Splitwise’s free plan stops at four expenses a day.

Four a day. Splitwise’s help center says it in a line about Pro: “free users can add up to 4 expenses each day.” Unlimited expenses is the first thing Pro lists.

The help pages don’t say what time the day resets or which time zone counts. The article on the limit says only that you can add more “as soon as the daily limit resets.”

Four is plenty for a shared apartment. It runs out on the first day of a trip, when the taxi, the groceries, dinner and the drinks after it are all on different cards.

• Wait. You can add more once the daily limit resets. Note the costs somewhere in the meantime, then add each with the date it was spent.
• Ask a friend to add it. Splitwise suggests this itself: your friend adds the expense and marks it as paid by you.
• Pay for Pro, which removes the limit straight away. Yearly plans come with a Trip Pass, which gives everyone in one trip group Pro for 30 days.

Unlimited expenses, card transaction import in some countries, search, currency conversion, receipt scanning and itemizing, charts and default splits, with no ads. Only the subscriber can convert currencies or scan receipts, but everyone in the group sees the results.

Pro comes monthly, or yearly for one person or two (Duo). Splitwise doesn’t print the prices on its website. In the US App Store, Splitwise Pro purchases are listed from $2.99 to $39.99.

To see the group, yes. Splitwise wants everyone in a group to be able to log in and see their balance, so you invite people by email or phone number. You can add expenses with them before they accept, and Splitwise sends one invite and one reminder.

On the website you can add a placeholder friend to a group by name only, and give them an email or phone number later.

• Tricount is free, with no ads and no daily expense cap. It records costs in different currencies and shows the trip total in one. It’s tied to bunq: new users get a bunq account when they sign up, and the app offers a bunq card.
• Spliit is free and open source, with no ads and no account. It can attach receipt photos and scan them, paid for by donations.

A shared spreadsheet costs nothing too, if someone is happy to do the sums.

Trip Split is ours, and it isn’t free: it comes with implements, $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year for every tool, with no ads. There’s no daily limit; a trip holds up to 500 costs and 50 people. Friends open one link and see every cost and their balance, with no app and no account.

It doesn’t scan receipts or convert currencies, and each trip uses one currency, so for a trip across several countries Splitwise Pro or Tricount does more.