Budget calculator

Zero-Based Budget Calculator

Assign after-tax monthly income across broad categories and reconcile the plan to zero. “Zero-based” means income minus assigned amounts equals zero; it does not mean spending every unit.

Total assigned—

Income remaining—

Share assigned—

Reconciliation—

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Category plan

Give each amount a job

Housing—

Food and household—

Transport—

Utilities and insurance—

Debt minimums—

Savings and goals—

Wants and other—

How reconciliation works

Remaining = after-tax income − total assigned. Savings, investing, extra debt payments and a deliberate cash buffer are valid assignments. A zero result describes allocation, not the quality of the choices.

Compare frameworks

Zero-based budgeting uses amounts, not fixed percentages.

The method can reflect high housing costs, irregular priorities or aggressive saving without forcing a 50/30/20 split.

Compare zero-based budgeting with 50/30/20 →

Prepare the inputs

Normalize irregular costs before assigning them.

Convert annual, quarterly and weekly expenses into monthly equivalents so the plan does not omit infrequent bills.

Open monthly expenses calculator