The best flat-share app: 7 criteria for choosing

1. What does the app really cost?

Check whether features are unlocked only with a subscription, whether ads appear and whether there are limits on the number of entries. Plans change, so look at each provider yourself. The free flat-share app ManaWG has no ads and no paid tier. Splitwise Pro lists, among other things, unlimited expenses, no ads, receipt scanning and currency conversion. The limits of the free version of Splitwise are covered on their own page. Splid says on its English page that it is free, with over 150 currencies, offline use and PDF and Excel export. Flatastic covers chores, shopping, finances and a pinboard, and offers a paid Premium with no ads and a cleaning history, among other things. ManaWG is free and ad-free and combines expenses, cleaning rota, shopping list, calendar, noticeboard and chat. It works in euros only, is available in English and German, and is meant for at most 20 active members per flat.

2. Does it cover money and household?

Pure expense apps solve the money problem, household apps organise tasks. ManaWG covers both: expenses, fixed costs and a monthly statement, plus cleaning rota with time away, shopping list with supplies, calendar, noticeboard and chat.

3. How good is the expense tracking?

Good expense tracking splits unequally, handles fixed costs, shows balances and suggests settlements with few transfers. Also look at how odd cents are handled and whether you can import existing data from a file.

4. How fair is the cleaning rota?

What matters is fair rotation, repeating every few days or months, how time away is handled and reminders. A points system motivates some flats and feels like policing to others. ManaWG distributes by workload and manages without points.

5. Does everyone have to install an app?

The higher the hurdle, the likelier someone does not join in. A web app that runs in the browser, which people join through a link, lowers that hurdle. ManaWG runs without an app store and can be added to the home screen.

6. Privacy and language

Where is the data stored, are there ads and tracking, and is the app in your language? With ManaWG the database is hosted in the EU (Frankfurt am Main), there are no ads, and the app is available in English and German. The code is open source under Apache-2.0, and you can host it yourself, see Open-source flat-share app. ManaWG supports the euro only. If you split costs in many currencies internationally, an app with currency conversion is the better choice.

7. How easy is switching?

If you already have data from Splitwise or Splid as a CSV file, you should be able to take it with you. ManaWG imports expenses from such CSV files and shows a preview first, and the steps are in Switch from Splitwise or Splid. Detailed comparisons are on Splitwise alternative, Splid alternative, Flatastic alternative, Tricount alternative and OurHome alternative.

Which app suits which flat?

• You mostly share money, also on trips and in several currencies: Splid lists over 150 currencies, Tricount multiple currencies and Splitwise conversion in its Pro plan, each per the provider. ManaWG works in euros only.
• You want money, cleaning rota, shopping, calendar and noticeboard in one app with no subscription and no app store, in English or German: ManaWG is built for that.
• You want points or rewards for cleaning: ManaWG does not offer that, as the cleaning rota distributes by workload.
• You have old expenses from Splitwise or Splid as a CSV file: ManaWG imports them with a preview, and the steps are in Switch from Splitwise or Splid.
• There are more than 20 of you: a flat in ManaWG holds at most 20 active members.