OurTab compared with the alternatives

Nearly every app in this space does one segment of the household loop well. Here's where each of them stops, and where we'd tell you to use them instead.

OurTab vs Splitwise Who's splitting the bill, and who's doing the shopping? Splitwise is the best-known way to settle up between people — but it starts at the receipt. OurTab starts at the shopping list and ends at the ledger. OurTab vs Tricount Free is the right price for a holiday. Tricount is a genuinely free splitter, owned by a bank, and excellent for a trip. A household isn't a trip — it never ends, and it never settles up. OurTab vs Honeydue Your bank feed knows what left the account. It doesn't know who the shopping was for. Honeydue links both partners' bank accounts into one free view of your money. OurTab starts one step earlier, at the things you actually bought. OurTab vs Cozi The family's calendar, or the family's money? Cozi organises the household's time — calendar, lists, meal plans. It doesn't track what anything costs or who paid for it. OurTab does both halves. OurTab vs Flatastic Four features in one app, or one loop? Flatastic is the closest thing to OurTab: chores, shopping, expenses and a noticeboard together. The difference is whether those four things talk to each other. OurTab vs chore apps A fair split isn't an even split. Sweepy, Tody and the rest share out the cleaning properly. None of them knows that one of you got in at 2am. OurTab vs shopping list apps Your list ends at the checkout. Your week doesn't. AnyList, Bring! and the rest are excellent at the list itself — and that's where they stop. OurTab carries what you bought into stock, meals and money. OurTab vs shift calendar apps Knowing you're both off on Wednesday is the start of the question, not the answer. Supershift, Pair Cale and the rest model your rota properly and stop there. OurTab uses the same shifts to run the rest of the week. OurTab vs a shared spreadsheet The system most households actually use. A shared sheet is free, flexible and already working. Here's an honest account of when it stops being worth the maintenance. OurTab vs a note and the group chat It's a brilliant inbox and a terrible ledger. A shared note, a WhatsApp thread and a rough idea of who paid last is what most households actually run on. Here's the one thing it can't do.