Need to know how many Saturdays and Sundays fall in a date range — for staffing, rent-free days, or project planning? Two clean ways to do it.
This counts every weekend day in the inclusive range, no helper column needed.
The example
A project runs from a start date to an end date and you want the number of weekend days inside it.
| A | B | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Label | Value |
| 2 | Start date | 2026-06-01 |
| 3 | End date | 2026-06-30 |
| 4 | Weekend days | 8 |
The formula
Subtract the count of working days from the count of all days in the inclusive range:
How it works
Here is the logic, step by step:
B3-B2+1gives the total number of days in the range, counting both endpoints.NETWORKDAYS(B2,B3)counts Monday–Friday days, automatically excluding Saturdays and Sundays.- Subtracting working days from total days leaves exactly the Saturdays and Sundays.
- Format the result cell as a plain number (not a date) so it shows 8, not a date serial.
For June 2026 (June 1–30) there are 30 total days and 22 weekdays, leaving 8 weekend days.
Try it: interactive demo
Enter a number of total days and working days, or use the date math below — the weekend count updates live.
Variations
Count only Saturdays (or only Sundays)
Use SUMPRODUCT with WEEKDAY to target one day of the week. WEEKDAY(...,2) returns 6 for Saturday, 7 for Sunday.
Custom weekend (Fri–Sat)
If your weekend is not Sat–Sun, use NETWORKDAYS.INTL with a weekend code.
Pitfalls & errors
If the result shows up as a date, change the cell number format to General or Number.
NETWORKDAYS also accepts a holiday list as a third argument if you want to exclude those too — but that does not change the weekend count itself.
Practice workbook
Frequently asked questions
Does this include the start and end dates?
What if my weekend is not Saturday and Sunday?
Why not just count with a helper column?
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