TODAY vs NOW: Which Date Function to Use

Excel & Google Sheets

How it works

Spreadsheets store dates as day counts and times as fractions of a day. TODAY() returns just the day number — midnight, effectively — while NOW() returns the same day plus the current clock time, so at noon NOW() sits exactly 0.5 above TODAY(). That fraction is why NOW breaks date math: a due date of July 10 minus TODAY() on July 8 gives a clean 2 days, but minus NOW() at noon gives 1.5. Equality tests fail the same way — a date cell never equals NOW() except at the exact stored second, while =INT(NOW()) strips the time and equals TODAY() again. Both functions are volatile: they recalculate every time the sheet changes or reopens, which is what you want for a live tracker and exactly wrong for a permanent timestamp.

TODAY()

The current date with no time — safe for subtraction, comparison, and overdue flags. No arguments, but the parentheses are required.

NOW()

Date plus clock time, for the rare formula where the hour matters. INT(NOW()) strips the time back off.

When to use it

Use TODAY for days-until-due, overdue flags, and aging invoices. Use NOW when hours matter — same-day SLA timers or a "last refreshed" display — never in whole-day arithmetic.

Common mistakes

• ✕Using NOW() in whole-day math.

  ✓=B2-NOW() returns fractional days that drift as the day goes on — 1.5 at noon, 1.2 by evening. Use =B2-TODAY() for stable whole numbers.

• ✕Expecting TODAY() to freeze as a timestamp.

  ✓Both functions recalculate — tomorrow, every TODAY() moves. For a permanent "entered on" date, press Ctrl+; (Cmd+; on Mac) to stamp a static date, or paste the cell as a value.

• ✕Typing TODAY without parentheses.

  ✓=TODAY gives #NAME? — it's a function, not a keyword. Always =TODAY(), with nothing between the parentheses.