Pennypoke vs Splitwise: the privacy-first alternative
Splitwise is the default group expense splitter for a reason: it works, and it's been around since 2011. The trade-offs are the trade-offs of any standard SaaS — an account for everyone in the group, your data on their servers, mobile banner ads on the free tier, a daily expense cap with a cooldown, and a Pro upsell at $5 / month or $40 / year per user that lifts both. None of that is unreasonable; it's just a particular set of choices.
Pennypoke leans the other way. No account required. No data on our servers unless you ask for it. No ads. No daily cap. The whole product opens in your browser as a mobile-first PWA. Here's the side-by-side.
The short version
| Splitwise | Pennypoke | |
|---|---|---|
| Free-tier limits | Daily expense cap with a short cooldown; Pro lifts both | No daily cap, no cooldown, no paywall |
| Pro pricing | $5 / month or $40 / year per user (US, verified Apr 30, 2026) | Splitter is free; Pro $9.99 / mo or $59.99 lifetime is for the Telegram bot only |
| Ads | Banner ads on the free mobile tier | None. Anywhere. Ever. |
| Account required | Yes, for everyone in the group | Optional. Local-only mode in your browser by default. |
| Friends need to install | Push to install the iOS/Android app; web is also available | No. Open the invite link in any browser. |
| Invite by chat link | Group share link works; recipients still need a Splitwise account | Open link; anyone signs in with whatever email and joins |
| Where data lives | Splitwise's servers | Your browser by default; sync only if you choose |
| Privacy posture | Standard SaaS: account, sessions, analytics | No IPs, no analytics, no device fingerprints, no audit logs |
| Data export | CSV from web dashboard | JSON self-serve (GDPR Article 20) on the Account page |
| Settle-up suggestions | Yes | Yes, minimum-transfers algorithm |
Splitwise pricing verified April 30, 2026 on splitwise.com/pro. Free-tier limit shape verified the same day on the Splitwise help center. We re-check monthly.
Where Splitwise is still better
- Native mobile app polish. Splitwise has a real iOS and Android app with offline mode and home-screen widgets. Pennypoke is a mobile-first PWA that you add to your home screen for an icon, but it lives in the browser.
- Card-charge integrations. Splitwise has historical depth on automatic card linking and bill scanning. Pennypoke focuses on manual expense entry, which is faster than people expect, but you won't get auto-imported bank charges.
- Network effects. Most of your friends probably already have a Splitwise account from a past trip. New people you split with will need to install it once. Switching to Pennypoke means they need to open a link, but they don't need to install anything — trade-off, not a clear win.
Where Pennypoke is clearly better
- No daily cap, no cooldown. Splitwise's free tier limits how fast you can add expenses; Pennypoke does not. The thing the app exists to do is the thing you can do all of, for free.
- No ads. Splitwise's mobile free tier shows banner ads. Pennypoke shows none. Anywhere. Ever.
- Friends don't need an account or an app. Tap your invite link, sign in with whatever email, you're in. Local-only mode means you can even create a group entirely without anyone signing in.
- Privacy posture. No IPs stored. No user agents. No geolocation. No device fingerprints. No analytics events. No audit log. Read the privacy policy; it lists every byte we hold.
- Self-serve data export. Article 20 GDPR. Tap a button on the Account page, get a JSON file with everything you've ever logged. No "contact support to request your data".
- Two products in one. Pennypoke also includes a Telegram bot for solo expense logging that writes directly to a Google Sheet you own. If you split bills with friends AND track personal spending in a spreadsheet, one brand covers both.
How invite links work in Pennypoke
This is the part Splitwise charges you to make easy. In Pennypoke, every group has two ways to add a member:
- Share a link. Tap Invite, copy the URL. Paste it in your group's WhatsApp / Telegram / SMS / iMessage thread. The first person to open it signs in with their email, picks a display name, joins. The link works for 7 days and can be reused by multiple people in the same group chat.
- Email an invitation. Type your friend's email address, tap Send. Brevo (our EU-hosted email provider) sends them a one-time link. They sign in with that email to claim it.
Both methods land them on a "Join Trip to Lisbon" page where they pick how their name should show up in the group, then they're a member. No app to install, no account migration, no "sign up to see what your friend wants to share with you" wall.
Pricing detail
Pennypoke's free tier covers what you actually want from a splitter: unlimited groups, unlimited members, unlimited expenses, all the split methods (equal, by share, by amount, by percentage), settle-up suggestions, and the open invite links. If you only ever use the splitter, you never need to pay.
The paid tiers unlock features in the Telegram bot — the secondary product for solo expense logging into a Google Sheet. Pro at $9.99/month gives unlimited bot entries (free tier is 20/month) plus receipt photo OCR. Lifetime at $59.99 once is a launch offer through July 31, 2026; same Pro features for the lifetime of the service. Both sold via Polar Software Inc. as Merchant of Record.
So:
- You only split bills with friends → Free, forever.
- You split bills AND want unlimited solo expense logging to your Sheet → Pro or Lifetime.
- Splitwise's equivalent for the same usage shape is Splitwise Pro at $5 / month or $40 / year per user, for as long as you keep paying.
Verdict
If you're a long-time Splitwise Pro user with deep history and tight group network effects, the cost of switching is real. Stay where you are. If you're a free-tier user bouncing into the daily cap mid-trip, or you're tired of mobile banner ads, or you're trying to split with someone who refuses to make yet another account: Pennypoke is the version that leans privacy-first and doesn't ask for an install.
Try it for one trip. If it sticks, you've also bought yourself a smaller account-and-server footprint than the Splitwise account you'd have signed up for instead.
FAQ
Can I import my Splitwise groups into Pennypoke?
Splitwise lets you export a group's transactions to CSV from their web dashboard. Pennypoke has an import flow at pennypoke-app.pages.dev/import that reads Splitwise CSVs and recreates the group on your device.
What happens to balances we already had in Splitwise?
If you import via CSV, Pennypoke recreates the group state from the row history. Existing balances roll forward. From there, anything new logs in Pennypoke; you stop logging new expenses in Splitwise. Eventually the Splitwise group goes idle.
Does Pennypoke do automatic currency conversion?
The splitter uses a single currency per group (set when you create it). For trips that span currencies, log expenses in the trip currency — that's how most groups already work. The Telegram bot side handles 38 currencies for solo expense logging into Google Sheets.
How do you make money if the splitter is free?
Honest answer: people who use the splitter and also want unlimited solo expense logging to a Google Sheet via Telegram pay for Pro or Lifetime. People who only split bills cost us almost nothing because the data lives in their browser; they're a brand-recognition investment. We're a sole-trader operation in Lithuania, not a venture-funded growth-at-all-costs business; the math works at very modest paid-conversion rates.
What if Pennypoke shuts down?
Local-only groups never left your browser; they stay there. Signed-in groups have a self-serve JSON export on the Account page (GDPR Article 20). The Telegram bot writes to your own Google Sheet; the Sheet is yours. There's nothing held hostage.