Split the trip without making everyone join an app
Expense apps work when everyone installs one before the trip. If you just have a list afterwards, one person can settle it in minutes.
| Triptally | Shared expense apps | |
|---|---|---|
| Who needs it | One person, in a browser | Everyone in the group, with accounts |
| When | After the trip, from any list | Logged during the trip |
| Exchange rates | The rates you enter, per currency or expense | Often live rates, sometimes a paid feature |
| Price | Free: every person's balance, the settle-up and every flag. Pro: $7 for 7 days, $9/month or $49/year, paid by one person — not everyone in the group. | Varies |
Honest take: for a long trip where everyone logs as they go, an app is more convenient. Triptally is for settling a list you already have.
FAQ
Is my data uploaded?
No. Your files are read by JavaScript in your browser tab and never sent to us or anyone else. Expenses aren't stored, so closing the tab clears them. The home currency, rates, card fee and split can be saved in this browser if you ask; the trip name never is.
Which exchange rate should we use?
Whatever the group agrees. The fairest is usually what was actually charged: the rate on the payer's card statement for that expense (put it in the rate column). Otherwise use one agreed rate per currency for the whole trip. Triptally never looks rates up online, so the result doesn't change if you open it again next month.
How do I write the split?
all (or leave it blank) means everyone on the trip. Otherwise list names separated by semicolons: Ana; Ben; Chloe. Add :2 to count someone twice, for example a couple sharing a wallet. A single name other than the payer records a payment between people, like Ben paying Ana back.
How does the settle-up work?
Each person's balance is what they paid minus their share of every expense, in your home currency. The person who owes most pays the person owed most, then the next, until everyone is even — at most one payment fewer than the number of people.
How are the cents handled?
Each expense is converted to your home currency once and rounded to the cent, then split by rounding every share down and giving the leftover cents to the largest remainders, so shares always add up exactly to the expense. Yen, won and other zero-decimal currencies are read in whole units.
How is this different from Splitwise?
Splitwise is an app everyone joins and logs expenses in as they go; currency conversion is a Pro feature there, and it converts at the rate on the day you press convert. Triptally works on a spreadsheet you already have, needs no accounts and uses the rate you actually paid. Use whichever suits your group.
What's free?
Every person's balance, the settle-up payments, every flag, 3 what-ifs and 12 expenses on screen and in print (with a footer). Pro shows every expense and every what-if and adds a statement for every person, the Excel workbook and CSV exports.
Is this financial advice?
No. Triptally does the arithmetic on the expenses and rates you enter.