Set up your event budget in the InviteBird Expense Tracker

Open Expense Tracker in your InviteBird event to set a total budget, add expenses, and record payments or deposits as you make them. The tracker keeps committed costs, paid amounts and money still owed separate, so you can see both your budget remaining and upcoming bills. It's included on every plan.

The Expense Tracker overview explains how the budget, payment schedule and shared summary fit together. The steps below cover entering and managing your own event's figures.

Where things are

Open your event and choose Expense Tracker. It has six sections: Overview (your numbers and the charts), Ledger (every expense), Payments (what's due and when), Budget (where you set the total), Import & export (spreadsheets and the PDF) and Help.

Expense details

Start with a title, an amount and an optional due date. The category is suggested for you and stays editable. Each expense can also hold its vendor, actual cost, payments, deposits and notes, so the estimate and the payment history stay together. Your totals count every saved expense and payment.

Your numbers at a glance

The Overview shows six figures, each counting every expense you've added:

• Budget — the total you set (or a dash when you haven't).
• Committed — the money spoken for: what each expense really cost where you know it, your estimate until then.
• Paid so far — the money you've actually handed over.
• Still to pay — what's left to pay on the expenses you've committed to.
• Budget remaining — your budget minus committed costs. It turns to over budget the moment you tip over. Paying a bill doesn't change it; it moves still to pay instead.
• Cost per person — committed costs divided by the people coming, plus-ones included (the same number your Guests tab shows). Before anyone has said yes, it divides by the guests on your list and says so.

Setting your budget

In Budget, tap the budget figure to set a total — or leave it open and just track what you spend. Change it any time. You can also pick your currency there; it changes the symbol on every figure and on the PDF, but it doesn't convert any amounts. A Just-in-case line lets you set a small buffer (10% to start) and shows what's left after it.

Adding expenses

Tap Add expense for anything you're paying for — the venue, the cake, a DJ, the flowers. Each expense sits in a category (venue, food and drinks, decorations, photography, favors and more), so your spending rolls up neatly. For each one you can record:

• A title, a planned amount (what you expect it to cost) and a due date.
• The vendor, so you remember who it's with.
• An actual amount — what it really came to, once you know.
• Payments as you make them, so part-payments add up on their own, and whether one is a deposit.
• Notes, for a confirmation number or a reminder to yourself.

The Ledger groups expenses under their category with a running subtotal. Search, filter by category, paid or unpaid and due date, or sort by due date, newest change or title — the filters only narrow the list; your totals and charts always count every expense.

Working through a long list? Tap Select to choose several expenses at once and mark them paid or delete them together (with one Undo for the whole batch). Removed an expense by mistake? Tap Undo on the message that appears and it comes back with its payments.

Planned versus actual

As you fill in actual amounts, the tracker compares them with your planned figures. The category comparison shows actual against planned, and a category that goes over turns red — a gentle nudge to trim elsewhere.

Payments and due dates

Each expense shows where it stands: Paid, Deposit, Part paid, or its due date (red once it's past). The tick button on a row marks it paid in full, recording a payment for whatever is left; tap it again to remove those payments.

The Payments section lines up every dated expense still owed as a month-by-month calendar, with a Mark paid button on each and a "left to pay" total for each month. A Due soon strip lists anything due in the next two weeks or already overdue.

Payment reminders

Reminders are off until you turn them on in Payments. Choose Due date only (a day before, and when it's overdue) or All windows (7, 3 and 1 day before, and when it's overdue), then save. Reminders go by email to the event owner, for expenses with a due date and money still owed. They stop on their own once an expense is paid.

Plan by category

In Budget, a Plan by category card lets you give each category its own target — a slice for the venue, another for food, another for photography — and every category then shows a meter of what's spoken for against its own number.

Don't want to invent the numbers? Tap Use a typical split and the tracker drafts targets from a sensible pattern for your kind of event — a wedding leans harder on the venue, a birthday on food and fun. Every target stays editable, and you can clear them all with one tap. Once targets exist, the card speaks up quietly when something slips — "Venue is $300 over its target," or a note the moment your committed costs pass the total budget.

Build a budget with InviteBird AI

Not sure where to start? Tap Build with AI and InviteBird AI drafts a starter budget from your occasion, guest count, and either a total you give it or one it suggests. It splits the money across categories the way most events do and staggers due dates from your event date. It arrives as a review list you confirm before anything is added, so you're always in control.

Charts

Where the money goes shows a ring of where your money is going by category, with each category named and its amount beside it — tap one to filter the Ledger to it. The planned versus actual comparison helps you see where costs have changed.

Spreadsheets and the PDF

In Import & export, Import a CSV brings rows in from a spreadsheet (there's a sample file to show the columns) and shows a preview before anything is written. Export CSV gives you every line with its category, dates and amounts. Download budget summary (PDF) gives a clean, branded PDF with your totals, a category breakdown and every line item — it's also in your Downloads tab.

Common questions

Do I have to set a total budget? No. A total lets the tracker show what's remaining and warn you before you overspend, but you can skip it and simply log what you spend. You can add or change the total any time.

Where does cost per person come from? It's your committed costs divided by the people coming, plus-ones included — the same count as your Guests tab. Before anyone has said yes, it divides by the guests on your list and labels it that way.

Does changing the currency convert my amounts? No. It only changes the symbol shown. If you switch from dollars to pounds, $400 becomes £400.

Does InviteBird AI change my budget on its own? Never. The budget builder always hands you a review list first — nothing is added until you confirm it, and you can edit or remove any line.

What's the difference between committed and paid so far? Committed is what your expenses are going to cost; paid so far is the money you've handed over. Keeping both lets you see what's still to pay as well as how much of your budget is spoken for.

Can I still use the tracker after the event? Yes — it stays open after your event, so you can record the final payments and settle any balances still owed.

Can I track more than the total cost? Yes. Record actual costs, vendors, deposits, individual payments and notes on your expenses. Category targets, the just-in-case buffer and planned-versus-actual comparisons help you see where the budget needs attention.

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