Category Groups
Group your categories, keep the detail.
Organize related categories under one parent so you can see the big picture and the breakdown, without losing precision.
One group, full visibility
Some spending is easier to manage as a whole. Some needs to stay broken out. Now you can have both.
When you add or edit a category, you can now choose a parent category for it. That turns the parent into a group: a collapsible row in your budget and dashboard that shows a combined total for everything nested underneath it, with one click to expand and see, or edit, each piece individually.
A Utilities group might contain Electric, Water, and Internet. A Kids group might contain Childcare and Kids Activities. Either way, you get the high-level number you actually care about, backed by the detail you need when you want to dig in.
Budgets and transactions still live on the sub-categories, exactly where the detail belongs. The group total is just the sum, calculated automatically, every time.
Built to stay tidy
Nest Up to Three Levels
Build the hierarchy that matches how you actually think about spending, from a broad group down to a specific line item.
Budgets Roll Up Automatically
Set a budget on each sub-category and FreeBudget totals them at the group level. No manual math, ever.
Collapsible Dashboard & Budget Views
A group collapses into one row with a combined total. Click to expand and see, or edit, every sub-category underneath.
Consistent by Design
A parent and its sub-categories always share the same type. Income stays Income, Expense stays Expense, so your totals never get mixed up.
Safe to Reorganize
Guardrails stop a category from becoming its own parent, directly or indirectly, so your structure never gets tangled.
Transactions Stay Precise
Transactions assign to a specific sub-category, never to the group itself, so your detailed history is always there when you need it.
Frequently asked questions
What happens to a category's existing transactions when I make it a parent?
FreeBudget warns you first if the category already has transactions on it. Once it has sub-categories, it becomes a group and can no longer be assigned to new transactions directly, so anything already there stays put, but new transactions need to go on a sub-category.
Can I still budget a category once it has sub-categories?
Not directly. Group categories can't hold their own budget amount. Set a budget on each sub-category instead, and FreeBudget adds them together automatically at the group level.
Can a parent and its sub-categories be different types, like one Income and one Expense?
No. A parent and all of its sub-categories must share the same type, either Income or Expense. That keeps your Income and Expense totals accurate.
How deep can I nest categories?
Up to three levels, so you can go from a broad group down to a specific sub-category without the structure getting unmanageable.
Can I group the built-in Uncategorized, Transfers, or Payments categories?
No. Those three system categories can't have a parent and can't contain sub-categories, since they play a special role in how FreeBudget tracks your accounts.
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