If you use a family subscription or leech off someone else's subscription, you've probably had that awkward conversation about payment with the person whose credit card pays for it. This is worse when it’s your credit card, and you have to go through the nightmare of asking everyone who uses the subscription to pay up.

With the rise of shareable subscriptions, many people wonder how to share the cost of sharing services. Here are a few tips on how to easily manage subscription payments.

1. Use Family Subscription Settings

Split bills with family members using apps.

Apple users can enable shared purchases using Family Sharing. Purchase sharing works by giving everyone in your family access to content you've purchased from Apple services. Up to six Apple ID accounts are allowed to share the apps, music, movies, TV shows, and books bought by other family members.

Read More: Apple Family Sharing Explained

Alternatively, Google Play also has a family payment method. Called Google Play family groups, they function similarly to Apple's Family Sharing. The primary difference is that Google Play gives you the option to bill a purchase using the family group setting, or another custom method for privacy.

Both Apple Family Sharing and Google Play Family Groups have family organizers or managers that initially pay for the purchases. With this, tracking the total bill for all family subscriptions will be pretty easy. Additionally, family organizers can create settings that require approval before purchase, and remove people who refuse to pay.

2. Try Some Bill-Splitting Apps

Now that you know how much in total your family spends on subscriptions, you can start splitting it up. You can either do this manually, or receive assistance from apps that do it for you.

Not only do bill-splitting apps do the math for you, but they also increase accountability among your family members. Several apps have built-in reminder settings and publicly show fulfillment status within the group.

Once you know how much your family owes among yourselves, you can proceed to sending and automating payments to each other.

Here are some of the best splitting apps ones to consider.

Settle Up

Use Settle App to split payments

Settle Up lets you pay split payments evenly or customize individual amounts per person, making it a good app for those households with unequal subscription usages. Family members who use some subscriptions less frequently can be charged less than those who use them more often.

Download: Settle Up for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)

Splid

Use Splid App to Split Expenses

While designed primarily to split costs for trips, Splid is a great app to divide monthly family expenses as well. Splid lets you divide expenses across multiple payees, meaning that two people can share the cost of paying for one subscription. Afterward, other family members can split the payment evenly between them.

Download: Slipid for Android | iOS (Free, in-app purchases available)

Splitwise

Use Splitwise App to split payments

Splitwise is a bill-splitting app that lets you create groups and divide what you owe among each other. Since it keeps a tracker of money borrowed and lent until you reach a settled balance, Splitwise is best for families that prefer to let what they owe each other even out with time.

Additionally, Splitwise links to both PayPal and Venmo, which means you don’t need to jump across apps to confirm payments.

Download: Splitwise for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)

3. Use Apps to Send Payments to Family Members

When it comes to paying family members for subscriptions, you have two main options: create recurring payments or send payments manually at the end of the month.

Related: Apps to Help Transfer Money to Friends

For families composed mostly of adults with their own bank accounts, who need to pay the same subscription bills each month, setting up auto-transfer options are the most convenient. Many banks have a feature to set up a recurring payment.

However, you may incur additional charges if your family members use different banks or are not old enough to open accounts.

Peer-to-Peer Payment Apps for Families

To avoid additional charges, you might consider using peer-to-peer payment apps to transfer money to each other. Several P2P apps don't include any additional fees for transferring money from your account to your digital wallet, nor will they charge for transfers within the app itself.

Here are a few P2P apps that you may want to consider downloading:

Apple Cash

Pay family members with Apple Pay

Apple Pay is used in tandem with Family Sharing, making it best for families that use a lot of Apple products. Using Apple Cash, families can send and receive payments through messages on their iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

Sending money through Apple Cash is free; the company does not charge any fees. And while there is currently no way to set up recurring payments using Apple Cash, it's still a solid P2P service. Apple Pay is safe to use, too.

PayPal

PayPal Send and Request Options

Using your PayPal balance or bank account, PayPal lets you send money within the United States to friends and family for free. However, sending money through a debit card has an additional charge.

Unlike other P2P mobile payment services, PayPal has the option to set up recurring automated payments by creating a subscription or setting up an automatic invoice. See our guide to getting started with PayPal for help.

Download: PayPal for Android | iOS (Free)

Zelle

Use Zelle App to send money to friends and family

Designed for family and friends, Zelle lets you send payments across all compatible banks. Using only a mobile phone and email address, family members can send money in minutes, versus days for traditional inter-bank transfers.

Zelle also lets your family members set up automated recurring payments on a weekly or monthly basis.

Download: Zelle for Android | iOS (Free)

Venmo

Venmo Mobile App
Image Credit: Morning Brew/Unsplash

Venmo is the best money-sending app for smaller-value bill subscription payments to your family members. When funded by your Venmo balance, debit card, or bank account, there is no transaction fee.

However, since Venmo requires its users to be 18 years old, it may not work for families with younger members. Venmo also currently doesn’t allow for recurring payments.

Download: Venmo for Android | iOS (Free)

Cash App

Split payments with Cash App

Cash App is best for families that need to transfer small amounts of money for subscriptions without using bank accounts. Sending money to other Cash App users via debit card is free.

Cash App lets users send and receive money with a maximum of $1,000 per month for unverified accounts, including accounts owned by those under 18. Unfortunately, there’s no direct way to set up automatic payments on Cash App at this time.

Download: Cash App for Android | iOS (Free)

Automate Your Payments Today

Subscriptions let your family enjoy multiple services without having to pay a large one-time payment. Managing them doesn’t have to be painful if you take advantage of family subscription settings, invest in bill-splitting apps, and utilize automated payments.