NETWORKDAYS Function

Summary

The Excel NETWORKDAYS function counts the number of whole working days between two dates. It automatically excludes Saturdays, Sundays, and any optional holiday dates you provide.

This is useful for project planning, staffing, invoice timing, payroll estimates, SLA tracking, and any report where business days matter more than simple calendar days.

NETWORKDAYS is one of the most practical date functions because it measures time the way many real schedules work: by counting working days instead of all calendar days. That makes it useful for delivery targets, approval timelines, staffing plans, and any workflow where weekends should not count as active days.

Syntax

=NETWORKDAYS(start_date, end_date, [holidays])

start_date and end_date define the period you want to measure. The optional holidays argument lets you exclude extra non-working dates such as public holidays or company shutdowns. For reliable results, Microsoft recommends using real Excel dates or DATE(...) instead of ambiguous text dates.

Arguments

• start_date - The first date in the period.
• end_date - The last date in the period.
• holidays - [optional] A range or array of dates to exclude from the working-day count.

NETWORKDAYS vs Related Functions

These date functions are related, but they answer different questions.

Use NETWORKDAYS when you know the start and end dates and want the count of business days in between. Use WORKDAY when you know the start date and the number of workdays, and want the resulting date instead.

Using NETWORKDAYS

NETWORKDAYS assumes a standard workweek where Saturday and Sunday are weekends. That makes it a simple choice for most office-based schedules. If your schedule uses a different weekend pattern, the more flexible option is NETWORKDAYS.INTL.

A key detail is that NETWORKDAYS is inclusive. If the start date and end date are the same valid workday, the result is 1. That makes it different from simple date subtraction, which would give you a zero-day gap for the same two dates.

Holidays let you refine the count further. If a holiday falls on a weekday inside the date range, Excel removes it from the result. This is helpful for public holidays, company closure days, or any other non-working dates that should not be billed or scheduled.

Example 1 - Count Working Days in a Date Range

This is the most common use of NETWORKDAYS: count the business days between a start date and an end date.

=NETWORKDAYS(B1, B2)

If B1 is 2026-01-01 and B2 is 2026-01-15, Excel counts only the weekdays in that range. This gives you a more realistic measure of working time than plain date subtraction.

Example 2 - Exclude a Holiday

Add a holiday list when one or more weekdays in the range should not count as working days.

=NETWORKDAYS(B1, B2, H1)

If H1 contains 2026-01-01, that weekday is excluded from the result. This is a practical pattern for company holidays and public holiday calendars.

Example 3 - Test a Business-Day Threshold

NETWORKDAYS is often used inside a TRUE/FALSE check when you need to enforce a business-day limit.

=NETWORKDAYS(B1, B2) > 5

This returns TRUE if the working-day window is more than five days, and FALSE otherwise. It is useful for SLA checks, lead-time alerts, and project controls.

Example 4 - Convert Working Days into a Cost

Once you have the business-day count, you can multiply it by a daily rate to estimate cost or billable value.

=NETWORKDAYS(B1, B2) * 500

This pattern works well for contractor billing, payroll estimates, temporary staffing, and other models where each working day has a fixed value.

Conclusion Recap

NETWORKDAYS is for situations where calendar days are not enough and only real workdays should count. This lesson showed that clearly through basic business-day counts, holiday exclusions, threshold checks, and cost calculations based on daily rates.

The detail that beginners often miss is that the count is inclusive. If both dates are valid workdays, both can be counted. Once you remember that, the results are much easier to understand and explain.

• Summary: NETWORKDAYS counts working days between two dates.
• Weekend rule: It automatically excludes Saturdays and Sundays.
• Holiday support: You can pass a holiday list to remove extra non-working dates.
• Inclusive count: The function includes both boundary dates when they are valid workdays.
• Best use: Business-day durations, SLA tracking, payroll estimates, and project timing.
• Alternative: Use NETWORKDAYS.INTL if you need a custom weekend pattern.