Count business days between two dates, with your choice of weekend and a list of public holidays to skip.
Dates as YYYY-MM-DD, separated by commas or new lines.
Enter the values to see the result here.
Formula
Walk through every calendar day from the start to the end and keep a day only if it is neither a weekend day nor a listed holiday:
W=T−E−H
where T is the total number of days counted, E the number of weekend days, and H the number of holidays that fall on non-weekend days. The weekday of a day number n (days since 1 January 1970, a Thursday) is (n+4)mod7, with 0 meaning Sunday.
Worked example
Period: Sunday 2 March 2025 to Thursday 20 March 2025, weekend Friday and Saturday, one holiday on Sunday 9 March.
Total days: 19.
Fridays and Saturdays in the range: 7, 8, 14, 15 March, so E=4. (The 21st and 22nd fall outside.)
Holiday on 9 March is a working day, so H=1.
W=19−4−1=14 working days.
Common mistakes
Subtracting weekends by multiplying weeks by two. A range that starts mid-week gives a different count from a full-week estimate.
Forgetting that the end date is part of the period when a contract says “until the 20th inclusive”.
Listing a holiday that already falls on a weekend and expecting two days off to be subtracted.
Using one weekend pattern for a firm whose branches follow different weeks. Run the calculation once per pattern.
Frequently asked questions
Which weekend should I choose?
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Kuwait mostly use Friday and Saturday. The UAE moved to Saturday and Sunday in 2022 for government work, with a short Friday. Some employers follow Thursday and Friday, so the four common patterns are offered.
What happens if a holiday falls on a weekend?
It is counted once, as a weekend day. A holiday only reduces the working-day count when it falls on a normal working day.
Is the end date counted?
By default yes, so Monday to Friday of the same week gives 5 working days. Untick the box to treat the end date as the morning the period finishes.
Does it know my country's holidays?
No. Holiday dates change every year, and many Islamic holidays depend on moon sighting, so you enter the dates yourself.