Splitting across currencies without losing money in the gap
Three different rates can apply to the same dinner. Only one of them should end up in the group's maths.
Converting currencies is free forever. No paid tier.
Here is a dinner in Bangkok, paid by one person, split four ways.
The bill was 3,200 baht. The person who paid has a card that bills in pounds, so their statement eventually says £71.40. The group agreed the trip counts in euros. Three of the four owe money on it.
There are now at least three defensible numbers for the same dinner. The rule that keeps them from fighting is: pick the room's currency once, and let one system do every conversion.
One room currency, converted as you go
The specific rate matters less than the consistency.
Mixing rates is what breaks things. If Tuesday's dinner is converted at Tuesday's rate by one person, Thursday's taxi by a currency app, and the villa at whatever the booking site charged, then everybody is working from a different set of numbers and the group stops trusting the total.
Enter the amount you actually paid
Put in 3,200 baht. Not €84, not £71.40, not your phone's guess from the taxi queue.
The receipt says 3,200, and it is the one number in the chain that is not an estimate — if the group ever needs to check an expense, that is what they will check against. Your own card's number is also not the group's business: your bank's spread is a cost of your card, not a cost of the dinner. Push it into the shared total and you have quietly asked three friends to subsidise your choice of bank.
Your card's rate is a separate problem
When you pay 3,200 baht on a card that bills in pounds, your bank picks a rate and usually adds something to it. That happens between you and your bank, days later, and no expense splitter can see it or change it. If your statement says £71.40 and the group's maths says the equivalent of £69.80, that £1.60 is what your card charged you, not an error in the split.
The only fix is a different card — or being the person who pays in cash.
Keeping a room clean across currencies
- Pick the room currency before the first expenseChoose whatever most of the spending is actually in, not whatever your own bank uses.
- Log local amounts, alwaysThe currency on the receipt is the currency you enter. Converting at entry throws away the provable number.
- Settle in the room's currencyIf the room counts in euros, the transfers at the end are in euros. Converting again on the way out reintroduces the gap you avoided.
- Expect the balances to reconcile to the centShares are rounded so the room always nets to zero. If a number looks wrong, check the expense, not the arithmetic.
Why conversion is not a paid feature here
Groups that share a currency have easier options. The groups that genuinely need a splitter are the ones spread across countries — and charging those groups for the conversion is charging for the only part they came for.
So it is free forever, and there is no tier above it.
Set the currency once, forget about it
Add expenses in whatever you actually spent and let Split do the conversion. No paid tier.
Start a splitQuestions
- Which exchange rate should the group use?
- Agree the room currency once and let Split convert each expense as it goes in. The rates are indicative — a daily reference rate, not your bank's — so treat the totals as exact and the conversion as close enough to split by.
- Should I enter the amount I paid or what it cost me?
- Enter what you paid, in the currency you paid it in. That is the number on the receipt and the only one you can prove.
- Does Split charge for converting currencies?
- No. Converting currencies is free forever, with no paid tier to upgrade to.