How to Count Days with the DAYS Function in Excel

Count rental days with DAYS(end, start), turn them into a charge, and calculate late days beyond an included period.

You will learn to

• Count the days between two dates with DAYS
• Multiply days by a daily rate
• Count only the days beyond an allowance

How it works

DAYS(end_date, start_date) returns the number of days between two dates. Note the order: the end date comes first, so =DAYS(C2,B2) is positive when C2 is later. If you swap them, you get a negative number.

DAYS also accepts dates written as text, such as =DAYS("5/9/2026","5/2/2026"). Combine it with MAX(0, …) to count only the days beyond an included period — never a negative number of late days.

=DAYS(C2,B2)