How To Develop a Bill Splitting App Like Splitwise?

The bill-splitting app market is catching up with rapid progress, and the chief responsible factor is the increasing use of smartphones. Besides offering payment alternatives and providing ease, such apps drive increasing demands, especially from the tourism and travel sector. In fact, people who need to split rental payments and other expenses are also supporting the growth.

The global bill-splitting apps market was $500.6 million in 2021 and will likely reach $993.02 million by 2031, with a CAGR of around 7.0%. 

The bill-splitting market’s valuation is projected to expand at a CAGR of 11.19% and hit $380.28 million between 2022 and 2027. Splitwise is also a significant contributor to the market. Being an enthusiast, you can also build a bill-splitting app, like Splitwise. But this wouldn’t be enough as, on average, around 1,472 new apps are launched on app stores, and chances are high to fade away in the crowd. 

You can come up with something exceptional and rare that can’t be discovered in other apps. For example, you can develop a bill-splitting app for smartwatches that’s a key market trend or make one that’s compatible with smartwatches. How?

Not to fret! We are here with a blog post that will help you learn everything from why to invest in bill-splitting app development, must-have features to include, steps to develop, cost to consider, and a lot more. 

Let’s get started!

What is a Split Bill App?

A split bill app is an application that eases the expense breakup between roommates, friends, or colleagues. 

Using the app, users can create a group of friends, families, flatmates, etc., and include the amount (spent), description, and category. The app calculates the share for every member and keeps a rolling total of every member’s balances. 

Further, users can settle their outstanding balances by opting for various integrated payment methods, such as Venmo and bank transfers. 

How does Bill Split App Work?

The working of a bill-splitting app can be understood in below steps:

• On the phone, install an app (bill-splitting)
• Create an account
• Invite friends for the app download
• Create a group of members you want to include by inviting them
• Add your bills and expenses
• Add your bank account details
• App will track amounts to pay and due dates
• Group members can use PayPal, Venmo, or Paytm

So, whether you are going for corporate travel with your colleagues, want to divide your monthly expenses and rent with your roommates, or going out with your friends, you can avoid your efforts for calculations by using a split-the-bill app like Splitwise. 

Why Invest in Bill Splitting App Development?

Witnessing the split bill app market, you will notice that there has been no huge competition you can’t invade. 

Creating a split bill app can help you reach a huge user base that faces issues splitting bills. Besides, the user data you get from the app can be used to personalize services targeting based on users’ behavior and spending patterns. Simply connect with a mobile app development company to help you develop such an app. 

Eyeing the bill-splitting app market, Splitwise is doing well, and users are satisfied with its ability to meet their needs. 

As recorded in February 2024, Splitwise is ruling the market with annual revenue between $2m to $5m. Last month, the app encountered around 2.8 million users on desktops and mobiles. 

To stand out in the crowd and drive increased downloads, you should ensure that you develop an app with unique features, a user-friendly interface, and a focus on user data security. 

Investing in split bill app development can appear as a promising opportunity to capture a large market, engage more users, opt for varied monetization options, and increase your market share. 

Why is Building a Bill Splitting App, Like Splitwise, a Good Fintech App Idea?

Such apps emerge as saviors for some common pain points, like group finances management. With no need for manual tracking and calculation, split bill apps ease splitting expenses and money transfers, protect user data and transactions, and promote accountability and transparency. This makes them a profitable fintech app idea. 

Here, let’s talk about some major aspects that prove this statement:

1. Ease Money Reimbursement

Most may find it embarrassing to ask their friends to pay their share after attending a party, but it will not be an issue anymore. A bill split app will arrive as a perfect solution here, and it will split the bill, display the bill amount, and settle it through online banking. 

2. No Need to Track or Calculate the Split Amount

It’s time-consuming and stressful to know who ordered, paid, or what amount to pay, including taxes, time, and more, especially when you are in the crowd when you can become noticeable, splitting a few hundred or thousands. 

In that case, you can just grab your phone, install a bill splitting app, and use it to perform every essential task you have been doing so far to settle the bills. 

3. Saving Credit Card Details

To settle the bill directly through online mode, you don’t need to enter your account or credit/debit card details repeatedly. A bill split app permits you just to enter the essential and required banking and card details at once and enjoy it at every use. 

4. Group Expense Management

Split bill apps allow users to create groups (with friends, roommates, colleagues, etc), add expenses, and automatically evaluate every person’s share in the expense. This diminishes confusion, prevents financial disputes, and saves time, which makes them one of the perfect solutions for efficient group expense management. 

5. Easy To Use And Simple To Access By Anyone

Users don’t need to be tech-savvy or have any technical knowledge to reap the advantages of such an app. Anyone can access it simply and meet their expense-splitting goals. 

6. Secure And Safe App To Conduct Transactions

One of the best parts of split apps is that they safeguard users’ data and transactions, providing enhanced security. Such apps ensure that no users’ sensitive or personal data is shared among individuals. 

7. Transaction History

Building a bill-splitting app like Splitwise is a good fintech app idea because it provides a clear transaction history, allowing users to track who paid for what and when promoting transparency and accountability among friends or group members. This feature helps users to manage their shared expenses efficiently and reduces the potential for misunderstandings or disputes.

Popular Split Bill Apps Thriving Globally to Settle Any Bill in a Minute

Currently, there are varied split bill apps in the market, but only a few are ruling. 

Let’s check out the names of the top apps that are expanding seamlessly:

1. Splitwise

Now, you can share your expenses with anyone without stress using Splitwise, a popular bill-splitting app. 

With this app, you can:

• Track the balance of the shared expenses and balances
• Organize expenses by splitting them into respective groups
• Easily add expenses before they go off your mind
• Settle with friends and keep a record of online or cash payments

The platform stores users’ data in the cloud to let them access it anytime, anywhere, on any device or operating system. 

2. Tricount

With a simple layout and design, Tricount is used as a bill-splitting app. Whether you share an apartment or trip with your friends, it assists you in handling expenses among the group you created through a link. 

It lets its users create groups and share its link with their friends, asking them to join. This split bill app offers various options that may suit the varied splitting needs of the users. 

Tricount performs offline also and supports push notifications to let the group members remind about their pending payments. 

Best Features

• Targets intuitive and straightforward layout
• Any group member can add group expenses and check the balance
• Phone or web can work perfectly on both
• Offers a simple link to add group members and share expenses
• Push notifications on add or edits of expenses
• Works offline

3. Settle up

This split bill app assists in tracking expenses. It’s best for flatmates, travelers, event organizers, couples, and other groups of friends; you just need to add the costs and let it perform. 

Best Features

• Works offline.
• Lowers number of transactions
• Provides all currencies and real-time exchange rates
• Available in various languages
• Sends notifications about history and edits
• Target simple design and user experience
• Offers easy group sharing through links

4. Splid

Best for housemates, friends, and groups, Splid assists you in staying well-organized with your expenses and settling them up quickly. There is no need to fret about lost receipts, changes, or disagreements about the amount; you only need to enter your expenses and unveil everything about the bill.

Best Features

• Works offline also
• Create groups within seconds
• A sync option is available to enter expenses together
• No sign-up is required
• Deal with complicated bills easily and quickly

5. Splittr

This expense-splitting app is best for the one who wants an accessible mode to split expenses. It helps invite friends and allows everyone to enter the costs using their devices. 

Best Features

• No registration needed
• Categorize expenses
• Works offline
• PDF and CSV export
• All currencies supported
• Easy and fast user interface
• Automatic backups
• Statistics about groups

6. Snap & Split Bill

Using this app, you can split your grocery bill, restaurant bill, and other expenses easily and quickly by following just a few taps:

• Snap a bill photo
• Split check items
• Share the bill

Moreover, “Snap & Split Bill” supports optical character recognition in about 75 languages and can OCR receipt offline. 

Best Features

• Three split modes: in promotion, by items, or equally
• Tip calculator to calculate the amount of tip you want to offer and split it between members
• Detect taxes and discounts automatically
• Share bills between group members
• Receipt organizer 
• Bill management

7. Tab

One of the simplest apps to split bills among friends, Tab helps snap a pic of bills and tap items to claim them. Tip and tax are calculated for the user, and you don’t need to type prices manually.

Best Features

• Every person can pay for their ordered items
• Settle payments through cash also
• Integrated Venmo for quick payment
• Automatic calculation of tips and taxes
• Scan receipts to split among group members

Must-Have Features to Include While Developing Bill Splitting App Like Splitwise

In split bill app development, the inclusion of basic features is essential for the app to perform as expected. 

We have curated a list of top features that can make your app useful. 

Feature	Description
User Registration and Profile Management	Allow users to create accounts securely.
Real-time Expense Updates	Reflect new expenses and changes instantly for every group member.
Expense Tracking and Management	Facilitate users to simply add expenses and categorize them for better tracking.
Group Creation and Management	Enable the creation of groups with friends or colleagues by inviting them and managing them efficiently.
Simplified Bill Settlement	Provide various options for settling bills.
Multiple Currency Support	Permit users to track and split expenses in various currencies.
Security and Privacy Controls	Implement secure login methods to ensure data encryption and user privacy controls.
Email Notifications	Notify users about new group activities, like settlement requirements expenses added.
Mobile and Web Accessibility	Provide a user-friendly mobile app for easy access and a web interface with a preference for desktop experience.

You can consider incorporating these must-have features into your bill-splitting app to improve user experience and make them repeat visits.

Advanced Features to Consider for Bill Splitting App Development

The bill split app development mandates the inclusion of the best features and functionalities to make your app the top choice for the users. 

Standard features help your app perform as anticipated, but by including advanced ones, you can make your app follow dynamic technical trends and stay competitive. 

Feature	Description
Machine Learning for Expense Predictions	Analyze spending patterns to anticipate future costs and offer budgeting strategies.
IOU (I Owe You) Tracking	Track every user’s debts within groups and send notifications for settlements.
Personalized Spending Analytics	Provide insightful reports on spending habits and scopes for potential savings.
Smart Bill Scanner for Automatic Expense Entry	Utilize OCR technology to grab and categorize expense data from receipts automatically.
Split Optimization Algorithms	Smartly split bills considering varied factors like custom adjustments or unequal consumption.
Receipt Image Storage and Recognition	Store payment receipt images for future reference and possible automatic data entry.
Customizable Expense Categories	Facilitate users to create personalized categories for better organization of expenses.
Integration with Budgeting Tools	Integrate with budgeting apps to offer a holistic view of finances.
Multi-platform Synchronization	Ensure easy data synchronization across devices (phone, computer, tablet).
Blockchain Technology for Secure Transactions	Explore blockchain integration for improved security and transparency in settlements.

Bill Splitting App Development Process: Key Steps to Follow

App development is challenging in practical than just saying. You must follow a few steps sequentially for the split bill calculator app development. Below, we have jotted down the process for flawless app development. 

1. Market Research And Analysis (Identifying Target Audience, Analyzing Competitors)

Before kickstarting anything, deep market research is essential for better understanding and knowledge. When you devise to convert your split app development idea into a real product, you should conduct market research and analysis where you should identify the target audience and analyze competitors. Check what approach they pursue and where they lack. Acknowledging these as an opportunity, you can craft your strategy and stand out exceptionally. 

2. Defining App Features And Functionality

Next, it’s time to decide what app features and functionality you want to incorporate in your bill split app to provide a unique experience to your users. You can start with the basic features, and ahead with the expansion, you can prefer to include advanced ones per the market trends and technologies. 

3. Design And User Interface Development

Ahead, create a visually appealing interface and design for your app, making it easy to use and navigable for users. Next, your development team will create the code accordingly to make your app appear as decided. 

4. Technical Development And Coding

Now, choose the right and suitable tech stack for your app development, using which you can make your app as expected with ultimate outcomes. The tech-savvies build your app’s logic and functionality using the selected mobile platforms, programming languages, and tools. 

5. Testing And Quality Assurance

After the development phase, you should let your app undergo rigorous testing to allow it to address issues and errors and fix them before the launch. Besides, if there is room for improvement, the QAs put them forth and ensure the app appears with the anticipated functionalities. 

6. Launch And Marketing

Now, it’s time to deploy your app onto the app stores and wait for approval. Once you get it, you can set your app up for launch, making it available for the end users. Your job doesn’t end here; you need to market and promote your app to your target audience to monetize it and improve your bottom line.  

How Much Does It Cost to Build a Bill Splitting App?

No one can tell you the exact cost of developing a bill-split app like Splitwise until you share your app’s specifications, features, functionalities, and more. 

Connecting with a mobile app development company can help you with the exact cost of building such an app and perfect guidance for your seamless app development journey. 

On average, the range starts at $20,000 and goes beyond $2,00,000. However, the figure may fluctuate depending on the varied factors that impact the cost; let’s talk about a few. 

Factors Affecting the Cost to Develop a Bill Splitting App Like Splitwise

1. Geographical Location of the Team of Developers You Hire

With the region, the cost of hiring developers also changes. You should first analyze the cost of top regions and decide which one to opt for considering skills and expertise also. 

2. App’s Complexity

The app’s complexity also impacts the cost of app development. With the increasing complexity level of the app, the cost boosts, as if it were low for a simple app and high for an advanced one. 

3. App’s Features and Functionalities

The features and functionalities you include in your bill-splitting app will affect the cost. You can start with the basic ones and later add the advanced ones with the expansion of your app. 

4. UI/UX Design

A simple app design will obviously cost less than an advanced app design that demands more resources, animations, etc., and is expensive.

When you set your budget aside for bill-splitting app development, be sure to consider these factors to keep away the issues that may arise later in the development stages. 

Design Tools And Tech Stack Used For Bill Splitting App Development

Choosing the most suitable tech stack and tools for split payment app development is necessary to improve app efficiency and user experience, diminish development cost, accelerate time to market, and make your app scalable.

Category	Tools
Front-End Development	Kotlin, Swift, React Native, Flutter,
Design	Adobe XD, Figma, Sketch
Back-End Development	Python, Node.js, Java/Spring
Cloud Storage	Google Cloud Storage, Amazon S3
Database	MySQL, MongoDB, PostgreSQL,
API Gateway	Azure API Management, AWS API Gateway,
Push Notifications	Apple Push Notification service (APNs), Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM)
Payment Gateway	Braintree, Stripe, PayPal
Security	Industry-standard security practices, including secure login protocols, encryption, and regular security audits.
Analytics	Firebase Analytics, Google Analytics,

Monetization Strategies of Bill-Splitting App like Splitwise

Choosing an app monetization strategy is necessary for improving the app, sustaining development, and providing value to the users. 

Let’s check out the top strategies you can consider for your bill-splitting app:

1. Partnerships and Targeted Advertising

Partnering with any financial institution or similar businesses can offer your users exclusive discounts and deals. You can go with targeted in-app advertising that is suitable to users’ spending patterns or demographics. 

2. In-App Purchases

Offering optional one-time purchases for specific features within the app can also be a good monetization strategy. This may include extra space for receipt images, advanced expense-tracking functionalities, or the facility to settle bills within the app directly. 

3. Freemium Model

You can start by providing a basic feature set for free, such as creating groups and splitting bills. Ahead, you can introduce premium features at a subscription charge, like expense categorization tools, personalized spending analytics, or advanced settlement options. 

4. Pro Version for Businesses

You can create a separate premium version or subscription plan for businesses or organizations. This may provide features like integration with account software, advanced group management tools, or company expense management to streamline employee expense reports management. 

5. Referral Program

Like other split bill apps, you can provide a referral program to the users in exchange for one month of free access to the Pro Version of your app for every referral of their friend who signs up for a Pro account. 

With effective monetization strategies, you can attain perfect app quality, provide a more personalized user experience, and have higher retention rates and engagement. 

How can EmizenTech Help with Bill-Splitting App Development?

EmizenTech is a leading app development company that offers expected and custom solutions to all-sized businesses. The company is an expert at understanding clientele’s objectives and delivering top-tier apps worldwide. 

Hiring the team of experts from EmizenTech ensures the development of a user-friendly split-the-bill app like Splitwise that meets users’ expectations and requirements. 

Not convinced? 

Key Highlights of EmizenTech

• Decade Years of Experience
• A team of Certified and Expert Developers
• On-time Delivery and Within Budget
• Faster Time-to-Market
• High-Quality App
• Agile Methodology
• Ongoing Support and Maintenance
• 100% Customized Solutions
• Follow Applicable Regulations
• Exceptional UX/UI Interface
• Optimize Development Costs
• Capitalize Market Opportunities

Conclusion

Building a bill-splitting app, like Splitwise, can be profitable if you seek to provide a solution to individuals finding it challenging to keep track of shared expenses. 

However, hiring an app development company is essential before creating a robust base for ultimate development. A competitive company can help you locate potential gaps in the market that can be filled with your app, leading to increased revenue and, thereby, a bottom line. 

Connect with a reliable mobile app development company to build a bill-splitting app with an engaging and easily navigable UI. 

FAQs About Bill Splitting App Development

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