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A project budget is the ceiling for the whole engagement – either a number of hours or an amount of money. Setting one turns on the budget bar, the forecast and the health chip on the project’s Overview tab. The full guides live under Budgets. This page covers where the controls sit on a project and what they mean there.

Set a project budget

The step-by-step guide, with worked examples.

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Where the budget lives

Open the project, then Settings → Finance. The Budget card sits under Billing method. Budget configuration is in Settings, not on Overview, because it is the same kind of thing Settings already owns – set once, changed rarely. Overview reports. Settings configures. Both budget buttons on Overview – Set budget on the empty state and Edit budget on the populated one – take you here.

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The controls

Click Set budget the first time, Save budget afterwards. You see “Budget saved.”
A project has at most one budget. Choosing Total hours or Total money decides which basis everything is measured on – there is no fallback between the two.

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Hours or money

An hours budget is visible to everyone. A money budget is measured against cost, so its figures are only shown to someone who can see cost. See /budgets/hours-vs-money-budgets.

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Retainers and the Resets control

Resets only appears when the project’s saved billing method is Retainer. Switching the method in the card above does not reveal it until you save that change. See /budgets/recurring-retainers.

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Budget vs estimate

They answer different questions, and both matter. Read /concepts/budget-vs-estimate.

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Task and section caps

Caps are per-task ceilings. The budget card lists them read-only, because a cap is set on the task itself – one writer per concern. Caps are informational. They do not reduce the project’s budget. See /budgets/task-level-caps.

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Example

Website Redesign for Bluebird Coffee is a $40,000 fixed fee.
  1. Priya opens Settings → Finance.
  2. Budget type → Total money.
  3. Total amount (USD) → 40000.
  4. Alert if margin falls below → 35.
  5. Set budget.
Overview now shows a bar, 62% spent · 48% complete, an On track chip, and a forecast. When usage crosses 75% an alert appears; when the forecast margin drops under 35% another one does. Monthly Retainer for the same client is 40 hours a month:
  1. Billing method is set to Retainer and saved.
  2. Budget type → Total hours, Total hours → 40.
  3. Resets appears. She sets it to Monthly.
Each calendar month starts again at 40 hours.

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Permissions

Without budget.manage the card is hidden, not disabled. A project manager may legitimately run a project without seeing its money.

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App and plan gating

The Budgets app also requires Projects & tasks and Time tracking to be on. See /concepts/apps-and-modules.

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What happens next

  • The project list Budget column starts showing spent / total and the ratio.
  • The Overview tab shows the budget bar, forecast tiles and a health chip.
  • Budget threshold and margin-floor alerts start firing – see /budgets/budget-alerts.
  • Profitability becomes calculable – see /projects/project-profitability.

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Common questions

No. One budget per project, on one basis.
It only shows for a Retainer billing method, and it reads the saved value. Save the billing method change first.
No. It measures and alerts. Nothing is blocked when the budget is exceeded – the bar goes over 100% and the health chip turns red.
Not until it is approved. Overview shows how many hours are awaiting approval separately, so you can see what is about to land.
Change the amount or the type and save again. The card always writes the project’s single budget.

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Troubleshooting

Set a project budget

The canonical step-by-step guide.

Hours vs money budgets

Which basis to pick.

Recurring retainers

Monthly resetting budgets.

Budget vs estimate

Two different numbers.

Budget alerts

Thresholds and margin floors.

Project profitability

What the budget unlocks.