Free group trip budget template for Excel and Google Sheets

A group trip budget needs to answer two questions: what do we expect to spend, and how much have we spent so far? This free spreadsheet keeps those numbers together, with six budget categories and space for 100 expenses. Download the Excel file below, or import it into Google Sheets to work on it with your friends.

Download the free template (.xlsx)

No signup or email required. The example uses US dollars. You can replace the amounts, but the file does not convert currencies or calculate what each person owes.

Two sheets, one view of the trip

Budget holds your planned costs for accommodation, transport, groceries, eating out, activities and other expenses. Enter the number of travelers and edit the blue cells. The sheet calculates spending by category, the amount remaining and an average per traveler. A negative remainder means spending has exceeded the plan.

Expenses records the date, category, description, person who paid, amount and notes. Replace the five fictional entries before using it. There are 100 input rows, from row 7 to row 106; entries below that range are not included in the totals. Keep the category names unchanged so the dropdown and summary continue to match.

Set the budget before booking

1. Agree on an amount everyone is comfortable spending. Include travel to the destination.
2. List fixed costs first: the rental, transport and any tickets already booked.
3. Estimate meals and activities separately. Leave room in Other for the unexpected.
4. Replace estimates with real expenses as you pay, using the Expenses sheet.

The template starts with a fictional $1,600 budget for four people: $900 accommodation, $180 transport, $120 groceries, $180 eating out, $160 activities and $60 other costs. Its five sample expenses total $1,456, leaving $144. That is an average of $364 spent per traveler against $400 planned. These are demonstration amounts, not a travel price estimate.

How to use it in Google Sheets

Download the file, open Google Sheets, then choose File → Import → Upload. Select the workbook and create a new spreadsheet. Both tabs come with the file. Share that spreadsheet with your group and decide who will enter each expense to avoid duplicate entries. Google documents this process in its guide to importing Excel files.

Record a cost once

If Alex pays $900 for the rental, record $900 once. A friend sending Alex $225 is a repayment, not another trip expense. An advance paid to the host is different: record the advance and final balance separately, or the total once, never both.

Keep refundable security deposits outside the expense total until an actual charge is confirmed. Enter a supplier refund as a negative amount in the original category. Convert foreign purchases into one reporting currency before entering them, using the actual amount charged when available. The spreadsheet has no exchange-rate feed.

An average is not everyone's bill

Someone staying one night may owe less for accommodation than someone staying three. A museum visit may involve only two people. The average in this template helps plan the trip; it does not allocate those costs. Use our vacation rental split calculator for different arrival dates, then keep each expense's participants and shares separately.

For that shared record, Spliz for group trips lets you track expenses and choose equal shares, weighted shares or exact amounts. Friends can join as guests after installing the app. Repayments can happen outside Spliz and be recorded in the group; buying crypto is not required to track expenses.

What if a total looks wrong?

Check that amounts are numbers, not text, and that the traveler count is a whole number between 1 and 100. The Budget tab flags invalid inputs. An amount with a missing or unknown category appears under Uncategorized and still counts toward spending. Check that you have removed the sample expenses and stayed within the 100 input rows.

This is an editable planning file, with no macros, external data connections or payments. Keep a clean copy before changing its formulas. For the next step, our guide to sharing expenses explains how costs, amounts paid and repayments fit together.