Why splitting expenses gets complicated
In a group of four, a trip can generate dozens of individual debts that crisscross in every direction. Without a plan, settling up means everyone venmo-ing everyone else, losing track, and still ending up with a wrong balance.
The naive approach — each person pays back every person they owe — can generate up to n(n−1) payments for a group of n people. For a group of eight, that's up to 56 individual transfers. Smart Settle eliminates the redundancy.
Real example: 4 friends, a weekend trip
Smart Settle works by computing a net balance for each person — positive if they're owed money, negative if they owe — then greedily pairing the largest creditor with the largest debtor. The result is always the minimum number of transactions possible.
How Smart Settle works
Open your shared cashbook
Navigate to the cashbook where your group has been logging transactions. Everyone's contributions and shares are already tracked.
View Balances
Tap the Balances tab to see a live breakdown of who owes what. Net balances update instantly as new transactions are added.
Tap Smart Settle
Tap the Smart Settle button. Folko computes the minimum payment plan in milliseconds — no server round-trip needed.
Choose your payment rail
For each suggested payment, pick from 20 supported payment methods. Folko deep-links you directly into the chosen app with the recipient and amount pre-filled where the platform allows.
Mark as settled
Once each payment is sent, mark it settled. Balances update across all members in real time. The cashbook records the settlement for a clean audit trail.
20 payment rails for one-tap settlement
Folko never handles money directly. Instead, it deep-links into whichever payment app your group already uses — so settlement feels as natural as texting someone their share.
Each member can use a different payment method. There's no requirement for the group to agree on a single app — Smart Settle generates individual payment links for each transfer pair.
Works at any scale
Free tier — up to 4 members
Perfect for households, couples, and small friend groups. Full Smart Settle functionality included.
Supporter tier — up to 30 members
Ideal for larger households, travel groups, sports teams, or office shared expenses. $1/month or $10/year.
Patron tier — up to 100 members
For communities, clubs, and anyone managing shared finances at serious scale. $5/month or $48/year.
Frequently asked questions
Does Smart Settle work with different currencies?
Yes. Folko tracks 150+ currencies with daily exchange rates via ExchangeRate-API. When a cashbook has transactions in multiple currencies, Smart Settle converts all balances to the cashbook's base currency before computing the minimum payment plan, so every suggested transfer is a clean, single-currency amount.
How many members can use Smart Settle?
Smart Settle works for any number of members within your tier's limit. Free cashbooks support up to 4 members. Supporter tier raises this to 30, and Patron tier supports up to 100 members per cashbook. The algorithm handles any group size efficiently.
What payment methods are supported for settling?
Folko supports 20 payment rails including PayPal, Venmo, Cash App, PIX (Brazil), UPI (India), Zelle, Mercado Pago, SEPA (Europe), Interac (Canada), and Bizum (Spain). Folko never handles money directly ��� it opens the appropriate app with the payment details pre-filled.