Splitwise dominates its category, but a few Indian founders want to disrupt it

Founded in 2011 by Jonathan Bittner, Marshall Weir and Ryan Laughlin, Splitwise is a US-based expense-sharing platform with over 10 million Android downloads globally (data for iOS downloads was not available). The app allows users to log shared expenses, track individual contributions and settle debts without the hassle of manual calculations.

Prabhu’s now-viral tweet—nearing a million views—indicates that Splitwise is perhaps the go-to app for expense tracking among young urban Indians. Between December 2024 and February 2025, India accounted for 13.71% of the platform’s website traffic—the second-highest after the US, which led with 32.4%, according to data from analytics firm Similarweb.

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But a cursory glance at social media reveals it’s more than that—it’s a cultural phenomenon. It appears in travel reels, fuels tweets linking credit scores to unpaid Splitwise debts, and inspires Spotify Wrapped-style spending analysis among users who assign a personality type to their friends based on how they use the app.

Its popularity persists despite major payment platforms like Google Pay incorporating group bill-splitting features. Even with its limitations, which have driven some users to seek alternatives or develop their solutions, Splitwise continues to be the top choice for Indian Gen Z and millennial roommates, co-workers, couples and travel buddies.

Shreevar Chhotaria, 27, has been using Splitwise since 2017 when he was a college student in Pune, sharing a rented apartment with five friends. “Every expense went on the app—groceries, house help salaries, group trips. Splitwise was like our seventh roommate," says the marketing professional. It helps sidestep the awkwardness of asking people to pay up. “I’d just say, ‘Clear my Splitwise,’ instead of saying the more uncomfortable, ‘You owe me money’," he says.

Over the years, Splitwise has become more than just an expense tracker for Chhotaria. “It feels like a memory log now," he says. “It reminds me of the group trips I took, where and what we ate, even the day we bought our first microwave in that rented apartment back in college."

Splitwise has made trip planning easier for Gauri Bansal, a product and strategy manager at a consumer internet company. A user for nearly a decade, she, too, discovered the app in college. “While I enjoy organising travel, I wouldn’t take on the role of the orchestrator of a trip without the app," she admits. “It takes off the burden of accountability of the individual and puts it on the entire group to some extent."

As a product leader, however, Bansal sees its flaws. The first issue is with group creation itself—it’s not intuitive. “The option sits in the top right corner instead of a tab at the bottom of the screen,where it makes discovery simpler and removes unnecessary friction." The premium upgrade prompt is another frustration. It appears when adding multiple expenses in a row, forcing a 10-second delay before the next entry. Free users are also limited to just four or five entries per day.

“Forcing every user through the same friction threshold is a bad idea," says Bansal. Tracking expenses among flatmates is a regular activity, while group trips are occasional. Yet, the app throws the same restrictions at both sets of users. The real problem, says Bansal, is that “there’s just not enough value behind the paywall."

Splitwise did not respond to Mint’s queries, and there is no public data on how many users subscribe to its paid service, Splitwise Pro. Mint spoke with more than six Splitwise users across geographies, all were on the free version. Only one had a Pro user in their circle.

As its issues become more apparent, some users are turning to building and using homegrown alternatives.

One such app, Splitkaro, was founded by Bhuwan Bharat in 2019. Avinash Mishra joined as a co-founder in 2021 after years of urging Splitwise to improve certain features. “In a way, Splitwise pushed us to build Splitkaro because they never responded to my user feedback or fixed their issues," says Mishra, a former software engineer and product manager at MakeMyTrip. Splitkaro has over 50,000 monthly active users (MAUs), he claims. Bengaluru leads in user base, followed by Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad. It also has users in the US, he adds.

What makes Splitkaro better? “No limits on expense entries, no ads, fairest shares with the item-wise splitting of online and offline bills," Mishra says. The premium version offers analytics and automated expense tracking from SMS and UPI apps. Currently, around 2% of users opt for the paid plan, which costs ₹125 per month or ₹450 annually.

The startup is bootstrapped. Mishra says they avoided institutional funding after seeing similar apps struggle under investor pressure. Splitwise has over the years received a total of $30 million in VC funding, as per Tracxn, a global startup data platform.

“It’s tough to get people to pay for utility apps, but we’re betting on it. Group expense tracking is just the start—we want to be the go-to app for all things finance. The WhatsApp for finance," Mishra adds.

Devansh Gajjar’s journey to building Meris (Greek for ‘a portion’ or ‘division’) follows a familiar pattern. “It didn’t make sense to pay a premium to split expenses, so my friends and I decided to create our alternative," says the product designer, currently associated with an international company on contract as a product designer.

Originally built for personal use, Meris was co-founded by Gajjar, Pranshu Khanna, and Harsh Mehta less than a year ago. “When we announced it on Twitter, 300-400 people joined the waitlist within two weeks," he recalls. A few months later, they secured approval to launch on Apple’s App Store. Meris will be available on Android soon, says Gajjar.

While acknowledging Splitwise’s role in creating the market, Gajjar sees Meris as the next step. “We are the Slack to their Microsoft Teams," he says, positioning Meris as a sleeker, more modern alternative to a cumbersome Splitwise.

Atharva Kharbade, an early Meris user from Bengaluru, appreciates its Gen Z-focused design. “Besides the usual paywall issues, I find Splitwise’s payment reminders too aggressive, whereas Meris takes a gentler approach. Even its slogan reflects this ethos: Divide bills, not friends," he says.

Praveen Nagaraj, an Indian-American software engineer, plans to launch SplitShare, a Splitwise rival, in Q2 2025. Announcing it on X last week, he called Splitwise outdated and overpriced for basic features. Unlike other competitors, he has no monetisation plans. “There are so many free tools out there—I’m just following their footsteps. I love building useful tools," he says.

New alternatives may seem promising, but Splitwise dominates mindshare. Chhotaria, a longtime user, says, “I’m so used to the app despite some of its irritating aspects that you’d have to convince me a lot to switch."

Bansal believes people simply haven’t found a strong enough alternative. On a trip with European friends, she used Splitser, a Dutch equivalent, and found it worse. For these challengers then, the real hurdle isn’t just building a better app, it would be marketing the app to users already accustomed to Splitwise’s flaws and strengths.

SPLIT THE DIFFERENCE

Indian users are increasingly looking for apps that integrate with UPI and provide better localization. Group expense management is just the beginning—these startups aim to build broader personal finance tools.

Splitkaro

No entry limits; no ads, UPI-based tracking in premium plan

Meris

Gen Z-friendly design, iOS-first approach, plans for Android launch

Splitshare

Upcoming app with a free model, aiming to disrupt the space

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