Household apps compared: calendar, lists, meals and expenses

By Epidot Solutions AB Published February 19, 2026

Everyday family life rarely lives in one place. The schedule sits in a calendar app, the shopping list on a note on the fridge, the week's dinners in the head of whoever does the shopping, and who paid for what gets tallied in a chat thread at the end of the month. Each part works well enough on its own, but the whole leaks: double bookings, forgotten groceries and expenses that never get evened out.

This page compares the apps that try to pull it together: EpiHem, FamilyWall, Cozi, TimeTree and the combination of Google Calendar and Google Keep, plus a few single-purpose apps further down for anyone who only wants to solve one thing. One thing to be open about up front: EpiHem is our own app. We compare it openly against the others, with the competitors' strengths and our own limitations spelled out, so you can weigh our word against the rest.

The short version

In short, depending on what you need most:

What is a household app?

A household app gathers a household's shared everyday life in a single app: shared calendar, shared lists, meal planning and household finances such as expense splitting. The point is not any single feature, but that everything connects and everyone in the household sees the same thing in real time. The idea behind the all-in-one household app is precisely to replace three or four apps with one.

That separates it from two categories it often gets mixed up with. A family calendar app solves the schedule, but nothing else. A single-purpose app does one thing, like shopping lists or expense splitting, often really well, but leaves the rest of daily life to other apps.

The category is still young, and several of the apps marketed to families are, in practice, family calendars with a few extras. So we compare line by line what is actually included, and what costs extra.

How we compared

We went through each app in the vendor's own channels, that is their websites and app-store listings, and checked what is included for free against what requires payment. Prices and features were verified in July 2026. EpiHem is our own app, so to keep the comparison fair we name the competitors' strengths first, spell out EpiHem's limitations by name, and set out exactly what our unique claim covers.

Feature comparison

The table shows what each app includes, and at which tier. A check means the feature is fully there, a half mark that it comes with caveats, and a dash that it is missing. On mobile you can scroll the table sideways.

What is included, and at which tier

Feature	EpiHem Our app	FamilyWall	Cozi	TimeTree	Google Calendar + Keep
Shared calendar	Yes Free	Yes	Partial 30-day view on free	Yes	Yes Free
Shared lists	Yes Free	Yes	Yes	Partial notes only	Yes simple lists in Keep
Meal planning	Yes Premium	Yes Premium	Partial recipe box	No	No
Expense splitting: who owes whom	Yes Premium	No budget only	No	No	No
Receipt scanning that reads line items	Yes Premium	No	No	No	No photo only in Keep
Ad-free	Yes Always	Partial ads on the free tier	Partial ads on the free tier	Partial ads on the free tier	Yes

Price and plans

Almost everything can be started for free. The difference is in what the free tier actually lets you do, and what sits behind a paid tier.

Free tier and price

Feature	EpiHem Our app	FamilyWall	Cozi	TimeTree	Google Calendar + Keep
Free tier	Calendar, lists, up to 4 members	Yes	With ads, 30-day view	With ads	All free
Premium price	EUR 6.99/mo or EUR 49.99/yr, whole household (up to 8)	about USD 45/yr	Gold about USD 39/yr	about USD 45/yr	No premium tier

Competitors' premium prices are the USD figures the vendors publish themselves; the local price varies by app store. EpiHem publishes its price in both euros and kronor. Checked July 2026.

EpiHem

Best for: households that share both everyday life and finances and want everything in one place.

Strengths: EpiHem is built as a household app from the ground up, not as a calendar with add-ons. The essentials are free: shared lists, a shared calendar, tags and real-time sync for households of up to 4 members. Premium costs EUR 6.99 per month or EUR 49.99 per year, and a single subscription covers the whole household with up to 8 members. It unlocks receipt scanning that reads the line items and true expense splitting, that is a running balance of who owes whom until you settle up, plus meal planning with recipes (more in our guide to weekly meal planning), projects with budgets and statistics. Premium comes with a 14-day trial, no card required. All data is stored within the EU, the app is ad-free and available on both mobile and web. Because EpiHem is newly built, the interface is modern and uncluttered, made for the whole household to pick up quickly, no manual needed.

Limitations: EpiHem is new and does not have the long track record several of the others have built up. There is no family chat and no location sharing, both of which FamilyWall has, and no chores feature yet (coming soon; Cozi has one).

FamilyWall

Best for: households that want a broad family organizer with calendar, lists and meal planning, plus family chat and location sharing.

Strengths: FamilyWall is the closest thing to a complete household app in this comparison. It brings a shared calendar and shared lists together for free, and adds meal planning in Premium. On top of that it has things EpiHem does not: a basic family chat (voice and video require Premium) and real-time location sharing (Premium). It runs on iOS, Android and the web and has a large user base. Premium costs about USD 45 per year.

Limitations: FamilyWall has a budget feature, but no true expense splitting that works out who owes whom, and no receipt scanning that reads the line items. If you want to split an expense against a receipt, you will need a separate app alongside it.

Cozi

Best for: families that want calendar, lists, a recipe box and chores in one app.

Strengths: Cozi is a broad family organizer: shared calendar, lists, a recipe box and a chores feature that launched in April 2025. It runs on iOS, Android and the web, has passed 20 million members since it started, and offers a free version to get going with.

Limitations: Since May 2024 the free version shows only a rolling calendar view of about 30 days; the full view needs Gold (about USD 39 per year), and the free tier has ads. Expense splitting and receipt scanning are missing entirely. There is more on when Cozi is enough and when it is not in our guide to Cozi alternatives.

TimeTree

Best for: households that mostly want to share a schedule and like a large, focused calendar.

Strengths: TimeTree is one of the largest shared calendars in the world, with around 70 million registered users as of late 2025, and the shared calendar is its strength. It runs on iOS, Android and the web, and the free version goes a long way for anyone who mostly wants to share a schedule.

Limitations: TimeTree is a calendar app at heart. Lists exist only as notes and memos attached to events, not as real shared lists, and meal planning, expense splitting and receipt scanning are all missing. The free tier has ads; Premium removes them and costs about USD 45 per year.

Google Calendar + Google Keep

Best for: households that mostly need a shared calendar and a simple shared list, for free.

Strengths: The combination is completely free, and the shared calendar is excellent. Keep adds simple shared checklists, so the two most common everyday needs, the schedule and the shopping list, are covered without anyone paying anything.

Limitations: These are two separate apps, not one shared home for the household. There is no expense splitting, no meal planning, and no receipt scanning that reads the line items: Keep can attach a photo of the receipt, but it never becomes an expense or a split. Everything to do with the household's money has to be handled somewhere else.

Single-purpose apps: best at one thing

Does everything really have to live in one app? No. If your household has a single shared need, a single-purpose app is often both simpler and better at exactly that thing. Worth knowing anyway: in EpiHem shared lists and a shared calendar are included at no cost, and they sit in the same app as the receipt splitting, so a single-purpose app is the right pick only if one of those pieces really is all you need.

Shopping lists: Bring! and Listonic

Bring! is a dedicated shopping list with the core features free and ads on the free version; a cheap premium mainly removes ads and adds themes. Listonic also keeps its core features free with ads and is a pure list app. Both do one thing well, but lack a calendar and expense splitting. In EpiHem shared lists are free and connect to the calendar and receipt splitting in the same app, so a dedicated list app makes sense only if lists are the one thing you want to share. There is a walkthrough on our shared lists page.

Expense splitting: Splitwise, Tricount and Settle Up

Splitwise is built for splitting expenses in groups and on trips. The free tier has ads and a daily cap on how many expenses you can add, and receipt scanning requires Pro (about USD 40 per year), which reads the total, not the individual line items. Calendar, lists and meal planning are missing entirely. Tricount is now completely free, its paid tier was retired after bunq acquired the service, and it splits group expenses with multi-currency support. Settle Up has a free Basic tier that shows an ad after every few expenses; receipt photos and more require Premium (about USD 4 per month or USD 20 per year). If you want to dig deeper, there is a Splitwise comparison for households. EpiHem solves the same need but starts from the receipt: receipt scanning that reads the line items and splits the expense, in the same app as the shared lists and calendar that are already free. More on our receipt scanning and expense splitting page.

The simple conclusion: if a single-purpose app covers your need, pick it. A household app earns its place only once you have two or three shared needs and are tired of hopping between apps that do not talk to each other.

Which one should you choose?

No app is best for everyone. Here is how we would reason, by need:

Just a shared calendar: Google Calendar. Free and excellent; it does not need to be more than that.
Just a shopping list: Bring! or Listonic. The core features are free in both.
Just splitting expenses in a group or on a trip: Tricount, which is completely free, or Splitwise if you can stay within the free tier's daily cap.
An established family organizer with family chat and location sharing: FamilyWall.
Mostly a shared schedule in a large, focused calendar: TimeTree.
An established family organizer with recipes and chores: Cozi.
A complete household app and family organizer: EpiHem. Shared lists and a shared calendar come free, and Premium adds receipt scanning, true expense splitting and meal planning, all in one app on mobile and web.

Common questions

Which is the best household app?

It depends on what your household needs. If a shared calendar is all you need, Google Calendar goes a long way, for free. If you want a broad family organizer with calendar, lists and meal planning, FamilyWall is a strong choice, with Cozi as an alternative. If you want calendar, lists, meal planning and shared expenses with receipt scanning in one and the same app, that is exactly what EpiHem is built for.

Which is the best family organizer?

FamilyWall is the broadest of the established family organizers, and Cozi a proven alternative. Both stop at calendar, lists and meals: neither splits expenses or reads receipts. If you want those in the same app, that is exactly what EpiHem is built for.

What is the difference between a family calendar app and a household app?

A family calendar app solves one thing: everyone sees the same schedule. A household app covers more of everyday life in the same place: shared calendar, shared lists, meal planning and often household finances such as expense splitting. If you have more needs than the calendar, you avoid juggling three or four separate apps.

Is there an app that shares both a calendar and expenses?

Among the apps in this comparison, EpiHem is the only one that brings a shared calendar and true expense splitting with receipt scanning that reads the line items into the same app. FamilyWall, Cozi and TimeTree have no expense splitting with receipt scanning, and Splitwise, Tricount and Settle Up have no calendar or lists. Otherwise you need to combine two apps, for example Google Calendar and Tricount.

How much does a household app cost?

From free to about USD 45 a year. Google Calendar and Keep are completely free, and so is Tricount. EpiHem is EUR 6.99 per month or EUR 49.99 per year for the whole household. Competitors' premium tiers are the USD figures the vendors publish themselves: FamilyWall and TimeTree sit around USD 45 per year and Cozi Gold around USD 39 per year, while the local price varies by app store. Free versions often come with limits or ads, so compare what is actually included.

Is Google Calendar enough as a family calendar?

Often, yes. As a pure family calendar, Google Calendar is excellent and free. What it does not do is the rest of household life: no meal planning, no expense splitting and no receipt scanning that reads the line items. Keep can attach a photo of the receipt, but it never becomes an expense or a split. If the calendar is all you need, use it. If you need more, look at a household app.