Free expense tracker template for Excel and Google Sheets — and an easier online alternative
Where Went · Published · 4 min read
Short answer: download the free expense tracker template below as an Excel file (.xlsx) or CSV. It has a Transactions sheet with dropdowns for type and category, and a Summary sheet that adds up the month's income, expenses and spending per category on its own. It works in Excel, Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
No sign-up, no email address. Below: what the template contains, how to use it in Google Sheets, a simple monthly routine, and when an online tracker is the easier alternative.
What a good expense tracker template includes
A spreadsheet only helps if it stays simple enough to fill in every day. The template uses one row per transaction and six columns:
| Column | What goes in it | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Date | The day the money moved | 2026-10-03 |
| Type | Expense or Income (dropdown) | Expense |
| Category | Picked from a list of 27 (dropdown) | Groceries |
| Amount | Always a positive number | 86.40 |
| Account | Where the money came from | Card |
| Note | Optional detail | Weekly shop |
The Summary sheet does the maths. Put any date in the month you want to see in cell B1, and it shows:
- total income for that month
- total expenses for that month
- what's left over (income minus expenses)
- spending in each of the 20 expense categories
The Categories sheet holds the category list behind the dropdown: Groceries, Rent & housing, Utilities, Transport, Eating out, Salary, Bonus and more. Rename them freely; the Summary picks up the new names.
How to use the template in Google Sheets
The .xlsx file works in Google Sheets without any changes:
- Open Google Drive and drag the .xlsx file in.
- Double-click it, then choose Open with → Google Sheets.
- In Sheets, choose File → Save as Google Sheets so you can edit it on your phone too.
The dropdowns and formulas keep working. If you prefer to start from scratch, import the CSV instead (File → Import → Upload) and add your own totals.
A simple monthly routine
A template is only as good as the habit behind it. This routine takes about ten minutes a week:
- Payday. Add your salary as a row with the type Income and the category Salary.
- Fixed costs. Add rent, utilities, phone and subscriptions as soon as they're paid.
- Day to day. Add every other expense the same day. Rounding to the nearest euro is fine.
- Once a week. Open the Summary sheet and compare income with expenses so far.
- End of the month. Look at the category list, pick the one that surprised you most, and set yourself a target for next month.
Tracking your salary this way answers the question most people actually have: how much of this month's pay is left, and where did the rest go?
Where spreadsheets get hard
Spreadsheets are flexible, and that's also their weakness. After a few months, most people run into the same problems:
- Phone editing is fiddly. Small cells, dropdowns and an on-screen keyboard make quick entries slow, so expenses get added later or not at all.
- Formulas break. Insert a row in the wrong place, or type a date as text, and the totals quietly go wrong.
- One file per year. Comparing months across files means copying and pasting.
- Several accounts are awkward. Knowing the balance of your card, cash and savings needs a running total per account.
Here's how the template compares with a web app built for the job:
| Spreadsheet template | Where Went | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Monthly totals | Formulas in the Summary sheet | Automatic |
| Balance per account | Manual | Automatic, including transfers |
| On your phone | Possible, but fiddly | Made for it, installable like an app |
| Spending by category | Table | Chart, updated after every entry |
| Bank connection | None | None |
| Works offline | Yes | No, needs internet |
From the template to Where Went
Where Went is a free online expense tracker that works like this template, minus the formulas. You still type in each transaction yourself — there is no bank connection — but the totals, account balances and the spending-by-category chart update by themselves, and it works in any browser.
Setting it up takes a few minutes:
- Sign in with Google. No new password.
- Add your accounts (for example Bank account, Card and Cash) with today's balances.
- Use the same 27 categories as the template, already set up for you.
- Log your salary and expenses as they happen, from your phone or computer.
There's no import from the spreadsheet yet, so the easiest switch is at the start of a month: enter your current balances and carry on from there. If you'd like it on your home screen, install it on Android or Windows.
Prefer to stay with a spreadsheet? That's fine. The template is yours to keep and change. For a closer look at the monthly overview, read about the free monthly budget planner or the personal expense tracker.