Project Budget Tracker

Why halfway through is too late to ask

Most project budgets get built once, at the start, and never looked at again until the invoice goes out. By then the answer to “are we still making money on this” is a fact, not a question you can still act on. Checking budgeted against actual while the project is still running is the only version of that question you can do anything about.

What belongs in a project budget

A project budget is smaller than it looks: what you expect to bring in, what you expect to spend, and a line for each as the project actually unfolds. Income covers the client payment itself and anything on top of it, like a milestone bonus or a change request. Costs cover everything the project pulls out of your pocket: contractors, software, travel, materials. Description, type, budgeted, actual: four fields are enough to answer the only question that matters.

Why budgeted versus actual beats a single total

A running total tells you what a project has cost or earned so far. It does not tell you whether that is on track. Budgeted versus actual does: it puts the plan next to what actually happened, line by line, so a cost that quietly doubled shows up as a doubled line, not as a slightly bigger number buried inside a total.

Running over in cost is not the same as running over in hours

A project that runs over in cost has spent more real money than planned: a contractor charged more, a tool needed a paid upgrade, shipping cost extra. A project that runs over in hours has cost you more of your own time than planned, without a matching invoice to show for it. Both hurt, but they call for different fixes: one needs a harder look at what you are buying, the other needs a harder look at what you are charging for your own time. This page tracks the first. It only sees the second if you put a rate on your hours and log the result as a cost line.

This page checks one project against its own budget. Want to see which clients are actually the most profitable, side by side? Aclient profitability trackerranks them by revenue and direct cost instead.

Your numbers stay yours

Everything you type stays in this browser tab, saved in this browser’s local storage so the project is still here next time you open the page. There is no account, no server, and nothing to upload. The CSV download is a plain file, written on your own device.

Frequently asked questions

Should I log budgeted amounts before the project starts?

Yes, if you have a budget. Enter what you expect to spend and earn, then fill in the actual numbers as the project unfolds. This lets you see in real time whether you are tracking to plan.

What’s the difference between a cost that runs over in hours and one that runs over in money?

A cost overrun in hours means the project took longer than budgeted, costing you more of your own time. A cost overrun in money means you spent more real cash (on contractors, software, materials). This tool tracks the second one. For the first, put a rate on your hours and log it as a cost line.

Can I track subcontractor costs per project?

Yes. Log each subcontractor payment as a cost line. If you pay a subcontractor in phases as the project unfolds, log each payment as a separate line so you can see the cumulative cost building up.

What does the margin calculation tell me?

Margin is profit as a percentage of actual income. A 20% margin means for every 100 in revenue, 20 is profit after costs. The higher the margin, the better you did on the project. It helps you compare how efficiently different projects were run.

Should I include fixed business expenses like rent in this project budget?

No. Log only direct costs specific to this project. Rent, base software subscriptions, and other overhead belong in your overall profit and loss statement, not in a single project’s budget.

Related tools

• Sales tracker: logging what you sold rather than what a project cost? That is the sales tracker. This page checks a project’s whole budget, income and costs together.
• Profit and loss statement: this page checks one project. The profit and loss statement adds income and expenses up for the whole business over a period.