Recommendations for expense sharing apps—BUT THERE’S A CATCH!

Posted by Musicandtravel (WV) on 09/13/25 06:33 PM

I am traveling with three friends to Germany and Czechia in May/June. I am the organizer for the group, and I am prepaying some of our expenses.

I am looking for a good expense sharing app for iPhone that does not require all travelers to use the app. One of my trip mates is tech-averse and will not likely download an app, so some of the popular apps wouldn’t work in this case. I haven’t found a spreadsheet template that really does what I want.

What are your suggestions (short of requiring me to depend on pad and pen)?

Posted by Nigel🚊🧸🔔

Arctophilia, Northamptonshire, England

09/13/25 07:31 PM

35681 posts

in your case, there are only 4 bods so paper and pen is likely easier and faster.

Posted by Mardee

Minnesota🌲

09/13/25 08:04 PM

10254 posts

A lot of people here have recommended Splitwise. Not sure how it works because I’m usually solo. 😊

Or you might want to check some prior posts here on the forum. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tech-tips/best-expense-sharing-apps

Posted by markcw

Los Angeles

09/13/25 09:16 PM

1728 posts

If you're pre-paying for some expenses now or in the near future, it might be preferable to have your friends reimburse you now or soon, so that you're starting off on an equal footing when the trip commences. That way you're only dealing with day to day expenses - if one person picks up a dinner check, for example. If one of your friends is a nickel-and-dime sort of person, that may prove to be a challenge - if they only want to pay for exactly what they ordered for a meal, etc,

Posted by Paul

Eastern Iowa, USA

09/13/25 09:26 PM

8845 posts

I have used Splitwise on several group trips (2-4 people) and it has worked well. I did opt for the paid version, as that will convert euros back into Dollars, or multiple currencies to a single currency for settling up.

The issue with having someone not have the app, is that someone, namely you, will need to enter in any expenses they pay for.

The way we use the app, is to keep a running total and balance of who owes who. If someone starts to owe everyone else more, then they pay for lunch, or dinner, or the hotel, to bring everything closer to even. Each time, settling up was maybe the exchange of a few euros or Dollars, or we called it close enough.