How to count business days between two dates

Calendar days and business days

Calendar days count every day. Business days, also called working days, count only the days you work, usually Monday to Friday, without public holidays.

The difference adds up quickly. Three calendar weeks are 21 days but only 15 business days, and fewer still if a holiday falls in the middle. Deadlines, delivery estimates, notice periods and project plans often depend on which one you mean.

Open the Business Days Calculator to count them with your own workweek and holidays.

The off-by-one question

The most common mistake in counting days is whether to include the end date.

By default, the calculator counts from the start date up to the end date, without the end date itself, the way you would count the nights in a hotel stay. From Monday to Friday of the same week is 4 business days: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Tick Include the end date to count both ends. Monday to Friday then becomes 5 business days. Use this when the end date is a day of work too, such as the last day of a project or a contract that runs "to and including" a date.

Count business days, step by step

1. Enter the Start date and End date. Use today fills in today's date, and Swap dates switches them round.
2. Decide whether to tick Include the end date.
3. Open Workweek & holiday options and choose a Holiday calendar. There are calendars for each Canadian province and territory, federally regulated workplaces in Canada and US federal holidays. Choose No regional holidays to count weekends only.
4. Under Working weekdays, change the workdays if yours aren't Monday to Friday.
5. Add personal days off, such as vacation or a company closure, under Extra days off, one per line in YYYY-MM-DD format.
6. Read the answer. The breakdown shows calendar days, working days, holidays excluded and days outside your workweek. Open Excluded holidays and custom dates to see exactly which days were skipped.

The calculator remembers your holiday calendar and workweek in your browser for next time.

Holidays that fall on a weekend

When a public holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, many workplaces take the following Monday off instead. That Monday is the observed holiday. Keep Use observed holiday dates ticked to count the day people actually take off, or untick it to use the date on the calendar.

Holiday calendars are a planning estimate. Some employers swap holidays, add extra ones or close between Christmas and New Year. Add those dates under Extra days off.

Adding business days to a date

To find the date that is a number of business days away, such as "10 business days from today", use Add or Subtract Dates:

1. Enter the start date.
2. Choose Add / move forward or Subtract / move backward.
3. Set Day type to Business days and enter the number of days.

The start date itself is not counted, so 1 business day after a Friday is the following Monday. The same workweek and holiday options apply.

Deadlines with legal or contractual rules

Contracts, courts and government offices sometimes define days in their own way. Some count only "clear days", leave out the day a notice is sent, or move a deadline that lands on a holiday. The calculator gives you the count; check which rule applies to your deadline before relying on it.

Other date calculations

The Date Calculator also works out the calendar days between two dates, a person's exact age on any date and hours worked across a timesheet. Your dates stay in your browser, and no account is needed.