homie vs Splitwise: Which Is Better for Your Household?

If you've ever shared a home with anyone, you've probably used Splitwise. It's been the default expense-splitting app for over a decade, and it's good at what it does. But it only handles money, and most households need help with more than just who owes what.

I built homie to take a different approach: one app for expenses, shopping lists, chores, and a shared calendar. So yeah, I'm biased, but I'll try to be honest about where Splitwise still wins.

The Quick Answer

Splitwise is the better choice if expense tracking is your only problem and your roommates already have it installed. It's mature, widely adopted, and does that one thing really well. I genuinely respect the product.

homie is the better choice if you're tired of the patchwork: Splitwise for expenses, a shared note for groceries, a group chat for chore nagging. homie handles all of it in one place with real-time sync.

Feature-by-Feature Breakdown

Where Splitwise Wins

Expense splitting depth

Splitwise has had over a decade to refine its expense engine, and it shows. Percentage-based splits, shares, exact amounts, multi-currency conversions. It handles edge cases that I frankly haven't built yet. If you travel with friends and need to split a dinner in euros while your group settles in dollars, Splitwise does that without breaking a sweat.

User base

Millions of active users means Splitwise is often already on your roommates' phones. That network effect is a real advantage, possibly their biggest one. No convincing required.

Payment integrations

Settling up through PayPal or Venmo directly from Splitwise is convenient. You see who owes what and pay without leaving the app.

Where homie Wins

The all-in-one approach

This is why I built homie in the first place. Most households need more than expense tracking. You need a grocery list that updates in real time, a chore rotation, and a way to coordinate schedules. With Splitwise, you end up cobbling together 3-4 different apps (or worse, a mix of group chats and sticky notes). With homie, it's all in one place.

Real-time sync

When your roommate adds "milk" to the shopping list while you're at the store, you see it instantly. When someone logs an expense, everyone's balance updates live. Splitwise's sync can have delays, which matters less for expenses but would be critical for features like shared lists.

Pricing

Both apps are ad-supported in their free tiers. Splitwise locks receipt scanning behind the $4.99/month Pro plan. homie includes all core features, including receipt photos, in the free tier. This matters when you're trying to convince four roommates to all install something.

Modern design

I'm obviously biased here. But Splitwise's layout hasn't changed significantly in years, and it shows. homie has dark and light themes, a dashboard that surfaces what matters, and a design language that feels like it was built recently. Because it was.

When to Use Which

So Which One?

Splitwise is an excellent expense tracker. Genuinely. There's a reason it's been the standard for so long. But if your household's coordination problems go beyond "who owes what" (and they probably do) you're going to end up juggling multiple apps anyway. The bet I'm making with homie is that combining everything into one app reduces friction enough that your whole household actually uses it. Slightly fewer expense features, but a much broader toolkit. For most households, I think that's the right trade.