Projects, payroll, and SLAs all run on working days, not calendar days — and the two diverge fast. This calculator counts the business days between two dates day by day, excluding weekends and any holidays you list, and reports the full breakdown: working days, weekend days, holiday days, total days, plus working weeks and 8-hour working hours.
How the Count Works
The engine walks every date from start to end — both endpoints included — and classifies each day exactly once:
- If it falls on a weekend (per the selected weekend mode), it counts as a weekend day.
- Else, if it appears in your holiday list, it counts as a holiday day.
- Otherwise, it is a working day.
Two design details matter. A holiday that lands on a weekend is not double-counted — it is already excluded as a weekend day, which matches payroll reality: most jurisdictions give a substitute day off, but that substitute is another date you would add to the list, not a second subtraction. And the range is order-independent: swap start and end and the counts are identical, because the engine sorts them before counting.
Weekend modes reflect how the world actually works: Saturday–Sunday (most of the world), Friday–Saturday (used in several Middle East and North Africa contexts), Sunday-only (six-day work weeks), or none (seven-day operations). Working weeks are working days ÷ 5 to one decimal; working hours multiply working days by 8.
| Input | Meaning | | --- | --- | | Start / end date | Range boundaries — both counted | | Weekend mode | Sat–Sun (default), Fri–Sat, Sun only, or none | | Holidays | Specific dates to exclude (counted only when they fall on weekdays) |
Worked Example
A project runs Wednesday 1 November to Friday 17 November 2023, with a public holiday on Friday 10 November:
- Total days: 17 (both endpoints included)
- Weekend days: Nov 4–5 and 11–12 → 4
- Weekday holidays: Nov 10 → 1
- Working days: 17 − 4 − 1 = 12, i.e. 2.4 working weeks or 96 working hours
Twelve is the number the schedule, the budget, and the SLA should all be built on — the calendar's "17 days" overstates capacity by more than 40%.
Using the Count Well
The classic mistakes are all boundary mistakes. Inclusive counting: because both the first and last day count, a Monday-to-Friday range returns 5, not 4 — right for "how many days do we work in this window," but if a contract measures elapsed business days from a Monday start, confirm which convention it uses before signing off on a deadline. "Business days" in contracts and shipping usually exclude the pickup/trigger day and count forward — a related but different convention the days-between tools handle better. Holidays are local: national lists miss state, regional, and company shutdown days (the Christmas–New Year week empties many offices without a single public holiday in it); add them individually here. For payroll, the 8-hour conversion assumes standard full-time days — part-time patterns need the day count re-scaled by hand.
Limitations
The calculator knows only the holidays you enter; it carries no built-in national calendars, so a range is only as accurate as your list. All dates are evaluated in UTC calendar days, which keeps results identical worldwide but means the tool models dates, not working hours across time zones or shift patterns.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are the start and end dates both counted?
Yes — the count is fully inclusive. A single weekday entered as both start and end returns 1 working day. If your convention excludes the start date (common in delivery promises), subtract one working day when the start date is itself a working day.
What happens if a public holiday falls on a Saturday?
Nothing extra: the day is already a weekend day, and the tool counts it once, as a weekend day. If your employer observes a substitute weekday holiday, add that substitute date to the holiday list instead — that is the day actually lost.
Which weekend mode should I choose?
Match the workplace, not your personal week: Sat–Sun for most countries; Fri–Sat where that is the statutory weekend; Sun-only for six-day operations (retail, healthcare rosters); and none for continuous 24/7 services that staff every day.