Settl vs Splitwise
Both apps keep score when friends share money. The difference is how an expense gets in. Splitwise gives you a well-tested form. Settl is a voice-first expense-splitting app: you say what happened, and your AI agent builds the expense for you.
The short version
| What | Splitwise | Settl |
|---|---|---|
| Adding an expense | Type into a form | Say it, scan it, describe it in chat, or type it |
| Messy splits | Sliders, percentages, shares | Describe it in words: "make Dev's share double" |
| Receipts | Attach to an expense | Scan + Describe: photo plus one line of context builds the split |
| Multi-currency trips | Supported | Log in any currency; converted live, original kept on record |
| Settling up | Simplified debts | Fewest-transfers routing, walked through person by person |
| Platforms | iOS, Android, web | iPhone and Android |
| Switching | CSV export of your data | Imports that Splitwise CSV, members matched, balances rebuilt |
Splitwise details reflect its publicly documented features at the time of writing; check splitwise.com for current plans.
What Splitwise still does better
An honest comparison starts here. Splitwise has been at this for over a decade: it has a web app, an ecosystem of integrations, and years of polish across edge cases. It has a huge install base, which matters when the whole point is getting your friends on the same ledger. If your group lives in Splitwise and it works for you, that is a fine place to be.
What Settl changes
Settl's bet is that the ledger was never the hard part. The hard part is that logging a shared coffee takes a form, and so half the expenses never get logged. Settl replaces the form with a sentence:
- Voice, in any language. Hold the mic and say "I paid 84.40 for sushi with Alice, Maya and Dev." Settl pulls out the amount, the people, and the currency, and shows you the expense to confirm.
- Scan + Describe. Photograph the receipt and add one line, like "Mike had the alcohol, split the food evenly." Settl reads the line items and proposes the right split.
- Chat for the messy ones. Uneven shares, someone covered a round, one person had extra. Describe it and Settl asks a follow-up if anything is unclear.
- Review before save. Every voice or scan action is shown on screen before it saves. Nothing is logged silently.
- Manual entry, always. Typing an expense by hand is free, works offline, and never sends content to any AI provider.
Switching from Splitwise
You do not have to start from zero. Splitwise lets you export a group's data as a CSV file. Settl imports that file: it reads the expenses, matches member names and asks you to confirm who is who, and rebuilds the group with balances intact. Your history comes with you, and you confirm every step before anything is saved.
Common questions
Can I import my Splitwise data into Settl?
Yes. Export your data from Splitwise as a CSV, then import it in Settl. Settl reads the file, matches member names (and asks you to confirm who is who), and rebuilds your groups, expenses, and balances. You review everything before it saves.
Is Settl free like Splitwise?
Adding and splitting expenses by hand is free for everyone in Settl. The AI features (voice logging, receipt scanning, spending questions) cost money to run, so they are likely to become part of a paid plan. As a launch offer, the first 1,000 users get those AI features free for one year from signup, subject to fair-usage limits and our terms.
What does Splitwise have that Settl does not?
A web app, an ecosystem of integrations, and years of polish. Settl is newer and mobile-only. If you rely on those, Splitwise remains a solid choice. Settl's bet is on the input: describing an expense out loud or in a photo instead of tapping through a form. See also our voice expense tracker page for how the voice side works.
Try the one-sentence version
Free to start on iPhone and Android. Import your Splitwise history and keep every balance.