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Countdown Timer to Any Date (Countdown Clock)
Make your own countdown: give it a name, pick the date (and a time if you like) and the time zone. The timer counts the days, hours, minutes and seconds live, and the page address becomes a share link that opens the same countdown for anyone. Free, with no sign-up and nothing stored.
Your countdown
Pick a date to start the countdown.
How to create a countdown to a date
- Name the event. Use something you will spot at a glance, like Our wedding, Lisbon trip or Last day of school.
- Pick the date. If the exact moment matters, like a flight or a launch, add the time too. Leave it out and the countdown runs to the very start of that day.
- Check the time zone. It starts on your phone's or computer's zone. If the event is somewhere else, switch to that zone and the countdown hits zero at the same moment for everyone, wherever they are.
- Share it. The address bar changes as you type, so the link already holds your countdown. Tap Copy link, send it, and it opens the same live timer on any device.
- Keep it in view. Add it to your calendar, put it full screen on a TV, or drop it on your own website with the embed code.
How the countdown timer works
Behind the numbers there's one fixed moment: your date and time, in your chosen time zone. Your browser's own time-zone data pins that moment down, which is why daylight saving doesn't throw it off. Set 9:00 in New York and it ends at 9:00 New York time, summer or winter, even if you're watching from Sydney.
A day here is a full 24 hours. The hours, minutes and seconds are whatever is left over, so “3 days 4 hours” means 76 hours to go. At zero, the numbers give way to a celebration message.
We don't store anything. The name, date, time, zone and emoji all live inside the link, so it works on any device and keeps working as long as you hang on to it.
Worked example: a wedding in another time zone
A couple is getting married in Lisbon at 3:00 PM on Saturday, June 12, 2027. Most of the guests live in New York. The couple names the countdown, picks the date, types 15:00 as the time and sets the zone to Europe/Lisbon.
Lisbon runs five hours ahead of New York in June. So a guest opening the shared link in New York sees the timer reach zero at 10:00 AM local time. That is the same moment the ceremony starts in Portugal.
With no time typed in, the clock would have run to midnight at the start of June 12 in Lisbon instead. For flights, launches and ceremonies, the time of day is worth adding.
Result: one link, one finishing moment, shown in each viewer's own time.
Countdown to a date in Excel or Google Sheets
A spreadsheet can show the time left as well. Put the target date and time in A2. NOW() gives the current date and time, and the gap between the two is the time left in days.
| What you want | Formula |
|---|---|
| Whole days left | =INT(A2-NOW()) |
| Hours left after the days | =INT(MOD(A2-NOW(),1)*24) |
| Minutes left after the hours | =INT(MOD((A2-NOW())*1440,60)) |
| Total hours left | =(A2-NOW())*24 |
| Calendar days until a date | =A2-TODAY() |
| Days, hours and minutes as text | =INT(A2-NOW())&" days "&TEXT(A2-NOW(),"h:mm") |
NOW() only updates when the sheet recalculates. In Google Sheets you can set File, Settings, Calculation to update every minute. Seconds will still not tick the way this page does.
Ready-made countdowns
Holiday countdowns are already set up on their own pages. Each one rolls over to next year by itself once the day has passed.
Countdown timer questions
How do I make a countdown to a date?
Give it a name and a date, and add a time and time zone if the exact moment matters. It starts ticking straight away in days, hours, minutes and seconds. Copy the link to keep it or send it to someone.
Can I share my countdown with someone?
Everything about your countdown lives in the link itself. Whoever opens it sees the same timer on their own phone or computer, and no copy is kept on the site.
Does the countdown work across time zones?
It finishes at your chosen time in your chosen zone. A friend in London and another in Chicago hit zero at the same moment, and daylight saving changes are taken into account.
Can I add the countdown to my website?
Open “Put this countdown on your website”, copy the code and paste it into your page's HTML. A small live countdown appears, in a light or dark theme. It is free and needs no account.
What happens when the countdown reaches zero?
A celebration message with your event's name takes the place of the numbers. Anyone who opens the link after the date sees that message too.
Can I add the countdown date to my calendar?
Add to calendar saves an .ics file, which Apple Calendar and Outlook open as a new event. The Google Calendar button goes straight to a new event in your Google account. Either way, the event notes carry a link back to the countdown.
How do I show the countdown on a big screen?
Press Full screen and the timer fills the display in large type. It suits a TV at a party, a projector in a classroom or a second monitor at work. Press Esc or the close button to leave.
Can I see the countdown in weeks or hours only?
This timer shows days, hours, minutes and seconds side by side. For a single unit, the weeks until calculator turns a trip 100 days away into 14 weeks and 2 days. The hours until calculator turns 2 days 6 hours into 54 hours.
How do I make a countdown in Excel?
Type the target date and time in A2, such as 12/25/2026 9:00. Then =INT(A2-NOW()) gives the whole days left, and =(A2-NOW())*24 gives the total hours. Excel only updates the figure when the sheet recalculates.
Is this the same as a stopwatch or kitchen timer?
A kitchen timer runs for a set length, like 10 minutes for pasta. This page counts to a fixed moment on the calendar instead, so it can run for weeks before a holiday or months before a wedding.
Cite this page
APA: ClockTotals. (2026, October 16). Countdown Timer to Any Date (Countdown Clock). https://clocktotals.com/countdown/
MLA: “Countdown Timer to Any Date (Countdown Clock).” ClockTotals, 16 Oct. 2026, clocktotals.com/countdown/.
Link (HTML): <a href="https://clocktotals.com/countdown/">Countdown Timer to Any Date (Countdown Clock)</a>