Best Couple Expense Tracker UK 2026: Free Alternative After Honeydue & Splitwise Failed

25 April 2026 • 7 min read

The Problem: Your Favourite Expense Tracking Apps Are Gone or Broken

If you and your partner have been using Honeydue to split bills, you've already felt the sting. The PayPal-owned app that millions of couples relied on has been discontinued as of 2026. Your expense history? Gone. The quick, easy way to track who owes whom? Vanished.

And if you switched to Splitwise hoping for a free alternative, you've probably hit the new limitations by now. The free tier is so restricted—just 3 to 5 expense entries per day with ads and 10-second delays between each entry—that it feels less like a feature and more like a punishment for not paying.

UK couples are left asking the same question: Is there a decent, genuinely free expense tracker anymore?

The answer is yes. Splitt is the free, ad-free, limit-free expense tracker built specifically for couples who want to split bills without friction, fees, or frustration.

What Happened to Honeydue?

Honeydue launched in 2015 and quickly became the go-to app for couples managing shared expenses. At its peak, the app had millions of active users, especially in the UK and US. It was simple, it worked, and most importantly, it was genuinely free.

Then PayPal bought it in 2018. For years, the app limped along under PayPal's ownership, but by 2026, PayPal decided to shut it down completely. The official reason cited "strategic focus" and a pivot towards other financial products, but the reality is that Honeydue couldn't generate enough revenue to justify its operating costs in PayPal's eyes.

This left roughly 2.5 million UK and US couples without their primary expense-splitting tool. Many rushed to Splitwise, only to discover it's now paywalled for regular use.

What Happened to Splitwise? Why It's No Longer "Free"

Splitwise began in 2011 as a truly free option for groups and couples to track expenses. For over a decade, it remained genuinely free—unlimited expense entries, no ads, no limits.

But in 2024–2025, Splitwise introduced a "freemium" model that fundamentally changed the game:

• Limited to 3–5 expenses per day on the free tier (varies by region)
• Ads everywhere in the free version
• 10-second cooldown forced between each expense entry
• Advanced features (bill reminders, settlement advice, groups) locked behind Splitwise Pro at £8.99/month
• Mobile app features now restricted to paid users

For a couple tracking a week's worth of shared expenses—groceries, petrol, dinner out, household items—hitting the daily limit is trivial. You'd need to upgrade to Pro just to use the app normally.

What UK Couples Actually Need From an Expense Tracker

Let's be clear about what the job actually requires. A great expense tracker for couples should:

1. Work instantly. No signup friction, no verifications, no delays. Add an expense and see the updated balance in real-time.
2. Track who owes whom accurately. Split bills 50/50, or handle unequal shares (e.g., one partner earns more but wants to split everything equally anyway).
3. Keep data private. Your financial details shouldn't be sold to advertisers or data brokers.
4. Sync across devices. Add an expense on your phone, see it instantly on your partner's phone or laptop.
5. Be genuinely free. No hidden paywalls, no premium upsells, no limits based on usage.
6. Show clear history. Quickly review past expenses, filter by date, see spending patterns.
7. Calculate settlements easily. Know exactly who should send money to whom to settle up.

Honeydue did most of this. Splitwise still can, but only if you pay. And nothing else in the UK market has filled the gap... until now.

Introducing Splitt: The Free Expense Tracker for UK Couples

Splitt is a free, lightweight web app (progressive web app, or PWA) designed from the ground up for couples who want to split expenses without any friction.

Here's what makes it different:

• 100% free, forever. No ads. No limits. No paid tier required to use core features.
• No app download needed. Just visit splitt-app.com, sign in with your email or Google account, and start adding expenses in seconds.
• Works on any device. iPhone, Android, iPad, Mac, Windows—any device with a web browser works perfectly.
• Real-time balance updates. Add an expense and your partner sees the updated balance instantly, across any device.
• Dead simple interface. No unnecessary features. Just: add expense → set category → done. Your balance updates live.
• Offline support. Added an expense but no internet? Splitt saves it locally and syncs when you're back online.
• Privacy first. Your data stays encrypted in your account. We never show ads, never track you, never sell your data.
• Works with the money you actually spend. No limits on daily entries. Add 50 expenses in one day if you like—Splitt won't complain.

Splitt was built by people who got frustrated with the same problem: there's no genuinely good free expense tracker for couples anymore. So we built one.

Feature Comparison: Honeydue vs. Splitwise (Free) vs. Splitt

Here's how these three apps actually compare on the features UK couples care about:

Feature	Honeydue	Splitwise Free	Splitt
Cost	Discontinued	Free (with limits)	Free forever
Daily expense limit	N/A	3–5 per day	Unlimited
Ads?	N/A	Yes, heavy	No ads
Speed between entries	N/A	10-second delay	Instant
No app download needed	Required app	Requires app	Works in browser
Works offline	Yes	No	Yes
Custom categories	Yes	Yes (Pro only)	Yes
Real-time sync	Yes	Yes	Yes
Supports 2-person couples	Yes	Yes (Pro)	Yes, primary focus
Privacy: data not sold	Yes	Monetised via ads	Yes, encrypted

Verdict: If Honeydue were still alive, it would be a close call. But it's not. Splitwise's free tier is so restricted it's barely usable for real couples. Splitt is the clear winner for UK couples who want a genuinely free, unlimited, ad-free experience.

How to Get Started in 2 Minutes

Switching to Splitt takes less time than reading this section:

1. Go to splitt-app.com on your browser (any device).
2. Sign in with your email or Google account (takes 10 seconds).
3. Invite your partner. Share a unique link (we generate it automatically). They sign in, and you're linked as a couple.
4. Add your first expense. Tap the + button, enter the amount, pick a category (or leave it blank), and confirm. Your partner sees the updated balance instantly on their device.
5. Done. You're now tracking expenses together in real-time, with zero friction.

Splitt is designed so your first expense takes about 15 seconds. No tutorials. No setup wizards. No confirmation screens. Just: see the app → use the app → done.

Why Splitt Exists (And Why We Built It)

When Honeydue shut down, we watched thousands of couples ask the same desperate question on Reddit and Twitter: "What should we use now?"

The answer wasn't good. Splitwise's restrictions made it unusable for everyday couples. Other apps either cost too much, required too much setup, or tracked groups instead of focusing on the two-person use case.

So we built Splitt specifically for couples. Not groups. Not families. Couples. This focus let us remove all the bloat and build something genuinely simple:

• Real-time balance updates
• One-tap expense entry
• Automatic settlement calculations
• Spending insights (see where your money goes)
• Full privacy (no tracking, no ads, no data selling)

And it stays free because we believe couples shouldn't have to pay to split bills.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Bottom Line: Splitt Is the Future of Couple Expense Tracking

Honeydue is gone. Splitwise is paywalled. The UK couples' market has been abandoned by the big players.

Splitt fills that gap with something radically simple: a genuinely free, truly unlimited, completely ad-free expense tracker built specifically for couples.

No credit card required. No app to download. No limits on daily entries. No ads. No upsells. Just you, your partner, and real-time expense tracking.

Stop paying for features you shouldn't have to pay for. Stop hitting daily limits. Stop staring at ads. Try Splitt free and see why thousands of UK couples have already made the switch.

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About Splitt: Splitt is a free progressive web app for couples to split expenses, track shared spending, and see who owes whom in real time. Built with privacy and simplicity in mind. No ads. No paywalls. No compromises.