Sankey Cash Flow Diagram
Visualize where your money goes. Enter your income and expenses to create an interactive Sankey flow chart.
Budget
How to Create a Cash Flow Diagram
A Sankey diagram is one of the most effective ways to visualize your personal finances. Unlike pie charts or bar graphs, a Sankey flow chart shows the complete journey of your money: from income sources through your total budget into expense categories and subcategories.
With this free tool, you can easily create your own cash flow visualization. Add your income sources (salary, side hustles, investments), group your expenses into categories (housing, transportation, food), and see exactly how your money flows.
The wider the flow, the more money goes in that direction. This makes it immediately obvious which categories consume most of your budget.
Want to learn more about Sankey diagrams for budgeting? Read our in-depth guide: Sankey Cash Flow Diagrams - The Ultimate Budget Visualization.
Why Use a Sankey Diagram for Your Budget?
Traditional budget tools show you numbers in tables or simple pie charts. A Sankey diagram reveals the story behind those numbers: you can trace every income stream through your budget and see exactly which expense categories consume the most money. The visual weight of each flow makes overspending immediately obvious, without reading a single number. This makes Sankey diagrams the most intuitive way to answer the question "Where does my money go?"
Sankey vs. Pie Chart vs. Bar Chart
| Criterion | Sankey Diagram | Pie Chart | Bar Chart |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shows flow direction | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Subcategory grouping | ✓ | ✗ | Limited |
| Income + expenses together | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Budget proportions | ✓ (flow width) | ✓ (slice size) | ✓ (bar height) |
| Ideal for | Complete money flow | Single-level breakdown | Category comparison |
Frequently Asked Questions
A Sankey diagram is a flow visualization where the width of each arrow represents the size of a value. For budgeting, it shows how your income flows through your budget into different expense categories, making it easy to spot where most of your money goes.
Simply enter your income sources and expense categories with their amounts. You can create category groups (like "Housing" with subcategories "Rent" and "Utilities") or standalone categories. Click "Calculate" to generate your Sankey diagram.
Yes! Click the "Permalink" button to copy a shareable URL that contains your data. You can also export the diagram as a PNG image for presentations or social media.
Yes, the Cash Flow Diagram Tool is completely free to use. No registration required. For automatic cash flow tracking and shared budgets, check out the GoodShare app.
Sankey diagrams are the best way to visualize a budget because they show the complete flow of money from income to expenses. Unlike pie charts that only show proportions or bar charts that compare categories side by side, a Sankey diagram reveals the direction and magnitude of every financial flow at a glance.
Track Your Cash Flow Automatically
GoodShare generates Sankey diagrams from your real spending data. Share budgets with your partner and see where your money goes in real time.
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