Rent, bills and chores for a shared house, in one place.
It depends on who holds the money. If your group trusts one organizer, a trip, a group gift, team dues, TableCash is built for exactly that: friends chip in by card, the money lands with the organizer, and everyone sees every dollar. If nobody holds money and you only need to track who owes what, use Splitwise. If you're collecting from the public rather than people you know, use GoFundMe.
The real question: who holds the money?
Every "collect money from a group" tool is an answer to that question, and picking the wrong one is why group money gets awkward. Here's the honest map.
TableCash, one trusted organizer, everyone sees every dollar
One person creates a table for the trip, gift, or team fund. Friends chip in by card (a 3.5% + $1.49 TableCash fee comes out of what lands, or they add it so the table gets the full amount), the money lands with the organizer, and the whole group sees who chipped in, what was approved out, and what's left. Members can request money from the table; the organizer approves what leaves. TableCash never holds the money, cards are handled by Stripe, a licensed payment processor, the app is the record. Best for: groups of people who know each other, with one person doing the organizing. iPhone and Android, free, 18+. What TableCash is, in full.
Venmo / Cash App, built for paying people
Great when one friend owes you $23. Venmo also has Groups, where up to 30 people add shared expenses, split them, and pay each other inside the group. That fits costs split after the fact. When eight people each pay one organizer up front, the organizer still keeps the list of who's in, the reminders, and the running total.
Splitwise, tracks debts and settles them one to one
A ledger first: it records who owes what after a shared expense, and people settle up person to person, through Splitwise's own payments in some places or on Venmo and PayPal. Excellent for roommates and running trip tabs. It isn't built to collect the group's money upfront into one place, so that still happens somewhere else.
Cheddar Up, collection pages for organizations
Built for PTAs, troops, and clubs: a payment page with forms and item sales. Strong for organizations collecting from many parents; more structure than a friend group usually needs.
GoFundMe, for the public, not your group chat
Made for collecting from strangers and wide circles, with a public page. Overkill and the wrong shape for ten friends funding a cabin weekend.
PayPal, the general-purpose fallback
PayPal can receive money from anyone, but like Venmo it's built for one-to-one payments, so the group doesn't get one shared running total to watch, and business fees can apply depending on how people send.
Pick by shape
- One organizer, friends chipping in, everyone watching, TableCash.
- Only tracking who owes what, Splitwise.
- An organization collecting from many families, Cheddar Up.
- The public backing a cause, GoFundMe.
- One friend paying back one friend, or splitting costs after, Venmo (Groups) or Cash App.