Should I Build It Should I Build It
31 May 2025
Productivity

Holiday abroad arguing no longer friends money management split app ...

...that lets you split and decide when to split so it is fair everyone has equal chance activities

Confidence
Engagement
Net use signal
Net buy signal

Idea type: Swamp

The market has seen several mediocre solutions that nobody loves. Unless you can offer something fundamentally different, you’ll likely struggle to stand out or make money.

Should You Build It?

Don't build it.

Your are here

You're entering a crowded market. With 29 similar products already out there, it's safe to say there's a lot of competition for apps that handle splitting expenses. The idea category "Swamp" fits because many solutions exist, but none have truly captured the market's heart. These apps exist, but users are not necessarily engaged with any single one of them, or even the idea of using one, as illustrated by the low average comment count (3). Your idea focuses on splitting expenses during holidays abroad, incorporating elements of fairness and decision-making regarding activities. This is a niche within a niche, but it doesn't guarantee success and you will need to take extra care in designing it.

Recommendations

  1. Given the existing competition and low engagement, focus on a very specific niche to start. Holidays abroad with friends, as you mentioned, is a good starting point. This allows you to tailor the app's features and marketing specifically to this audience.
  2. Thoroughly research why existing expense-splitting solutions haven't achieved widespread adoption. Read reviews, analyze their features, and identify pain points that users consistently complain about. Don't just build another 'me too' app.
  3. Instead of directly competing with established players, consider building tools or integrations for them. Could you create a plugin for Splitwise that adds your unique "fairness" algorithm for activity selection and expense splitting? This lets you test your core ideas without building a full-fledged competitor.
  4. One major criticism in similar products (SplitMyExpenses, UnityPay) is the lack of support for multiple currencies and international transactions. If you are focusing on holidays abroad, this is table stakes and must be implemented from the very beginning.
  5. Consider the user experience carefully. Some users find exact bill splitting 'miserly'. How can you make the process feel fair and equitable without being overly precise or creating awkward situations? Perhaps offer options for rounding or contributing to a 'group fund' for shared experiences.
  6. Several similar products were criticized for not having offline capabilities (Quicksplit). Since you are focusing on travel, and travel often involves inconsistent connectivity, you MUST make sure that your app works at least partly offline.
  7. Since there is a strong "buy" signal for this product type, you can think about monetization strategies from the very beginning. What features would users be willing to pay extra for? Could you offer a premium version with advanced budgeting or travel planning tools?
  8. Many users compared new expense-splitting apps to Splitwise. You need to have a solid answer for the question of competitive advantage and uniqueness. Focus on what makes YOU different.

Questions

  1. How will your app handle disputes or disagreements about what constitutes a 'fair' split, especially when dealing with subjective experiences or activities?
  2. Given that many similar apps exist, what is your specific plan for acquiring users and standing out in a crowded app store environment? How will you overcome the discoverability problem?
  3. How will you build a community around your app and create a sense of trust and transparency, particularly when dealing with sensitive financial transactions between friends?

Your are here

You're entering a crowded market. With 29 similar products already out there, it's safe to say there's a lot of competition for apps that handle splitting expenses. The idea category "Swamp" fits because many solutions exist, but none have truly captured the market's heart. These apps exist, but users are not necessarily engaged with any single one of them, or even the idea of using one, as illustrated by the low average comment count (3). Your idea focuses on splitting expenses during holidays abroad, incorporating elements of fairness and decision-making regarding activities. This is a niche within a niche, but it doesn't guarantee success and you will need to take extra care in designing it.

Recommendations

  1. Given the existing competition and low engagement, focus on a very specific niche to start. Holidays abroad with friends, as you mentioned, is a good starting point. This allows you to tailor the app's features and marketing specifically to this audience.
  2. Thoroughly research why existing expense-splitting solutions haven't achieved widespread adoption. Read reviews, analyze their features, and identify pain points that users consistently complain about. Don't just build another 'me too' app.
  3. Instead of directly competing with established players, consider building tools or integrations for them. Could you create a plugin for Splitwise that adds your unique "fairness" algorithm for activity selection and expense splitting? This lets you test your core ideas without building a full-fledged competitor.
  4. One major criticism in similar products (SplitMyExpenses, UnityPay) is the lack of support for multiple currencies and international transactions. If you are focusing on holidays abroad, this is table stakes and must be implemented from the very beginning.
  5. Consider the user experience carefully. Some users find exact bill splitting 'miserly'. How can you make the process feel fair and equitable without being overly precise or creating awkward situations? Perhaps offer options for rounding or contributing to a 'group fund' for shared experiences.
  6. Several similar products were criticized for not having offline capabilities (Quicksplit). Since you are focusing on travel, and travel often involves inconsistent connectivity, you MUST make sure that your app works at least partly offline.
  7. Since there is a strong "buy" signal for this product type, you can think about monetization strategies from the very beginning. What features would users be willing to pay extra for? Could you offer a premium version with advanced budgeting or travel planning tools?
  8. Many users compared new expense-splitting apps to Splitwise. You need to have a solid answer for the question of competitive advantage and uniqueness. Focus on what makes YOU different.

Questions

  1. How will your app handle disputes or disagreements about what constitutes a 'fair' split, especially when dealing with subjective experiences or activities?
  2. Given that many similar apps exist, what is your specific plan for acquiring users and standing out in a crowded app store environment? How will you overcome the discoverability problem?
  3. How will you build a community around your app and create a sense of trust and transparency, particularly when dealing with sensitive financial transactions between friends?

  • Confidence: High
    • Number of similar products: 29
  • Engagement: Low
    • Average number of comments: 3
  • Net use signal: 29.7%
    • Positive use signal: 31.5%
    • Negative use signal: 1.9%
  • Net buy signal: 1.0%
    • Positive buy signal: 2.0%
    • Negative buy signal: 1.0%

This chart summarizes all the similar products we found for your idea in a single plot.

The x-axis represents the overall feedback each product received. This is calculated from the net use and buy signals that were expressed in the comments. The maximum is +1, which means all comments (across all similar products) were positive, expressed a willingness to use & buy said product. The minimum is -1 and it means the exact opposite.

The y-axis captures the strength of the signal, i.e. how many people commented and how does this rank against other products in this category. The maximum is +1, which means these products were the most liked, upvoted and talked about launches recently. The minimum is 0, meaning zero engagement or feedback was received.

The sizes of the product dots are determined by the relevance to your idea, where 10 is the maximum.

Your idea is the big blueish dot, which should lie somewhere in the polygon defined by these products. It can be off-center because we use custom weighting to summarize these metrics.

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