Splitwise's core function is splitting shared expenses between people, not moving money itself. When someone adds an expense, they can divide it equally, by exact amounts, by percentages, or by shares, and the app tracks a running balance of who owes whom.
Splitwise's "Simplify Debts" feature is the actual differentiator: rather than settling every debt individually pairwise, it calculates the minimum number of payments needed to net out a whole group's balances. Splitwise itself does not process transfers -- settling up means either marking a debt as paid manually or, in supported cases, routing through a linked PayPal account, not a general built-in payment rail.
- Splits can be divided equally, by exact amount, by percentage, or by share, not just evenly
- Simplify Debts minimizes the number of payments needed to settle a whole group, rather than settling every pair individually
- Splitwise tracks balances only; money movement outside PayPal settle-up happens elsewhere and must be marked paid manually
Use cases
Introduction: Start with a clean Splitwise ledger
- Upload a batch of receipts to Splitwise and auto classify them
- Assign each expense to a group in Splitwise
- Reconcile Splitwise balances with your bank statements
- Export the Splitwise data for closing the books
- Review and approve Splitwise adjustments from teammates
- Notify collaborators about changes using Splitwise alerts
- Archive finalized splits in Splitwise
- Audit split history within Splitwise for compliance
Closing: Confirm all entries in Splitwise before fiscal close