Tech
The 7 Best Apps For Splitting Bills
Never do the math by hand again.
Now that apps like Venmo and Zelle exist at our finger tips, splitting bills has become even easier to accomplish with out any awkward “grabbing the check” moment at the end of dinner. That age old issue can quickly be solved with an, “I’ll Venmo you.” No more feeling horrible for being out of cash at the cash-only bar, or hunting down your friends to repay them for your almost-forgotten debts.
Still, while splitting bills in itself may have become easier, there’s some aspects of splitting that still require some legwork. See: Doing the math to account for your friend’s eight margaritas at happy hour when your sober-curious friend just bought tortilla chips, remembering to pay for that split Uber you promised, etc.
Luckily, there are plenty of apps out there that can help with calculating the cost of split bills, sending payment reminders, and even automatically dividing costs for you.
1Splitwise
Splitwise is probably the best app out there for sharing expenses because it is ridiculously easy to use, it's free, and it can work for so many things (rent, bills, vacations, even just going out to eat). The app allows you to keep a running tab of who owes money to who without having to pay immediately.
There are a few different features that are worth pointing out. You can create groups with various friends and divide up what each person owes. All your shared expenses and IOUs are organized in one place and everyone can see what they owe. The best thing about it is that it calculates continuously, until you're ready to settle up, so the balance will go up and down as you pay or borrow money. Splitwise sends reminders over time. Then, once you settle up, you can easily pay through Venmo or Paypal directly through the app. Genius!
Splitwise is available for free on the App Store and Google Play.
2Settle Up
SettleUp is another excellent app similar to Splitwise. It's not free, and costs $1.99 for iOS and Android users. It works for a few different situations and can split payments evenly based on the amounts or you can select individual amounts for each person to pay. There are share functions so that you can send expenses via e-mail, social media, or WhatsApp. The expenses get backed up and synced for everyone in the group to see.
One big advantage of using SettleUp is if you're traveling internationally with friends or living abroad. It can add the day's local exchange rate to the transaction.
If you pay for the app (you don't have to, you'll just see ads), you can also upload photos of receipts and customize groups by color.
SettleUp is available for free on the App Store and Google Play.
3Divvy
Divvy is more suitable for those times you go out to eat with friends, or if you purchase something together that comes with a receipt. It costs $1.99 and is available for iOS or Android. You take a picture of your receipt and upload it to Divvy. The app then automatically splits it up, including tip and tax. It has a cool drag and drop feature that allows you to drag each item on the receipt to the person who will be paying for it — this is ideal for people who get very nit-picky about splitting checks.
Divvy is available for free on the App Store and Google Play.
4IOU
IOU is a debt manager app that costs $3.99. It allows you to keep track of all of your debts to friends. You can upload expenses and share them with people if needed, and also send each other email reminders about payments. You can add recurring IOUs for monthly bills, and you can also create payment plans so that someone can pay you back in smaller increments over time. This makes it super easy to manage payments and debts without the awkwardness of talking about it.
IOU is available for $3.99 on the App Store and Google Play.
5Venmo
Venmo is pretty much ubiquitous by now, so you likely either already use Venmo every day or have had to explain to your friends every weekend why you refuse to download it. Essentially, Venmo is a free app that allows you to pay people through your phone. Connect your bank account to the app, then send payments to friends through it. You can send them reminders about what they owe you as well. You can then transfer your balance into your account, or keep it in the app to use as a balance to pay others.
Venmo is especially compatible with Uber — which makes splitting costs that much more simple. If you connect your Venmo to Uber and/or Uber Eats, every time you make a payment on Uber with your Venmo account you’ll have an option to split the cost with someone via Venmo. So, the next time you grab an Uber, or order takeout from Uber Eats, pay with your Venmo account so that you can split it with friends with the click of a button.
Venmo is available for free on the App Store and Google Play.
6Splitrr
Splitrr is free, easy to use, and works offline. It allows you to upload costs and choose even or uneven splitting among friends. If you want to see a history of debts, you can generate a PDF and email it to your roomies for their records. It syncs with your friends, and doesn't even require a log-in. It also allows you to analyze your expenses, which is pretty useful.
7Zelle
If you’re sick of having to transfer your Venmo balance to your bank account, or have a fee when you use your card on Venmo, Zelle is another great option for splitting charges. The app works directly with many leading banks and credit unions in the U.S., with many banks even having Zelle built into their banking app. All you need is your friend’s phone number or email address to send or request money to them directly to and from your bank account.
Zelle is available for free on the App Store and Google Play.
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