How to Calculate Business Days in Excel

If you only subtract one date from another in Excel, you get total days, not working days. That includes weekends and can throw off payroll, SLA, and delivery timelines.

For most business use cases, use the NETWORKDAYS function. The basic pattern is =NETWORKDAYS(start_date, end_date), and Excel returns weekdays between those two dates inclusive.

If your company has custom weekends (like Friday/Saturday), use NETWORKDAYS.INTL. It lets you pass a weekend code or a custom 7-digit mask so your result matches local policy.

You can also provide a holiday range in a third argument so public holidays are excluded. Keep holidays in a dedicated sheet so formulas stay clean and easy to audit.

When you need a quick cross-check outside Excel, use a calculator to validate your workbook output before sharing timelines with clients or stakeholders.