If you split rent, bills or takeaways with a partner, housemates or friends in the UK, you've probably looked at your options: track everything manually in Splitwise, merge your money into a Revolut or Monzo joint account, or find something that just splits the payment automatically. Here's how all four actually compare in 2026 — on cost, FX fees, credit score risk, setup time and day-to-day hassle.
Splitwise is the best-known bill-splitting app, and it's free to start. The free plan covers unlimited groups, equal/percentage/exact splits, debt simplification and basic multi-currency support — but caps you at 3 expenses a day and shows ads. Splitwise Pro removes the daily cap and adds receipt scanning, spending charts, real-time currency conversion and payment reminders, for $4.99/month or $49.99/year.
The catch: Splitwise only tracks who owes what. It doesn't move any money. Someone still has to front the bill, and everyone else has to settle up manually by bank transfer — and everyone in the group needs to download Splitwise and create an account to use it.
Revolut lets two people open a joint account inside the Revolut app in minutes, available on every plan from Standard upwards — the joint account itself is free on Standard. You get matching cards, shared budgeting "Pockets" and 24/7 support. Premium card designs and extra perks require a paid personal plan: Plus £3.99/month, Premium £7.99/month, Metal £14.99/month, Ultra £55/month.
One thing to watch on Standard: currency exchange is only fee-free up to £1,000 a month. Go over that and a 1% fee applies, plus an extra 1% weekend markup that stacks on top — worth knowing if you're splitting travel costs abroad.
Because it's a genuine joint bank account, both of you become equal legal owners of everything in it, and you're financially linked on paper — worth thinking about if the relationship, flat-share or friendship changes down the line.
Monzo's joint account is free, but both people need to already hold a personal Monzo account before you can open one together, plus be 18+ and UK residents. It comes with real-time spending notifications, joint card controls, Direct Debits, savings Pots, a bills calendar and FSCS protection up to £85,000 per person.
Like Revolut, it's a real joint account: full legal joint ownership, and a "financial association" with the other person that can show up on credit checks if a payment is missed or the overdraft is misused.
Cino doesn't ask you to pool your money or open a bank account with anyone. You each link your own existing debit or credit card to a shared Cino card. Whenever someone pays with it, everyone else's share is taken from their own card instantly — no fronting, no chasing, no spreadsheets. There's no subscription: it's pay-as-you-go at 20p per transaction, and you only ever pay for what you actually use, up to a £5/month ceiling. Groups of up to 8 people, custom splits by percentage or exact amount, and 0% FX fees abroad, with no monthly limit.
If a joint account feels like too big a commitment just to split rent and bills, or Splitwise's manual settling-up is getting old, Cino gives you the convenience of both without the downsides of either.
Splitwise, Revolut and Monzo all solve part of the problem. Splitwise tracks who owes what, but leaves the settling up to you. Revolut and Monzo joint accounts move the money instantly, but ask you to merge your finances — and in Monzo's case, both switch to the same bank — to do it, and Revolut's free plan caps fee-free FX at £1,000 a month. Cino does neither — everyone keeps their own account, on whatever bank they already use, with 0% FX fees and no cap, and their share comes out automatically the moment the group pays. No IOUs, no admin, no joint account required.
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