Open source · by Budget It

Split the rent. Keep the housemates.

Split It tracks who paid for what in a shared home, from hydro and groceries to the Netflix nobody admits to using. It runs on an old laptop you already own. Your data never leaves the house.

Install in one command Support the project
  • No ads, no tracking
  • Zero npm packages
  • Works on any phone
  • MIT licence
Meet the guides

Pick your guide.

Each housemate picks a guide who lives on their Home screen. They’re happy when you’re within $100 of even, worried past that, and they celebrate on the PAID! screen when you settle up.

How it works

Your laptop becomes the house bank.

1

Run the installer

One command on any Linux machine. It sets up Node.js, copies the app and starts it every time the laptop boots.

2

Add your housemates

Each person gets a name and password. Free Tailscale gives you a private https address that works away from home.

3

Install it on your phones

Open the address and add it to your home screen. It opens like a normal app, with notifications on iPhone and Android.

Features

Everything a shared house argues about.

Built for real households with monthly bills, uneven splits and that one person who always forgets.

Add an expense like a text message

Type it the way you'd say it. The phone reads it on the spot, with no AI and no cost, and fills in the form for you to check. Try it:

Nudges, so you don't have to

Phone notifications when:

  • a bill is due tomorrow
  • someone adds an expense with you in it
  • it's your turn to take out the bins
  • you owe someone $5 or more on the 1st and 15th

Monthly bills

Rent, hydro and internet repeat on their own. Favourites add the usual pizza night with one tap and the same split.

Chores that rotate

Weekly, every two weeks or monthly, between the people you pick. Everyone sees whose turn it is.

Charts and a fair turn

See spending by month and category. "Last time it cost" flags when the hydro bill jumps. "Whose turn to pay" picks who's furthest behind.

Receipt photos and comments

Attach the receipt so nobody has to ask. Photos are shrunk on the phone and saved on your laptop, along with every comment, payment and settle-up.

Ask your AI assistant

A built-in MCP connector lets Muse, Claude or ChatGPT answer "what do I owe?" or "add groceries 54.20 to House". Your laptop just answers. The assistant does the thinking, so it costs you nothing.

What’s new

Split It v2.2.0

Safe to host, and easier to live with. Every change leaves a trail, nothing you do offline is lost without a word, and backups leave the laptop locked.

History on every expense

See who added it and who changed what. Deletes go to the bin with a note to everyone in it, and each group gets an Activity list.

Nothing lost offline

If a change made on the bus can’t be saved, the app says which one and gives you a Redo button.

Bring old expenses along

Invite someone you’ve been tracking by name and they take over that history when they join. Friends find you by your @tag.

Everything in v2.2.0

Self-host

That old laptop in the closet is enough.

Split It is one Node.js file with no packages to install. All your data is a folder of plain JSON you can copy to a USB stick.

  • Linux (Ubuntu, Mint, Debian)
  • Node.js 22+
  • About 50 MB of disk
  • A free Tailscale account
  • Backups every 6 hours, and a locked copy off the laptop if you want one.
  • Starts on boot and keeps running with the lid closed.
  • Updating is the same command. Your data stays put.
~/split-it
# 1. Download and install
$ git clone https://github.com/sherrypanaich/split-it && cd split-it
$ bash install.sh

# 2. Add everyone who lives there
$ node server.js add-user Sam
$ node server.js add-user Alex

# 3. Reach it from anywhere, free
$ sudo tailscale funnel --bg 8080
  → https://old-laptop.tail1234.ts.net
Open source

Made for one house. Shared with every house.

Split It started as a weekend fix for one group of housemates. It's free to use, change and share, and it always will be.

Build it with us

Found a bug, want another currency, or have an idea for the quick-add parser? Open an issue or send a pull request. The whole app is plain HTML and JavaScript, so it's a friendly first project.

  • MIT licence
  • Node.js
  • No build step
  • CAD by default, any currency
View the code Report a bug
FAQ

Questions housemates ask.

Is it really free?

Yes. The app is free and open source, and quick add runs on the phone with no AI costs. If you host it yourself, the only running cost is the electricity for a laptop that's on all the time. Running our own copies of Split It and Budget It costs $70 a month in total, which is what donations cover. Budget It's bank linking costs extra on top of that.

Where does my data live?

On your laptop, in a folder called data/. Nothing is sent to us or anyone else. Copy that folder somewhere safe every so often and you have a full backup, receipt photos included.

Do my housemates need to install anything?

No. They open the address in their phone browser and sign in. Adding it to the home screen makes it feel like a normal app and turns on notifications.

What if the laptop is off?

The app is down until it's back on. Nothing is lost, because everything is saved on the laptop. Set it to never sleep when plugged in and it'll just keep running.

Can I run it on a Raspberry Pi, a Mac or a server?

Anything that runs Node.js 22 or newer will work. The one-command installer is written for Debian-style Linux, so on other systems follow the manual steps in the README.