# Budget charts and insights

Below a budget's totals, its charts compare each category with its budget and list your most frequent merchants and largest transactions for the period.

## Choose the period a budget shows

A budget opens on the current month. A goal budget with dates opens on its whole date range instead. A budget that has ended opens on its last month.

1. Open the budget from **Budgets**.
2. Select the arrows beside the period at the top, such as **Oct 2026**, to step back or forward one period. A phone has no arrows: select the period and pick another one.
3. For a week, a year or your own dates, select the period to open **Budget period**. Choose **Week**, **Month**, **Year** or **Custom**, pick the period, then select **Set budget period**.

![The Budget period calendar with Week, Month, Year and Custom, October 2026 selected, and the Set budget period button](https://treasury.sh/help/budget-period-calendar.webp)

Every total, chart and the transactions list on the page then follow that period. Changing the period doesn't change the budget. You can't pick dates outside a budget's date range. To see what each total counts, read [Budget totals explained](https://treasury.sh/help/budget-totals).

## Why budgeted amounts change with the period

An ongoing budget keeps each category's amount as a daily rate. Treasury counts a month as 30 days, a week as 7 and a year as 365. It then multiplies by the days in the period you view.

For example, $400 a month is about $13.33 a day. October has 31 days, so the budget shows $413.33. A week shows $93.33. These are example amounts.

A budget that starts or ends partway through a month counts only the days inside its dates. A goal budget shows each category's full target, whatever period you view.

## Progress bars for Income, Expenses and Savings

On a budget, a bar under **Income**, **Expenses** and **Savings** fills as money comes in or goes out against the budget. Select a bar to see **Actual**, **Budgeted** and how far you are from the budget.

- For **Expenses**, "under" is good and "over" means you spent more than you budgeted.
- For **Income** and **Savings**, "extra" is good and "under" means less than planned.
- "On target" means the two match exactly.

The **Income** bar is green, **Savings** blue and **Expenses** grey. Past the budget, the **Expenses** bar turns red, and **Income** and **Savings** show the extra in a lighter green.

## Money flow chart

The money flow chart shows where money came from on the left and where it went on the right. It appears beside the totals only when a budget's categories have both money in and money out in the period.

Each side shows its five largest categories, and groups the rest into one, such as **Others (3)**. Select a category to see its amount. A refund in an expense category can appear on the money-in side.

## Compare each category with its budget

On a budget, the **Income**, **Expenses** and **Savings** switch picks which categories the bars and table show. Categories appear A to Z, and a category group appears as one row.

![A budget's Expenses bars by category beside a table of Budgeted, Actual and Net, with three categories over budget](https://treasury.sh/help/budget-by-category.webp)

Each bar shows what you spent, earned or saved against the budget. Any part past the budget is red for expenses and green for income and savings. Select a bar to see its numbers in a sentence, such as "You spent $32.34 more than budgeted". On a phone, each bar also ends with what's left or over, or **No budget**.

## What the category table shows

The table beside a budget's bars lists each category's **Budgeted**, **Actual** and **Net** for the period. **Net** is the difference between the two. Green means better than the budget, and red means worse.

Select a group's name to show its categories. The **Total** row adds up every category of the type you chose.

## Frequent Merchants and Largest Transactions

**Frequent Merchants** lists the five names with the most transactions in a budget's period. The number after a name, such as **x4**, counts its transactions. Switch between **TOTAL** and **AVG** to see the total or the average amount.

![The Frequent Merchants card with visit counts and totals beside the Largest Transactions card with its All Categories menu](https://treasury.sh/help/budget-merchants-largest.webp)

**Largest Transactions** lists the five biggest transactions in the period, money in or out. To narrow it, select **All Categories** and choose a category or **Uncategorized**.

Both cards leave out excluded and deleted transactions. When the period has no transactions, neither card appears.

## Why transfers show in Largest Transactions

A budget's lists and cards include uncategorized transactions, though its budget totals don't. So an uncategorized card payment or transfer can appear in **Largest Transactions** or **Frequent Merchants**.

To keep transfers out, give them a category the budget doesn't include, or exclude them. See [If transfers make budget totals look too high](https://treasury.sh/help/budget-totals#transfers).

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Open Budgets in Treasury: https://app.treasury.sh/budgets

Page: https://treasury.sh/help/budget-insights

Last checked against the app: 2026-11-04