Skip to main content
Every budget is one of two kinds. An hours budget caps time. A money budget caps cost. They measure different things, and one of the differences matters a lot: an hours budget counts time the moment it is logged, while a money budget waits for approval.

​
The comparison

​
How to choose

Choose hours when you sold time

A retainer of 40 hours a month, or a build capped at 600 hours. The client bought a quantity of your team’s time, so the ceiling is time.

Choose money when you sold an outcome

A $40,000 website. The client bought a result at a price. What matters is whether delivering it costs you less than the price.

Choose hours when cost rates are incomplete

A money budget needs cost rates on everyone who works the project. Without them, cost stays at zero and utilisation never moves.

Choose money when approval discipline is good

A money budget only counts approved cost. If your team submits and your managers approve weekly, it is the sharper instrument.

​
Worked example – an hours budget

Harbor Logistics – Mobile App. 600 hours. Priya sets Budget type to Total hours and Total hours to 600. There is no currency field, because an hours budget has no money unit. Utilisation is:
The alert ladder maps to these points: A month in The team has logged 312 hours against the Mobile App.
  • Utilisation: 312 ÷ 600 × 100 = 52%
  • The 50% alert has fired. Priya and the workspace owners have been notified.
  • The 75% rung has not.
What counts here All 312 hours count, whether Priya has approved the timesheets or not. Jonas logged 8 hours this morning and they are already in the number. Capacity is used up the moment work happens. Note there is no cost figure. An hours budget does not need cost rates. If Northwind has never set a cost rate for Ana Ferreira, the hours budget still works perfectly. Her hours count like everyone else’s.

​
Worked example – a money budget

Bluebird Coffee – Website Redesign. $40,000. Priya sets Budget type to Total money and Total amount (USD) to 40000. Utilisation is:
The ladder maps to these amounts: Where the project stands Approved time to date:
  • Utilisation: 12,500÷12,500 ÷ 40,000 × 100 = 31.25%
  • No rung has fired yet. The 50% rung needs $20,000 of approved cost.
What does not count here Sarah tracked another 12 hours this week that Priya has not approved. At 45anhourthatis45 an hour that is 540 of cost sitting outside the number. The Financials panel shows it separately as hours awaiting approval, with a tooltip: submitted time is excluded from spent and margin until a manager approves it. Once Priya approves, cost becomes $13,040 and utilisation moves to 32.6%.

​
The same project, both ways

It is worth seeing how differently the two frame the same work. Suppose the Website Redesign had been budgeted at 400 hours instead of $40,000. Both are true. The hours view says you are running out of time. The money view says the work is cheap relative to the price, so there is room. Which one is the right alarm depends on what you sold.
A cheap team on an hours budget looks worse than it is. An expensive team on a money budget looks worse than it is. Pick the unit that matches the promise you made to the client.

​
What each one needs to work

  • The Budgets app switched on
  • The Time tracking app switched on
  • People logging time against the project
That is all. No rates required.
Setting a cost rate needs the Pro profitability feature. On Free you cannot set a new cost rate, so a money budget on a Free workspace cannot start measuring from scratch. Existing cost rates and figures stay readable. Billing rates stay free to set. See plans and features.

​
Switching kind on an existing project

You can change Budget type and save. The budget is replaced rather than duplicated. Be aware of what carries over and what does not: If you switch from money to hours, any existing money caps no longer match the new denomination. Remove and re-add them in hours.

​
Permissions

A Project Manager sees the money budget’s percentage but not the underlying cost amount. The percentage is a progress signal; the cost figure is internal.

​
Common questions

The Budget card sets one budget per project. Choose the unit that matches how the work was sold.
Because it counts unapproved time and the money budget does not. On a project where timesheets are approved weekly, the hours figure runs up to a week ahead.
Either nobody has approved the time, or the people working have no cost rate. Check both. Approval comes first – no approval, no cost.
Not directly. It tells you about capacity. Profitability needs both revenue and cost, which come from rates. See profitability and margin.
Your workspace has one – USD by default. The money amount field is labelled with it.
Yes, and it is the natural pairing. The hours budget caps the scope; invoicing bills the approved billable hours at each person’s billing rate.

​
Troubleshooting

Set a project budget

Where the budget type is chosen.

How budgets work

Utilisation, forecast and health.

Recurring retainers

An hours budget that refills every month.

Cost rates

What a money budget measures against.

Budget alerts

The ladder, in both units.

Plans and features

Where the profitability half-gate sits.