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n8n Date & Time nodeConfigure Date & Time in n8n.

Dates break workflows more often than APIs do. The n8n Date & Time node takes a date coming from a previous step and adds to it, subtracts from it, rounds it, reformats it, or measures the gap between two of them. Seven operations, no account to connect, useful to anyone wiring dated data between tools.

Try the Date & Time node on n8n See the 7 operations

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Why automate

What does the n8n Date & Time node actually do?

The Date & Time node manipulates date and time values inside a running workflow. It reads a date from the incoming item, applies one of seven operations to it, and writes the result into a field you name yourself. It never starts a workflow on its own: something upstream has to fire first, a Schedule Trigger, a Webhook, or the trigger of whatever tool you connected.

Think of it as the step that makes a date usable by the next step. A date that arrives as 1674691200000 means nothing to a spreadsheet column. A date that arrives with a time attached ruins a grouping by day. Every operation here exists to close one of those gaps.

First scenario, a billing reminder. A record comes in with an invoice date, Add to a Date pushes it forward by a set number of days, and the result lands in the field you named under Output Field Name. The next step compares that field against today and decides whether to send. Second scenario, a clean export. Rows leave a database with timestamps nobody can read, Format a Date converts them to yyyy-MM-dd, and the export that follows into Google Sheets reads like a report instead of a dump. Third scenario, a service level check. Get Time Between Dates measures the gap between a ticket opening and its first reply in the units you picked, and a message goes to Slack when the gap crosses what the team accepts.

When should you reach for something else? If the transformation is one line of logic, an expression written directly in the destination field of a Gmail node or an HTTP Request node does the job without adding a node to the canvas. The Date & Time node earns its place when the same converted value feeds several later steps, or when you want the conversion visible on the canvas instead of buried in a field.

The known limits are worth reading before you build. The node works on the item in front of it, one item at a time, so a comparison between two different items is not its job. Only one operation runs per node, which means a date you want to round and then reformat needs two nodes in a row. And by default the output item carries only the field you named: everything else from the input disappears unless you add Include Input Fields. That last one catches people out constantly. If you want the full tour of the platform before going deeper, the n8n review covers what it does well and where it hurts.

Actions

What can each Date & Time operation do?

The Date & Time node exposes 7 operations. For each one: the node as you configure it in n8n, the required fields, and our field notes.

Add to a Date

addToDate

What you see in n8n

Notes & use cases

Pushes a date forward by a chosen amount of time and writes the shifted date into a new field. Use it for anything with a deadline attached.

Key parameters

Date to Add To: the date you want to change, required, usually an expression like {{ $json.created_at }} pulled from the previous step. Leave it empty and the node stops.
Time Unit to Add: required, and it drives the Duration below. Choose from years, quarters, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, seconds, milliseconds.
Duration: how many of those units to add.
Output Field Name: the field that receives the new date.

Use cases

an invoice date plus a payment window gives a due date the rest of the workflow can test against.

Extract Part of a Date

extractDate

What you see in n8n

Notes & use cases

Pulls a single component out of a date and drops it into its own field, so the value can be used as a label, a key, or a condition.

Key parameters

Date: the date to read from.
Part: the component you want, one of year, month, week, day, hour, minute, second.
Output Field Name: where the extracted part lands.
Include Input Fields: an option to add. Turned on, the original fields travel with the result; turned off, only the output field survives.

Use cases

extracting the month from an order date gives you the grouping key for a monthly sales tab.

Format a Date

formatDate

What you see in n8n

Notes & use cases

Rewrites a date into another format, either one of the presets or a pattern you define yourself.

Key parameters

Format: presets include yyyy-MM-dd, MM/dd/yyyy, MMMM dd yyyy, plus X for a Unix timestamp such as 1672531200 and x for milliseconds such as 1674691200000.
Custom Format: appears when you pick Custom Format, and takes Luxon tokens. Tokens are case sensitive.
From Date Format: an option for when the incoming Date is not recognized automatically, written with the same tokens.
Use Workflow Timezone: on, the workflow timezone wins; off, the input keeps its own.

Use cases

turning a raw timestamp into MM-dd-yyyy before it reaches a human reading an email.

Get Current Date

getCurrentDate

What you see in n8n

Notes & use cases

Stamps the moment the workflow runs into the item, without needing a date on the input at all.

Key parameters

Include Current Time: leave it on for a full timestamp, turn it off and the time is set to midnight, which is what you want for a day level comparison.
Output Field Name: the field carrying the stamp.
Timezone: an option. Unset, the node uses the timezone of the n8n instance; set it to a zone such as America/New_York, or GMT for the +00:00 zone.

Use cases

writing a processed-on stamp next to every row an automation touches, so a later run can skip what it already handled.

Get Time Between Dates

getTimeBetweenDates

What you see in n8n

Notes & use cases

Measures the distance between two dates and returns it in the units you asked for.

Key parameters

Start Date and End Date: the earlier date and the later one, commonly two fields of the same item.
Units: a multi-select, so several can run at once, from year down to millisecond.
Output as ISO String: an option. Off, each selected unit returns its own figure; on, the whole gap comes back as a single ISO duration string such as P1Y3M13D.

Use cases

measuring how long a support ticket stayed open before the first reply, then routing the slow ones.

Round a Date

roundDate

What you see in n8n

Notes & use cases

Snaps a date to a clean boundary instead of an exact instant, which is how reporting periods and buckets get built.

Key parameters

Mode: roundDown to go back to the boundary already passed, roundUp to jump to the next one.
To Nearest: the boundary itself, from year to second.
To: offers End of Month, the month value.
Output Field Name: the field holding the rounded date.

Use cases

rounding every event down to the nearest hour before counting them gives an hourly activity chart with no extra code.

Subtract From a Date

subtractFromDate

What you see in n8n

Notes & use cases

Walks a date backwards by a set amount, the mirror of the add operation, and just as useful for lookbacks.

Key parameters

Date to Subtract From: required, the date being changed.
Time Unit to Subtract: required, and it sets the meaning of Duration. Same list as the add side, years through milliseconds.
Duration: how many units to take off.
Include Input Fields: an option worth adding whenever the item still needs its original content downstream.

Use cases

subtract days from today to build the start of a rolling window, then feed that value to a query that only pulls recent records.

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FAQ

Date & Time in n8n, the questions that come next

01Is the Date & Time node free in n8n?

Yes. Date & Time is a core node, shipped with n8n itself, so there is nothing to install and nothing extra to pay on the n8n side. It behaves the same on n8n Cloud, the hosted offer run by n8n, and on an instance you host yourself with Docker or npm under the Community Edition and its Sustainable Use licence. A workflow built in one runs in the other without changes. The node is available as soon as you open the node panel and search for it.

02What do you need to connect to use it?

Nothing. This node has no credential and no Authentication selector, because it does not call any outside service: it works on data already sitting in the workflow. There is no account to create, no key to paste, no permission to grant. The only requirement is upstream, not on the account side. Date & Time runs on each incoming item and does not open a workflow, so a trigger has to come first, a Schedule Trigger, a Webhook, or the trigger of the tool you are pulling data from.

03What are the limits of the n8n Date & Time node?

One operation per node, so a date you want to round and then reformat needs two nodes chained together. The node works on the item in front of it, which makes it the wrong tool for comparing dates across different items. Output is narrow by default: only the field named under Output Field Name comes out, and the rest of the input is dropped unless you add the Include Input Fields option. Finally, the page describes version 2 of the node; an older workflow may show an earlier version with fewer options, and a node never upgrades itself.

04Date & Time node or an expression, which one wins?

It depends on how many steps need the result. An expression written straight into the destination field handles a one-off conversion without adding anything to the canvas, and that is usually the lighter choice. Pick the node when the same converted date feeds several later steps, when the conversion deserves to be visible on the canvas for whoever maintains the workflow, or when you want the options that come with it, like From Date Format for a date the node cannot read on its own, or Output as ISO String on a duration.

05n8n or Make for handling dates in a workflow?

Both do date maths, so the decision sits elsewhere. Make is hosted only and billed by the operation, which makes the cost of a workflow follow its volume. n8n can run on your own servers, which keeps the data in your infrastructure and decouples cost from the number of steps, or on n8n Cloud if you would rather not run anything. Look at where the data has to live, how you want to be billed, and how comfortable your team is with the visual logic of each one. Neither is a bad answer.

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