Almost every group trip ends up running on two apps. One for planning, usually Wanderlog or a shared doc, and Splitwise for the money. People accept this as normal. It's really just habit, and it costs you more friction than you'd think.
This is a comparison of Splitwise and Trips Together, but it's really about that gap. Splitwise is good at one job. The question is whether one job is enough for a group trip.
One thing before we start: we build Trips Together, so take our bias into account. We've tried to be fair, and where Splitwise is the better fit we say so.
What Splitwise is actually for
Splitwise solves a specific, real problem. You went out, several people paid for different things, and now nobody can remember who owes who. You log each expense, say who paid and who shared it, and Splitwise nets it all out so you settle with the fewest possible transfers.
For housemates splitting bills, or a one-off dinner, it's great. The maths is clean and the settle-up screen removes the awkward "so, who's paying me back" conversation.
But notice what it doesn't touch. It has no idea where you're going. It isn't built to hold an itinerary, and it won't help your group decide between Lisbon and Seville, or vote on whether to do the boat trip. That's not a flaw, it's just not the job Splitwise set out to do. It handles the last twenty minutes of the trip, the settling up, and nothing before it.
The daily limit problem
Here's the part that catches people out mid-trip. Splitwise's free tier has, in recent years, limited the number of expenses you can add per day, with the cap sitting low enough that users regularly report hitting it. The exact limit has moved around, so check Splitwise's own pages for the current position, but the pattern users describe is the same: hit it, and you're prompted to upgrade or wait until tomorrow.
Think about when that bites. Not on a quiet week at home when you add one expense every few days. It bites on day three of a trip when you've got a breakfast, two taxis, a museum, lunch, and a group dinner all to log, and the app tells you you've maxed out. The exact moment the tool is most useful is the moment the free version stops cooperating.
Removing the cap means going Pro, which according to Splitwise's pricing is an annual subscription. So the realistic options are: pay for a year, ration your expense logging, or batch everything up and try to reconstruct it later, which is the very problem Splitwise was meant to solve.
If you're hunting for ways around this, I covered them honestly in splitting trip expenses without Splitwise's limits. Short version: the workarounds are clunky.
What Trips Together does differently
Trips Together starts from the other end. It's a group trip planner first, with expense splitting built into the same trip rather than bolted on through a second app.
So in one place, your group can:
- Suggest destinations and vote on them, instead of letting the loudest person decide
- Build a shared itinerary everyone can see and edit, always current
- Log expenses as they happen, with the split calculated automatically
The expense side does the thing Splitwise does (who paid, who owes what, settle up) but it lives next to the plan. When someone covers the group's dinner, it's logged against that trip, on that day, and the running balance is there for everyone. There's no separate app to open, no daily cap waiting to interrupt you, and no ads sitting between you and adding a taxi fare.
That's the actual pitch: one app instead of two, with no limit on logging the expenses that matter most when you're in the thick of it.
TripsTogether vs Splitwise side by side
| Splitwise | Trips Together | |
|---|---|---|
| Expense splitting | Yes (daily cap on free tier, at the time of writing) | Yes, no daily cap |
| Trip planning | None | Group voting and decisions |
| Shared itinerary | None | Live and shared |
| Destination voting | None | Yes |
| Apps your group needs | Two (planner + Splitwise) | One |
| Free tier usable on an active trip | Limited by daily cap | Yes |
Pricing and limits change, so check Splitwise's current page before assuming the cap still applies the same way. The structural point holds either way. Splitwise is the money layer alone.
Moving your group over
If you're switching, the easiest path is to do it at the start of a trip rather than mid-way. Set up the trip in Trips Together, add everyone, and use it for both the planning and the expenses from day one. You don't need to migrate old Splitwise history, because a trip is self-contained, so you just start fresh with the next one.
The bit people underestimate is getting the group to adopt anything new. The advantage here is that you're asking them to install one app instead of the two they'd otherwise juggle, and the planning features give them a reason to open it before the trip even starts.
What about other all-in-one apps?
Trips Together isn't the only app that does planning and expenses together now. Stippl is the other notable one: a free planner with budgeting and cost splitting built in, plus a social, document-your-travels layer. If you just want to stop running two apps and your group makes decisions easily, it's a fair option to consider alongside this. The difference, as of 2026, is that reviewers note Stippl doesn't have group polls or voting, whereas group decision-making is what Trips Together is built around. So both solve the two-app problem; they part ways on how the group actually decides things. I ranked the wider field, Stippl included, in the best group trip planning apps for 2026.
So, which one?
If you only ever need to split a bill and you never plan anything in an app, Splitwise is fine, and the free tier might be enough if you log lightly.
For an actual group trip, where there's a destination to agree on, an itinerary to share, and a week of expenses flying in, running Splitwise plus a separate planner is doing in two apps what one can handle. That's the whole reason Trips Together exists. And if the money side is your main worry, I broke down the before, during, and after of trip finances in the best group trip budget app.
Frequently asked questions
Does Splitwise plan trips?
No, planning isn't what it's for. Splitwise tracks shared expenses and works out who owes whom. It doesn't hold an itinerary, suggest destinations, or help a group make decisions, so most groups pair it with a separate planning app or a shared doc.
How many expenses can you add to Splitwise for free?
At the time of writing, Splitwise's free tier limits how many expenses you can add per day, and the exact cap has changed over time. Check Splitwise's own pricing page for the current number rather than trusting anything written down elsewhere, including here.
Can Trips Together replace Splitwise for a group trip?
For trips, that's exactly what it's designed to do. It covers the same who-paid-what splitting and settle-up, with no daily cap, and adds the planning side: destination voting, a shared itinerary, and group decisions in the same app. For non-trip uses like ongoing housemate bills, Splitwise remains the more natural fit.
Is Trips Together free?
Yes, it's free to start, and there's no daily limit on logging expenses during a trip.
See how Trips Together works, or plan and split your next trip in one app, free to start. Your group only has to download one thing.