Free budget template in Excel: the top 8 for 2024 (2024)

Budgeting is an essential aspect of money management, whether it’s for personal or business-related purposes. And when it comes to planning, aggregating, and analyzing budgets, Excel is still the go-to tool for many people from different lifestyles and professions.

Having a budget template in Excel is a more accessible, affordable, and familiar option for many users. What’s more, you can easily customize your templates to suit your exact budgeting needs. Whether you need to budget for your new startup business, control annual department spending, or save up for your first car, there is a template out there for everyone.

So, if you’re an Excel fan, here are some of our favorite free Excel budget templates that you can customize to fit your own needs:

Free Excel budget templates for 2024

  1. Expense tracker by Sheetgo
  2. Monthly Budget Planner by Money Under 30
  3. Annual Budget Planner by Budget Templates
  4. Student Budget template by Microsoft
  5. Household Expense Budget template by Smartsheet
  6. Zero-based Budget Spreadsheet by Smartsheet
  7. Money Manager template by Smartsheet
  8. Small business budget template by Capterra
  9. What are budget templates?
  10. Why use budget templates in Excel?

Free Excel budget templates for 2024

1. Expense tracker by Sheetgo

This Sheetgo Expense tracker template is ideal for small businesses and project teams — or anyone looking for a simple way to monitor expenses and automate financial management in their company. You could even use it at home with your family, to track how much each person is spending!

The Expense tracker workflow is not only easy to use, but it also gives you a better understanding of where your expenses come from. Share the individual expense tracker spreadsheets with each user so that they can track their spending. These individual sheets are then connected to the expenses master sheet, where all budgeting data is combined for an entire overview of group spending.

Add as many individual tracker spreadsheets as you need for your members. Make the most of the visual dashboards to receive actionable insights from your raw data to help make important future budgeting decisions.

Free budget template in Excel: the top 8 for 2024 (1)

Get the template here: Sheetgo expense tracker for Excel

2. Monthly Budget Planner by Money Under 30

This budget planner by Money Under 30 takes monthly money management to a new level with a dedicated page for every month of the year. Each page is divided into sections that you can customize to the different areas of your spending. Simply input your purchases in the corresponding category, and you can easily track how much money you’ve spent in that month, and how much of your budget is left over.

And as if that’s not enough to keep your finances in check, the template also has a summary page where you can find snapshots of your debts and savings.

Free budget template in Excel: the top 8 for 2024 (2)

3. Annual Budget Planner by Budget Templates

Budget Templates offers a detailed yearly personal budget planner that gives you an overview of your yearly budget to help you keep your finances aligned. The spreadsheet can hold a year’s worth of detailed budgeting information in just a single tab. Each worksheet has customizable sections where you can input additional income and investments, so you have everything in one place.

This is a great option for those who need an effective overview of their financial spending over multiple years. It could be a great option for regular, long-term spending such as mortgages, loans, and annual vacations.

Free budget template in Excel: the top 8 for 2024 (3)

4. Student Budget template by Microsoft

Managing finances can be a challenge for students, especially for those who’ve just started college and are experiencing the huge responsibility of living on your own.

Microsoft’s Student Budget template is the perfect budgeting tool for those who want to track and control their allowance and part-time job incomes. Add your college-related spending into one tab, and your personal spending in the other. The template will calculate the budget of your personal spending so you never have to worry about going over your income.

The best thing is that you can use this template both as a downloadable file, but also as an online version, so you can access it on any computer or mobile device.

Free budget template in Excel: the top 8 for 2024 (4)

Get the template here: Microsoft College Budget template

5. Household Expense Budget by Smartsheet

This financial management tool is made for budget-conscious families. With the Household Expense Budget planner by Smartsheet, you track the income and spending of your entire household.

Each sheet in the template is dedicated to a single month of the year, giving you a more detailed insight into your family’s monthly cash flow. Track continuous outgoings such as the mortgage, utility bills, and internet. Then, track one-off expenses such as restaurant bills, cinema tickets, and airfare. With this template, you can even create an emergency fund budget and assign income to your savings account, for a more reliable and secure budgeting solution.

Free budget template in Excel: the top 8 for 2024 (5)

6. Zero-based Budget Spreadsheet by Smartsheet

The idea behind this Excel sheet budget template is to allocate every dollar of your income to a part or aspect of your budget, so the difference between both equals zero.

The Zero-based budget Spreadsheet has two sections – one side for your monthly income and another for your expenses. Once you finish filling out both areas, the difference should be zero. If not, you should adjust either side. This method allows you to track and easily trace where your money is going.

Free budget template in Excel: the top 8 for 2024 (6)

7. Money Manager template by Smartsheet

Looking for a budgeting tool that will let you manage your budget and keep an eye on your expenses in a single location?

If so, the Money Manager template is a great option to consider. It’s an all-in-one budgeting solution that records and tracks all your financial transactions, and even balances your checkbook.

Free budget template in Excel: the top 8 for 2024 (7)

Get the template here: Money Manager template

8 Small business budget template by Capterra

Starting to dabble in the world of business, the Small Business Budget template will be an interest to you.

Capterra has developed a versatile and user-friendly budgeting spreadsheet that startup owners can use for both long-term and short-term budget planning. The template also features an overview sheet. This sheet provides analytical insight into the efficiency of your business budgeting strategy.

Simply add your operational and non-operation income, then input your fixed and variable costs. This template will then calculate your gross profit, with an in-depth breakdown and analysis of where your money is going.

Free budget template in Excel: the top 8 for 2024 (8)

What are budget templates?

Budgeting templates are a pre-built structure you can use inside a spreadsheet to organize, manage and monitor your budgeting needs. They can save you a lot of time and manual effort by organizing and calculating your finances for you.

Although budgeting templates can differ with various features, the general idea is the same. Note down and keep track of all the various outgoing payments on a weekly, monthly or yearly basis. These templates will help you have a clear overview of how much you’re spending and on what you’re spending it on, as well as your total gross income.

You can use budgeting templates both in professional and personal circ*mstances. Here are just a few examples:

  • Startup business annual budgeting
  • Monthly department budgeting
  • Student budgeting
  • Family household budgeting
  • Event budgeting
  • Personal budgeting (to save for a vacation or new car)

Why use a budget template in Excel?

As the most widely used spreadsheet tool, Excel is a popular choice for data management. Using a budgeting template in an already familiar tool is perhaps the simplest option for keeping track of your finances.

Using a budgeting template inside Excel has a range of benefits, including:

  • Accessibility: Almost everyone has access to Excel. What’s more, you can open Excel online, so you can collaborate with other users or update your template from any device.
  • Personalization: Adding your templates in Excel means that it’s easy for you to customize the templates to your exact needs. You can add or remove various cells or columns, or tailor the content to your specific situation.
  • Optimization: By having your budgeting template in Excel, you can access Microsoft’s range of analytical features and functionalities. Create graphs and charts to visualize your data, or use different formulas to calculate new insights.
  • Affordability: Spreadsheet templates are (for the most part) free, unlike complex finance software. Simply download your copy and get budgeting! No large upfront costs needed.

Free Excel budget templates

And there you have it! Excel is a versatile and valuable budgeting tool that has definitely proven its worth. But as with most things, there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all money management tool. You’ll need a specific template for a particular budgeting task.

There are a variety of budgeting templates available on the market, depending on your needs. Although all of the above templates are simple and easy to download for an immediate solution, the Sheetgo Expense tracker takes budgeting to the next level. Read our article to learn more about the Automated Expense tracker template in Excel.

Looking for an all-in-one solution to control your finances? Check out our spreadsheet-based solution to automate your financial management and track all your business transactions.

Editor’s note: This is a revised version of a previous post that has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

Free budget template in Excel: the top 8 for 2024 (2024)

FAQs

Free budget template in Excel: the top 8 for 2024? ›

Creating a budgeting plan for your household can feel overwhelming and hard, but Excel can help you get organized and on track with a variety of free and premium budgeting templates.

Does Microsoft Excel have a budget template? ›

Creating a budgeting plan for your household can feel overwhelming and hard, but Excel can help you get organized and on track with a variety of free and premium budgeting templates.

How do I create a future budget in Excel? ›

On the Data tab, in the Forecast group, click Forecast Sheet. In the Create Forecast Worksheet box, pick either a line chart or a column chart for the visual representation of the forecast. In the Forecast End box, pick an end date, and then click Create.

How do I create a free budget in Excel? ›

How to create a budget in Excel using templates
  1. Navigate to the "File" tab. The "File" tab is on the top ribbon in Excel. ...
  2. Search for budgets. You can expect to see a bar on the new interface. ...
  3. Select a suitable template. Microsoft Excel has various budget templates to suit your specific situation. ...
  4. Fill the template.
Feb 12, 2024

What is the best free Excel family budget template? ›

10 Excel Budget Template Alternatives to Use in 2024
  • ClickUp Simple Budget Template. ...
  • ClickUp Business Budget Template. ...
  • ClickUp Budget Proposal Template. ...
  • ClickUp Personal Budget Template. ...
  • ClickUp Event Budget Template. ...
  • ClickUp Project Management Budget Template. ...
  • ClickUp Project Budget with WBS Template.
May 9, 2024

Where can I get free Excel templates? ›

Free Excel for the web templates
  • Go to Create.Microsoft.com.
  • Click Templates at the top of the page.
  • On the Templates page, click Excel. ...
  • Click the template you want, click Edit in Browser, sign in if prompted, and then click Continue.

How do you create a future budget? ›

Follow the steps below as you set up your own, personalized budget:
  1. Make a list of your values. Write down what matters to you and then put your values in order.
  2. Set your goals.
  3. Determine your income. ...
  4. Determine your expenses. ...
  5. Create your budget. ...
  6. Pay yourself first! ...
  7. Be careful with credit cards. ...
  8. Check back periodically.

Is Microsoft Excel free? ›

All you need is to sign up for a Microsoft account with a new or existing email address. Use Word, Excel, PowerPoint and more for free on the web.

How to set up an Excel spreadsheet for expenses? ›

Let's jump right into the step-by-step guide!
  1. Step 1: Download our free expense tracker template. ...
  2. Step 2: Set up header information. ...
  3. Step 3: Set up expense categories. ...
  4. Step 4: Fill the template with line items. ...
  5. Step 5: Total expenses by category. ...
  6. Step 6: Add receipts and relevant source documents.
Dec 1, 2023

What are the basic Excel formulas for budgeting? ›

7 Essential Microsoft Excel Functions for Budgeting
  • Add and Subtract Income and Expenses: SUM. ...
  • Add Certain Expenses: SUMIF. ...
  • Find the Highest or Lowest Expense: MIN or MAX. ...
  • Count Expenses or Payments: COUNT. ...
  • See How Many Days to Pay: DAYS. ...
  • See How Many Business Days to Pay: NETWORKDAYS. ...
  • View the Current Date: TODAY.
Mar 24, 2022

Is there a free program like Excel? ›

LibreOffice Calc is a free alternative to Excel.

How do I create a flexible budget in Excel? ›

How to find a flexible budget
  1. Identify fixed costs. ...
  2. Identify variable costs. ...
  3. Determine how much your variable costs change. ...
  4. Calculate your total overhead costs. ...
  5. Create a budget. ...
  6. Revisit and update your budget.
Oct 16, 2023

What is the 50/30/20 rule? ›

Do not subtract other amounts that may be withheld or automatically deducted, like health insurance or retirement contributions. Those will become part of your budget. The 50-30-20 rule recommends putting 50% of your money toward needs, 30% toward wants, and 20% toward savings.

Is there a free spreadsheet program? ›

LibreOffice Calc ons:

It's part of the free and open source LibreOffice productivity suite, which began life as a fork of OpenOffice. It's a great alternative to Google Sheets if you're looking for something that runs natively on your Mac, Windows, or Linux desktop.

What is the best free Excel? ›

  • Google Sheets: Best for offline editing and collaboration. ...
  • Zoho Sheet: Best for automation. ...
  • Microsoft Office Excel Online: Best for users who prefer Excel's interface. ...
  • Apache OpenOffice Calc: Best for customization. ...
  • LibreOffice Calc: Best Excel alternative for features.
Apr 26, 2024

Does Excel have a bookkeeping template? ›

Excel doesn't offer a built-in bookkeeping template. However, you can download premade templates from the internet or create your own.

Does Microsoft have a budgeting app? ›

If you don't have a subscription you can download app and use the Free Month trial. My Monthly Budget provides a simple, visual way to help you manage your expenses and bills. With My Monthly Budget you can set budgets for eating out, entertainment, shopping, groceries and more.

Does Excel have a expense template? ›

Microsoft Excel has lots of free, customizable budget templates available to pick from, so you're certain to find one that works for you. Let's open the Excel expense template that I got from the Microsoft Create and dive into a few ways to customize it for my small business.

Does Excel have a financial statement template? ›

A: Yes. Excel has a range of financial templates, including income statements, cash flow statements, and balance sheets.

References

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Errol Quitzon

Last Updated:

Views: 5874

Rating: 4.9 / 5 (59 voted)

Reviews: 90% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Errol Quitzon

Birthday: 1993-04-02

Address: 70604 Haley Lane, Port Weldonside, TN 99233-0942

Phone: +9665282866296

Job: Product Retail Agent

Hobby: Computer programming, Horseback riding, Hooping, Dance, Ice skating, Backpacking, Rafting

Introduction: My name is Errol Quitzon, I am a fair, cute, fancy, clean, attractive, sparkling, kind person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.