What it does
Cospend is an open-source Nextcloud application for shared expenses. Projects contain members, bills, categories and currencies, with recurring bills and settlement plans. The software is free under the AGPL licence, but it needs a compatible Nextcloud installation; guests can join through public project links.
A Cospend project can include members who do not have Nextcloud user accounts. Share it with Nextcloud users or through a public link, then record bills and the members' individual shares. For an ongoing household, recurring bills avoid recreating the same rent or subscription entry.
Give guests the access they need
Public links can have a password and one of four permission levels:
| Level | What a guest can do |
|---|---|
| Viewer | Read the project |
| Participant | Create, change or delete bills |
| Maintainer | Also manage members, categories, payment methods and currencies |
| Admin | Also manage project settings and deletion |
Use new bill, enter its name, amount, payer, date and participants, then Save bill. A member's weight can represent more than one person's share. Disabling a departed member prevents new entries involving them while preserving the existing balance.
Statistics explain project spending, while the settlement plan calculates repayments that would reset balances. CSV import and export support files compatible with IHateMoney and Splitwise.
Installation and cost
Cospend has no software licence charge. Hosting and administering Nextcloud are separate responsibilities. The app store currently pairs Cospend 4.3.0 with Nextcloud 33, 34 and 35; older Nextcloud releases use older Cospend versions.
An administrator can optionally enable public project creation. The repository also documents application programming interfaces for integrations and identifies the older MoneyBuster Android client as unmaintained.
Strengths
- Guest links have separate viewing, bill-editing and administration permissions
- Recurring bills support ongoing household costs
- CSV exchange supports migration from other expense splitters
Watch out for
- Requires hosting or access to a compatible Nextcloud installation
- The older MoneyBuster Android companion is unmaintained
Best for
- Nextcloud households keeping shared expenses on their own server
- Groups that need different access levels for participants
Sources
- Cospend: Project Features and Clients (Oct 27, 2026)
- Cospend User Guide (Oct 27, 2026)
- Cospend GNU Affero General Public License (Oct 27, 2026)
- Cospend: Nextcloud Releases (Oct 27, 2026)
- Cospend: Public Project Creation (Oct 27, 2026)