Fair Play Cards Alternatives and Apps Like Fair Play

The best Fair Play alternatives for couples are Tody if you want a calm, shared cleaning plan, Sweepy if a game keeps you both going, Nipto if you want chores weighted by effort, Flatastic if you also share a shopping list and costs, Cozi if the real problem is the family calendar, and EvenUS if you want to see how time, money and planning are actually shared and get one suggested change a week. A plain chore chart still works well for couples who mainly need a list they can both see.

One thing to say up front: EvenUS is our app. We've judged everything else here on what it does, using each app's own website and store listing, and we've tried to be as frank about our own limits as about anyone else's.

Fair Play, from Eve Rodsky, is a system for sharing household and parenting work through books, a card deck and certified facilitators. Each card is a task you own completely, thinking included. For the method set against apps in full, read the Fair Play method vs chore apps for couples, and for a wider roundup sorted by job, see the best chore tracking apps. This page is narrower. It covers what people turn to when the cards aren't quite working for them.

Why do couples look for an alternative to Fair Play?

Usually because the first conversation went well and then the cards drifted, or because they want something that keeps going without a sit-down every time.

Fair Play is strong on the talk and on handing over whole responsibilities. It's less suited to day-to-day reminders, to showing whether the deal is still holding a month later, or to anything involving money. Say Maya and Jordan deal the cards in January and Jordan takes school forms. By March nobody has checked how that's going, and the forms are back on Maya's side of the kitchen table without either of them deciding it. Each app below covers one of those gaps. None of them does everything the cards do, and the cards don't do everything they do either.

Fair Play alternatives compared

Tody: best for a calm, shared cleaning plan

Best for: couples whose friction is mostly about cleaning and whose turn it is.

Tody is a cleaning-schedule app for iPhone, iPad and Android. It keeps track of what needs cleaning, when it was last done and whose turn it is, and on every plan, including the free one, chores can be assigned or rotated automatically. The free plan covers one person and has no ads. If you want one live plan you both see, you'll need Premium+, which starts at $25 a year for two people (the Duo plan). Premium on its own is $9.99 a year.

Premium+ also adds FairShare, a contribution target for each member. Of the cleaning apps here, that's the closest anything gets to the Fair Play idea of agreeing a share.

Pick Tody if you'd like the house to stay on top of itself without a long conversation each week. The catch is that it's about cleaning. Planning, admin, children's appointments and money sit outside it, and those are often the cards that cause the most strain.

Sweepy: best for couples who like a game

Best for: households where a bit of friendly competition gets things done.

Sweepy turns home cleaning into a game. Each room gets a visual indicator of how clean it is, a Smart Schedule is built around the time you actually have, and you can invite family members or housemates onto a leaderboard. Parents can approve children's tasks. It's free to download, custom tasks are free, and the US App Store lists a subscription at $3.99 a month or $19.99 a year, with a 3-day trial.

It suits you if points and a leaderboard make cleaning feel lighter for you both rather than tenser. Bear in mind that a leaderboard counts jobs done, not the noticing and planning around them, and for some couples scoring each other adds pressure of its own. Why keeping score can hurt looks at that risk.

Nipto: best for weighting chores by effort

Best for: families, couples or housemates who want a big job to count for more than a small one.

Nipto is a gamified chore app on iPhone, Android and the web, in 10 languages. Each task earns between 5 and 100 points (eggs) depending on the effort, and it rotates a task between you based on who did it last. Children without phones can join as managed members on a parent's device. It's free with up to 5 schedules, and one Premium purchase covers the whole household.

If "we each did five jobs" feels off because Alex's five were small ones like descaling the kettle and wiping a shelf, while Sam's included clearing the gutters, Nipto is built for exactly that. What it weights, though, is the tasks you log. The planning Fair Play puts on each card (remembering, booking, following up) isn't something it sets out to measure.

Flatastic: best for chores plus shopping and shared costs

Best for: homes that want one place for the cleaning rota, the shopping list and who paid for what.

Flatastic is a shared-household organiser for flatmates, families and couples, on iOS, Android and the web. It puts a cleaning schedule, a shared shopping list, shared expenses and a pinboard in one app, and it's free to download. Premium adds a history of what was done and when, notes on chores, no ads, CSV export of your finances and more than one shopping list. Flatastic doesn't publish an exact Premium price on its site.

Choose it if you want the practical side of sharing a home handled in one place. It stops at chores, lists and costs, though, so paid work, free time and the invisible planning between two partners aren't part of the picture. Our EvenUS vs Honeydue vs Flatastic comparison goes into where it fits in more detail.

Cozi: best when the calendar is the real problem

Best for: busy families where most of the load is keeping track of who needs to be where.

Cozi Family Organizer is a free app for iPhone, Android and the web with a shared calendar, grocery lists, to-dos and meal plans together. Every family member gets their own colour on the calendar, to-dos and chores update for everyone in real time, and recipe ingredients can go straight onto the shopping list. Cozi Gold costs $39 a year and adds no ads, a month view on mobile, calendar search, change notifications and a birthday tracker.

If your arguments are about missed pick-ups and double-booked weekends rather than the washing up, start here. Cozi is a calendar and list app rather than a way of dividing work, so it shows what's happening but not who is carrying the planning for it.

A simple chore chart: best for keeping it low-tech

Best for: couples who liked the Fair Play conversation and just need the result written down.

A list on the fridge with each area of the home and the name of whoever owns it is the closest you'll get to keeping your Fair Play deal visible without the cards. You both walk past it every day. Beyond the fridge whiteboard covers how to make one last, and the invisible labour checklist helps you include the jobs that are easy to leave off.

It's the right choice if you want no apps at all. A chart won't remind anyone, though, and it can't tell you whether the arrangement still feels fair a few weeks later.

EvenUS: best for seeing whether the whole load is fair

Best for: two partners living together who keep coming back to the same "who does more" conversation.

EvenUS works out how money, time and the planning nobody sees are actually shared in your home. You log chores, answer a few private questions about planning and remembering, and add shared costs, which it can split by income or by another method you choose. From that it shows the hours each of you has left in a week once sleep, paid work, travel, the house and the children are counted. The week is summed up in one number, the household balance, and every part of it is explained.

Each Sunday it can suggest one change to try for two weeks, with the reason. At the end you both choose whether to keep it or swap back. If things already look even, there may be no suggestion that week. Weekly check-ins are private, so neither of you can read the other's, and there are no streaks or badges.

It's for iOS and Android, with a 7-day free trial in the app and no card needed. After that it's $9.99 a month or $79.99 a year (US reference prices; the stores set the price in each region), and one subscription covers both of you.

EvenUS makes sense if you want an honest picture of the arrangement rather than a task list, and one small, specific change at a time. Now the limits. It's in closed testing and not yet on the app stores. It doesn't link to your bank account (you can import a statement file instead). It's built for two partners, so a flat of four would be better off with Flatastic. And it doesn't replace the big conversation Fair Play is built around. It works best alongside one.

Choosing between them

Start with the thing you argue about most, then pick the tool built for that job.

• If it's cleaning and whose turn it is, try Tody, or Sweepy if a game helps.
• If the jobs aren't the same size, Nipto.
• Shopping and shared costs as well as chores: Flatastic.
• Diaries, pick-ups and meals belong in Cozi.
• For no technology at all, a chore chart, or the Fair Play cards themselves.
• If you're not sure it's fair overall, EvenUS. Or start with the free fairness calculator and the mental load quiz to see where the imbalance sits before choosing anything.

Plenty of couples combine two, say Cozi for the calendar and a chore app for the house, or a Fair Play conversation followed by an app that keeps track of how the deal holds up.

Common questions

Is there an app like Fair Play?

Not one that copies the card system. Tody, Sweepy, Nipto and Flatastic share out tasks, and EvenUS measures how time, money and planning are shared. None of them runs the Fair Play dealing conversation for you.

What is the best free alternative to Fair Play?

A simple chore chart costs nothing. Among the apps, Cozi is free for calendars and lists, Nipto is free for up to 5 schedules, and Tody is free for one person, though sharing a live plan with a partner needs its paid Premium+ plan.

Which alternative covers the mental load as well as chores?

Most chore apps count jobs done. EvenUS asks private questions about planning and remembering so that work gets counted too. If you're unsure how much planning one of you carries, what the mental load is is a good place to start.

Can we use Fair Play and an app together?

Yes, and that's often when it works best. Use the cards to agree who owns what, then an app to remind you and to show whether the arrangement still feels fair a few weeks on.

Is EvenUS available now?

Not on the app stores yet. It's in closed testing on iOS and Android, with a 7-day free trial once you're in.

EvenUS is our own app. We have no affiliate deals with any app on this page and earn nothing if you choose one of them. Prices change, so check the store listing before you pay.