An expense tracker for couples: one budget, two phones

Monavo is an expense tracker two people use from their own phones. You pair the phones by scanning a QR code; from then on you both log expenses the way you always would — type groceries 62 and it's saved — and you both see the same budget, categories and recurring bills, with every expense labelled with who added it. No joint bank account, no bank linking, nothing to share except the QR code.

How pairing works

1. On one phone, open Settings → Account and make the QR code.
2. Scan it with the other phone. That's the whole setup; there are no passwords to hand over.
3. Each of you adds expenses from your own phone. Both see the same budget, expenses, categories and bills, kept in sync.

Add or delete a category on one phone and it changes on the other. Disconnect anytime, from either phone. An iPhone and an Android connect to each other.

Who paid what

Every shared expense shows the person who added it, so "did you log the groceries?" and "who paid the electricity?" stop being questions. It's also the number you need at the end of the month if you split costs: how much each of you put in. Monavo shows it; it doesn't settle the difference for you. For the arithmetic, the couple expense split calculator compares 50/50 with a split in proportion to income.

What stays private

Neither of you links a bank, and you keep your own accounts. The data lives on your phones; what travels between them is the encrypted sync, and only when pairing is on. Pairing runs through the cloud backup that comes with Pro, which is where an email comes in — it's the only account there is, and until you pair, nothing leaves the phone.

What it costs for two

One Pro plan covers both connected phones; you don't pay twice. Pro is $19.99 a year or $2.99 a month, with a 7-day free trial. Lifetime is $59.99, paid once, and covers both phones too. Up to three phones can share one budget. Everything else — logging by typing, budgets, recurring bills, insights, 140+ currencies — is free on each phone on its own, with no time limit.

Not sure Monavo is the right one?

I've compared it with Honeydue, Goodbudget, Monarch, YNAB and Copilot in the best budget app for couples, including where each of them is the better choice. If you'd rather never type an expense and have the bank do it, that comparison says which apps do that.

Frequently asked questions