Best Spliit Alternatives for Self-Hosting: When Splitwise, a Spreadsheet or a Plain-Text Ledger Wins

Self-hosting Spliit only makes sense when splitting bills is a recurring, stable affair involving at least four people, and you already run Postgres with nightly backups for another project. For one-time expenses, a small household, or a group that dissolves after a weekend, using the hosted Spliit site, Splitwise, a shared spreadsheet, or a simple plain-text ledger is sufficient without the hassle of running containers, databases, domains, and backups.

Spliit is a solid open-source alternative to Splitwise, but it lacks built-in accounts and push notifications, so hosting it means dealing with support requests from all group members. TL;DR for different user profiles: a solo developer with a well-established home lab (running Docker, Postgres, and restic snapshots for a four-person flatshare) should self-host Spliit; an occasional trip organizer (a ten-day ski trip each year, eight participants, many using iPhones) should use the hosted Spliit.app or Splitwise; a flatshare with fixed monthly bills (rent, power, internet, with the same four names every month) should use a shared spreadsheet; and a plain-text accounting enthusiast (already using hledger or beancount files in Git) should stick with their preferred ledger.

The choice comes down to a simple trade-off: ownership of data and no convenience features (accounts, notifications) vs. managing a container, database, and link-sharing.