A Splitwise alternative for couples: a shared budget, not a debt ledger
Splitwise answers one question well: who owes whom. Spendy answers a different one: what did the household spend, and who paid for what. If you want a ledger of debts between people, stay with Splitwise. If you want one shared budget with category limits and a breakdown per person, Spendy is closer, and it has no who-owes-whom or settle-up feature.
What Splitwise is built for
Splitwise is an expense-splitting app. Its App Store text describes IOUs and informal debts, any currency, and offline entry, and it lists iPhone, iPad and Vision. It is free with ads and a daily limit on the free plan.
Pro removes ads and adds unlimited expenses, receipt scanning, currency conversion, charts and search. The App Store lists Pro at $2.99 to $4.99 a month or $29.99 to $39.99 a year, depending on country. Entry is mostly manual; card import is a Pro feature and US only. The pages we checked describe splitting and debts rather than category budgets.
What Spendy does instead
Spendy keeps one household budget. Everyone adds their own expenses, every entry carries the name of who paid, and each category has a limit you set from your own numbers. The breakdown screen shows the month split between the people in the household.
A household of up to 3 people is free, with unlimited transactions, budgets and categories. Roles are Owner, Editor and Viewer, and Premium+ raises the household to 10. Entry is manual, with no bank connection.
What Spendy does not do
Spendy has no who-owes-whom calculation, no IOUs, and no settle-up. It will not tell you that Sam owes Alex $42. It shows what each person paid, and you decide together what to transfer.
Most couples are fine with that, because a monthly settle-up on a fixed date is one transfer. If you would rather the app kept a running tally of every small debt, that is Splitwise. Spendy is also iPhone only.
Free to use. Share with up to 3 people at no cost.
When Splitwise is still the right tool
Pick Splitwise when the people are not a household. A trip with friends, or flatmates who split bills and want an exact running balance, is what it is made for. It also fits if money moves between people in different currencies, or if you want the debt written down even when nobody is budgeting.
Nothing stops you using both: Splitwise for the one-off group costs, Spendy for the household’s own month.
Which question are you asking?
“How much do I owe my partner?” is a ledger question. “Are we over on groceries, and who has been paying for what?” is a budget question. For the second, start with how to budget with your partner, and see the full six-app comparison if you are still choosing.
Questions people actually ask
Does Spendy have a settle-up or who-owes-whom feature?
No. Spendy shows who paid what and a breakdown per person, and you work out any transfer between you. If you want the app to keep a running balance of debts, Splitwise does that.
Is Splitwise free?
It is free with ads and a daily limit on the free plan. Pro removes ads and adds unlimited expenses, receipt scanning, currency conversion, charts and search; the App Store lists it at $2.99 to $4.99 a month or $29.99 to $39.99 a year, depending on country.
Can a couple use Spendy without a joint bank account?
Yes. Spendy shares the budget, not the balance, and it never connects to a bank. Each of you keeps your own accounts and enters expenses by hand.
Sources
Prices and features checked on October 7, 2026. Vendors change them; confirm on their pages before you buy.
Related
Free to use. Share with up to 3 people at no cost.