Free Project Budget Templates: Simple to Advanced

By Andy Marker | February 25, 2022

We’ve compiled the most useful free project budget templates for project managers, professional services teams, accountants, and other project budget stakeholders. 

Included on this page, you’ll find a simple project budget template, a construction project budget template, a sample project proposal budget template, and a multiple project budget Gantt chart template, as well as a list of helpful tips for completing a project budget template.

Simple Project Budget Template

Simple Budget Plan Template

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Microsoft Excel  |  Microsoft Word  | Google Sheets 

Use this simple project budget template to plan and track all required tasks, resources, and the associated costs. Simply enter project tasks, subtasks, status, start and end dates, as well as labor and materials costs. You can enter fixed costs and compare budgeted and actual amounts. 

The Balance column reflects each task’s under/over amount, and the built-in subtotal line tallies all task balances to give you the big picture of your project’s financial outlook. Use this customizable template to define and track any expenses your project incurs, and to ensure that you successfully complete your project within budget. 

Find additional project proposal templates and learn more about getting the most out of your project-budget proposals.

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Project Management Budget Template

Project Management Budget Template

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Microsoft Word  |  Adobe PDF  | Google Docs 

Use this template to stay on top of your project budget and ensure that you, your team, and all other project stakeholders have easy access to the project’s financial details. This advanced project budgeting template offers space for you to define your project’s purpose, reporting requirements, spending limit authorization levels, cost variance action plan, cost estimation process, cost baseline, work breakdown structure (WBS), cost control and metrics, change control process, and total project budget. This detailed template helps you monitor your estimated and actual budget amounts in order to successfully launch and manage the project.

Construction Project Budget Template

Construction Project Budget Template

Download Construction Project Budget Template 
Microsoft Excel  | Google Sheets

Use this construction project budget template to break down construction task costs by general requirements, site prep, on-site water or sewer, utilities, excavation and earthwork, foundation, rough framing, electrical, and all the other construction stages. Enter labor costs for each task or subtask hours and rate) and materials (quantity and cost) to determine your project’s budgeted and actual amount, and by how much you’re over or under budget. Customize this template to reflect your unique construction project tasks and needs. 

Read our guide on construction budgeting to find more construction-budgeting resources, and to ensure that you hit your budget goals.

Project Proposal Budget Template

Project Budget Proposal Template

Download Project Proposal Budget Template
Microsoft Excel  | Google Sheets

Use this comprehensive project proposal budget to account for the costs of every task in your proposed budget. For each task, enter a unique WBS, a description, status, planned and actual start dates, targeted end date, labor and materials costs, and budgeted amount. Then, enter the actual amount spent to complete each task, and view the under/over amount and make any necessary adjustments. Use this tool to anticipate the differences between your proposed and actual budget, and to adapt accordingly.

Project Budget Control Template

Project Budget Control Template

Download Project Budget Control Template — Microsoft Excel

Keep an accurate budgeting record and tight control of project-related spending with this unique project budget control template. Enter line-by-line tasks and subtask costs, and the template will automatically calculate subtotals to reflect whether your individual components — as well as the project as a whole — are over or under budget. You can use this simple project budget control template to control costs for a single project, related projects, original project budget figure comparison, or multiple projects.

Project Budget Definition Spreadsheet

Project Budget Definition Spreadsheet

Download Project Budget Definition Spreadsheet
Microsoft Excel  | Google Sheets 

In order to create a successful project-specific budget, you need a customizable blueprint to account for all of the components. Use this project budget definition template to list a project’s profit and loss (P&L) components, including revenue, cost of goods sold (COGS), labor costs, and more. Under Balance Sheet Category, list cash (budgeted, actual, and variance), inventory, net fixed assets, long-term debt, and other financial factors. The template provides you with a month-by-month, quarter-by-quarter, and annual insight into your project’s planned or implemented budget.

Sample Project Proposal Budget Template

Sample Project Proposal Budget Template

Download Sample Project Proposal Budget Template
Microsoft Excel  | Google Sheets

Take the guesswork out of creating a project proposal budget with this sample template. The template includes sample text that guides you through the project budget creation process, along with sample labor, materials, and fixed costs; it also prompts you to assign individual task statuses, labor costs, proposed start and end dates. Use the pre-filled, editable task and subtask line-item amounts to determine whether you’re over or under your proposed budget, and how you might adjust to ensure that your proposed project comes in under budget.

Project Expense Tracking Template

Project Expense Tracking Template

Download Project Expense Tracking Template
Microsoft Excel  | Google Sheets | Smartsheet

Use this project expense tracking template to ensure that you proactively account for all of your project expenses, so that any shortfalls don’t risk your project’s success. This template includes customizable budget-component categories, auto-tallying materials and labor sections, space to note budgeted versus actual amount for each budget component, and the over/under amount. Propose and track the expenses for each individual task, and keep an eye on how each of these variables affect your project’s bottom line. 

Read our project cost templates article to find additional templates and learn more about getting the most out of your project budgeting.

Multiple Project Budget Gantt Chart Template

Multiple Project Budget Tracking Template

Download Multiple Project Budget Tracking Template — Excel

Manage multiple projects at once with this Gantt chart template, which provides a project budget that’s unique for each individual. Guide team members and project sponsors through your financial details with this dynamic template, which includes example text and a visually rich Gantt chart that lists your projects’ over/under figures. Compare project-by-project budgets, or adjust figures for an individual project to ensure that you’ve adequately budgeted for your proposed project and are prepared for successful execution.

Project Budget Breakdown Template

Project Budget Breakdown Template

Download Project Budget Breakdown Template 
Microsoft Excel  |  Adobe PDF  | Google Sheets 

Keep tabs on your project’s proposed versus actual budget with this easy-to-use project budget breakdown template. This fully customizable template enables you to accurately estimate the cost of each project category, review category subtotals, and then compare the total budgeted amount with your allotted budget.

What Is a Project Budget Template?

A project budget template is a tool that project managers use to estimate, implement, and gauge projected versus actual project costs. Use a template to track the project budget at the tasks level and identify your budget projections. 

A project budget template takes the guesswork out of budgeting for projects, so that you have an accurate financial picture of all project-related costs and can identify how the costs of every project facet affect the big picture of your allotted budget. A project budget template can also alert you when tasks run over budget, so that you can adjust costs or other expenditures to stay within project budget. 

A project budget template provides insight into the accuracy of anticipated expenditures and revenue sources so that you can use the template to justify any project-related cost adjustments to successfully execute the project. 

A strong project proposal template will typically include the following sections to account for all of your proposed expenses: 

  • Actual: Enter the actual cost of each budgeted task.
  • Budget: Review the budgeted amount for each individual task.  
  • Category: Enter category names for each task series or each subtask for your project’s budget. 
  • Fixed Amounts: Enter the fixed costs for each task. 
  • Labor: Enter each budgeted task’s projected hours and hourly rate.
  • Materials: Enter task units, cost per unit, travel-related costs, and costs per piece of equipment or required office or work space. 
  • Project Title: Enter a title for the project and the projected and implemented tasks plan to track. 
  • Subtotal: Review the combined under/over amounts to determine your subtotal and assess whether your project is within budget.
  • Task: Enter each budgeted task, a WBS number, a description, status (e.g., not started, in progress, completed), anticipated and actual start dates, and a proposed end date. 
  • Under/Over: Review each task’s under/over amount to determine any discrepancies between budgeted and actual task amount, and make adjustments accordingly.

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