In Excel: use =NETWORKDAYS(start_date, end_date, [holidays]) — it counts the whole working days (Monday to Friday) between two dates, excluding weekends and any holidays you list.
Syntax
Arguments
| Argument | Description | |
|---|---|---|
start_date | required | The first date of the period, counted as day one. |
end_date | required | The last date of the period; it is included in the count. |
holidays | optional | A range of dates to exclude as well, such as public holidays. |
Related functions
86 calendar days
Need it as an auditable file?
Ships inside the linked template — formula-driven, unlocked, audit-ready.
What this does
NETWORKDAYS counts whole working days between two dates. It includes both the start and end date, automatically skips every Saturday and Sunday, and skips any dates you pass in the optional holidays range as well. It is the standard way to work out delivery times, project durations or how many billable days fall in a period. If your week does not run Monday to Friday — say a Sunday-to-Thursday week — use NETWORKDAYS.INTL, which adds a weekend-pattern argument so you can define which days count as the weekend. Most people learn this as a sequence of clicks and forget it by next week; learning it as a pattern instead is what lets you apply it to the next, slightly different version of the problem without starting from scratch. That is the difference this page is trying to make. The difference between a quick fix and a sheet you can trust is the extra minute you spend validating “networkdays function in excel”. Start on a copy or a tiny sample, keep the affected formula visible, and compare the result with the tool above before you touch the real workbook. When a formula is involved, keep the inputs labelled beside it, reference cells instead of typing values, and apply number formatting only after the result checks out. The point is a calculation you can defend to a CFO or an auditor, but the practical win is that someone else can open the file and understand what happened without asking you.
A worked example
A task starts on 01/06/2026 (a Monday) in A2 and is due 12/06/2026 (a Friday) in B2. =NETWORKDAYS(A2, B2) returns 10 — the two full weeks of weekdays, with the weekend of the 6th and 7th excluded. If 05/06/2026 is a public holiday listed in D2, then =NETWORKDAYS(A2, B2, D2) returns 9, dropping that one day too. NETWORKDAYS is the right tool for SLAs, project timelines and billing, where only Monday-to-Friday working days count and weekends and holidays must drop out automatically. If there is any chance you will reuse this, drop it into a small template tab right now: a labelled input area on the left and the formula beside it, checked once against the tool above. Next time the same question comes up, the answer is a single paste away instead of a rebuild from memory.
In Google Sheets
Everything above works in Google Sheets too. Excel and Sheets share the formula syntax used here; only the surrounding menus are arranged differently. That portability is deliberate — learn it once and it follows you between the two tools and across Windows and Mac. Keep this page bookmarked for the next time the same question comes up. Better still, rebuild the example once in your own sheet — doing it yourself, with the tool above to check against, is what turns a copied formula into a technique you own. The short version of “networkdays function in excel”: the answer is at the top of this page, the tool proves it on your own numbers, and the sections above explain why it holds so the next variation does not stump you. Excel rewards people who reference cells instead of typing values and who keep inputs separate from formulas, because that is what makes a result you can audit months later. Build it once, deliberately, with the live tool as a check, and you convert a one-off lookup into a reusable skill — which is the whole point of learning the why and not just the what.
Common mistakes
- Expecting the result to exclude the start date —
NETWORKDAYScounts both endpoints, so a Monday-to-Friday span is 5, not 4. - Leaving holidays out and over-counting across public holidays; pass a holiday range as the third argument to drop them.
- Using
NETWORKDAYSfor a non-Monday-to-Friday week — it always treats Saturday and Sunday as the weekend, so use NETWORKDAYS.INTL for other patterns.
Frequently asked questions
Does NETWORKDAYS include the start and end dates?
Yes, both are counted if they fall on a weekday. A period from Monday to Friday returns 5 because every day in the inclusive range is a working day.
How do I exclude public holidays?
List the holiday dates in a column and pass that range as the third argument: =NETWORKDAYS(A2, B2, D2:D10). Any of those dates that fall on a weekday are removed from the count.
How do I count working days with a different weekend?
Use NETWORKDAYS.INTL, which takes a weekend argument — a code or a 7-character pattern — so you can define, for example, a Friday/Saturday weekend instead of Saturday/Sunday.