Introducing SplitWise Lite: Split Expenses Without the Hassle

You're on a trip with friends. Someone pays for dinner. Someone else covers the hotel. Gas gets split three ways. By the end, nobody knows who owes what.

Sound familiar?

Expense splitting apps exist for this exact problem. But they come with baggage:

Sign-up walls — Create an account before you can do anything
Usage limits — "Free" means 3 expenses per day
Privacy concerns — Your financial data lives on their servers
Subscription fatigue — Another $5/month for basic features

We built SplitWise Lite to do one thing well: split expenses between friends. No accounts. No servers. No subscriptions.

What Is SplitWise Lite?

SplitWise Lite is a web app that runs entirely in your browser. When you add an expense, it stays on your device—in localStorage, not on a server somewhere.

The core features:

Create groups for trips, roommates, events
Add expenses with flexible split options
See balances instantly
Get settlement suggestions that minimize payments
Export data whenever you want

That's it. Simple by design.

Open the app. Create a group. Add members by name. Start tracking.

There's no "Create Account" button because there's no account. No email verification. No password to remember. No "Sign in with Google."

Your friend wants to join? Just add their name to the group. They don't need to install anything or create their own account.

Your Data Stays Local

Every expense you add lives in your browser's localStorage. It never touches our servers because there are no servers involved.

This means:

Complete privacy — We can't see your data even if we wanted to
Works offline — No internet? No problem
No data breaches — Nothing to breach when nothing is stored
Instant loading — Data is already on your device

If you want to backup your data, export it as JSON. If you want to move to a new device, import that file. Simple.

Actually Free

SplitWise Lite is free. Not "free with limits" or "free for 14 days." Just free.

✅ Unlimited groups
✅ Unlimited expenses
✅ Unlimited members
✅ All features included
✅ No ads
✅ Forever

The original Splitwise limits free users to 3 expenses per day. We don't.

Smart Expense Splitting

Flexible Splits

When you add an expense, choose how to split it:

Even — Divide equally among everyone
Exact amounts — Specify what each person owes
Percentages — Split by custom percentages
Selective — Only include specific members

Most apps only do even splits. Real life is messier.

Debt Simplification

After a week-long trip, the "who owes whom" web gets complicated:

Alice owes Bob $20
Bob owes Carol $35
Carol owes Alice $15
And so on...

Our algorithm simplifies this automatically. Instead of 6 transactions, maybe you need 2. The app calculates the optimal settlement path.

Instant Calculations

Add an expense, see the balance update immediately. No loading spinners. No server round-trips.

Processing time for a group of 50 people with 200 expenses? Under 80 milliseconds.

Offline-First PWA

SplitWise Lite is a Progressive Web App. Install it on your home screen and use it like a native app.

Works Anywhere

On a plane with no WiFi
At a cabin with no cell service
In another country without data roaming

Your expense tracking doesn't stop because the internet did.

Install Once

Add to home screen on iOS or Android. It launches full-screen, loads instantly, and feels native.

No app store download. No updates to manage. Always the latest version.

Clean Design

We went with a dark theme and glassmorphism aesthetics:

Emerald/teal gradients that feel modern but readable
Smooth animations using Framer Motion
Card-based layouts with subtle depth
Mobile-first but works great on desktop

The interface stays out of your way. Add expense. See balance. Done.

How It Works

1. Create a Group

Give it a name: "Goa Trip 2025" or "Apartment 4B Expenses"

2. Add Members

Type names. That's it. "Rahul" "Priya" "Amit" — no emails required.

3. Log Expenses

Who paid? Select the payer
How much? Enter the amount
Split how? Even, exact, or percentage
What for? Add a description

4. Settle Up

When the trip ends, check the settlements tab:

"Rahul pays Priya ₹1,250"
"Amit pays Priya ₹750"

Two transactions instead of the dozen individual debts that accumulated.

Technical Under the Hood

For developers curious about the stack:

Next.js 16 with App Router
TypeScript throughout
TailwindCSS v4 for styling
shadcn/ui for accessible components
Framer Motion for animations
localStorage with versioned schema

The balance calculation uses a two-phase algorithm:

Compute net balance per member (paid minus owed)
Apply greedy optimization to minimize transaction count

Complexity: O(E + M log M) where E = expenses and M = members.

Who Is This For?

Travelers

You're already stressed about flights and hotels. Don't add "who owes what" to the list.

Roommates

Utilities. Groceries. Toilet paper. Track it all without creating a shared bank account.

Friend Groups

Split concert tickets. Pool money for a gift. Track bar tabs.

Anyone Who Values Privacy

If you don't want a company knowing how much you spent on dinner last Tuesday, this is for you.

Why We Built This

We use expense splitting apps. We got frustrated:

"Why do I need an account to track 4 expenses?"
"Why is my financial data on some server?"
"Why is there a daily limit on the free tier?"

So we built the app we wanted to use.

SplitWise Lite is opinionated:

Local-first — Your data belongs on your device
Simple — Do one thing well
Free — No artificial limits
Private — No tracking, no analytics

Export Your Data

Worried about losing data? Export it:

Go to settings
Click "Export Data"
Save the JSON file

That file contains every group, member, and expense. Import it on another device or keep it as a backup.

We don't lock you in. If a better app comes along, take your data and go.

Try It Now

No account to create. No app to download. Just open the link:

👉 splitwise-lite.jagodana.com

Create a group in 30 seconds. Add your first expense. See how simple it should have been all along.

Built by Jagodana

SplitWise Lite is part of our portfolio of developer tools and web applications. We build software that's fast, private, and actually useful.

See Our Other Projects →

Have feedback? Found a bug? Open an issue on GitHub.