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Zero-based budget calculator

Type your monthly take-home pay, pick the life that sounds most like yours, and see a starting budget where every unit of income has a job. It uses the same templates BudgetByChat uses when you sign up.

IncomeUSD 4,000
PlannedUSD 3,120
Left to give a jobUSD 880
CategoryShareMonthly plan
Rent28%USD 1,120
Groceries10%USD 400
Utilities5%USD 200
Transport7%USD 280
Dining Out4%USD 160
Phone & Internet2%USD 80
Healthcare3%USD 120
Remittances10%USD 400
School Fees8%USD 320
Home Contents Insurance1%USD 40
Savings, goals and extra debt payments22%USD 880

Amounts are rounded to tidy figures. Income − plan − savings = USD 0: every unit has a job.

Turn this into your real budgetSign up free and BudgetByChat sets up these categories for this month, ready to track.
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How the calculator builds your budget

Each category starts from a share of take-home pay: rent 28%, groceries 10%, transport 7%, utilities 5%, dining out 4%, healthcare 3% and phone and internet 2%, plus a few lines for your situation (remittances and school fees for expats, tax savings and software for freelancers, and so on). Amounts are rounded to tidy figures so the plan is easy to remember.

About a fifth of income is deliberately left over. That is the zero-based part: you give it a job yourself, whether that is an emergency fund, a savings goal, extra debt payments or money sent home, until nothing is unassigned.

Worked example: a freelancer taking home USD 3,000

  • Rent: USD 840
  • Groceries: USD 300
  • Utilities: USD 150
  • Transport: USD 210
  • …and 6 more categories, USD 2,460 planned in total.

That leaves USD 540 to give a job, for example USD 500 to an income buffer for quiet months and the rest to an emergency fund. New to the method? Read zero-based budgeting, explained.

Questions

A budget where income minus everything you plan to spend, save and pay off equals zero. You decide in advance what every unit of your income is for, so nothing is left to drift away.

Each category gets a fixed share of take-home pay (for example rent 28%, groceries 10%, transport 7%), rounded to a tidy figure. They are starting points, not rules: change any of them to match your real bills.

Every template leaves roughly a fifth of income unassigned on purpose. In a zero-based budget you then give it a job yourself: an emergency fund, a savings goal, extra debt payments or money sent home.

Yes. The maths is the same in any currency; pick from the 30 currencies BudgetByChat supports and the amounts are rounded to suit that income.

No. The calculator runs in your browser. Nothing you type is saved unless you create a free account and save the budget yourself.

Related

Zero-based budgeting, explainedWhat zero-based budgeting is, how to set one up in five steps, a worked example with real numbers, and the mistakes that make people quit in month two.Expats in the UAEBudgeting for expats in the UAE: a zero-based plan for Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah with rent, school fees, remittances home and savings, in dirhams. Worked example and a free calculator.Freelancers paid in USDBudgeting for freelancers and remote workers paid in USD but spending in PKR, INR or another currency: tax savings, software costs, an income buffer and a free calculator.YNAB alternativeLooking for a YNAB alternative? YNAB costs $109 a year and keeps one currency per budget. BudgetByChat is a free zero-based budgeting app with 30 currencies in one budget.

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