How do I calculate hours between two times?

Enter your start time and end time in the Hours Calculator. The tool instantly shows the total duration in both H:MM format and decimal hours. If you have breaks, enter the total break minutes to deduct them from the total.

How does the calculator handle overnight shifts?

Automatically. If your end time is earlier than your start time — for example, a 10 PM to 6 AM shift — the calculator detects this and adds 24 hours to the end time, giving you the correct 8-hour result instead of a negative number.

What is decimal hours and why does it matter?

Decimal hours express time as a single number instead of hours and minutes. For example, 7 hours and 30 minutes is 7.50 decimal hours. Most payroll software, invoicing tools, and timesheets require decimal hours for accurate pay calculations.

How do I calculate my pay from hours worked?

Use the Pay Calculator tab. Enter your hours worked and hourly rate. The calculator multiplies hours by rate for regular pay, and applies 1.5x for any hours over 8 in a single shift or 40 in a work week.

What is the 7-minute rounding rule?

The 7-minute rule means time is rounded to the nearest quarter-hour (15 minutes). If you clock in at 9:07 or earlier, it rounds down to 9:00. If you clock in at 9:08 or later, it rounds up to 9:15. Many employers use this for FLSA compliance.

How do I calculate hours for a full work week?

Use the Weekly Timesheet tab. Enter your start time, end time, and break minutes for each day Monday through Sunday. The calculator totals all hours, shows your weekly decimal hours, and flags any overtime over 40 hours.

How do I convert minutes to decimal hours?

Divide the minutes by 60. For example, 45 minutes ÷ 60 = 0.75. So 7 hours and 45 minutes = 7.75 decimal hours. The calculator does this conversion automatically for every result.

Can I use this for freelance billing?

Yes. Enter your start and end time for a client session, add your break time, then enter your hourly rate in the pay section. The calculator gives you the exact billable hours in decimal format and the total amount to invoice.

Hours Calculator – Time Between Two Times & Timesheet Calculator

⏱ Time Between Two Times

Start Time

End Time

Break / Lunch (minutes)

Round to Nearest

7:30

Hours & Minutes

7.50

Decimal Hours

450

Total Minutes

Break Deducted

🌙 Overnight shift detected — end time treated as next day

⚡ Common Work Hours Quick Reference

📋 Weekly Timesheet

Day	Start	End	Break (min)	Hours

💰 Weekly Pay (optional)

Hourly Rate ($)

Overtime After (hrs/week)

💰 Pay Calculator

Hours Worked

Hourly Rate ($)

Overtime After (hours in shift)

Overtime Rate

$160.00

Regular Pay

$0.00

Overtime Pay

$160.00

Total Pay

$20.00

Effective Rate/hr

How to Calculate Hours Between Two Times

Calculating hours worked sounds simple until the numbers get awkward — a shift that crosses midnight, minutes that don't divide evenly, or a payroll system that wants decimals instead of hours and minutes. The Hours Calculator handles all of it automatically.

The Basic Formula

To find time between two times, convert both to minutes since midnight, subtract, then divide by 60. For example, 9:00 AM is 540 minutes and 5:30 PM is 1,050 minutes. The difference is 510 minutes, or 8.5 hours (8 hours 30 minutes).

If you have a 30-minute unpaid lunch break, subtract that from the total: 510 − 30 = 480 minutes = 8 hours exactly. That's what most employers count as a standard workday.

Overnight Shifts

Overnight shifts are where manual math gets tricky. If you start at 10 PM (22:00) and end at 6 AM, a naive subtraction gives a negative number. The correct approach is to add 24 hours to the end time: 6 AM becomes 30 hours in the 24-hour count, and 30 − 22 = 8 hours. The calculator does this automatically whenever it detects the end time is earlier than the start time.

Converting Hours and Minutes to Decimal

Most payroll software wants decimal hours, not H:MM. The conversion is straightforward: divide the minutes portion by 60 and add it to the hours. Common conversions:

7 hours 15 minutes = 7.25 hours
7 hours 30 minutes = 7.50 hours
7 hours 45 minutes = 7.75 hours
8 hours 20 minutes = 8.33 hours
8 hours 40 minutes = 8.67 hours

Time Rounding Rules

Many employers use rounding rules to simplify timesheets. The most common is quarter-hour (15-minute) rounding, sometimes called the "7-minute rule": any time within 7 minutes of a quarter-hour rounds to that quarter-hour. So 9:07 rounds down to 9:00, but 9:08 rounds up to 9:15. The US Department of Labor permits this rounding as long as it averages out over time and doesn't consistently benefit the employer.

Use the "Round to Nearest" dropdown in the calculator to apply 5-minute, 15-minute, or 6-minute (decimal-friendly) rounding to your results.

Weekly Timesheet & Overtime Rules

The weekly timesheet tracks your hours across an entire work week — Monday through Sunday — and automatically calculates overtime. Most countries have specific overtime thresholds worth knowing.

United States (FLSA)

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, non-exempt employees must be paid at least 1.5× their regular rate for all hours worked beyond 40 in a single workweek. Some states like California also require daily overtime — 1.5× after 8 hours in a day and 2× after 12 hours. The weekly timesheet uses the federal 40-hour threshold by default, but you can adjust it in the dropdown.

United Kingdom (Working Time Regulations)

UK workers cannot be required to work more than an average of 48 hours per week, averaged over a 17-week reference period, unless they have opted out in writing. There is no statutory right to overtime pay in the UK — it depends on your employment contract. The calculator lets you set an overtime threshold of 48 hours for UK users.

How to Fill in a Weekly Timesheet

Enter your clock-in (start) time and clock-out (end) time for each day
Add your unpaid break time in minutes for each day — this gets deducted automatically
Leave days blank if you didn't work — they'll be excluded from the total
Add your hourly rate at the bottom to see your regular pay, overtime pay, and weekly total

Your data never leaves your browser. Nothing is logged, tracked, or stored anywhere.

Hours Calculator for Freelancers & Contractors

Freelancers and independent contractors often need to track billable hours across multiple client sessions and convert them to invoice amounts. The Hours Calculator covers all of these use cases.

Calculating Billable Hours

For a single client session, enter your start and end time, deduct any non-billable breaks, and copy the decimal hours result directly into your invoice. Most invoicing software (FreshBooks, QuickBooks, Wave) accepts decimal hours as input.

Setting Your Rate

If you're not sure what to charge, check out the Freelancer Rate Calculator to calculate your ideal hourly rate based on your income goals, expenses, and billable hours per week. Once you know your rate, come back here to calculate earnings for any shift.

Tracking Multiple Projects

Use the Weekly Timesheet tab to log hours across a full week. Even if the hours go to different clients, the total gives you a clear picture of your capacity utilization — whether you're under-booked or approaching burnout territory.

Frequently Asked Questions

Enter your start time and end time in the calculator above. The result shows immediately in both H:MM format (e.g. 7:30) and decimal hours (e.g. 7.50). If you have unpaid breaks, enter the total break minutes in the break field — they'll be deducted automatically.

Automatically. If your end time is earlier than your start time — like a 10 PM to 6 AM night shift — the calculator adds 24 hours to the end time and shows an "Overnight shift detected" notice. A 10 PM to 6 AM shift correctly calculates as 8 hours, not a negative number.

Decimal hours express time as a single number instead of hours:minutes. For example, 7 hours and 30 minutes is 7.50 decimal hours, and 7 hours 45 minutes is 7.75. Payroll software needs decimal hours because you can't multiply $20/hr × 7:45 directly — but you can multiply $20 × 7.75 = $155. The calculator always shows both formats.

Use the Weekly Timesheet tab. Fill in each day's start time, end time, and breaks, then enter your hourly rate and select your overtime threshold (40 hours for US, 48 for UK/EU). The calculator shows your regular pay, overtime pay at 1.5×, and total weekly earnings automatically.

The 7-minute rule rounds time to the nearest quarter-hour (15 minutes). If you clock in at 9:07 or earlier, it rounds down to 9:00. At 9:08 or later, it rounds up to 9:15. This is permitted under US FLSA rules as long as rounding doesn't consistently favor the employer over time. Select "15 minutes (quarter hour)" in the rounding dropdown to apply this rule.

Divide the minutes by 60. So 45 minutes ÷ 60 = 0.75. A shift of 7 hours and 45 minutes = 7 + 0.75 = 7.75 decimal hours. The calculator does this conversion for every calculation automatically, but it's useful to know the formula for mental math.

Yes — it's ideal for freelancers. Enter your session's start and end time, deduct any non-billable time, then enter your hourly rate in the Pay Calculator tab to get the exact invoice amount. Copy the decimal hours figure into your invoicing software. For calculating what to charge per hour, use the Freelancer Rate Calculator linked in the Related Tools section.

No. All calculations happen entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter — your times, hours, or pay rate — is sent to any server, logged, or stored anywhere. When you close or refresh the page, the data is gone. This makes it safe for tracking sensitive work hours or rates you'd rather keep private.

Hours Calculator