Advanced options
The difference counts nights between the dates, the everyday convention for deadlines and bookings; switch to inclusive to count both end dates, as some contracts and holiday counts do. Weekday counts exclude weekends but not bank holidays.
What The Days Between Dates Calculator Works Out
- Days between: the everyday convention counts the nights between two dates, so 1 January to 31 December 2026 is 364 days. The starting day itself is excluded, which is how hotel stays, loan interest and most deadlines are counted. Date order does not matter; the absolute difference is used.
- Inclusive counting: switching to "count both end dates" adds one, the convention some contracts, holiday entitlement calculations and medication courses use. Knowing which convention a document means has decided real disputes.
- That is: the same span in whole weeks and days. A year is 52 weeks and a day (two in a leap year), which is why any fixed date moves forward one weekday each ordinary year.
- Weekdays (Mon-Fri): the span with Saturdays and Sundays removed, the number that matters for delivery estimates, notice expressed in business days and project plans. A calendar fortnight is 10 working days. Bank holidays are not removed here.
- Exclude bank holidays (advanced): removes the regular bank holidays for England and Wales (8 a year), Scotland (9) or Northern Ireland (10), including the substitute weekdays used when Christmas, Boxing Day or New Year fall at a weekend and Easter worked out for each year. One-off holidays such as jubilees and coronations are not included. The dates found are listed under the results.
- Working week (advanced): count Monday to Saturday or every day as working days for retail, hospitality or shift patterns, instead of the default Monday to Friday.
- Working days and hours (advanced): the days left after weekends and bank holidays are removed, multiplied by your hours in a working day (7.5 by default) for a total of available working hours, useful for project estimates and annualised-hours contracts.
- Calendar breakdown (advanced): the gap expressed as years, months and days, counting complete years and calendar months first, the way ages and lengths of service are described.
- Weekend days (advanced): how many Saturdays and Sundays fall in the span, which with leap years (2028 is next), month lengths and year ends are the fiddly cases the calculator handles for you.