Travel Life vs Tricount: a simple splitter or a whole trip planner?

November 8, 2026 · 5 min read

Tricount is one of the best-known apps for splitting a bill among friends, and it is often the first thing a group reaches for on a trip. Travel Life also splits costs, but as one part of planning the trip. Which fits depends on how much you want the app to do.

Everything said about Tricount here comes from its own website, as of November 2026. Its pages are the place to check the latest before you choose.

What Tricount is good at

Tricount is built around one clear idea: create a group, add expenses, and see who owes what. As of November 2026, its site describes these things:

Starting a group. Create a tricount for a trip, a dinner or a household, and invite the group. Its site also says you can try it without signing up.
Adding expenses. Choose who is included and record who paid. Track shared costs as you go, like groceries, bar tabs and cabs.
Seeing who owes what. Then pay each other back. Its site also mentions payment requests and seeing who has sent their share and who needs a reminder.
Spending insights. Your own spending and the group's total.
Currency conversion. Its comparison table lists it as included.
Offline. Its comparison table lists offline use as available.
Importing from Splitwise. It says you can import a Splitwise group.
A card link. It describes connecting a bunq Card to add shared expenses automatically as you spend; that card has its own terms.
Free and ad-free. Its site says it is free, with no ads and no limits. It is available on iOS and Android.

For a group that wants a quick, light way to keep a running total, that is a good, focused offer.

What Travel Life does differently

Travel Life starts with the trip, and splitting costs is one part of it.

A shared itinerary. Invite friends to the trip and everyone sees the same day-by-day plan. Ideas sit in a list until you drag them onto a day. Each day has a map of the route. Trips and people are unlimited.

Gaps called out. The trip tells you what is missing: "No way there yet", "Nowhere to stay". Groups tend to lose these in chat.

Expenses. Any currency, converted at the day's rate. Split evenly, by share or by exact amounts, and the app settles up with the fewest payments. Pro adds receipt scanning, itemised splits, budgets and insights.

Shared packing. A list for your own bag and a shared one for the group.

Bookings. Stays, reservations and transit, from flights to ferries, are saved with their confirmations and costs. Things to do are listed in every city, and tours booked through the app go into the trip.

Offline. The trip works without a connection, and a home-screen widget counts down to the day you leave.

Both apps are for phones, and Travel Life is iPhone and Android only, with no web app.

Side by side

Setting up

Tricount: create a group and invite people; its site says you can try it without signing up.
Travel Life: create a trip and invite friends; the trip holds the itinerary, the money and the lists.

Recording costs

Tricount: add an expense, choose who is included and who paid.
Travel Life: add an expense in any currency, split evenly, by share or by exact amounts.

Settling up

Tricount: see who owes what and pay each other back, with payment requests and reminders described on its site.
Travel Life: settles with the fewest payments between people.

Planning

Tricount: its site describes sharing costs; it does not describe planning the trip itself.
Travel Life: a shared day-by-day itinerary, a map of the day's route, ideas to drag onto days and gaps called out.

Packing and bookings

Tricount: not something its site describes.
Travel Life: packing lists for your bag and the group, plus stays, reservations and transit with confirmations and costs.

Offline

Tricount: its comparison table lists offline use as available.
Travel Life: the trip works offline.

Where you can use it

Tricount: iOS and Android.
Travel Life: iPhone and Android only.

When Tricount is the better choice

Tricount is the better choice when you want the lightest possible way to share costs. If the trip is already planned, or you plan in a chat and a notes app that your group is happy with, a small tool that does one job is easy to explain and quick to start.

It is also a good fit for things that are not trips: a night out, a household, a club. Its site lists these uses. And if someone in your group would rather not set up an account to start, trying it without signing up is a real point in its favour. If your group already has a Splitwise group, being able to import it is useful too.

When Travel Life is the better choice

Travel Life is the better choice when the cost problem is really a planning problem. A lot of disagreements about money on a trip start with not knowing the plan: who is staying where, who is on which train, who joined which tour. If the plan and the costs sit together, there is less to argue about.

It also suits longer or more complicated trips, with several cities, a mix of transport and a few bookings made by different people. For the thinking on budgets, try make a travel budget. For the end of the trip, settle up after a group trip walks through the options. And group chats are bad at planning trips explains why a shared plan helps.

Which should you use?

If your group only needs a ledger, a splitter is enough. If you want the plan, the packing and the money in one place, give Travel Life a go on your next trip. Agree how you will split things before the first payment, whichever app you pick.