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Best apps for expense tracking when the bills are shared: 10 ranked

October 7, 2026 · 14 min read · Dimesum Engineering

A budgeting app keeps track of your money; a shared-expense tracker keeps track of what a group owes. Ten trackers ranked on five tests, with the facts and prices as of August 2026.

Most expense tracking apps answer one question: where did my money go? A shared-expense tracker answers another one: what does the group owe, and to whom? A budgeting app keeps track of your money. A shared-expense tracker keeps track of what a group owes, and Dimesum is that second kind, which is why it sits first in this list.

The two get mixed up because search results mix them. Type "best apps for expense tracking" and most of what comes back is budgeting apps, built for one person and one bank feed. If you share a flat, a trip or a household, those apps are the wrong tool for the shared part, so this list ranks only the ten that are built for it.

A budgeting app sees the €84; a shared tracker sees who owes the €63

Here is the difference on one receipt. Emma pays €84 for the week's shopping in a flat of four. Her budgeting app records €84 leaving her account and files it under groceries.

That figure is wrong for Emma in a way the budgeting app cannot see. Her real share is €21. Lucas, Sofia and Noah each owe her €21, which is €63 in all, and none of that lives in her bank feed.

A shared-expense tracker records the other half. It knows Emma paid €84, it knows the bill splits four ways, and it holds a running balance: Emma is owed €63. When Lucas sends her €21, the tracker records the payment and her balance drops to €42.

So the two kinds of app ask two questions about the same receipt. The budgeting app asks how much you spent on food this month. The shared tracker asks who owes whom right now, across every bill the group has shared, and that is the question flatmates actually argue about. The longer version is in our guide to tracking shared expenses.

Why the top rated expense tracking apps are the wrong list for a group

A list of top rated expense tracking apps is usually sorted by store stars, and it mostly names budgeting apps. That is a fair list for a person planning their own month. It says nothing about whether an app can hold a balance between four people.

We left ratings out of this list on purpose, ours included, since our phone apps are still in closed testing and have no listing. A rating tells you how people felt about an app. It does not tell you what happens when Sofia edits last Tuesday's dinner, or when the flat pays one bill in euros and the next in pounds.

Those are the moments a shared tracker exists for, so those are what we ranked on. Every competitor fact below comes from our own research cut of August 2026, built from store listings, company pricing and terms pages, and dated reviews. Where our source is silent on a test, the table says so instead of guessing.

The five tests every shared-expense tracker should pass

Each tool is measured on the same five things. They are the points where a shared record either holds or quietly drifts.

1. A running record. The app keeps a balance across many bills, so anyone can see who owes whom at any moment. A calculator that splits one bill and forgets it fails here.
2. An edit that keeps history. When a bill was wrong, the fix sits on top of the original, so everyone can see what changed and when. We explain why in why an edit must restate its split.
3. Balances per currency. A dinner in yen stays in yen, and nothing gets converted at whatever rate was handy on the day. The multi-currency money bugs post shows what goes wrong otherwise.
4. Room for people without the app. The friend who will not install anything can still take part, by link or as a placeholder they claim later.
5. Free, with no cap on bills. The record costs nothing, and no daily limit stops a group halfway through a trip.

The 10 best apps for expense tracking in a shared group, ranked

The order follows the five tests. Standalone ledgers come before the split features inside banks, because a bank's feature asks every member, or at least the organiser, to hold that bank's account. Our own entry is first and says where we fall short.

1. Dimesum

Dimesum is a shared-expense ledger for flats, trips, couples and any table that pays for things together. The ledger is free, with no daily limit on bills; the only caps are 50 people in a group and 200 groups on an account. It runs in the browser at app.dimesum.com today, and the Android and iOS apps are in closed testing.

On the five tests, every bill adds to a running balance per person. An edit restates the whole split and the earlier version stays on the record, so a corrected dinner shows both figures. Balances are kept per currency, so ¥6,000 owed and €40 owed sit side by side, and a group may choose to read them folded at a rate it agrees.

Someone without the app takes a seat from a link or a QR code. You can also add a kept place for a person with no account, and they claim it later. When it is time to pay, Dimesum settles a group in at most one transfer fewer than its people, per currency, and one payment that clears debts in several groups is one record the payee confirms once.

Dimesum never holds money. It shows payment doors to PayPal, Venmo, Cash App, Wise, Revolut, Zelle, PayNow, Pix and bank transfer by IBAN, and the person paying uses their own app. The limitation is plain: Dimesum is new, has no store listing yet, and its phone apps are not generally available.

2. Splitwise

Splitwise keeps a running record for groups and pairs, with a free tier and a paid tier called Pro. As of August 2026, US in-app prices for Pro were $2.99, $3.99, $4.99, $29.99 and $39.99, with older tiers sold alongside current ones. Behind the paywall sit unlimited expenses, an ad-free app, receipt scanning and itemising, currency conversion, charts, search and default splits, and Splitwise's help page on Pro describes each one.

The free tier has a daily limit: Splitwise's help centre says a free account can add up to 4 expenses each day, as of 7 October 2026. A one-star App Store review from Great Britain, on version 26.6.3, shows what meeting it is like: "after your 4th expense it says 'daily limit reached'." Another review from Great Britain, on version 26.5.4, says "EVERY member of a group needs a subscription."

Splitwise is also moving into payments. As of August 2026 it runs Splitwise Pay, a US wallet banked by Coastal Community Bank, and the Splitwise Card, a Mastercard debit card that splits purchases at the till and comes with unlimited expenses without Pro. Stay where you are if everyone in your group already pays for Pro; otherwise read what Splitwise's daily expense limit means for a group and the Splitwise alternatives list.

3. Tricount

Tricount keeps a running record for trips and shared costs. It is owned by bunq, a bank, which bought it in 2022, and as of August 2026 it is free: its Premium tier was withdrawn.

Our source does not cover how Tricount handles an edit, a second currency or a guest without an account, so those cells stay empty. The fact to weigh is ownership. Your group's record sits inside a bank's product line, and whether that matters is your call; our Tricount alternatives post covers what to look for if it does.

4. Settle Up

Settle Up keeps a running record for groups. Its pricing has two shapes as of August 2026: a subscription, and a per-group purchase that any one member can buy for everyone, priced from $5.99 a week to $149.99 once.

Against the five tests our source is silent on edits, currencies and guests. The pricing is the fact a group plans around. If one person has already bought the pass for the whole group, nobody else pays, and that is a factual reason to stay; the Splid and Settle Up alternatives post compares the options if not.

5. Splid

Splid keeps a running record for groups and is sold as one in-app purchase of $3.99, with no ads and no subscription, as of August 2026. Our source does not record how it handles edits, currencies or members without the app.

A one-off price settles the cost question. It does not tell you how the record behaves when a bill changes after the fact, so run one edit through it before the group commits a trip to it.

6. Spliit

Spliit is an open-source group expense tool that runs in a browser or on your own server, and it is free. As of August 2026 the project reported about $1,300 a year in income, 92% of it from its founder's own donation.

Our source does not cover its edits, currency handling or settlement. The plain facts are that there is no store listing and that continuity rests largely on one person. For a group that wants to host its own copy, those are the terms of the deal.

7. Monzo Split

Monzo Split lives inside the Monzo banking app and was rebuilt in March 2025. As of August 2026 it keeps a running record with unlimited expenses and allows partial settlement, and guests join by link without a Monzo account or a UK address.

Monzo's own page says the feature carries no paywalls or ads. The fact to plan around is the home: the organiser banks with Monzo, and the group's record lives in a bank's app. Our comparison of bank split features sets it beside Revolut and Venmo.

8. Revolut Group Bills

Revolut Group Bills sits inside Revolut and has been live since August 2020. It handles groups of 2 to 20 people with a settling feature Revolut calls Smart Settle, and since about mid 2025 people without Revolut can take part through a web page.

Revolut's terms for the feature say "we do not currently charge a fee." The limits are size and home: a group tops out at 20 people, and the organiser needs a Revolut account.

9. Venmo Groups

Venmo Groups has been live since 14 November 2023. It keeps running balances for a group of up to 30 people and simplifies them before anyone pays.

It works in the United States only, and every member needs a Venmo account. For a group split across countries, or with one person outside the US, it is closed at the door.

10. Tab

Tab is a free group expense app. How it makes money is not published, and as of August 2026 its Android app had not been updated since May 2023.

Free with no stated business model says nothing about next year. Our source does not cover how Tab handles edits, currencies or guests, so we rank it last on what we can verify.

Four tools that look like trackers and keep no running balance

Some tools turn up in the same searches but fail the first test, because they keep no balance between bills. That is a design choice, and it matters for a flat or a long trip.

Kittysplit is a website that splits a set of costs with no account, free since about 2011, with no visible business model. Cash App Pools, live since 29 July 2025, and PayPal Pool Money, closed in 2021 and relaunched on 14 November 2024, are pots that gather money toward a target. They gather money toward a goal and keep no running balance between people.

Apple announced receipt splitting with Apple Cash on 1 June 2026, shipping with iOS 27, and the Apple newsroom post describes it. It works one receipt at a time, in the US, on Apple devices. For splitting a single bill by what each person ordered, see apps that split a bill by item.

Keep your budgeting app and add a shared tracker beside it

You do not have to choose between the two kinds of app. They answer different questions, and they work best side by side.

Go back to Emma's €84 shop. In her budgeting app, the honest entry is €21 of groceries, because that is what the food cost her. The €63 her flatmates owe is not spending and, when it comes back, it is not income either.

The shared tracker is where the €63 lives until it is paid. When Lucas, Sofia and Noah each send €21, the tracker shows Emma square, and her budget never had to pretend she ate €84 of food. Couples run into the same split with rent and bills, which is the subject of the best apps for couples to split expenses.

Some groups try to do the shared half in a spreadsheet. It works until the first edit or the first second currency; spreadsheet or app for shared expenses walks through where it breaks, and the shared expense tracker template is there if you want the sheet anyway.

How to choose one in an evening

Start with what your group does. One dinner that never repeats needs a calculator at most. A flat, a trip or a household needs a running record, and the rest of this list assumes that.

Then run one real bill through your shortlist and change it. Did the edit leave a trace, or did the old number vanish? Add a second currency on purpose and see whether the app keeps ¥6,000 and €40 apart.

Invite the least willing member first. If they can take part from a link, you are done. Last, find the export and the account deletion before the group's history goes in, and check what each app does with your data in our questions on private expense sharing apps.

For a trip in particular, keeping track of who owes who on a trip covers the currency and settle-once questions, and the general bill splitting apps comparison ranks eleven tools on four tests. When the group is ready to pay, settling up group expenses shows how few transfers it takes.