Comparison
Apps for a shared family cabin, compared
If several families share a cabin, cottage or lake house, the hard part is coordinating who uses it when - and splitting the costs. Here is an honest look at the options, from free calendars to purpose-built tools, and who each one really suits.
My Shared House
- Price
- Free
- Private / invite-only
- Yes
- Booking approval
- Yes
- Block dates
- Yes
- Expense splitting
- No
- Built for a shared home
- Yes
Google Calendar + Splitwise
- Price
- Free
- Private / invite-only
- Shared
- Booking approval
- No
- Block dates
- Manual
- Expense splitting
- Yes
- Built for a shared home
- No
Cozi
- Price
- Free / $29 yr
- Private / invite-only
- Yes
- Booking approval
- No
- Block dates
- No
- Expense splitting
- No
- Built for a shared home
- No
TimeTree
- Price
- Free
- Private / invite-only
- Yes
- Booking approval
- No
- Block dates
- No
- Expense splitting
- No
- Built for a shared home
- No
SharedKey
- Price
- ~$49 / yr
- Private / invite-only
- Yes
- Booking approval
- Yes
- Block dates
- Yes
- Expense splitting
- No
- Built for a shared home
- Yes
OurSharedPlace
- Price
- $99 / yr
- Private / invite-only
- Yes
- Booking approval
- Yes
- Block dates
- Yes
- Expense splitting
- Yes
- Built for a shared home
- Yes
CabinPals
- Price
- Free (2) / $90 yr
- Private / invite-only
- Yes
- Booking approval
- Yes
- Block dates
- Yes
- Expense splitting
- Yes
- Built for a shared home
- Yes
Prices and features as of 2026 and can change. Google Calendar + Splitwise is a do-it-yourself pairing, not one product. CabinPals free tier is limited to two members.
Which one is right for you
My Shared House - private scheduling, free
A free, invite-only booking calendar built for one shared property. Guests request dates, the owner approves or declines, you block off taken dates, and everyone subscribes to the calendar. It does not split expenses - many families pair it with Splitwise for that. Best if your priority is a private, fair way to manage who is at the cabin when, without paying.
Google Calendar + Splitwise - the DIY combo
Free and familiar, and Splitwise is genuinely good at settling shared costs. The downside is there is no approval step and no real concept of a booking, so double-books and accidental edits are easy. Best if you are a small, trusting group happy to manage conflicts by hand.
Cozi and TimeTree - general family calendars
Both are free, polished shared calendars for a household. Neither has booking approval, blocked dates or anything specific to a co-owned property, so they work as a shared view but not as a way to divide a season fairly.
SharedKey, OurSharedPlace and CabinPals - paid, purpose-built
These are built for exactly this problem and do more - OurSharedPlace and CabinPals also track expenses. The trade-off is cost: OurSharedPlace is about $99 a year, CabinPals around $90 (its free tier caps you at two members), and SharedKey around $49. Worth it if you want scheduling and money in one paid place; skippable if free and private scheduling is enough.
Common questions
- What is the best free app for a shared family cabin?
- For coordinating who uses the cabin and when, My Shared House is a free, private booking calendar with an approval workflow. If your main need is splitting costs, pair a shared Google Calendar with Splitwise. Cozi and TimeTree are free general family calendars but have no booking-approval or date-blocking.
- Do any of these handle both scheduling and expenses?
- OurSharedPlace and CabinPals do both, but they are paid (and CabinPals limits its free tier to two members). My Shared House focuses on private scheduling and does not split expenses; many families use Splitwise alongside it for money.
- Why not just use a shared Google Calendar?
- It works, but anyone can add or delete anything, there is no request-and-approve step, and it is easy to double-book. A purpose-built tool adds approval, blocked dates and a clear record of who has which week.
New to sharing a place? Read how to share a family vacation home without fighting, or plan the season with the rotation planner.