Amigos vs Splitwise for Group Trips: An Honest Comparison
Splitwise is the app most people already know for splitting costs, and for a lot of situations it's a great choice. But people planning a group trip often go looking for an alternative, usually after hitting the free plan's daily expense limit halfway through a busy vacation day. We make Amigos, so we're biased. This page tries to be straight about where each app fits, including where Splitwise is the better pick.
The short answer
- Use Amigos for a single trip with a clear start and end: a group vacation, a bachelor or bachelorette weekend, a ski trip, a shared Airbnb, or a family trip with kids. It's free with no expense limit, friends can join in a browser, and families are counted by headcount.
- Use Splitwise for ongoing shared costs (roommates, a couple's household bills), trips that mix several currencies, or if you want to import card transactions. Those are things Splitwise does and Amigos doesn't.
Side by side
| Amigos | Splitwise (free) | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free, with a paid Pro plan |
| Expenses per day | No limit | Capped per day on free; Pro advertises unlimited expenses |
| Ads | None | Free plan shows ads; Pro is ad-free |
| Receipt photos | Snap a receipt; it reads the total and keeps the photo with the expense | Receipt scanning is a Pro feature |
| Itemized bills | Yes, assign items on a bill to people | Itemization from receipts is a Pro feature |
| Families and plus-ones | Set each person's adults and kids once; shared costs are weighted by headcount | Split by shares on each expense; saved default splits are a Pro feature |
| Who was in on each expense | Yes | Yes |
| Joining | 6-character code or email invite; works in any browser, no password | Invite by email or link; friends use the Splitwise app or website |
| Multiple currencies | No, one currency per trip | Yes; currency conversion is a Pro feature |
| Ongoing groups (rent, bills) | Not designed for it | Yes, this is its strength |
| Card transaction import | No | Pro, US only |
| After the trip | Leader ends the trip; it locks and anyone unsettled gets a weekly reminder email | Balances stay in the group until settled |
| Moves money | No, settle up with Venmo, Zelle, cash, etc. | No |
Splitwise details are from its own Pro page as of October 2026. Splitwise doesn't publish the exact free daily limit, and users report it at around three to five expenses a day. Plans change, so check splitwise.com for current terms.
Why trips are where the daily limit hurts
At home, most groups add an expense or two a day. On a trip it's breakfast, gas, parking, a boat rental, groceries, dinner, and a round of drinks, often all in one day and often paid by different people. A cap that never matters for roommates can matter by lunchtime on day two of a vacation. If you've hit it, you either wait until tomorrow, try to remember everything later, or pay for Pro.
Families and couples on the same trip
Mixed groups are the other common sticking point: a family of four, a couple, and two solo friends sharing a house. Splitting dinner five ways overcharges the solo friends and undercharges the family. In Splitwise you can fix that with shares on each expense. In Amigos you set each person's adults and kids once when they join, and every shared expense is weighted by headcount automatically. You can still leave people out of anything they skipped.
Getting everyone on board
The hardest part of any expense app on a trip is getting the last person to sign up. Amigos lets friends join from a link or a short code in whatever browser they have, and sign-in is a one-tap email link with no password. There's a native iPhone app for people who want it, but nobody has to install anything.
Where Splitwise is genuinely better
If you live with roommates and split rent, utilities, and groceries month after month, Splitwise is built for exactly that, and Amigos isn't. The same goes for a trip across several countries where people pay in different currencies and you want conversion handled for you: Amigos tracks one currency per trip. And if you want card transactions pulled in automatically, that's a Splitwise Pro feature with no Amigos equivalent.
Planning a trip?
Amigos is free, with no expense limit and no ads. Create a trip, share the code, and everyone logs what they paid. At the end it shows a short list of who pays whom.
Start a free tripCommon questions
Is there a free Splitwise alternative with no daily expense limit?
Yes. Amigos is free with no daily expense limit and no ads. Splitwise's free plan caps how many expenses you can add per day (Splitwise Pro advertises unlimited expenses), which tends to bite on trips where a group logs many expenses in one day.
Do my friends need to download an app to use Amigos?
No. Friends join a trip with a 6-character code or an email invite and can use the web app in any browser, on iPhone or Android. There's also a native iPhone app. Sign-in is a one-tap email link, no password.
When is Splitwise a better choice than Amigos?
For ongoing shared costs like rent and utilities with roommates, for groups that need several currencies with conversion, or if you want to import card transactions. Amigos is built around a single trip with a start and an end, and it tracks one currency.
Does Amigos send or collect money?
No. Like Splitwise, it works out who owes whom, and people settle up with whatever they already use, such as Venmo, Zelle, Cash App, PayPal, or cash.