Free expense tracker template for Excel (monthly budget vs actual)
An expense tracker answers two questions every month: where did the money go, and is any category over budget? This free Excel template keeps one list of expenses for the whole year, adds them up by category for the month you pick, compares each category with its monthly budget (over budget, near the limit or OK), shows every month of the year side by side, and checks the month's total against your bank and card statements. Below: what's in the file, a worked example built from real-looking statements, how to fill it in fast from a statement, what to leave out, and what each check means.
Short answer: download the expense tracker template (.xlsx). Put your categories and monthly budgets in the table on the right, pick the month at the top, then add one line per expense: date, description, category (drop-down), paid with and amount (a refund is a negative amount). The budget table shows spent, left, % used and a status for each category, and an optional statement total checks that nothing is missing. The Example is a fictional design studio's September 2026: 8,051.72 spent of an 8,275.00 budget, with Travel and Supplies over budget, and it ties to the sample statements to the cent.
Download the free expense tracker template (.xlsx)
Three sheets: a blank Expense tracker with 1,000 lines and 13 starter categories, a filled-in Example expense tracker and How to use. Category and receipt drop-downs, a budget table, a by-month table for the year and a check on every line. It uses only SUM, SUMIF, SUMIFS, COUNTIF, ROUND, IF, AND, OR, N, MAX, INDEX, MATCH, TEXT, DATE, YEAR, MONTH and TODAY, so it works in Excel, Google Sheets (File, Import), LibreOffice and Numbers. No sign-up, no email, no macros.
- What's in the template
- The columns, line by line
- Worked example: a studio's September 2026
- Fill it in fast from bank and card statements
- What to leave out: transfers, card payments, refunds
- Setting monthly budgets and reading the status
- The checks, and what to do about each
- Expense tracker, expense report or bookkeeping template?
- FAQ
1. What's in the template
- Inputs at the top: name or business, the month to track (any date in the month; blank means this month) and, optionally, the total expenses on that month's bank and card statements.
- The expense list: 1,000 lines with date, description (merchant), category, paid with, amount, receipt Y/N and notes, then a calculated Check column. The whole year fits on one sheet; a filter is on the header row.
- Budget for the month on the right: up to 30 categories, each with its monthly budget (yellow, editable), spent this month, left, % used and a status. The Category drop-down reads this list.
- By month: spending for each month of the tracking year against the monthly budget, with over or under.
- Key figures: spent this month, monthly budget, left to spend, categories over budget, the largest category, the statement check difference, and lines this month / lines to fix.
- Status line, such as 8,051.72 spent of 8,275.00 budget; 2 categories over budget, or 1 line(s) need fixing.
Yellow cells are inputs; everything else is a formula. The grey helper column at the right of the list (the month of each expense) feeds the monthly figures; leave it alone.
2. The columns, line by line
| Column | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Date | The day of the purchase or payment (the transaction date on the statement). |
| Description | The merchant or payee, as it reads on the statement or receipt: "Austin Energy, electricity". |
| Category | Drop-down from the budget table. A typed category that isn't in the table is flagged so it can't fall out of the budget. |
| Paid with | The account or card: "Checking ··0427", "Card ··7316", "Cash". Useful for the statement check. |
| Amount | What you spent. A refund or return is a negative amount in the same category as the purchase. |
| Receipt (Y/N) | Whether you kept the receipt. Handy at tax time for business spending. |
| Notes | Anything else: the client, the project, "split with Sam". |
| Check | Calculated: OK, or what's wrong (see section 7). |
3. Worked example: a studio's September 2026
The Example sheet is the fictional design studio from our sample bank statement and sample credit card statement. Its 33 lines are September's spending on both:
- Card ··7316: 20 lines, 1,897.76. Every purchase, the Office Depot return (−42.18) and the interest charge. That's the card statement's own arithmetic: previous balance 2,846.12 − payment 1,500.00 − credit 42.18 + purchases and interest 1,939.94 = new balance 3,243.88. The 1,500.00 payment isn't a line, because the purchases already are.
- Checking ··0427: 13 lines, 6,153.96. Rent, utilities, software, supplies, the two contractor checks, fuel, phone and the service fee. Payroll, payroll taxes, the health premium, sales tax, the transfer to savings and the card payment are left out of this tracker (the bookkeeping template is where the full picture lives).
With September picked and 8,051.72 typed as the statements' total, the difference is 0.00 and the budget table reads:
| Category | Budget | Spent | Left | % used | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rent | 1,850.00 | 1,850.00 | 0.00 | 100% | At budget |
| Contractors | 3,000.00 | 2,825.00 | 175.00 | 94% | Near limit |
| Utilities | 500.00 | 412.66 | 87.34 | 83% | OK |
| Phone & internet | 225.00 | 189.34 | 35.66 | 84% | OK |
| Software & subscriptions | 450.00 | 384.96 | 65.04 | 86% | OK |
| Office expense | 300.00 | 230.63 | 69.37 | 77% | OK |
| Supplies | 650.00 | 809.20 | -159.20 | 124% | Over budget |
| Travel | 800.00 | 1,076.85 | -276.85 | 135% | Over budget |
| Meals | 100.00 | 56.79 | 43.21 | 57% | OK |
| Car & fuel | 150.00 | 119.94 | 30.06 | 80% | OK |
| Advertising & marketing | 100.00 | 59.99 | 40.01 | 60% | OK |
| Bank fees & interest | 50.00 | 36.36 | 13.64 | 73% | OK |
| Other | 100.00 | 0.00 | 100.00 | 0% | OK |
| Total | 8,275.00 | 8,051.72 | 223.28 | 97% |
Two flights, a Dallas hotel and rideshares put Travel 276.85 over, and kitchen and packaging runs put Supplies 159.20 over. Rent shows At budget because a fixed cost lands exactly on its budget, and Contractors is Near limit at 94%. The largest category is Contractors at 2,825.00, and the status line says 8,051.72 spent of 8,275.00 budget; 2 categories over budget.
4. Fill it in fast from bank and card statements
Typing receipts works, but your statements already list every card swipe and debit with the date, the merchant and the amount. The fastest way to keep the tracker current:
- Get the month's transactions as rows. Most banks and card issuers let you download recent activity as CSV or Excel from online banking. For older months, or when you only have the PDF statement, a converter turns the PDF into a spreadsheet (see bank statement to Excel and credit card statement PDF to Excel).
- Paste date, description and amount into columns A, B and E. On a bank statement, keep only the money going out (the debits) and make them positive; on a card statement, purchases are already positive and credits negative.
- Delete what isn't spending (next section), then pick a category on each line. Sorting by description puts repeat merchants together.
- Type the statements' total at the top and check the difference is 0.00. That proves no line was lost or doubled when you pasted.
5. What to leave out: transfers, card payments, refunds
An expense tracker counts each purchase once. Three kinds of money movement trip people up:
| On the statement | In the tracker | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Credit card payment from checking | Leave it out | The card's purchases are already lines; counting the payment too doubles them. |
| Transfer to savings or another account you own | Leave it out | The money is still yours; nothing was bought. |
| Loan or mortgage payment | Interest only (or the whole payment, if you budget it as a bill) | The principal part pays down a debt rather than buying something. Pick one rule and keep to it. |
| Refund or return | A negative line in the purchase's category | It cancels the spending where it happened. |
| Cash withdrawal | Either the withdrawal (one "Cash" line) or what you spent the cash on | Never both. |
6. Setting monthly budgets and reading the status
Start from what you actually spend. Fill in two or three past months from your statements, look at the By month table and each category's spending, and set budgets near those figures, then trim where you want to. Fixed costs such as rent and software subscriptions get their exact amount; variable ones such as travel and supplies get a rounded average.
| Status | Means |
|---|---|
| Over budget | Spent more than the monthly budget (Left is negative) |
| At budget | Spent exactly the budget, usual for fixed costs like rent |
| Near limit | 90% or more of the budget used |
| No budget | Spending in a category whose budget is 0 or blank |
| OK | Under 90% used |
A category that's over most months needs a bigger budget or a spending change; one that's always far under can give some of its budget to the others. The budget is per month, so annual costs (insurance, a yearly software plan) can go over in the month they're paid: note it, or budget them as one twelfth a month and expect the spike.
7. The checks, and what to do about each
| Check / status | Means | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| No date | A line has a description or amount but no date, so it isn't counted in any month | Add the date |
| No amount | A line has no amount | Add it, or delete the line |
| No category | Category is blank | Pick one from the drop-down |
| Category not in budget | A typed category that isn't in the budget table, so it would be missing from the budget | Pick from the drop-down, or add the category to the table |
| Expenses differ from the statements | The month's lines don't add up to the statements' total you typed | Look for a missing or doubled line, a line dated in the wrong month, or a card payment or transfer that crept in |
8. Expense tracker, expense report or bookkeeping template?
| Use | When |
|---|---|
| Expense tracker (this page) | You want to see where money goes each month and keep categories inside a budget, at home or in a small business. |
| Expense report template | Someone is claiming back what they paid for the business: one report per trip or month, receipts, an advance and the amount due. |
| Bookkeeping template | You need the business's books: income and expenses for every account, monthly profit and a balance check per account. |
| Business budget template | You want a 12-month profit plan for the business (income and costs) with budget vs actual for the year to date. |
| Bill tracker template | You need to know which bills are due soon, paid or overdue, rather than what was spent. |
Track business miles separately in the mileage log template: the miles aren't on any statement.
Get a month of card spending as rows, not a PDF
Utilly turns PDF bank and credit card statements into Excel, CSV, QuickBooks or Xero files and checks every file against the statement's own totals, so the rows you paste into the tracker add up to the statement. Try it on the fictional sample card statement first: it's the card side of this page's example.
Method: spent this month = the sum of the month's lines in each category (SUMIFS on category and month); left = budget − spent; status as in section 6; statement check = all of the month's lines − the statements' total typed at the top. The business, budgets and statements are fictional; the card and bank lines are Utilly's sample statements for September 2026. Template built and checked November 4, 2026: the Example recalculates in LibreOffice to the figures above and the status 8,051.72 spent of 8,275.00 budget; 2 categories over budget.
FAQ
Is the expense tracker template free?
Yes. Download the .xlsx with no sign-up or email address. It has a blank Expense tracker sheet with 1,000 lines and 13 starter categories, a filled-in Example and instructions, and it works in Excel, Google Sheets (File, Import), LibreOffice and Numbers.
How do I track expenses by month in Excel?
Keep every expense on one list with its date, category and amount, then add up each category for one month with SUMIFS on the category and the month. The template does this: pick the month at the top and the budget table shows that month's spending, what's left and the status for each category, and the By month table shows the whole year.
Should credit card payments go in an expense tracker?
No, if the card's purchases are already lines. The payment from checking only settles purchases you've already counted, so adding it doubles them. Leave out transfers between your own accounts too. A refund goes in as a negative amount in the purchase's category.
Can I fill the tracker from my bank statement?
Yes, and it's the fastest way. Download the month's activity as CSV or Excel from online banking (or convert the PDF statement), paste the date, description and amount, delete card payments and transfers, and pick a category on each line. Type the statements' total at the top: a difference of 0.00 means nothing was lost or doubled.
How do I set a monthly budget for each category?
Start from what you actually spend: fill in two or three past months, look at each category's spending and set budgets near those figures, then trim. Fixed costs get their exact amount and variable costs a rounded average. The status shows Over budget, At budget, Near limit (90% or more used) or OK.
Can I use it in Google Sheets?
Yes. In Google Sheets choose File, Import, Upload and pick the .xlsx. The formulas use only common functions (SUM, SUMIF, SUMIFS, COUNTIF, IF, INDEX, MATCH, DATE, YEAR, MONTH, TEXT and a few others), so they calculate the same way, and the Category drop-down carries over.
Related guides
- Free small business bookkeeping template for Excel (income, expenses and a bank check)
- Free business budget template for Excel (12 months, budget vs actual)
- Free expense report template for Excel (with mileage and receipt checks)
- Free bill tracker template for Excel (due soon, paid and overdue)
- Free mileage log template for Excel (IRS 2026 rates, business use %)
- How to convert a credit card statement PDF to Excel
Related tools
- Bank reconciliation checker: compare a bank statement to your books and list missing, duplicate and mismatched transactions.
- Receipt to CSV: turn PDF or photo receipts and invoices into CSV, Excel, or QuickBooks and Xero bill imports.
