How to use the countdown to date
- Quick picks (next occurrence): optional. Press Christmas, New Year's Day, Valentine's Day, July 4th, Halloween or Thanksgiving (US) to fill in the date and name.
- Target date: choose the day you are counting down to.
- Time (optional): leave it at 12:00 AM for the start of that day, or enter the exact time of a flight, party or deadline.
- Event name (optional): shown in the headline, for example Sam's birthday.
- Read the headline for whole days and the four boxes for the live countdown. Copy link to this countdown saves the date, time and name in a web address you can send.
How the countdown is worked out
The tool takes the moment you picked, in your device's time zone, and compares it with your device clock. Days are whole calendar days counted on the wall clock, so midnight to midnight is an exact number of days even when clocks change for daylight saving time. Hours, minutes and seconds are what is left over. The totals line uses real elapsed time. Thanksgiving uses the federal rule of the fourth Thursday in November from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
Worked example
Open the page at 10:00 AM on December 1, 2026 with the defaults: Target date December 25, 2026, Time 12:00 AM, Event name Christmas. The headline reads 23 days until Christmas, the boxes show 23 days, 14 hours, 0 minutes and 0 seconds, and the totals line reads "3 weeks and 2 days, or 566 hours, 33,960 minutes or 2,037,600 seconds." The seconds box then ticks down once per second.
Limits and edge cases
- The countdown follows your device clock and time zone. For an event in another time zone, convert its start time first with the time zone converter.
- A date in the past counts up instead ("was 12 days ago"). Within 24 hours after the moment, the headline says it has arrived.
- Years from 1900 to 9999 are accepted; other years show a message.
- The numbers are read from the clock each time they redraw, so they stay right after your computer sleeps. They do not tick while the tab is closed. Your last countdown is remembered in your browser until you clear site data.
- Weekends and holidays are not skipped. For the gap between two dates, use the date difference calculator, and for a plain minutes-and-seconds timer use the countdown timer.
Frequently asked questions
How many days until Christmas?
Press Christmas under Quick picks. The headline shows the whole days left until midnight at the start of December 25, and the boxes show the remaining hours, minutes and seconds. On December 25 it says Christmas has arrived.
Why does it show 23 days when I count 24 days to December 25?
Subtracting calendar dates (December 25 minus December 1) gives 24, but the tool counts from this exact moment to the start of the day. At 10:00 AM on December 1 there are 23 full days and 14 hours left. At 12:00 AM on December 1 it shows 24 days exactly.
Can I share my countdown with someone?
Yes. Press Copy link to this countdown and send the link. It carries the date, time and event name. The time is read on the viewer's own clock, so a holiday counts to local midnight for everyone. For a call at one fixed moment, put the time zone in the event name.
Does the countdown keep running when I close the tab?
It does not tick while the tab is closed, but it is always correct when you reopen it, because the numbers are worked out from your device clock each time. The page also remembers your last countdown in your browser.
What happens after the date passes?
For the first 24 hours the headline says your event has arrived. After that the page counts up and shows how long ago it was, so you can also use it to see how many days have passed since a date.
Sources: U.S. Office of Personnel Management, federal holidays; MDN, JavaScript Date.