Days between dates
How many days between two dates?
The number of days between two dates is the count of calendar days from the start date to the end date. Pick both dates below to get the total days, weeks, and weekdays, with an option to subtract a country's public holidays.
- Inclusive count
- Includes both the start and end date
- Exclusive count
- Counts only the gaps between the dates
- Business days
- Weekdays minus public holidays you select
Total days
31
Weeks + days
4w 3d
Calendar span
0y 0m 30d
Weekdays
21
Weekend days
10
Match the convention to the job
Most disagreements about a date range are not math errors, they are convention mismatches. This quick reference maps common counting tasks to the setting that produces the number people expect.
| Counting task | Usual convention | Setting here |
|---|---|---|
| Hotel nights or car rental days | Gaps between the dates | Untick the inclusive box |
| Event length, first day to last | Every calendar day | Keep inclusive on |
| Days until a future date | Days after today | Untick the inclusive box |
| Payroll or billing period length | Every day in the period | Keep inclusive on |
| Working days for delivery or notice | Weekdays minus holidays | Pick a country |
Checking the math on a small range
Take Monday 2 March 2026 to Friday 6 March 2026. Inclusive counting gives 5 days, exclusive gives 4, and since no weekend is touched, all 5 inclusive days are weekdays. Stretch the end date to Sunday 15 March 2026 and the inclusive total becomes 14 days, which the weeks cell reports as exactly 2 weeks and 0 days, split into 10 weekdays and 4 weekend days. Now cross a year boundary: Monday 29 December 2025 to Friday 2 January 2026 is 5 weekdays inclusive, but in a country that observes 1 January as a public holiday the business day cell drops to 4, and countries that also mark other days in that window drop further still.
Inclusive or exclusive counting
People disagree on what "days between" actually means. If you check in to a hotel on the first and check out on the fifth, did you stay four nights or five days? Both answers are right depending on what you are counting. The inclusive toggle on this calculator switches between the two. Inclusive counts both the start and end date, which is what schools, governments, and most contracts use when they say "you have 30 days." Exclusive treats the endpoints as fence posts and counts only the gaps between them, which is what hoteliers and project managers usually mean. Pick whichever matches your situation; we show the same range under both definitions.
Subtracting public holidays
Pick a country from the dropdown and we will fetch its official public holiday list from the public Nager.Date dataset, then subtract any holidays that fall on a weekday inside your range. The result is your effective business-day count. If the range crosses a calendar year, we fetch the holidays for every year touched. This is exactly the math you want for things like notice periods, statutory holiday allowances, and project delivery windows. If you need pure working-day arithmetic without the calendar context, jump straight to the working days calculator.
Why both calendar and total counts?
Total days is the raw number you usually want for billing or interest calculations. The calendar breakdown (years, months, days) reads more naturally when you talk about something like the time since an event. The weeks-plus-days form lines up with how sprints and pay cycles tend to be planned. You can also pop over to the age calculator if one of your dates is a birthday and you want the live ticking view.
Common questions about date ranges
Does it matter which date goes in the From field?
No. If the second date is earlier than the first, the range is sorted automatically, so every count comes out positive either way.
Are leap years handled correctly?
Yes. The count walks real calendar dates, so 29 February is included whenever the range covers one. The same start and end days across February 2028 give a total one day longer than across February 2027.
Why does my payroll or HR system report a different business day count?
Systems disagree on holiday sets, regional observances, substitute days for holidays that land on weekends, and half day conventions. This tool subtracts the nationwide public holidays published in the open Nager.Date dataset and treats each one as a full day off.
What happens when the range spans more than one year?
The holiday lookup fetches the list for every calendar year the range touches, so a range from November to February subtracts holidays from both years.
Do time zones or daylight saving changes affect the count?
No. Each date is anchored at midnight UTC before subtracting, so a range never gains or loses a day when clocks move forward or back.