How this works
Counts the number of business days (Monday through Friday, inclusive) between two dates. Handy for project deadlines stated in "working days", contractual SLAs, calculating PTO that has to come out of working-day budgets, or just scheduling around weekends. The calculator also reports calendar days and weekend days for context. It does NOT subtract public holidays — those vary by country, region, and even employer, so we leave that adjustment to you.
The formula
The calculator iterates day-by-day rather than using the closed form (full weeks × 5 + partial-week handling) — clearer code and the perf cost in the browser is negligible even over 50-year ranges. Both ends of the range are included: counting Mon to Fri inclusive returns 5, not 4.
Example calculation
- Today is Monday, deadline is "in 30 calendar days". When does that fall?
- Set start = today, end = today + 30 days. Calendar days = 31 (inclusive of both endpoints), weekends ≈ 8–10, business days ≈ 21–23 depending on the start day-of-week.
- If a contract says "30 working days" instead, the deadline is roughly 6 calendar weeks out — start counting business days, hit 30, and that's your end date. Use the calculator in reverse: try different end dates until business days = 30.
Frequently asked questions
Why don't you subtract public holidays?
Because there's no universal "correct" list. Federal/national holidays differ by country (US has Thanksgiving, Japan has 16+ unique national holidays, Spain layers regional holidays on top of national ones), and many employers add company-specific days off. Subtracting a fixed list would be wrong for most users. We may add an opt-in country selector later — for now, count holidays separately and subtract them yourself.
Are both endpoints counted?
Yes — the range is inclusive on both ends. Start = Mon, end = Fri returns 5 business days, not 4. If you want exclusive counting (e.g. number of working days *between* two events, excluding the events themselves), subtract 1 from the result, or move one of your dates by a day.
What about Saudi Arabia and the UAE — their working week is different.
Right — historically the working week in much of the Gulf was Sunday-Thursday with Friday-Saturday as the weekend. The UAE moved to Monday-Friday in 2022 (with a half-day Friday); Saudi Arabia and Kuwait still use Sunday-Thursday. This calculator hardcodes Mon-Fri as the working week. If you need a different week, count yourself or wait for a future custom-weekend option.