Split every cost. Know exactly who owes what.

Money is where group trips go wrong. Someone fronts the hotel, someone else covers dinner, three people send half-remembered PayPal requests a month later. Vacationist tracks every shared cost as it happens — so settling up takes seconds, not spreadsheets.

How expense splitting works

Log any group cost — accommodation, dinner, fuel, tickets, groceries — and choose who paid and who it covers:

1. Add the expense with amount and category, right when it happens.
2. Pick the payer — whoever actually put their card down.
3. Split it — equally across everyone, or with custom amounts when someone skipped the wine or joined late.
4. Balances update instantly for the whole group. Everyone always knows where they stand.

At the end of the trip, settle individual splits one by one or clear everything at once. No awkward "so… about the money" conversation required — the numbers were public the whole time.

Built for trips, not just bills

Plenty of apps split bills. Vacationist splits bills inside the trip you're already planning together, which changes what it can do:

• Expenses tied to the trip. Every cost lives with its trip — no mixing up the Croatia balance with your flatmate's electricity bill.
• Everyone's already there. Because the group planned the trip in Vacationist, nobody has to install yet another app just to owe you money. Guests who joined by invite link participate in expenses too.
• Vacation spending at a glance. The trip overview shows total and per-person spending as the trip unfolds — useful when the group agreed on a budget.
• Offline first. Log expenses in the mountains, on the ferry, wherever. They sync when you're back online.

Fair splits for real situations

Real trips are messier than "divide by six." Vacationist handles the usual cases:

• Custom amounts — the person who slept on the sofa pays less for the cabin.
• Partial participation — split dinner among the five who were there, not all nine.
• Multiple payers over time — balances net out across all expenses, so if you paid for fuel and I paid for groceries, we might already be even.

Frequently asked questions

Is expense splitting free?

Yes. Expense splitting is part of Vacationist's free tier, with no ads. Pro adds more planning days per year, but the expense features are not paywalled.

Do my friends need an account to be included in expenses?

No. Anyone who joins the trip via invite link can be part of expense splits as a guest. That removes the biggest friction in group expense tracking — the one person who refuses to install anything.

How is this different from Splitwise?

Splitwise is excellent at pure debt tracking across all areas of life. Vacationist covers the expense splitting a trip needs plus everything around it: activity voting, a shared calendar, accommodations, packing lists, and chat. For a group trip, that means one app instead of four. See the full Vacationist vs. Splitwise comparison.

Can I track my own spending, not just shared costs?

Yes — the vacation tracker view shows the trip's spending picture, including your personal share, so you always know what the trip actually cost you.