Work Days Calculator

What counts as a working day (and what doesn’t)

A working day is a day when your workplace, or the people you’re dealing with, is normally open for business. For most offices that means Monday to Friday. Three things quietly change the answer: your weekend, public holidays, and closures your employer decides on.

Here’s the rule this calculator follows. A day counts if it isn’t a weekend day, isn’t a holiday, and isn’t a day your workplace has switched off. Everything else counts, even a slow, rainy Tuesday. A personal day off doesn’t change the calendar, only your count, which is why leave gets its own tab.

Half days sit in the middle. If your shop works until lunchtime on Saturday, that day isn’t quite a working day or a day off, so the calculator lets you count it as 0.5. Four half-day Saturdays add two working days, not four.

Working days vs business days vs calendar days

These three phrases get mixed up all the time, so let’s pin them down. Calendar days are every day on the calendar, weekends and holidays included. If a contract says “30 days” and nothing else, it usually means 30 calendar days. Working days and business days mean almost the same thing in everyday speech: days that aren’t weekends or public holidays. Some banks and contracts define business days more tightly, for example “a day when banks are open for general business”, so read the definition in whatever you’ve signed.

Only need a quick Monday to Friday count? The Age & Date Calculator has a simple working-days tab. This page is the fuller tool, with custom weekends, half-day Saturdays, holiday lists, notice and leave dates, and a day-by-day list of what was skipped. For ages or gaps in years and months, use the Age & Date page.

How to count work days between two dates by hand

You don’t need software to count work days, but it helps to have a method you trust. This is the one we use to check the calculator.

Step 1: count the calendar days

Subtract the earlier date from the later one, then decide whether the start and end days are both in. Counting 3 March to 5 March with both ends in gives three days, not two.

Step 2: find the full weeks

Divide the calendar days by 7 and ignore the remainder. Every full week contains five working days in a Monday to Friday week, whichever day it starts on.

Step 3: look at the leftover days

You’re left with zero to six extra days. Find them on a calendar and count the ones that aren’t Saturday or Sunday.

Step 4: add, then remove holidays

Add the full-week days to the leftover weekdays, then take off any holiday that lands on a working day. A holiday on a Saturday changes nothing, because Saturdays are already out. That’s the double-counting trap, and the calculator avoids it for you.

A worked example

Let’s count the working days from Tuesday 3 March to Friday 3 April 2026, with both ends included and one company holiday on Monday 16 March.

Put the same dates into the calculator and it should say 23. If it doesn’t, open “How we counted” and compare the skipped days with the list above. It’s there so you can check us, not just trust us.

How to add or subtract working days (and the “day 0 or day 1” confusion)

Adding working days answers questions like “what’s the date 10 working days from now?” The tricky part is the start day. Is it day 1, or day 0?

Most deadline rules, and the WORKDAY function in spreadsheets, treat the start day as day 0. Counting begins with the next working day. So one working day after a Friday is the following Monday, and “within 5 working days” of a Monday ends the next Monday.

Pick day 1 only when the start day really is the first day of the period, such as the first day of a leave. If you’re unsure, check the wording of the rule or contract. Subtracting works the same way in reverse: three working days before Tuesday 3 March 2026 is Thursday 26 February.

Weekends around the world

Saturday and Sunday is the most common weekend, but it isn’t universal. Some countries in the Middle East and North Africa have used Friday and Saturday, and a few have changed their rule recently, so confirm the current one. Shops, factories and hospitals often give only Sunday off.

In many places offices work Monday to Friday, while plenty of private firms, schools and shops use a half day on Saturday, or alternate Saturdays off. That’s why this calculator has a Saturday setting. You can count Saturday as a normal day, a half day worth 0.5, the second Saturday of each month off, the second and fourth off, or every other Saturday off.

Set your week once under “Work week and holidays” and every tab follows it. The weekday strip shows which days are counted, so you can see at a glance whether it matches how your workplace really runs.

Public holidays and company holidays: how they change the count

Holidays are the main reason two people get different answers for the same dates. Public holidays differ by country, and the dates of many (Easter, Eid, Diwali, the Lunar New Year and other lunar or religious days) move every year. For that reason this page doesn’t guess them. Take the dates from your official government holiday calendar or gazette, then add them under “Work week and holidays” one at a time, or paste the whole list in one go.

This page doesn’t pre-fill any country’s holidays. Public, bank and mercantile holidays aren’t always the same list, so use the one that applies to your employer.

A holiday on a Monday or Friday gives you a long weekend and takes exactly one day off the count. Two in a row take two. A holiday on a day you already have off takes none. Company holidays, such as a stock-take or a shutdown week, work just like public ones: add the dates and they’re skipped.

Work days for notice periods, probation and leave

Imagine you hand in your notice on Monday 2 March 2026 and your contract says 30 working days. Counting from the next working day, with no holidays, that’s exactly six weeks, so your last day is Monday 13 April. Had it said “one month”, the usual reading would be around 2 April. Same sentence on the surface, eleven days apart.

Probation is usually written in months, but the same care applies: check whether the contract counts calendar months or working days, and whether the start day counts. For leave, the Leave & notice tab shows your last day of leave and the day you return. Weekends and holidays inside a leave period normally aren’t deducted from your balance, though your employer’s policy decides.

An HR officer planning leave around a public holiday can add that date to the holiday list and see how many working days a week of leave really uses. Employers differ a lot here, so treat the result as a planning aid. Your contract, company policy and the official sources for your country are what count, and this page isn’t legal advice.

Delivery, shipping and payment due dates: what “within 5 business days” really means

Say a shop promises delivery “within 5 business days” and you order on Thursday 5 March 2026. The clock normally starts the next business day, so Friday 6 is day 1, Monday 9 is day 2, and day 5 is Thursday 12 March. Order on a Friday evening or a holiday and day 1 moves to the next business day.

Two details catch people out. Many sellers only start the clock once payment clears, not when you click the button. And couriers and banks often have cut-off times, so an order placed after the cut-off counts as the next day. This calculator uses whole dates, so add a day yourself if a cut-off applies.

Accountants meet the same wall with payment terms. “Net 30” usually means 30 calendar days, while “due in 10 working days” follows the working calendar. For interest or instalments, the Loan EMI Calculator covers the money side.

Work days for project planning and freelance quotes

Freelancers often quote effort in days, then forget the calendar keeps running. If a logo job takes 12 working days and you start on Monday, delivery is not 12 calendar days later. Add 12 work days on the Add / subtract tab and you get the real date, with weekends and holidays skipped.

Then add what isn’t effort: the client’s review days, any holiday inside the window, and a small buffer. Many people pad a quote by 15 to 20 percent. If you bill by the day, enter a daily rate in the settings for an estimated total.

For teams, the week-by-week strip is useful. A week with a dashed border and a small arrow is a short week, which is exactly where deadlines slip.

Common mistakes

Counting the start day twice

Including both the first and last day counts a difference plus one. That’s right for “how many days will I work?” and wrong for “how many days until?” You can switch either end on or off.

Forgetting a holiday that sits next to a weekend

A Monday holiday is easy to miss because the weekend before it already feels like time off. Add it to your list.

Treating a month as 30 days

Months run from 28 to 31 days. A “one month” period starting on 31 January doesn’t even have a matching date in February, so check how your contract handles that.

Mixing time zones

“End of day Friday” means different moments in Sydney and in London. Agree on one zone, and check times with the Time Zone Converter.

Assuming everyone shares your weekend

A supplier abroad may be off on Friday while you’re at your desk. When a date matters, count it with their weekend too.

Quick answers: 5 to 9 business days, and business days in each month

How long is 5 to 9 business days? It is one to two calendar weeks, give or take a day or two. Five business days is one full working week, so an order placed on a Monday usually arrives the following Monday. Nine business days is a week and a bit more, which lands you on the Friday of the next week. So if a shop says “5 to 9 business days”, expect it somewhere between the same weekday next week and the end of the week after.

For example, if you order on Monday 19 October 2026, day 1 is Tuesday 20 October. Day 5 is Monday 26 October and day 9 is Friday 30 October. Weekends do not count, and neither does a public holiday that falls in between, so push each date out by one day for every holiday you spot. If you order on a Friday evening or over a weekend, most sellers start counting from Monday.

How many business days are in each month? The table below counts every Monday to Friday, with no holidays taken off. Subtract the public holidays that fall on weekdays where you live to get your own number.

A month always has between 20 and 23 weekdays. If you need the exact figure for a particular month with your own weekend and holiday list, use the Month or year tab in the calculator above.

Working Days From Today: 1, 5, 10, 21 and 30 Business Days

People often just want to know “what is X working days from today?” The table below is worked out in your browser from today’s date (today), counting Monday to Friday with no public holidays removed. Day 1 is the next working day after today. If a public holiday falls inside the period, move the date out by one working day for each, or use the calculator above with your own holiday list.

How Many Calendar Days Is a Number of Business Days?

The gap changes with the day you start, because weekends are skipped. This table shows the calendar days that pass when you begin on a Monday or on a Friday (no holidays).

That is why “1 to 3 business days” can mean the next day for one order and the following Tuesday for another. A multiple of five business days is always whole weeks, so 5, 10, 15, 20 and 30 working days land on the same weekday as you started, one, two, three, four and six weeks later.

Quick mental shortcuts

For a rough answer without opening anything, use weeks times five. Divide the calendar days by 7, multiply by 5, and take off any holidays on working days. Thirty working days is six weeks, and 10 working days is two weeks. A month usually holds 20 to 23 working days, and a year holds 260 to 262 before holidays.

To estimate a delivery date, go forward whole weeks first, then the leftover days, and push the date by one day for every holiday in the way. To see how far along a project is, work out the share of working days that have passed. The Percentage Calculator is handy for that, or you can read it straight from the progress bar above.

Frequently asked questions

Disclaimer

This page is for general information. The results are estimates based on the weekend and holiday settings you choose, and they aren’t legal, employment or financial advice. Public holiday dates, notice periods and leave rules differ between countries and employers. Always confirm important dates with your employer, your contract, and the official government source for your country.