Date Difference Calculator
Find the difference between two dates in days, weeks, months, years and business days. Useful for deadlines, project spans and countdowns.
Pick the two dates
The result is signed: if the end date is earlier than the start date, day counts are negative.
Result
Choose two dates and press Calculate difference.
What is a date difference calculator?
A date difference calculator counts the time between two calendar dates. It answers questions like how many days until a deadline, how many working days a project really takes, how many months a contract runs, or how long a billing period was. Because months and years have uneven lengths, the answer depends on which counting convention you use — and this page shows every convention at once instead of making you choose.
Four counts matter in practice. The total in days is the raw gap. Working days remove Saturdays and Sundays. The calendar span splits the same gap into years, months and days the way a person would write it by hand — 4 October to 31 December is "2 months 27 days", not "88 days". And the same gap expressed in weeks, months, years, hours and minutes covers the rest.
It gets used for contract and notice periods, project and sprint schedules, billing cycles, holiday entitlement, warranty and visa windows, and any "how many days between these two dates" question. If the dates live in a spreadsheet, the steps below also give the Excel and Google Sheets formulas that return the same numbers.
How to calculate the difference between dates
- Pick a start date in the first field.
- Pick an end date in the second field.
- Press Calculate difference.
- Read the results: the calendar span, total days, business days, weeks, months, years, hours and minutes, then copy the summary if you need it.
- Business days exclude Saturdays and Sundays only. Public holidays are not subtracted, because they differ by country and sometimes by state.
- If the end date is earlier than the start date the counts go negative, so the same page works in either direction.
- In Excel or Google Sheets, =B1-A1 gives the total days, =NETWORKDAYS(A1,B1) gives working days, and a DATEDIF chain gives the calendar span: =DATEDIF(A1,B1,"y") & " years " & DATEDIF(A1,B1,"ym") & " months " & DATEDIF(A1,B1,"md") & " days".
Date difference examples
A two-week project
2026-10-01 → 2026-10-15
14 days · 10 business days · 2 weeks
A full year
2026-01-01 → 2027-01-01
365 days · 261 business days · 1 year
A deadline this quarter
2026-10-04 → 2026-12-31
88 days · 63 business days · 2 months 27 days
A range that contains a weekend
2026-10-05 → 2026-10-15
10 days · 8 business days · the weekend is excluded
Across the new year
2026-12-20 → 2027-01-05
16 days · 11 business days · 2 weeks
A leap-year February
2028-02-01 → 2028-03-01
29 days · 21 business days · February 2028 has 29 days
Browser calculator vs other ways
| Dimension | UrsaKit Date Difference | Spreadsheet | Counting by hand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business days | Yes, weekends excluded | Needs a formula | Very slow |
| Calendar span | Years, months, days | Needs setup | Error-prone |
| Data leaves the device | No, runs in the browser | Depends on the tool | No |
| Excel / Sheets formula | Shown in the steps above | Built in | None |
| Sign-up required | No | Depends on the tool | No |
| Counts both end dates? | No — the start date is day zero | Depends on the formula | Easy to get wrong |
| Setup | Open the page | Build the sheet | None |
Frequently asked questions
Is the date difference calculator free?
Yes. There is no account, no limit and no cost.
How are business days counted?
Business days exclude Saturdays and Sundays. Public holidays are not subtracted, since they differ by country.
What happens if the end date is earlier than the start date?
The values are signed, so the day counts become negative and the calendar span still describes the gap.
How are months and years counted?
Months and years use full calendar months and years, not fixed 30-day blocks, so a difference from 1 January to 1 February is exactly one month.
Does it handle leap years?
Yes. Because it works on real calendar dates, 29 February is handled correctly.
How do I calculate the difference between two dates in Excel?
Subtract the earlier cell from the later one to get the total days (=B1-A1), use =NETWORKDAYS(A1,B1) for working days, and use a DATEDIF chain for the calendar span: =DATEDIF(A1,B1,"y") & " years " & DATEDIF(A1,B1,"ym") & " months " & DATEDIF(A1,B1,"md") & " days". Google Sheets has the same functions.
Does the calculator include the start and end date?
No — it counts the gap, so the start date is day zero and the end date is the last day counted: 1 October to 15 October is 14 days, matching =B1-A1 in a spreadsheet. Excel's NETWORKDAYS, by contrast, includes both endpoints, so it returns one more working day than the figure here.