A burndown chart shows how a total goes down over time. You can add one to any Line chart or Bar chart widget on a dashboard. There are two types:
Spend from a total compares a starting amount, such as a project budget or planned hours, with the time and money your team plans to use and actually uses.
Completed work shows how much estimated time or how many story points are still open as actions are completed. This type is available when your workspace uses Agile workflows.
Add a burndown chart
Open a dashboard. Add a Line chart or Bar chart widget. To change a chart that you already have, hover over it and select Configure widget (gear).
Under Chart content, set Report on to Time for a Spend from a total burndown, or to Actions for a Completed work burndown.
Under Y Axis, select Burndown. The Configure burndown dialog opens.
Select Spend from a total or Completed work, set the options (see below), and select Apply burndown.
Under X Axis, set Date range and Bin by (for example, Day or Week). Each point on the chart is one bin. To show one or more sprints, choose them with the Sprint filter. The sprints then set the period, and Date range is hidden.
Add widget filters if you need them. For example, add a Project filter to show one project.
Select Save chart.
To change the burndown later, open the chart and select Configure burndown under Y Axis.
Set up a Spend from a total burndown
Units: Money or Hours. Money lines need access to cost rates or bill rates.
Starting amount: Project budget less other costs (Money only) is the budget of the projects in the chart, less all of their other costs. You need access to budgets and other costs. Enter an amount lets you type a fixed amount. First estimated line's total in this period adds up the scheduled estimates of your first estimated line for the burndown period.
Starting line name and Show starting amount line: the starting amount shows as a dashed line across the chart.
Then set up to six lines. Select Add line to add one, or the trash icon to remove one.
Line name: each line needs its own name.
Source: Task estimates and Resourcing make estimated lines. They use the scheduled dates of the estimates and include future planned work. Time tracking and Timesheets make actual lines. They use the date of each time entry and stop at today.
Measure: Hours, Cost rate or Bill rate.
Show: Starting amount − cumulative value shows what is left, so the line goes down from the starting amount. Cumulative value shows what is used, so the line goes up from zero.
Each line needs a different source, measure or show setting. Timesheets and time tracking can hold the same work. Hive shows them as separate lines and does not add them together.
Turn on Show ideal remaining line (starting amount to zero) to add a straight line from the starting amount to zero. You need at least one line that shows Starting amount − cumulative value.
Set up a Completed work burndown
Set Report on to Actions, then select Completed work in the dialog.
Remaining work: Estimated time or Story points.
Show ideal line (total scope to zero): a straight line from the total scope to zero.
Each action in the chart counts from the start of the period until its completion date. Hive uses the current estimates, story points and sprints of each action.
What the chart shows
The starting amount is the dashed line at the top.
Each point on a line is the total up to the end of that bin.
An estimated line stops after the last day with planned work. An actual line stops at today.
The ideal line is a straight dashed line. It goes from the starting amount at the start of the period to zero at the end.
On a Bar chart, each line shows as bars, and the starting amount and ideal lines show as dashed lines.
Hover over a point to see the value of each line on that date. Select a name in the legend to hide or show that line.
How Hive counts dates
The period is the selected sprints (earliest start to latest end). With no sprint selected, it is the widget's Date range. Project dates uses the earliest start date and the latest end date of the projects in the chart.
The date range must have a start date, and it can be up to two years long.
Lines count only work dated inside the period. Work dated before the period is not subtracted. Project budget less other costs is different: it subtracts all other costs, whatever their date.
Estimates without scheduled dates are not counted, in the lines or in the planned total. Schedule them to include them.
Hive uses the current budgets, estimates and rates. If they change, past points can change too.
If you add an action filter, project-level timesheet entries and resourcing allocations are not counted.
A money burndown needs projects with one currency.
Color the actual line red and green
On a Spend from a total burndown, you can color an actual line by how it compares with the estimate.
Open the chart for editing.
Under Chart design, go to Series colors.
Select the color dot next to the actual line, then select Red/green by estimate.
Select Save chart.
Green: at that point, the actual line is within the estimate.
Red: at that point, your team used more than the estimate. On a remaining line, the actual value is lower than the estimate. On a cumulative line, it is higher.
Red/green by estimate shows only when the chart also has an estimated line with the same Measure and Show settings. If there is more than one, Hive compares with the first one. After the estimated line ends, Hive compares with its last value. The legend shows the actual line in green.
To go back to one color, select a color in the same menu, or select reset next to Series colors. If you remove the estimated line, the actual line goes back to its own color. In the Hive mobile app, the line shows in one color.
See the records behind a point
On a Spend from a total burndown, select a point on an estimated or actual line. The chart opens in full screen, with Estimate vs actual under it.
The title shows the last day that the lines count up to, for example Up to Nov 11, 2026. Actual lines stop at today.
Under the title, each line shows its value at that point. A remaining line also shows the calculation, for example Actual remaining 21 hours = 50 hours − 29 hours.
The table has one row for each person or placeholder. Each column shows how much that line used up to the point. On a money burndown, each line also has a time column.
Difference shows when the chart has one estimated line and one actual line. It is the estimate minus the actual. A negative number means that more was used than estimated.
Select the arrow next to a name to see that person's days.
Drag Drag to resize to change the size of the chart and the table.
Selecting the starting amount line or the ideal line does not open the table. If nothing was estimated or logged up to that point, the table tells you to select a later point.
The table uses the same access rules as the chart. If a line uses cost rates or bill rates that you cannot see, you get an access message instead of the chart and its records.
Public links and embedded dashboards
When someone opens the dashboard with a public link or embed code, the burndown chart shows with its colors and values, but selecting a point does not open Estimate vs actual.
Messages you can see
Choose a date range with a start date or select a sprint to draw this burndown. The date range has no start date, for example Through today. Choose another range or select a sprint.
Select projects with a start and end date, or choose another date range, to draw this burndown. Project dates needs projects with start and end dates.
Choose a date range of up to two years for this burndown.
Choose projects with one currency to compare budget and consumption.
You do not have access to one or more sources in this burndown. A line uses rates or budgets that you cannot see.
Add an estimated line to use the planned total as the starting amount.
Add a remaining line to show the ideal line to zero.
No action in this burndown has an estimate or story points. Add estimates to draw the remaining work. (Completed work)
This burndown covers too many actions to draw. Narrow the filters or select fewer sprints. (Completed work)
If an estimated line stays flat at the starting amount, its estimates have no scheduled dates. Schedule the estimates to include them.