⛱ Budget Forecast vs. a spreadsheet

The spreadsheet works. Until it doesn’t.

Most people plan their big expenses in a spreadsheet, and honestly, it can do the job. But the sheet only knows what you last typed into it: timelines go stale, the inflation formula lives in your head, and nothing reminds you the furnace is due. Budget Forecast is the same arithmetic, kept current for you, on every device.

Open the planner for free → See how it works

Free to use · No account, no bank linking · Your data exports anytime

Side by side

The same job, without the maintenance

Nothing here is magic. It’s the arithmetic you’d build in a sheet, already built, and kept current so you never open it to a stale plan.

Your spreadsheet
Budget Forecast
Getting started
A blank grid, your own formulas, and a free weekend
258 pre-costed home components and five budget types. A plan in minutes, or describe it to the AI.
The monthly number
You build it yourself and hope the formula survives every edit
It’s the headline. One live monthly target across every item, recomputed as things change.
Time passing
Every timeline is stale until you remember to update it
Items age with the real calendar and flag themselves when they come due.
Inflation
One more formula to write, and to remember you wrote
Each cost is grown to its due date automatically. 2% by default, yours to change or turn off.
What’s due when
Sort by the date column and squint
A 12-month expense calendar across everything you track, overdue items pinned on top.
Replacing something
Overwrite the cell and lose the history
One tap logs what you paid and restarts the timeline. The history stays.
On your phone
Pinch-zoom a grid in a mobile browser
Built for the phone. Sign in and the same plan follows you across devices.
Cost
Free, plus your Saturday afternoons
Free. No card, no bank linking. Pro adds unlimited budgets for $4.99 CAD/mo.
Still your numbers

The control you built the sheet for, kept

The reason you built a spreadsheet is that you wanted to see the math and own every number. That stays true here: nothing is a black box, and anything you disagree with, you can type over.

  • ✓Every item shows its cost, timeline, and share of the monthly number
  • ✓Override any price, quantity, or date, just like editing a cell
  • ✓Export the whole plan to CSV or JSON anytime. No lock-in.
The Budget Forecast summary report with the monthly number
Fair is fair

When a spreadsheet is still the right tool

We’re not here to tell you spreadsheets are bad. For some jobs they’re unbeatable, and pretending otherwise would be the first dishonest thing on this page.

Math you invent yourself

Modelling investment returns, comparing mortgage scenarios, or building a forecast nobody has built before. When the formula is the point, a spreadsheet is the right canvas.

One-off quick math

Splitting a bill, comparing two quotes, a calculation you’ll never open again. Opening a planner for that is overkill. So is opening a spreadsheet, honestly, but it’s closer.

Tracking every transaction

Budget Forecast deliberately doesn’t track your coffees. It plans the big, datable expenses. If you want transaction-level budgeting, pair it with a tracker; they answer different questions.

Quick questions

Switching from a spreadsheet

The three things people ask before they retire the sheet.

Can I import my spreadsheet?
Not directly, and for most sheets you won’t miss it. The fastest path is Build with AI: describe what you own in a few sentences (the age of the roof, the furnace, the car) and review the drafted plan before anything is added. Most spreadsheets translate in a few minutes. And your data comes back out anytime as CSV or JSON, so the door swings both ways.
Is it actually free?
One budget is free for as long as you like: no card, no bank linking, no account needed until you want your plan synced across devices. Pro ($4.99 CAD/mo or $39 CAD/yr) adds unlimited budgets, custom budget types, and the combined household view. The free tier isn’t a trial; it just stays free.
I like owning the math. Why should I trust yours?
Because you can check it. Every item shows its cost, its timeline, and its share of the monthly number; the summary lays out the whole calculation, and any price or date you disagree with is editable, like typing over a cell. It’s the same arithmetic you’d have built yourself, with the part spreadsheets can’t do added on: it keeps itself current as real time passes.

Retire the spreadsheet

Open the planner, add what you own, and see your monthly number in a few minutes. Your sheet will understand.

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