diff --git a/litellm/budget_manager.py b/litellm/budget_manager.py
index dcb5a7cc183..49060117670 100644
--- a/litellm/budget_manager.py
+++ b/litellm/budget_manager.py
@@ -100,8 +100,7 @@ class BudgetManager:
         return self.user_dict[user]
 
     def projected_cost(self, model: str, messages: list, user: str):
-        text: Final = "".join(message["content"] for message in messages)
-        prompt_tokens: Final = litellm.token_counter(model=model, text=text)
+        prompt_tokens: Final = litellm.token_counter(model=model, messages=messages)
         prompt_cost, _ = litellm.cost_per_token(model=model, prompt_tokens=prompt_tokens, completion_tokens=0)
         current_cost: Final = self.user_dict[user].get("current_cost", 0)
         projected_cost: Final = prompt_cost + current_cost
diff --git a/tests/test_litellm/test_budget_manager.py b/tests/test_litellm/test_budget_manager.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..fd6d82b6a62
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_litellm/test_budget_manager.py
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+import pytest
+
+from litellm.budget_manager import BudgetManager
+
+
+@pytest.fixture()
+def manager() -> BudgetManager:
+    bm = BudgetManager(project_name="test", client_type="local")
+    bm.create_budget(total_budget=10, user="u", duration="daily")
+    return bm
+
+
+def test_projected_cost_string_content(manager: BudgetManager):
+    cost = manager.projected_cost(
+        model="gpt-4o-mini",
+        messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "hello"}],
+        user="u",
+    )
+    assert cost >= 0
+
+
+def test_projected_cost_vision_content(manager: BudgetManager):
+    cost = manager.projected_cost(
+        model="gpt-4o-mini",
+        messages=[
+            {
+                "role": "user",
+                "content": [
+                    {"type": "text", "text": "hi"},
+                    {"type": "image_url", "image_url": {"url": "http://x/y.png"}},
+                ],
+            }
+        ],
+        user="u",
+    )
+    assert cost >= 0
+
+
+def test_projected_cost_none_and_missing_content(manager: BudgetManager):
+    assert (
+        manager.projected_cost(
+            model="gpt-4o-mini",
+            messages=[{"role": "assistant", "content": None}],
+            user="u",
+        )
+        >= 0
+    )
+    assert manager.projected_cost(model="gpt-4o-mini", messages=[{"role": "user"}], user="u") >= 0