The hardest part of leaving any expense splitting app is not the app - it is the ledger. Years of who-paid-what is genuinely valuable, and starting from an empty group means losing the answer to "do we still owe each other anything?"
Splitwise does let you take your data out. This guide covers exactly how, what the export includes, what it silently drops, and how to get it into another app.
Step 1: export a group as CSV
Exports are per-group, so you repeat this for each group you want to move.
- Open Splitwise on the web - the mobile apps do not expose the export option.
- Open the group or friend you want to export.
- Click the gear / settings icon in the upper right of the right-hand column.
- Choose Export as spreadsheet. A .csv file downloads.
If you have Splitwise Pro, account settings also offer a full JSON backup under advanced features. That is more complete, but fewer apps can read it.
Step 2: understand what you actually got
The CSV has one row per expense, with a column per group member holding that person's share. The columns are roughly:
| Column | Contains |
|---|---|
| Date | Date of the expense |
| Description | What it was |
| Category | Splitwise category name |
| Cost | Total amount |
| Currency | Currency code |
| <member name> | That member's share - negative if they paid, positive if they owe |
What it does not include: comments, attached receipt images, payment method details, and your friends list. If a receipt photo matters to you, save it separately before you migrate.
Step 3: check the totals before you import
Open the CSV in a spreadsheet and confirm two things: the number of expense rows matches what Splitwise shows for the group, and each member column sums to that member's current balance. If a group used multiple currencies, check each currency separately - a single combined total will not reconcile.
Doing this now takes two minutes. Doing it after the import, when you cannot tell whether a discrepancy came from the export or the import, takes considerably longer.
Step 4: import into your new app
Several apps read the Splitwise CSV format directly. The flow is broadly the same in each:
- Create the destination group or space first.
- Upload the CSV to the app's Splitwise importer.
- Map the members - names in the CSV will not automatically match accounts in the new app.
- Review the preview: expense count, per-member totals, and any skipped rows.
- Confirm, then check one or two known expenses landed correctly.
In SpndX, this is Shared Space settings, then import, then pick the CSV. Members, expenses, and running balances come across, and the import preview shows the totals before anything is written.
Common problems and what causes them
- Balances are off by a small amount - almost always rounding on split remainders. Compare per-currency, not combined.
- A member appears twice - the same person had different display names across expenses. Fix the names in the CSV before importing.
- Rows skipped - usually settlement/payment rows rather than expenses. Most importers handle these separately, which is correct.
- Dates shifted by a day - spreadsheet locale parsing. Open the CSV as text rather than letting Excel reformat the date column.
Do you need to move everything?
Often not. If a group is settled and dormant, exporting the CSV and keeping the file as an archive is enough - you do not need it live in a new app. Migrate the groups that are still active, and archive the rest.
If you are weighing the move because of Splitwise's free-tier changes, we covered those separately in Splitwise's daily expense limit, explained, and the Splitwise alternative comparison lays out what you gain and give up.