The integer splitting cipher is a special mathematical method that is proposed by the author and it can be considered as a generalization of modular arithmetic operation. In this cipher, each plaintext character is replaced on the base of another integer number with a sequence of k integers (k-splitting level) by the usage of modular arithmetic, so this cipher can be classified under substitution ciphers that are used the modular arithmetic during the encryption process. In this article the main differences among splitting cipher and four traditional substitution ciphers, which are Caesar, Vigen re, Affine and Hill, will be listed and as a conclusion we can notice that the splitting method complicate the statistical and semantic restoration of the plaintext from the point view of an unauthorized user. Furthermore, the decryption process of the splitting cipher meets the goal of Chinese reminder theorem, which states that it can recover an integer from a unique set of its residues modulo, so a comparison is conducted to show the main differences between the integer splitting theories and the Chinese remainder theorem. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.