Honestly we have used Elfster for years and it works so well. It stops people from double buying and even my tech-clueless relatives figured it out easily without any complaints.

Just found this thread and honestly, Elfster is solid. One tiny thing to add: it lets you set price limits which helps with that tight budget.

• Be careful with Sheets, its way too easy to delete rows.
• I would suggest checking if everyone can use an app. Quick question, is your family mostly on smartphones or are they desktop users? It really changes the technical setup I would suggest.

totally agree about those spreadsheets being a trap. that whole system was a letdown when we tried it a few years ago. half the family didnt sync their phones right and it led to me buying a duplicate expensive power tool for my brother because the list didnt update in time. it was a massive headache and really messed up my budget for the month. basically what i learned the hard way:

• syncing issues are the absolute worst when youre actually standing in the store
• if the interface is even slightly confusing, my uncles just wont use it
• accidentally deleting stuff is way too easy on most free platforms
• money gets wasted on shipping for stuff i had to return later unfortunately even the more stable ones can be a pain if someone forgets their password every five minutes. my current setup is okay but its still not as seamless as i hoped it would be tho... just gotta be really careful with whatever you choose.

i had a meltdown when my sister deleted half our spreadsheet once. it just isnt safe for big families. i moved everyone to GiftHero since its free and reliable.

• simple claim button stops duplicates
• paste links from any shop
• no complex logins its a decent option because its stable. saved me from buying the same lego set twice last year, which really helped my budget.