Guide BMD

Alternative to Tricount and Splitwise: the one that also manages tontines

Tricount and Splitwise do very well what they are designed for. The problem is not there. The problem is everything else your group does with money.

The BMD editorial team·14 juillet 2026·2 min read

Let’s start with what’s honest: if your only need is to split the bill of a weekend among friends, Tricount or Splitwise will do the job. They are good tools, they are ten years ahead in maturity, and to claim otherwise would be to lie to you.

But ask yourself a simple question: in your group, does money circulate **only** in the form of expenses to be divided?

What these applications do not do

They share expenses. They do not manage a tontine. They do not manage a common fund with contributions. They do not formalize a loan between close ones with a schedule, witnesses, and a guarantor.

This is not a flaw: it is simply not their job. They were designed for a European roommate splitting rent, not for a family that has been running a njangui for fifteen years alongside weekend shopping.

A group that holds a tontine always ends up keeping two accounts: the application for expenses, and the notebook for the tontine.

What BMD does additionally

• Shared expenses: equal shares, by item or by percentage, with calculations of who reimburses whom.
• Tontines: njangui, natt, susu, hui — rounds, order of passage, auctions, history of each payment.
• Common funds: contributions, expenses, validations.
• Debt acknowledgments: schedule, witnesses, guarantors, PDFs, and negotiated restructuring if the debtor encounters difficulties.

All in one place, for the same group, with the same people. This is the only thing BMD claims — and it’s the only thing that can’t be found anywhere else.

How to choose, honestly

If your group only shares expenses, stay where you are: changing tools for the same need is pointless.

If your group also holds a tontine, a common fund, or lends money — and that part still lives on a notebook, a spreadsheet, or a WhatsApp thread — then what you need is not a better expense application. It’s an application that understands the rest.