Workday Calculator
Count the number of working days — Monday to Friday — between any two dates. Optionally exclude a number of public holidays. Useful for project deadlines, contract terms, payroll periods, and statutory time limits.
Workdays (business days)
261
- Calendar days (inclusive)
- 365
- Weekend days (Sat + Sun)
- 104
- Weekdays before holidays
- 261
- Holidays excluded
- 0
261 workdays (Mon–Fri) across 365 calendar days inclusive, after excluding 104 weekend days and 0 holidays.
How to use this calculator
Enter the start and end dates using year, month, and day. The calculator includes both endpoints — a start and end on the same weekday counts as one workday. If you have public holidays inside the range that you want excluded, enter the total count in the "Holidays to exclude" field; the calculator subtracts that many weekdays from the result. Reversing the dates (end before start) is handled automatically: the calculator uses the absolute range, so the result is the same either way.
How the calculation works
The calculator counts every calendar day from the start to the end inclusive, then removes Saturdays and Sundays. It does this efficiently by splitting the span into whole weeks (each contributing exactly 5 weekdays) plus a remainder of 0 to 6 days, walking the remainder one day at a time using the start date's day of the week. Finally, the number of holidays you supplied is subtracted from the weekday count, capped at the weekday total so the result can never go negative. This is identical to the algorithm Microsoft Excel uses for its NETWORKDAYS function and the convention used by HR systems, project management tools, and contract law for "business day" computations.
Worked example
Suppose you want to know the number of working days in January 2026. Start = 2026-01-01 (Thursday), end = 2026-01-31 (Saturday). Calendar days inclusive = 31. January 2026 has four full weeks (28 days = 20 weekdays) plus a 3-day remainder starting on Thursday: Thu, Fri, Sat — two more weekdays. Total weekdays = 22. If you mark 1 public holiday (New Year's Day, Jan 1), the workday count drops to 21. This matches Excel's =NETWORKDAYS("2026-01-01","2026-01-31") = 22 and =NETWORKDAYS("2026-01-01","2026-01-31",{"2026-01-01"}) = 21.
Frequently asked questions
What counts as a workday?
In this calculator, a workday is any Monday through Friday. Saturdays and Sundays are weekends and are never counted. This matches the default convention used by Microsoft Excel's NETWORKDAYS function, most payroll systems, UK and US courts (where "business days" means Mon–Fri excluding public holidays), and the project management standard in PMI/PMBOK. If your jurisdiction or industry uses a different working week — for example a Sunday-to-Thursday week in some Middle Eastern countries — this calculator will not give the right answer; use a regional workday calculator instead.
Are both the start and end dates included in the count?
Yes. If you enter the same date as both start and end, and that date is a weekday, the calculator returns 1 workday. This is the inclusive convention used by most legal and payroll contexts in the UK and US — a "5 working day" turnaround beginning on a Monday means delivery by Friday of the same week. If your context counts only full days between two dates (the exclusive convention used by some banking value-date rules), subtract one from the result.
How do I handle public holidays?
Enter the number of holidays you want excluded in the "Holidays to exclude" field, and the calculator will subtract that many weekdays from the total. The calculator does not have a built-in list of holidays because they differ by country, region, and even by employer — a UK calendar would include Christmas Day and Boxing Day, while a US federal calendar would include Independence Day and Thanksgiving. Count the holidays that fall on weekdays inside your range and enter the total; holidays on a Saturday or Sunday should not be counted because they are already excluded as weekend days.
What if the end date is before the start date?
The calculator treats the range as absolute, so the result is the same whether you go forward or backward in time. The "reversed" flag in the explanation tells you which direction you entered. This matches the behaviour of most spreadsheet workday functions, which return a positive number regardless of input order — useful for "how long ago" questions where the historical date is more naturally placed first.
Does the calculator account for daylight saving time?
No, and it does not need to. All dates are handled in UTC and counted as whole calendar days, so a DST transition (which shifts wall-clock time by an hour but does not change which date you are on) has no effect on the workday count. The only thing that can change the count is the calendar itself — leap years add a workday in late February when the range crosses February 29.
How is this different from the days-between-dates calculator?
The days-between-dates calculator returns every calendar day in the range, including weekends. This workday calculator strips out Saturdays and Sundays so you only see business days. Use the days-between calculator for total elapsed time (gestation, ageing wine, time since an event); use the workday calculator for anything tied to office or court schedules — contract notice periods, project deadlines, statutory response times, payroll periods.
Can I use this for statutory deadlines like "10 business days to respond"?
It is a good first estimate, but always check the specific rule. Many jurisdictions count business days from the day after notice is received (excluding the day of receipt), and some define "business day" by reference to a court calendar that excludes specific judicial holidays. For UK civil court deadlines, for example, "clear days" excludes both the start and end. Use this calculator to find the candidate date, then verify against the exact wording of the rule.