Counting Business Days Between Two Dates
A business-day count answers a simple question: how many working days sit between these two dates? The tool walks from start to end, counts Monday to Friday, includes both ends, and reports the calendar total too.
Planning, delivery and contracts
A client promises delivery within two weeks, and you need to know how many working days that really is. From 1 October to 31 October 2026 there are 22 weekdays, but a week-long national holiday eats into them, so the usable days are fewer. Get the weekday baseline first, then subtract known closures.
Contract clauses such as 30 business days, a seven-day refund review, or 15 business days for a visa all start from this kind of count. Cross-border work needs both calendars: label each side's holidays before agreeing a deadline, or one team will be waiting while the other is off.
- Estimate a project timeline or delivery window
- Check how a contract's business-day clause runs
- Leave room for both calendars in cross-border work
Both ends count, only Monday to Friday
The tool steps day by day from the start date to the end date, includes both endpoints, and counts only Monday to Friday. If the start is later than the end, the two are swapped rather than returning a negative number. The calendar total, inclusive, is shown beside the business-day count.
No public holidays or make-up workdays are recognised: Spring Festival and National Day still count, and a working Saturday is not added back. A different convention, 21.75 days, is the average paid days per month, derived as (365 − 104) ÷ 12; it converts a monthly salary to a daily rate, not this month's actual workdays.
- Both endpoints count, and no negative result
- Only the weekday is checked; holidays are ignored
- 21.75 is a payroll average, not this month's workdays
For accuracy, overlay the holiday calendar
For a Chinese project, use the official annual holiday schedule: add statutory days off and subtract make-up workdays, and use both years' schedules for a project that crosses New Year. Abroad, use the local public-holiday list and watch moving feasts such as Easter and Thanksgiving.
For half-day or hourly scheduling, a project tool with resource calendars fits better. To find the date N business days from now, count forward in business days rather than adding calendar days. The output is a planning estimate; a contract clause remains the binding definition.
- Add holidays and make-up days by hand
- Adjust for local holidays on cross-border work
- Use resource calendars for precise scheduling
FAQ
Are public holidays excluded?
No. The count is weekday-based, so holidays still count and weekend make-up days are not added back. Subtract the days off and add the make-up days yourself to reach the real working total.
Are both endpoints included?
Yes. From 1 October to 2 October, if both are weekdays, the result is 2, not 1. If a contract says the start day does not count, subtract one; if it says counting begins the next day, restart from there.
How does 21.75 days relate?
21.75 is the average paid days per month, calculated as (365 − 104) ÷ 12. It converts a monthly salary into a daily wage; it does not describe how many weekdays a particular month contains. The two numbers answer different questions.
Related tool：Workday Counter