Penvo vs Splitwise: Full Expense Tracking vs Just Splitting Bills

Splitwise and Penvo are fundamentally different products that happen to overlap on shared expenses. Splitwise is a shared ledger. It answers one question: "Who owes what?" You create a group, add expenses, and Splitwise tracks the running balance. It doesn't categorize your personal spending, show monthly trends, or help with budgeting. Penvo is a complete expense tracker that also does shared ledgers. It tracks ALL your expenses — personal and shared — in one place. It categorizes them, shows trends, supports AI voice entry, scans receipts, and handles 25 currencies. The shared ledger feature in Penvo covers the same use case as Splitwise but within a broader personal finance context.

• Simplicity. Splitwise does one thing and does it well. The interface is laser-focused on group balances — no extra features to navigate around. • Cross-platform. Splitwise works on iOS, Android, and has a full-featured web app. Penvo is iOS only. • Larger group adoption. Splitwise has over 100 million users. Your friends are more likely to already have a Splitwise account. • Recurring splits. Splitwise handles repeating group expenses (monthly rent, utilities) elegantly. • Non-expense items. Splitwise allows manual balance adjustments for non-monetary IOUs or partial settlements.

• AI voice entry. Speak shared expenses with Siri — "Hey Siri, record in Penvo — dinner $80 split with Alice and Bob." Splitwise requires manual typing. • Receipt scanning for splits. Take a photo of a group dinner receipt and AI extracts each person's items. Splitwise Pro (paid) has receipt scanning but without AI item extraction. • Full personal expense tracking. Penvo tracks your individual spending with categories, budgets, and trends. Splitwise doesn't track personal spending at all. • Business + personal mode. Switch between business and personal ledgers. Splitwise has no business expense tracking. • Envelope budgeting. Track shared AND personal spending against category budgets. Splitwise has no budgeting features. • 25 currencies in one ledger. Penvo handles mixed-currency shared expenses seamlessly. Splitwise supports multiple currencies but can be confusing for mixed-currency trips. • All-in-one. One app instead of Penvo + Splitwise. Every expense — personal and shared — in one dashboard.

Splitwise: Free (basic splitting with ads), Pro at $4.99/month or $39.99/year (receipt scanning, no ads, currency conversion). Penvo: Free (unlimited manual entry, shared ledger invites, web access), Pro at $3.99/month or $29.99/year (AI voice, receipt scan, business mode, multi-currency, Apple Watch, envelope budgeting). Penvo Pro at $3.99/month is cheaper than Splitwise Pro at $4.99/month and includes far more features.

Penvo is the better choice if you: • Want one app for both personal and shared expense tracking • Use AI voice entry (Siri) to log expenses • Need receipt scanning for shared meals or group expenses • Deal with multiple currencies in shared groups (travel, international roommates) • Want to track personal spending categories and budgets alongside shared expenses • Use an iPhone and Apple Watch

Splitwise is the better choice if: • Your friends already use Splitwise for group expenses • You only need bill splitting and nothing else • You use Android — Penvo is iOS only • You need a web-based interface for managing shared expenses (Penvo is mobile-first) • You deal with complex IOUs that go beyond straightforward expense splitting