How to make a budget in Google Sheets
Set up a monthly budget in Google Sheets step by step: categories, a transactions tab, and the SUMIFS formulas that compare plan with spending.
Updated November 1, 2026
See the Google Sheets Budget Template
What a budget spreadsheet does
A budget is a plan for each month: how much comes in, and how much you mean to spend in each category. A budget spreadsheet puts that plan next to what really happened, so you can see where you are over, where you are under, and how much is left before the month ends.
Google Sheets is a good home for it. It is free, it saves itself, it works on your phone, and you can share one file with a partner so you both see the same numbers.
Why build it this way
Many budget sheets are one tab per month with numbers typed into boxes. They look fine in January and fall apart by March. A sturdier layout keeps the raw data in one place and lets formulas do every total:
- One list of categories with a monthly budget for each.
- One list of transactions for the whole year.
- Summary tabs that only hold formulas: a month view and a year view.
Add a transaction and every total updates. Rename a category once and it changes everywhere.
How to set it up in Google Sheets
- Categories tab. Three columns: category name, type (income, expense or savings), and the monthly budget. Start with 15 to 20 categories; you can add more later.
- Transactions tab. Columns for date, description, category and amount. Select the category column and use Data > Data validation with "Dropdown (from a range)" pointing at the category names. That one step prevents most errors.
- Month tab. A cell where you pick the month (type the first day of the month, for example 3/1/2025). Under it, one row per category with budget, actual and difference.
- Year tab. Categories down the side, January to December across the top.
Each "actual" cell is one SUMIFS: add up the amount column where the category matches and the date falls inside the month. With the month's first day in cell B2, it looks like this:
=SUMIFS(Transactions!D:D, Transactions!C:C, A6, Transactions!A:A, ">="&B2, Transactions!A:A, "<="&EOMONTH(B2,0))
The difference is just budget minus actual. Format it red when it goes negative (Format > Conditional formatting) and the overspent categories jump out.
See the Google Sheets Budget Template
What to put in the categories
- Income: paycheck, side income, other income.
- Fixed bills: rent or mortgage, utilities, phone and internet, insurance, car payment, debt payments, subscriptions.
- Day to day: groceries, dining out, gas and transit, health, personal care, shopping, entertainment.
- Goals: savings, gifts and giving, other.
Record amounts as positive numbers and let the category's type decide whether a row is money in or money out. Give savings its own type, so a transfer to your savings account is not counted as spending. Then the savings rate is simply income minus spending, divided by income.
Budget styles it works with
The same layout handles the common approaches:
- Category budget: a fixed amount per category, as above.
- 50/30/20: group categories into needs, wants and savings, and compare each group with 50%, 30% and 20% of take-home pay.
- Every dollar assigned: keep budgeting until income minus all budgets is zero. A "left to assign" cell does the check.
Worked example
One person, take-home pay of $4,800 a month, March 2025. These are the sample numbers in the Reamwise Google Sheets Budget Template, so you can check them against the file.
| March 2025 | Budget | Actual | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Income | 5,000.00 | 4,980.00 | −20.00 |
| Spending, all categories | 4,025.00 | 3,781.82 | 243.18 |
| Dining out | 200.00 | 243.65 | −43.65 |
| Moved to savings | 400.00 | 400.00 | – |
Overall the month went well: $243.18 of the spending budget was left, and income minus spending was $1,198.18, a savings rate of 24.06%. One category, dining out, ran $43.65 over. That is exactly what the month view is for: the total looks fine, and the one line that is not still stands out.
Over the first quarter the same file shows income of $14,930.00, spending of $11,039.81 and groceries averaging $475.22 a month. A grocery receipt dated December 31, 2024 sits in the transactions list too, and is left out of every 2025 total because of the date conditions in SUMIFS.
Common mistakes
- Budgeting gross pay. Use take-home pay, after tax and payroll deductions.
- Forgetting yearly bills. Car registration, insurance paid once a year, holidays. Divide by 12 and budget them monthly.
- Typing totals by hand. Every total should be a formula.
- Free-typed categories. "Grocery" and "Groceries" are two different categories to a formula. Use the drop-down.
- Giving up after one bad month. The first two months are for learning what you really spend. Adjust the budget, not the habit of recording.
Questions
Does Google Sheets have a budget template?
Yes, the template gallery has a simple monthly budget and an annual budget. They are fine for a start, but they keep budget and spending on one tab and have no month picker or year view.
How do I make a budget in Google Sheets on my phone?
Set the file up on a computer, then use the Google Sheets app to add transactions. Adding a row at the bottom of the transactions tab works well on a phone.
Can I share the budget with my partner?
Yes. Use Share and give them edit access. Both of you can add transactions and see the same totals.
Can Google Sheets import my bank transactions?
Not on its own. Most banks let you download a CSV file, which you can paste into the transactions tab. Map the bank's descriptions to your categories as you paste.
How many categories should I have?
Enough to answer the question "where did the money go", usually 15 to 25. Too many and recording becomes a chore.
Should I use Excel or Google Sheets?
Both work with the formulas in this guide. Google Sheets is easier to share and use on a phone; Excel is easier offline.
Summary
Keep categories, transactions and summaries on separate tabs. Give every category a monthly budget, record each transaction once, and let SUMIFS compare plan and actual for any month you pick. If you would rather start from a file that already works this way, the Google Sheets Budget Template is built exactly like this; the Personal Finance Excel Template adds net worth and savings goals.
Disclaimer. For general information only. Not tax, legal or financial advice. Check the rules for your country or ask a qualified adviser. Read the full disclaimer.