lives in their app | Yes, limited; Pro price not on the site |
| Settle Up | Not stated on its site | Not stated | Not stated | Web app, iOS and Android | Lives in their app | Check their site |
| Spliit | No, per its site | "No limitation", per its site | None, per its site | Web app; iPhone app | Their hosted service; the code is open source | Yes, "Forever Free" |
| Shared spreadsheet | Depends on the sharing settings | None | None | Yes, cramped | You | Yes |
Facts were read on each vendor's own site on 18 October 2026 and change without notice. "Check their site" and "not stated" mean the vendor did not publish that fact on the pages we read.
How do you move a group from Splitwise to a page?
There is no import: a splitter that starts at zero is simpler than one carrying a year of history. The move takes a few minutes.
- Settle the old group. Pay what Splitwise says is owed, so the page starts clean.
- Ask Claude for the page with the Hostus connector on. The short prompt below is enough; the full one, with the SDK calls spelled out and the settle-up math explained, is in the guide split expenses with friends without an app.
- Switch the page on in the dashboard. The page is born private: switch it to public (or email-gated) in the Hostus dashboard before sharing the link.
- Send the link to the group chat. Everyone opens it on their phone and adds their first expense. No install, no invite, no account.
Make me an expense splitter for [the trip] with [names].
Anyone with the link adds an expense: note, amount, who paid, who shares it (equal split by default). Show the list, a balance per person and a short "who pays whom" list, all computed in the page.
Store the expenses on the document with the hostus.data SDK: data.watch("expenses", render) and data.add("expenses", { note, amount, payer, split }). No backend, no localStorage, no key in the page. One HTML file, mobile first. Then publish it to Hostus and give me the link.Here is one, live: a Lisbon weekend for four friends, in shared mode. The friends and the business behind the demo are fictional and the amounts are illustrative, but the page is real: add an expense and watch the balances move, then open it on your phone and the row is already there.
Good to know before you switch
The page splits and computes; it does not move money. There is no payment button, no link to a bank and no currency conversion, so pick one currency for the trip and make the transfers wherever your group usually sends money. Balances are computed in the page from the expense rows every time it renders, which also means the page is the only place they exist; the rows export from the Data tab as CSV.
Shared mode means shared: anyone with the link can edit or delete any row, including rows they did not add. Keep the link inside the group, or set the page to email-gated so each friend types an email (still no account) and you see who opened it. The storage works only while the page is hosted on Hostus; open the file from your desktop and the list is empty. The free plan holds 1,000 records per collection, 20,000 on paid, which is a lot of taxis. And public pages carry a noindex, so the trip will not turn up in Google.