Guide
A Splitwise alternative for projects and co-founders
Splitwise answers one question well: who owes whom. A project has a second question it does not cover: who owns the domain, the hosting account and the recovery email. If you only need the first, keep Splitwise.
Not legal, tax or financial advice. I build WhoOwnsWhat.xyz, so I have a stake in this comparison. I kept the Splitwise facts to what its own help pages say, checked on 28 Oct 2026. Plans change, so check them before you decide.
The short answer
For rent, trips and dinners, Splitwise is built for that and I would not move. For a side project with two or more co-founders, I'd pick by the question you are stuck on.
- "Who owes whom this month?" Splitwise, a shared sheet or a project ledger all work.
- "Who can recover the domain if one of us disappears?" None of the Splitwise features in the next section cover it. You need a record of owners, payers and recovery routes next to the costs.
What Splitwise gives you, per its own pages
Splitwise's help centre says free users can add up to 4 expenses each day. Subscribing to Splitwise Pro lifts that limit. It also lists these Pro features:
- unlimited expenses
- search across all expenses
- currency conversion of group or friend expenses
- receipt scanning and itemization
- spending charts by category
- default splits
- transaction import from a linked card, only in select countries
Every item on that list is about expenses. Nothing on it records who owns an account or who holds the recovery email. That is not a flaw. Splitwise was not built for it.
A project with five tools adds a handful of expenses a month, so I'd expect the 4-a-day limit to rarely matter. It would matter if you backfilled a year of invoices in one sitting.
Splitwise vs a shared sheet vs a project ledger
| Question | Splitwise | Shared sheet | Project ledger (WhoOwnsWhat.xyz) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who owes whom? | Yes, that is its job | Yes, if you build the formulas. Our free ledger sheet has them | Yes, with unequal shares too |
| Free tier | Up to 4 expenses a day | No limit | Free for one project and two people. See the pricing for bigger teams |
| Who owns each account, and who can recover it? | Not part of the listed features | A column you add and keep up to date | Owner, payer, backup and recovery route per account |
| Renewal dates | Not part of the listed features | A column, no reminders | Recorded dates and a warning for assets with no backup admin |
| Handover when someone leaves | No | You write the list yourself | Transfer list and handover packet from the account record |
| Receipt scanning, charts | Pro | Your own charts | No receipt scanning |
| Holds your money? | Check its terms | No | No. You pay each other through Revolut, PayPal or Wise |
Where the table says "not part of the listed features", I mean the Pro list above. I did not test the Splitwise app, so I am not claiming it can never do these things.
A worked example (illustrative)
Matt, Ana and Sam run a project and split costs three ways. The numbers are made up.
- Bills: domain 12 (Matt), hosting 24 (Ana), AI plan 20 (Sam), design tool 16 (Matt).
- Total: 12 + 24 + 20 + 16 = 72, so each share is 24.
- Paid: Matt 28, Ana 24, Sam 20.
- Balance: Matt is owed 4, Ana is even, Sam owes 4. Sam sends Matt 4.
Every option in the table gets you that far. The difference shows up later. Matt registered the domain under his personal email and paid with his own card. Splitwise shows he is owed money. It does not show that the project's domain depends on him. Try your own numbers in the cost split calculator.
When I would keep Splitwise
- You split rent, trips, dinners or anything else that is not a project.
- You already use it, and the project is just two of you with three subscriptions.
- You want receipt scanning or charts by category.
When a project ledger fits better
- You are three or more people, and each of you pays for different tools.
- Accounts sit under personal emails and nobody has written down who can recover what.
- You want to hand a project over, or lose a co-founder, without a scramble.
You can also use both: Splitwise for the money, and the access audit for who controls what. Start with the audit if the money side is already fine.
Do it with AI
Check what your tool leaves out
Paste your list of project tools and see which ones have no recorded owner or backup.
I run a side project with [NUMBER] co-founders. Below is a list of the tools we pay for. For each tool, ask me: who owns the account, who pays, which email recovers it, and whether a second person is an admin. Then list the tools where any answer is "nobody" or "I don't know" and tell me what to fix first. Do not ask for passwords. Tools: [PASTE HERE]
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free alternative to Splitwise for a side project?
Yes. A shared sheet has no expense limit, and our free project ledger sheet already has the split formulas. The WhoOwnsWhat.xyz app is free for one project and two people.
What is the Splitwise free limit?
Splitwise's help centre says free users can add up to 4 expenses each day. I checked on 28 Oct 2026. Check its current page, because limits can change.
Can Splitwise track who owns the domain or hosting account?
It is not on the list of Pro features Splitwise publishes. Keep a separate record of the owner, payer and recovery email for each account. The access audit takes about ten minutes.
Is WhoOwnsWhat.xyz a Splitwise replacement?
For project costs, yes. For rent, trips or dinners, no. It is built for co-founders and project teams, and it records account ownership as well as who paid.
Does WhoOwnsWhat.xyz hold our money?
No. You pay each other directly, through Revolut, PayPal or Wise. The app only keeps the score.
Can we use a Google Sheet instead of any app?
Yes. Add columns for the account owner, the recovery email and the renewal date, and update them when something changes. The sheet will not remind you, so someone has to own that job.
How do we split costs when shares are not equal?
Multiply the month's total by each person's share, then subtract what they paid. The guide to splitting SaaS costs has a 60/40 example.
Sources
- Splitwise help centre: What is Splitwise Pro?, checked 28 Oct 2026.
- Splitwise Pro, checked 28 Oct 2026.
- Splitwise help: Why am I seeing an expense limit?, checked 28 Oct 2026.
Related
- Cost split calculator
- Free project ledger sheet
- How to split SaaS costs between co-founders
- Who owns the domain when co-founders split up?
- Access audit
Log a cost once and see who owes whom, and who owns what.