Difference in months between two dates

How to calculate the difference in months between two dates in C#?

Is there is equivalent of VB's DateDiff() method in C#. I need to find difference in months between two dates that are years apart. The documentation says that I can use TimeSpan like:

TimeSpan ts = date1 - date2;

but this gives me data in Days. I don't want to divide this number by 30 because not every month is 30 days and since the two operand values are quite apart from each other, I am afraid dividing by 30 might give me a wrong value.

Any suggestions?

Assuming the day of the month is irrelevant (i.e. the diff between 2011.1.1 and 2010.12.31 is 1), with date1 > date2 giving a positive value and date2 > date1 a negative value

((date1.Year - date2.Year) * 12) + date1.Month - date2.Month

Or, assuming you want an approximate number of 'average months' between the two dates, the following should work for all but very huge date differences.

date1.Subtract(date2).Days / (365.25 / 12)

Note, if you were to use the latter solution then your unit tests should state the widest date range which your application is designed to work with and validate the results of the calculation accordingly.

---

Update (with thanks to Gary)

If using the 'average months' method, a slightly more accurate number to use for the 'average number of days per year' is 365.2425.

Here is a comprehensive solution to return a DateTimeSpan, similar to a TimeSpan, except that it includes all the date components in addition to the time components.

Usage:

void Main()
{
    DateTime compareTo = DateTime.Parse("8/13/2010 8:33:21 AM");
    DateTime now = DateTime.Parse("2/9/2012 10:10:11 AM");
	var dateSpan = DateTimeSpan.CompareDates(compareTo, now);
    Console.WriteLine("Years: " + dateSpan.Years);
    Console.WriteLine("Months: " + dateSpan.Months);
    Console.WriteLine("Days: " + dateSpan.Days);
    Console.WriteLine("Hours: " + dateSpan.Hours);
    Console.WriteLine("Minutes: " + dateSpan.Minutes);
    Console.WriteLine("Seconds: " + dateSpan.Seconds);
    Console.WriteLine("Milliseconds: " + dateSpan.Milliseconds);
}

Outputs:

> Years: 1
> Months: 5
> Days: 27
> Hours: 1
> Minutes: 36
> Seconds: 50
> Milliseconds: 0

For convenience, I've lumped the logic into the DateTimeSpan struct, but you may move the method CompareDates wherever you see fit. Also note, it doesn't matter which date comes before the other.

public struct DateTimeSpan
{
    public int Years { get; }
    public int Months { get; }
    public int Days { get; }
    public int Hours { get; }
    public int Minutes { get; }
    public int Seconds { get; }
    public int Milliseconds { get; }

    public DateTimeSpan(int years, int months, int days, int hours, int minutes, int seconds, int milliseconds)
    {
        Years = years;
        Months = months;
        Days = days;
        Hours = hours;
        Minutes = minutes;
        Seconds = seconds;
        Milliseconds = milliseconds;
    }

    enum Phase { Years, Months, Days, Done }

    public static DateTimeSpan CompareDates(DateTime date1, DateTime date2)
    {
        if (date2 < date1)
        {
            var sub = date1;
            date1 = date2;
            date2 = sub;
        }

        DateTime current = date1;
        int years = 0;
        int months = 0;
        int days = 0;

        Phase phase = Phase.Years;
        DateTimeSpan span = new DateTimeSpan();
        int officialDay = current.Day;

        while (phase != Phase.Done)
        {
            switch (phase)
            {
                case Phase.Years:
                    if (current.AddYears(years + 1) > date2)
                    {
                        phase = Phase.Months;
                        current = current.AddYears(years);
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        years++;
                    }
                    break;
                case Phase.Months:
                    if (current.AddMonths(months + 1) > date2)
                    {
                        phase = Phase.Days;
                        current = current.AddMonths(months);
                        if (current.Day < officialDay && officialDay <= DateTime.DaysInMonth(current.Year, current.Month))
                            current = current.AddDays(officialDay - current.Day);
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        months++;
                    }
                    break;
                case Phase.Days:
                    if (current.AddDays(days + 1) > date2)
                    {
                        current = current.AddDays(days);
                        var timespan = date2 - current;
                        span = new DateTimeSpan(years, months, days, timespan.Hours, timespan.Minutes, timespan.Seconds, timespan.Milliseconds);
                        phase = Phase.Done;
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        days++;
                    }
                    break;
            }
        }

        return span;
    }
}

You could do

if ( date1.AddMonths(x) > date2 )

If you want the exact number of full months, always positive (2000-01-15, 2000-02-14 returns 0), considering a full month is when you reach the same day the next month (something like the age calculation)

public static int GetMonthsBetween(DateTime from, DateTime to)
{
    if (from > to) return GetMonthsBetween(to, from);

    var monthDiff = Math.Abs((to.Year * 12 + (to.Month - 1)) - (from.Year * 12 + (from.Month - 1)));

    if (from.AddMonths(monthDiff) > to || to.Day < from.Day)
    {
        return monthDiff - 1;
    }
    else
    {
        return monthDiff;
    }
}

Edit reason: the old code was not correct in some cases like :

new { From = new DateTime(1900, 8, 31), To = new DateTime(1901, 8, 30), Result = 11 },

Test cases I used to test the function:

var tests = new[]
{
    new { From = new DateTime(1900, 1, 1), To = new DateTime(1900, 1, 1), Result = 0 },
    new { From = new DateTime(1900, 1, 1), To = new DateTime(1900, 1, 2), Result = 0 },
    new { From = new DateTime(1900, 1, 2), To = new DateTime(1900, 1, 1), Result = 0 },
    new { From = new DateTime(1900, 1, 1), To = new DateTime(1900, 2, 1), Result = 1 },
    new { From = new DateTime(1900, 2, 1), To = new DateTime(1900, 1, 1), Result = 1 },
    new { From = new DateTime(1900, 1, 31), To = new DateTime(1900, 2, 1), Result = 0 },
    new { From = new DateTime(1900, 8, 31), To = new DateTime(1900, 9, 30), Result = 0 },
    new { From = new DateTime(1900, 8, 31), To = new DateTime(1900, 10, 1), Result = 1 },
    new { From = new DateTime(1900, 1, 1), To = new DateTime(1901, 1, 1), Result = 12 },
    new { From = new DateTime(1900, 1, 1), To = new DateTime(1911, 1, 1), Result = 132 },
    new { From = new DateTime(1900, 8, 31), To = new DateTime(1901, 8, 30), Result = 11 },
};

I checked the usage of this method in VB.NET via MSDN and it seems that it has a lot of usages. There is no such a built-in method in C#. (Even it's not a good idea) you can call VB's in C#.

1. Add Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll to your project as a reference
2. use Microsoft.VisualBasic.DateAndTime.DateDiff in your code

Use Noda Time:

LocalDate start = new LocalDate(2013, 1, 5);
LocalDate end = new LocalDate(2014, 6, 1);
Period period = Period.Between(start, end, PeriodUnits.Months);
Console.WriteLine(period.Months); // 16

(example source)

To get difference in months (both start and end inclusive), irrespective of dates:

DateTime start = new DateTime(2013, 1, 1);
DateTime end = new DateTime(2014, 2, 1);
var diffMonths = (end.Month + end.Year * 12) - (start.Month + start.Year * 12);

I just needed something simple to cater for e.g. employment dates where only the month/year is entered, so wanted distinct years and months worked in. This is what I use, here for usefullness only

public static YearsMonths YearMonthDiff(DateTime startDate, DateTime endDate) {
    int monthDiff = ((endDate.Year * 12) + endDate.Month) - ((startDate.Year * 12) + startDate.Month) + 1;
    int years = (int)Math.Floor((decimal) (monthDiff / 12));
    int months = monthDiff % 12;
    return new YearsMonths {
        TotalMonths = monthDiff,
            Years = years,
            Months = months
    };
}

.NET Fiddle

You can use the DateDiff class of the Time Period Library for .NET:

// ----------------------------------------------------------------------
public void DateDiffSample()
{
  DateTime date1 = new DateTime( 2009, 11, 8, 7, 13, 59 );
  DateTime date2 = new DateTime( 2011, 3, 20, 19, 55, 28 );
  DateDiff dateDiff = new DateDiff( date1, date2 );

  // differences
  Console.WriteLine( "DateDiff.Months: {0}", dateDiff.Months );
  // > DateDiff.Months: 16

  // elapsed
  Console.WriteLine( "DateDiff.ElapsedMonths: {0}", dateDiff.ElapsedMonths );
  // > DateDiff.ElapsedMonths: 4

  // description
  Console.WriteLine( "DateDiff.GetDescription(6): {0}", dateDiff.GetDescription( 6 ) );
  // > DateDiff.GetDescription(6): 1 Year 4 Months 12 Days 12 Hours 41 Mins 29 Secs
} // DateDiffSample

Here is my contribution to get difference in Months that I've found to be accurate:

namespace System
{
     public static class DateTimeExtensions
     {
         public static Int32 DiffMonths( this DateTime start, DateTime end )
         {
             Int32 months = 0;
             DateTime tmp = start;
    
             while ( tmp < end )
             {
                 months++;
                 tmp = tmp.AddMonths( 1 );
             }
    
             return months;
        }
    }
}

Usage:

Int32 months = DateTime.Now.DiffMonths( DateTime.Now.AddYears( 5 ) );

You can create another method called DiffYears and apply exactly the same logic as above and AddYears instead of AddMonths in the while loop.

You can use Noda Time https://nodatime.org/

LocalDate start = new LocalDate(2010, 1, 5);
LocalDate end = new LocalDate(2012, 6, 1);
Period period = Period.Between(start, end, PeriodUnits.Months);
Console.WriteLine(period.Months);

This worked for what I needed it for. The day of month didn't matter in my case because it always happens to be the last day of the month.

public static int MonthDiff(DateTime d1, DateTime d2){
    int retVal = 0;

    if (d1.Month<d2.Month)
    {
        retVal = (d1.Month + 12) - d2.Month;
        retVal += ((d1.Year - 1) - d2.Year)*12;
    }
    else
    {
        retVal = d1.Month - d2.Month;
        retVal += (d1.Year - d2.Year)*12;
    }
    //// Calculate the number of years represented and multiply by 12
    //// Substract the month number from the total
    //// Substract the difference of the second month and 12 from the total
    //retVal = (d1.Year - d2.Year) * 12;
    //retVal = retVal - d1.Month;
    //retVal = retVal - (12 - d2.Month);

    return retVal;
}

There's 3 cases: same year, previous year and other years.

If the day of the month does not matter...

public int GetTotalNumberOfMonths(DateTime start, DateTime end)
{
    // work with dates in the right order
    if (start > end)
    {
        var swapper = start;
        start = end;
        end = swapper;
    }

    switch (end.Year - start.Year)
    {
        case 0: // Same year
            return end.Month - start.Month;

        case 1: // last year
            return (12 - start.Month) + end.Month;

        default:
            return 12 * (3 - (end.Year - start.Year)) + (12 - start.Month) + end.Month;
    }
}

My understanding of the total months difference between 2 dates has an integral and a fractional part (the date matters).

The integral part is the full months difference.

The fractional part, for me, is the difference of the % of the day (to the full days of month) between the starting and ending months.

public static class DateTimeExtensions
{
    public static double TotalMonthsDifference(this DateTime from, DateTime to)
    {
        //Compute full months difference between dates
        var fullMonthsDiff = (to.Year - from.Year)*12 + to.Month - from.Month;

        //Compute difference between the % of day to full days of each month
        var fractionMonthsDiff = ((double)(to.Day-1) / (DateTime.DaysInMonth(to.Year, to.Month)-1)) -
            ((double)(from.Day-1)/ (DateTime.DaysInMonth(from.Year, from.Month)-1));

        return fullMonthsDiff + fractionMonthsDiff;
    }
}

With this extension, those are the results:

2/29/2000 TotalMonthsDifference 2/28/2001 => 12
2/28/2000 TotalMonthsDifference 2/28/2001 => 12.035714285714286
01/01/2000 TotalMonthsDifference 01/16/2000 => 0.5
01/31/2000 TotalMonthsDifference 01/01/2000 => -1.0
01/31/2000 TotalMonthsDifference 02/29/2000 => 1.0
01/31/2000 TotalMonthsDifference 02/28/2000 => 0.9642857142857143
01/31/2001 TotalMonthsDifference 02/28/2001 => 1.0

The most precise way is this that return difference in months by fraction :

private double ReturnDiffereceBetweenTwoDatesInMonths(DateTime startDateTime, DateTime endDateTime)
{
    double result = 0;
    double days = 0;
    DateTime currentDateTime = startDateTime;
    while (endDateTime > currentDateTime.AddMonths(1))
    {
        result ++;

        currentDateTime = currentDateTime.AddMonths(1);
    }

    if (endDateTime > currentDateTime)
    {
        days = endDateTime.Subtract(currentDateTime).TotalDays;

    }
    return result + days/endDateTime.GetMonthDays;
}

Here is a simple solution that works at least for me. It's probably not the fastest though because it uses the cool DateTime's AddMonth feature in a loop:

public static int GetMonthsDiff(DateTime start, DateTime end)
{
    if (start > end)
        return GetMonthsDiff(end, start);

    int months = 0;
    do
    {
        start = start.AddMonths(1);
        if (start > end)
            return months;

        months++;
    }
    while (true);
}

This simple static function calculates the fraction of months between two Datetimes, e.g.

• 1.1. to 31.1. = 1.0
• 1.4. to 15.4. = 0.5
• 16.4. to 30.4. = 0.5
• 1.3. to 1.4. = 1 + 1/30

The function assumes that the first date is smaller than the second date. To deal with negative time intervals one can modify the function easily by introducing a sign and a variable swap at the beginning.

public static double GetDeltaMonths(DateTime t0, DateTime t1)
{
     DateTime t = t0;
     double months = 0;
     while(t<=t1)
     {
         int daysInMonth = DateTime.DaysInMonth(t.Year, t.Month);
         DateTime endOfMonth = new DateTime(t.Year, t.Month, daysInMonth);
         int cutDay = endOfMonth <= t1 ? daysInMonth : t1.Day;
         months += (cutDay - t.Day + 1) / (double) daysInMonth;
         t = new DateTime(t.Year, t.Month, 1).AddMonths(1);
     }
     return Math.Round(months,2);
 }

one line solution

For first, check if both dates are in the current year, if not get months of whole years and then add months from the start and end year.

DateTime dateFrom = new DateTime(2019, 2, 1);
DateTime dateTo = new DateTime(2021, 5, 25);

With the first month

var monthCount = dateFrom.Year != dateTo.Year ? ((dateTo.Year - dateFrom.Year - 1) * 12) + (13 - dateFrom.Month + dateTo.Month) : dateTo.Month - dateFrom.Month + 1;

result = 28

Without first month

monthCount = dateFrom.Year != dateTo.Year ? ((dateTo.Year - dateFrom.Year - 1) * 12) + (12 - dateFrom.Month + dateTo.Month) : dateTo.Month - dateFrom.Month;

result = 27

Public Class ClassDateOperation
    Private prop_DifferenceInDay As Integer
    Private prop_DifferenceInMonth As Integer
    Private prop_DifferenceInYear As Integer


    Public Function DayMonthYearFromTwoDate(ByVal DateStart As Date, ByVal DateEnd As Date) As ClassDateOperation
        Dim differenceInDay As Integer
        Dim differenceInMonth As Integer
        Dim differenceInYear As Integer
        Dim myDate As Date

        DateEnd = DateEnd.AddDays(1)

        differenceInYear = DateEnd.Year - DateStart.Year

        If DateStart.Month <= DateEnd.Month Then
            differenceInMonth = DateEnd.Month - DateStart.Month
        Else
            differenceInYear -= 1
            differenceInMonth = (12 - DateStart.Month) + DateEnd.Month
        End If


        If DateStart.Day <= DateEnd.Day Then
            differenceInDay = DateEnd.Day - DateStart.Day
        Else

            myDate = CDate("01/" & DateStart.AddMonths(1).Month & "/" & DateStart.Year).AddDays(-1)
            If differenceInMonth <> 0 Then
                differenceInMonth -= 1
            Else
                differenceInMonth = 11
                differenceInYear -= 1
            End If

            differenceInDay = myDate.Day - DateStart.Day + DateEnd.Day

        End If

        prop_DifferenceInDay = differenceInDay
        prop_DifferenceInMonth = differenceInMonth
        prop_DifferenceInYear = differenceInYear

        Return Me
    End Function

    Public ReadOnly Property DifferenceInDay() As Integer
        Get
            Return prop_DifferenceInDay
        End Get
    End Property

    Public ReadOnly Property DifferenceInMonth As Integer
        Get
            Return prop_DifferenceInMonth
        End Get
    End Property

    Public ReadOnly Property DifferenceInYear As Integer
        Get
            Return prop_DifferenceInYear
        End Get
    End Property

End Class

This is from my own library, will return the difference of months between two dates.

public static int MonthDiff(DateTime d1, DateTime d2)
{
    int retVal = 0;

    // Calculate the number of years represented and multiply by 12
    // Substract the month number from the total
    // Substract the difference of the second month and 12 from the total
    retVal = (d1.Year - d2.Year) * 12;
    retVal = retVal - d1.Month;
    retVal = retVal - (12 - d2.Month);

    return retVal;
}

You can have a function something like this.

For Example, from 2012/12/27 to 2012/12/29 becomes 3 days. Likewise, from 2012/12/15 to 2013/01/15 becomes 2 months, because up to 2013/01/14 it's 1 month. from 15th it's 2nd month started.

You can remove the "=" in the second if condition, if you do not want to include both days in the calculation. i.e, from 2012/12/15 to 2013/01/15 is 1 month.

public int GetMonths(DateTime startDate, DateTime endDate)
{
    if (startDate > endDate)
    {
        throw new Exception("Start Date is greater than the End Date");
    }

    int months = ((endDate.Year * 12) + endDate.Month) - ((startDate.Year * 12) + startDate.Month);

    if (endDate.Day >= startDate.Day)
    {
        months++;
    }

    return months;
}

public static int PayableMonthsInDuration(DateTime StartDate, DateTime EndDate)
{
    int sy = StartDate.Year; int sm = StartDate.Month; int count = 0;
    do
    {
        count++;if ((sy == EndDate.Year) && (sm >= EndDate.Month)) { break; }
        sm++;if (sm == 13) { sm = 1; sy++; }
    } while ((EndDate.Year >= sy) || (EndDate.Month >= sm));
    return (count);
}

This solution is for Rental/subscription calculation, where difference doesn't means to be subtraction, it's meant to be the span in within those two dates.

I wrote a function to accomplish this, because the others ways weren't working for me.

public string getEndDate (DateTime startDate,decimal monthCount)
{
    int y = startDate.Year;
    int m = startDate.Month;

    for (decimal  i = monthCount; i > 1; i--)
    {
        m++;
        if (m == 12)
        { y++;
            m = 1;
        }
    }
    return string.Format("{0}-{1}-{2}", y.ToString(), m.ToString(), startDate.Day.ToString());
}

There are not a lot of clear answers on this because you are always assuming things.

This solution calculates between two dates the months between assuming you want to save the day of month for comparison, (meaning that the day of the month is considered in the calculation)

Example, if you have a date of 30 Jan 2012, 29 Feb 2012 will not be a month but 01 March 2013 will.

It's been tested pretty thoroughly, probably will clean it up later as we use it, but here:

private static int TotalMonthDifference(DateTime dtThis, DateTime dtOther)
{
    int intReturn = 0;
    bool sameMonth = false;

    if (dtOther.Date < dtThis.Date) //used for an error catch in program, returns -1
        intReturn--;

    int dayOfMonth = dtThis.Day; //captures the month of day for when it adds a month and doesn't have that many days
    int daysinMonth = 0; //used to caputre how many days are in the month

    while (dtOther.Date > dtThis.Date) //while Other date is still under the other
    {
        dtThis = dtThis.AddMonths(1); //as we loop, we just keep adding a month for testing
        daysinMonth = DateTime.DaysInMonth(dtThis.Year, dtThis.Month); //grabs the days in the current tested month

        if (dtThis.Day != dayOfMonth) //Example 30 Jan 2013 will go to 28 Feb when a month is added, so when it goes to march it will be 28th and not 30th
        {
            if (daysinMonth < dayOfMonth) // uses day in month max if can't set back to day of month
                dtThis.AddDays(daysinMonth - dtThis.Day);
            else
                dtThis.AddDays(dayOfMonth - dtThis.Day);
        }
        if (((dtOther.Year == dtThis.Year) && (dtOther.Month == dtThis.Month))) //If the loop puts it in the same month and year
        {
            if (dtOther.Day >= dayOfMonth) //check to see if it is the same day or later to add one to month
                intReturn++;
            sameMonth = true; //sets this to cancel out of the normal counting of month
        }
        if ((!sameMonth)&&(dtOther.Date > dtThis.Date))//so as long as it didn't reach the same month (or if i started in the same month, one month ahead, add a month)
            intReturn++;
    }
    return intReturn; //return month
}

you can use the following extension: Code

public static class Ext
{
    #region Public Methods

    public static int GetAge(this DateTime @this)
    {
        var today = DateTime.Today;
        return ((((today.Year - @this.Year) * 100) + (today.Month - @this.Month)) * 100 + today.Day - @this.Day) / 10000;
    }

    public static int DiffMonths(this DateTime @from, DateTime @to)
    {
        return (((((@to.Year - @from.Year) * 12) + (@to.Month - @from.Month)) * 100 + @to.Day - @from.Day) / 100);
    }

    public static int DiffYears(this DateTime @from, DateTime @to)
    {
        return ((((@to.Year - @from.Year) * 100) + (@to.Month - @from.Month)) * 100 + @to.Day - @from.Day) / 10000;
    }

    #endregion Public Methods
}

Implementation !

int Age;
int years;
int Months;
//Replace your own date
var d1 = new DateTime(2000, 10, 22);
var d2 = new DateTime(2003, 10, 20);
//Age
Age = d1.GetAge();
Age = d2.GetAge();
//positive
years = d1.DiffYears(d2);
Months = d1.DiffMonths(d2);
//negative
years = d2.DiffYears(d1);
Months = d2.DiffMonths(d1);
//Or
Months = Ext.DiffMonths(d1, d2);
years = Ext.DiffYears(d1, d2); 

Here's a much more concise solution using VB.Net DateDiff for Year, Month, Day only. You can load the DateDiff library in C# as well.

date1 must be <= date2

VB.NET

Dim date1 = Now.AddDays(-2000)
Dim date2 = Now
Dim diffYears = DateDiff(DateInterval.Year, date1, date2) - If(date1.DayOfYear > date2.DayOfYear, 1, 0)
Dim diffMonths = DateDiff(DateInterval.Month, date1, date2) - diffYears * 12 - If(date1.Day > date2.Day, 1, 0)
Dim diffDays = If(date2.Day >= date1.Day, date2.Day - date1.Day, date2.Day + (Date.DaysInMonth(date1.Year, date1.Month) - date1.Day))

C#

DateTime date1 = Now.AddDays(-2000);
DateTime date2 = Now;
int diffYears = DateDiff(DateInterval.Year, date1, date2) - date1.DayOfYear > date2.DayOfYear ? 1 : 0;
int diffMonths = DateDiff(DateInterval.Month, date1, date2) - diffYears * 12 - date1.Day > date2.Day ? 1 : 0;
int diffDays = date2.Day >= date1.Day ? date2.Day - date1.Day : date2.Day + (System.DateTime.DaysInMonth(date1.Year, date1.Month) - date1.Day);

This is in response to Kirk Woll's answer. I don't have enough reputation points to reply to a comment yet...

I liked Kirk's solution and was going to shamelessly rip it off and use it in my code, but when I looked through it I realized it's way too complicated. Unnecessary switching and looping, and a public constructor that is pointless to use.

Here's my rewrite:

public class DateTimeSpan {
	private DateTime _date1;
	private DateTime _date2;
	private int _years;
	private int _months;
	private int _days;
	private int _hours;
	private int _minutes;
	private int _seconds;
	private int _milliseconds;

	public int Years { get { return _years; } }
	public int Months { get { return _months; } }
	public int Days { get { return _days; } }
	public int Hours { get { return _hours; } }
	public int Minutes { get { return _minutes; } }
	public int Seconds { get { return _seconds; } }
	public int Milliseconds { get { return _milliseconds; } }

	public DateTimeSpan(DateTime date1, DateTime date2) {
		_date1 = (date1 > date2) ? date1 : date2;
		_date2 = (date2 < date1) ? date2 : date1;

		_years = _date1.Year - _date2.Year;
		_months = (_years * 12) + _date1.Month - _date2.Month;
		TimeSpan t = (_date2 - _date1);
		_days = t.Days;
		_hours = t.Hours;
		_minutes = t.Minutes;
		_seconds = t.Seconds;
		_milliseconds = t.Milliseconds;

	}

	public static DateTimeSpan CompareDates(DateTime date1, DateTime date2) {
		return new DateTimeSpan(date1, date2);
	}
}

Usage1, pretty much the same:

void Main()
{
    DateTime compareTo = DateTime.Parse("8/13/2010 8:33:21 AM");
    DateTime now = DateTime.Parse("2/9/2012 10:10:11 AM");
    var dateSpan = new DateTimeSpan(compareTo, now);
    Console.WriteLine("Years: " + dateSpan.Years);
    Console.WriteLine("Months: " + dateSpan.Months);
    Console.WriteLine("Days: " + dateSpan.Days);
    Console.WriteLine("Hours: " + dateSpan.Hours);
    Console.WriteLine("Minutes: " + dateSpan.Minutes);
    Console.WriteLine("Seconds: " + dateSpan.Seconds);
    Console.WriteLine("Milliseconds: " + dateSpan.Milliseconds);
}

Usage2, similar:

void Main()
{
    DateTime compareTo = DateTime.Parse("8/13/2010 8:33:21 AM");
    DateTime now = DateTime.Parse("2/9/2012 10:10:11 AM");
    Console.WriteLine("Years: " + DateTimeSpan.CompareDates(compareTo, now).Years);
    Console.WriteLine("Months: " + DateTimeSpan.CompareDates(compareTo, now).Months);
    Console.WriteLine("Days: " + DateTimeSpan.CompareDates(compareTo, now).Days);
    Console.WriteLine("Hours: " + DateTimeSpan.CompareDates(compareTo, now).Hours);
    Console.WriteLine("Minutes: " + DateTimeSpan.CompareDates(compareTo, now).Minutes);
    Console.WriteLine("Seconds: " + DateTimeSpan.CompareDates(compareTo, now).Seconds);
    Console.WriteLine("Milliseconds: " + DateTimeSpan.CompareDates(compareTo, now).Milliseconds);
}

In my case it is required to calculate the complete month from the start date to the day prior to this day in the next month or from start to end of month.

Ex: from 1/1/2018 to 31/1/2018 is a complete month

Ex2: from 5/1/2018 to 4/2/2018 is a complete month

so based on this here is my solution:

public static DateTime GetMonthEnd(DateTime StartDate, int MonthsCount = 1)
{
    return StartDate.AddMonths(MonthsCount).AddDays(-1);
}
public static Tuple<int, int> CalcPeriod(DateTime StartDate, DateTime EndDate)
{
    int MonthsCount = 0;
    Tuple<int, int> Period;
    while (true)
    {
        if (GetMonthEnd(StartDate) > EndDate)
            break;
        else
        {
            MonthsCount += 1;
            StartDate = StartDate.AddMonths(1);
        }
    }
    int RemainingDays = (EndDate - StartDate).Days + 1;
    Period = new Tuple<int, int>(MonthsCount, RemainingDays);
    return Period;
}

Usage:

Tuple<int, int> Period = CalcPeriod(FromDate, ToDate);

Note: in my case it was required to calculate the remaining days after the complete months so if it's not your case you could ignore the days result or even you could change the method return from tuple to integer.

Based on the excellent DateTimeSpan work done above, I've normalized the code a bit; this seems to work pretty well:

public class DateTimeSpan
{
  private DateTimeSpan() { }

  private DateTimeSpan(int years, int months, int days, int hours, int minutes, int seconds, int milliseconds)
  {
    Years = years;
    Months = months;
    Days = days;
    Hours = hours;
    Minutes = minutes;
    Seconds = seconds;
    Milliseconds = milliseconds;
  }

  public int Years { get; private set; } = 0;
  public int Months { get; private set; } = 0;
  public int Days { get; private set; } = 0;
  public int Hours { get; private set; } = 0;
  public int Minutes { get; private set; } = 0;
  public int Seconds { get; private set; } = 0;
  public int Milliseconds { get; private set; } = 0;

  public static DateTimeSpan CompareDates(DateTime StartDate, DateTime EndDate)
  {
    if (StartDate.Equals(EndDate)) return new DateTimeSpan();
    DateTimeSpan R = new DateTimeSpan();
    bool Later;
    if (Later = StartDate > EndDate)
    {
      DateTime D = StartDate;
      StartDate = EndDate;
      EndDate = D;
    }

    // Calculate Date Stuff
    for (DateTime D = StartDate.AddYears(1); D < EndDate; D = D.AddYears(1), R.Years++) ;
    if (R.Years > 0) StartDate = StartDate.AddYears(R.Years);
    for (DateTime D = StartDate.AddMonths(1); D < EndDate; D = D.AddMonths(1), R.Months++) ;
    if (R.Months > 0) StartDate = StartDate.AddMonths(R.Months);
    for (DateTime D = StartDate.AddDays(1); D < EndDate; D = D.AddDays(1), R.Days++) ;
    if (R.Days > 0) StartDate = StartDate.AddDays(R.Days);

    // Calculate Time Stuff
    TimeSpan T1 = EndDate - StartDate;
    R.Hours = T1.Hours;
    R.Minutes = T1.Minutes;
    R.Seconds = T1.Seconds;
    R.Milliseconds = T1.Milliseconds;

    // Return answer. Negate values if the Start Date was later than the End Date
    if (Later)
      return new DateTimeSpan(-R.Years, -R.Months, -R.Days, -R.Hours, -R.Minutes, -R.Seconds, -R.Milliseconds);
    return R;
  }
}

Insane method that counts all days, so super precise

helper class :

public class DaysInMonth
{
    public int Days { get; set; }
    public int Month { get; set; }
    public int Year { get; set; }
    public bool Full { get; set; }
}

function:

    public static List<DaysInMonth> MonthsDelta(DateTime start, DateTime end)
    {
        
        var dates = Enumerable.Range(0, 1 + end.Subtract(start).Days)
          .Select(offset => start.AddDays(offset))
          .ToArray();

        DateTime? prev = null;
        int days = 0;

        List < DaysInMonth > list = new List<DaysInMonth>();

        foreach (DateTime date in dates)
        {
            if (prev != null)
            {
                if(date.Month!=prev.GetValueOrDefault().Month)
                {
                    DaysInMonth daysInMonth = new DaysInMonth();
                    daysInMonth.Days = days;
                    daysInMonth.Month = prev.GetValueOrDefault().Month;
                    daysInMonth.Year = prev.GetValueOrDefault().Year;
                    daysInMonth.Full = DateTime.DaysInMonth(daysInMonth.Year, daysInMonth.Month) == daysInMonth.Days;
                    list.Add(daysInMonth);
                    days = 0;
                }
            }
            days++;
            prev = date;
        }

        //------------------ add last
        if (days > 0)
        {
            DaysInMonth daysInMonth = new DaysInMonth();
            daysInMonth.Days = days;
            daysInMonth.Month = prev.GetValueOrDefault().Month;
            daysInMonth.Year = prev.GetValueOrDefault().Year;
            daysInMonth.Full = DateTime.DaysInMonth(daysInMonth.Year, daysInMonth.Month) == daysInMonth.Days;
            list.Add(daysInMonth);
        }

        return list;
    }

I was working on a project that only dealt in years and months.

/// <summary>
/// Get the total months between two date.  This will count whole months and not care about the day.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="firstDate">First date.</param>
/// <param name="lastDate">Last date.</param>
/// <returns>Number of month apart.</returns>
private static int GetTotalMonths(DateOnly firstDate, DateOnly lastDate)
{
    int yearsApart = lastDate.Year - firstDate.Year;
    int monthsApart = lastDate.Month - firstDate.Month;
    return (yearsApart * 12) + monthsApart;
}

private static int GetTotalMonths(DateTime firstDate, DateTime lastDate)
{
    return GetTotalMonths(DateOnly.FromDateTime(firstDate), DateOnly.FromDateTime(lastDate));
}

Expanded Kirks struct with ToString(format) and Duration(long ms)

 public struct DateTimeSpan
{
    private readonly int years;
    private readonly int months;
    private readonly int days;
    private readonly int hours;
    private readonly int minutes;
    private readonly int seconds;
    private readonly int milliseconds;

    public DateTimeSpan(int years, int months, int days, int hours, int minutes, int seconds, int milliseconds)
    {
        this.years = years;
        this.months = months;
        this.days = days;
        this.hours = hours;
        this.minutes = minutes;
        this.seconds = seconds;
        this.milliseconds = milliseconds;
    }

    public int Years { get { return years; } }
    public int Months { get { return months; } }
    public int Days { get { return days; } }
    public int Hours { get { return hours; } }
    public int Minutes { get { return minutes; } }
    public int Seconds { get { return seconds; } }
    public int Milliseconds { get { return milliseconds; } }

    enum Phase { Years, Months, Days, Done }


    public string ToString(string format)
    {
        format = format.Replace("YYYY", Years.ToString());
        format = format.Replace("MM", Months.ToString());
        format = format.Replace("DD", Days.ToString());
        format = format.Replace("hh", Hours.ToString());
        format = format.Replace("mm", Minutes.ToString());
        format = format.Replace("ss", Seconds.ToString());
        format = format.Replace("ms", Milliseconds.ToString());
        return format;
    }


    public static DateTimeSpan Duration(long ms)
    {
        DateTime dt = new DateTime();
        return CompareDates(dt, dt.AddMilliseconds(ms));
    }


    public static DateTimeSpan CompareDates(DateTime date1, DateTime date2)
    {
        if (date2 < date1)
        {
            var sub = date1;
            date1 = date2;
            date2 = sub;
        }

        DateTime current = date1;
        int years = 0;
        int months = 0;
        int days = 0;

        Phase phase = Phase.Years;
        DateTimeSpan span = new DateTimeSpan();

        while (phase != Phase.Done)
        {
            switch (phase)
            {
                case Phase.Years:
                    if (current.AddYears(years + 1) > date2)
                    {
                        phase = Phase.Months;
                        current = current.AddYears(years);
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        years++;
                    }
                    break;
                case Phase.Months:
                    if (current.AddMonths(months + 1) > date2)
                    {
                        phase = Phase.Days;
                        current = current.AddMonths(months);
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        months++;
                    }
                    break;
                case Phase.Days:
                    if (current.AddDays(days + 1) > date2)
                    {
                        current = current.AddDays(days);
                        var timespan = date2 - current;
                        span = new DateTimeSpan(years, months, days, timespan.Hours, timespan.Minutes, timespan.Seconds, timespan.Milliseconds);
                        phase = Phase.Done;
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        days++;
                    }
                    break;
            }
        }

        return span;
    }
}

  var dt1 = (DateTime.Now.Year * 12) + DateTime.Now.Month;
  var dt2 = (DateTime.Now.AddMonths(-13).Year * 12) + DateTime.Now.AddMonths(-13).Month;
  Console.WriteLine(dt1);
  Console.WriteLine(dt2);
  Console.WriteLine((dt1 - dt2));

Here's how we approach this:

public static int MonthDiff(DateTime date1, DateTime date2)
{
    if (date1.Month < date2.Month)
    {
        return (date2.Year - date1.Year) * 12 + date2.Month - date1.Month;
    }
    else
    {
        return (date2.Year - date1.Year - 1) * 12 + date2.Month - date1.Month + 12;
    }
}

int nMonths = 0;
if (FDate.ToDateTime().Year == TDate.ToDateTime().Year)
     nMonths = TDate.ToDateTime().Month - FDate.ToDateTime().Month;                         
else
nMonths = (12 - FDate.Month) + TDate.Month;                          

public partial class Form1 : Form
{
    public Form1()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
    }

    private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {

        label3.Text = new DateDifference(Convert.ToDateTime("2018-09-13"), Convert.ToDateTime("2018-11-15")).ToString();
        label2.Text = new DateDifference(Convert.ToDateTime("2018-10-12"), Convert.ToDateTime("2018-11-15")).ToString();

        DateDifference oDateDifference = new DateDifference(Convert.ToDateTime("2018-11-12"));
       label1.Text  =   oDateDifference.ToString();

    }
}




public class DateDifference
{
    public DateTime start { get; set; }
    public DateTime currentDAte { get; set; }
    public DateTime origstart { get; set; }
    public DateTime origCurrentDAte { get; set; }

    int days { get; set; }
    int months { get; set; }
    int years { get; set; }

    public DateDifference(DateTime postedDate, DateTime currentDAte)
    {
        this.start = this.removeTime(postedDate);
        this.currentDAte = this.removeTime(currentDAte);
        this.origstart = postedDate;
        this.origCurrentDAte = currentDAte;

    }

    public DateDifference(DateTime postedDate)
    {
        DateTime currentDate_ = DateTime.Now;
        this.start = this.removeTime(postedDate);
        this.currentDAte = this.removeTime(currentDate_);
        this.origstart = postedDate;
        this.origCurrentDAte = currentDate_;
        if (start > this.currentDAte)
        {
            throw new Exception("Current date is greater than date posted");
        }
        this.compute();
    }

    void compute()
    {
        while (this.start.Year <= this.currentDAte.Year)
        {
            if (this.start.Year <= this.currentDAte.Year && (this.start.AddMonths(1) <= this.currentDAte))
            {
                ++this.months;
                this.start = this.start.AddMonths(1);
            }

            if ((this.start.Year == this.currentDAte.Year) && (this.start >= this.currentDAte.AddMonths(-1) && this.start <= this.currentDAte))
            {
                break;
            }
        }

        while (this.start.DayOfYear < this.currentDAte.DayOfYear)
        {
            ++this.days;
            this.start = start.AddDays(1);
        }

        if (this.months > 11)
        {
            while (this.months > 11)
            {
                ++this.years;
                this.months = months - 12;
            }
        }

    }


    public override string ToString()
    {
        if (this.start > this.currentDAte)
        {
            throw new Exception("Current date is greater than date posted");
        }
        String ret = this.ComposeTostring();
        this.reset();
        return ret;
    }

    private String ComposeTostring()
    {
        this.compute();
        if (this.years > 0)
        {
            if (this.months > 0)
            {
                if (this.days > 0)
                {
                    return String.Format("{0} year{1}, {2} month{3} && {4} Day{5} ago", this.years, plural(this.years), this.months, plural(this.months), this.days, plural(this.days));
                }
                return String.Format("{0} year{1}, {2} month{3} ago", this.years, plural(this.years), this.months, plural(this.months));
            }
            else
            {
                if (this.days > 0)
                {
                    return String.Format("{0} year{1},{2} day{3} ago", this.years, plural(this.years), this.days, plural(this.days));
                }

                return String.Format("{0} year{1} ago", this.years, plural(this.years));

            }
        }

        if (this.months > 0)
        {
            if (this.days > 0)
            {
                return String.Format("{0} month{1}, {2} day{3} ago", this.months, plural(this.months), this.days, plural(this.days));
            }
            else
            {
                return String.Format("{0} month{1} ago", this.months, plural(this.months));
            }
        }

        if ((this.origCurrentDAte - this.origstart).Days > 0)
        {
            int daysDiff = (this.origCurrentDAte - this.origstart).Days;
            this.origstart = this.origstart.AddDays(daysDiff);
            int HoursDiff = (this.origCurrentDAte - this.origstart).Hours;
            return String.Format("{0} day{1}, {2} hour{3} ago", daysDiff, plural(daysDiff), HoursDiff, plural(HoursDiff));

        }
        else if ((this.origCurrentDAte - this.origstart).Hours > 0)
        {
            int HoursDiff = (this.origCurrentDAte - this.origstart).Hours;
            this.origstart = this.origstart.AddHours(HoursDiff);
            int MinDiff = (this.origCurrentDAte - this.origstart).Minutes;
            return String.Format("{0} hour{1}, {2} minute{3} ago", HoursDiff, plural(HoursDiff), MinDiff, plural(MinDiff));
        }
        else if ((this.origCurrentDAte - this.origstart).Minutes > 0)
        {

            int MinDiff = (this.origCurrentDAte - this.origstart).Minutes;
            this.origstart = this.origstart.AddMinutes(MinDiff);
            int SecDiff = (this.origCurrentDAte - this.origstart).Seconds;
            return String.Format("{0} minute{1}, {2} second{3} ago", MinDiff, plural(MinDiff), SecDiff, plural(SecDiff));
        }
        else if ((this.origCurrentDAte - this.origstart).Seconds > 0)
        {
            int sec = (this.origCurrentDAte - this.origstart).Seconds;
            return String.Format("{0} second{1}", sec, plural(sec));
        }

        return "";
    }

    String plural(int val)
    {
        return (val > 1 ? "s" : String.Empty);
    }

    DateTime removeTime(DateTime dtime)
    {
        dtime = dtime.AddHours(-dtime.Hour);
        dtime = dtime.AddMinutes(-dtime.Minute);
        dtime = dtime.AddSeconds(-dtime.Second);
        return dtime;
    }

    public void reset()
    {

        this.days = 0;
        this.months = 0;
        this.years = 0;
        this.start = DateTime.MinValue;
        this.currentDAte = DateTime.MinValue;
        this.origstart = DateTime.MinValue;
        this.origCurrentDAte = DateTime.MinValue;
    }
}

Simple and fast solution to count total months between 2 dates. If you want to get only different months, not counting the one that is in From date - just remove +1 from code.

public static int GetTotalMonths(DateTime From, DateTime Till)
        {
            int MonthDiff = 0;

            for (int i = 0; i < 12; i++)
            {
                if (From.AddMonths(i).Month == Till.Month)
                {
                    MonthDiff = i + 1;
                    break;
                }
            }

            return MonthDiff;
        }

It seems that the DateTimeSpan solution pleases a lot of people. I don't know. Let's consider the:

> BeginDate = 1972/2/29 EndDate = 1972/4/28.

The DateTimeSpan based answer is: > 1 year(s), 2 month(s) and 0 day(s)

I implemented a method and based on that the answer is: > 1 year(s), 1 month(s) and 28 day(s)

Clearly there are not 2 full months there. I would say that because we are at the end of the month of the begin date what's left is actually the full month of March plus the number of days passed in the month of the end date (April), so 1 month and 28 days.

If you read so far and you are intrigued I posted the method below. I am explaining in the comments the assumptions I make because how many months, the concept of months is such a moving target. Test it many times and see if the answers make sense. I usually choose test dates in adjacent years and once I verify an answer I move a day or two back and forth. So far it looks good, I'm sure you'll find some bugs :D. The code might look a bit rough but I hope it is clear enough:

static void Main(string[] args) {
        DateTime EndDate = new DateTime(1973, 4, 28);
        DateTime BeginDate = new DateTime(1972, 2, 29);
        int years, months, days;
        GetYearsMonthsDays(EndDate, BeginDate, out years, out months, out days);
        Console.WriteLine($"{years} year(s), {months} month(s) and {days} day(s)");
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Calculates how many years, months and days are between two dates.
    /// </summary>
    /// <remarks>
    /// The fundamental idea here is that most of the time all of us agree
    /// that a month has passed today since the same day of the previous month.
    /// A particular case is when both days are the last days of their respective months 
    /// when again we can say one month has passed.
    /// In the following cases the idea of a month is a moving target.
    /// - When only the beginning date is the last day of the month then we're left just with 
    /// a number of days from the next month equal to the day of the month that end date represent
    /// - When only the end date is the last day of its respective month we clearly have a 
    /// whole month plus a few days after the the day of the beginning date until the end of its
    /// respective months
    /// In all the other cases we'll check
    /// - beginingDay > endDay -> less then a month just daysToEndofBeginingMonth + dayofTheEndMonth
    /// - beginingDay < endDay -> full month + (endDay - beginingDay)
    /// - beginingDay == endDay -> one full month 0 days
    /// 
    /// </remarks>
    /// 
    private static void GetYearsMonthsDays(DateTime EndDate, DateTime BeginDate, out int years, out int months, out int days ) {
        var beginMonthDays = DateTime.DaysInMonth(BeginDate.Year, BeginDate.Month);
        var endMonthDays = DateTime.DaysInMonth(EndDate.Year, EndDate.Month);
        // get the full years
        years = EndDate.Year - BeginDate.Year - 1;
        // how many full months in the first year
        var firstYearMonths = 12 - BeginDate.Month;
        // how many full months in the last year
        var endYearMonths = EndDate.Month - 1;
        // full months
        months = firstYearMonths + endYearMonths;           
        days = 0;
        // Particular end of month cases
        if(beginMonthDays == BeginDate.Day && endMonthDays == EndDate.Day) {
            months++;
        }
        else if(beginMonthDays == BeginDate.Day) {
            days += EndDate.Day;
        }
        else if(endMonthDays == EndDate.Day) {
            days += beginMonthDays - BeginDate.Day;
        }
        // For all the other cases
        else if(EndDate.Day > BeginDate.Day) {
            months++;
            days += EndDate.Day - BeginDate.Day;
        }
        else if(EndDate.Day < BeginDate.Day) {                
            days += beginMonthDays - BeginDate.Day;
            days += EndDate.Day;
        }
        else {
            months++;
        }
        if(months >= 12) {
            years++;
            months = months - 12;
        }
    }

Apart from all given answers I find this piece of code very straightforward. AS DateTime.MinValue is 1/1/1, we have to subtract 1 from month, years and days.

var timespan = endDate.Subtract(startDate);
var tempdate = DateTime.MinValue + timespan;

var totalMonths = (tempdate.Year - 1) * 12 + tempdate.Month - 1;
                
var totalDays = tempdate.Day - 1;
if (totalDays > 0)
{
    totalMonths = totalMonths + 1;
}

In case you just care about the month and year and want to touch both dates (for example you want to go thru JAN/2021 to AGO/2022) you can use this:

int numberOfMonths= (Year2 > Year1 ? ( Year2 - Year1 - 1) * 12 + (12 - Month1) + Month2 + 1 : Month2 - Month1 + 1); 

Example:

Year1/Month1: 2021/10   
Year2/Month2: 2022/08   
numberOfMonths = 11;

Or same year:

Year1/Month1: 2021/10   
Year2/Month2: 2021/12   
numberOfMonths = 3;

If you just want to touch one of them remove both + 1.

To be able to calculate the difference between 2 dates in months is a perfectly logical thing to do, and is needed in many business applications. The several coders here who have provided comments such as - what's the difference in months between "May 1,2010" and "June 16,2010, what's the difference in months between 31 December 2010 and 1 Jan 2011? -- have failed to understand the very basics of business applications.

Here is the answer to the above 2 comments - The number of months between 1-may-2010 and 16-jun-2010 is 1 month, the number of months between 31-dec-2010 and 1-jan-2011 is 0. It would be very foolish to calculate them as 1.5 months and 1 second, as the coders above have suggested.

People who have worked on credit card, mortgage processing, tax processing, rent processing, monthly interest calculations and a vast variety of other business solutions would agree.

Problem is that such a function is not included in C# or VB.NET for that matter. Datediff only takes into account years or the month component, so is actually useless.

Here are some real-life examples of where you need to and correctly can calculate months:

You lived in a short-term rental from 18-feb to 23-aug. How many months did you stay there? The answer is a simple - 6 months

You have a bank acount where interest is calculated and paid at the end of every month. You deposit money on 10-jun and take it out 29-oct (same year). How many months do you get interest for? Very simple answer- 4 months (again the extra days do not matter)

In business applications, most of the time, when you need to calculate months, it is because you need to know 'full' months based on how humans calculate time; not based on some abstract/irrelevant thoughts.

My problem was solved with this solution:

static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            var date1 = new DateTime(2018, 12, 05);
            var date2 = new DateTime(2019, 03, 01);

            int CountNumberOfMonths() => (date2.Month - date1.Month) + 12 * (date2.Year - date1.Year);

            var numberOfMonths = CountNumberOfMonths();

            Console.WriteLine("Number of months between {0} and {1}: {2} months.", date1.ToString(), date2.ToString(), numberOfMonths.ToString());

            Console.ReadKey();

            //
            // *** Console Output:
            // Number of months between 05/12/2018 00:00:00 and 01/03/2019 00:00:00: 3 months.
            //

        }

LINQ Solution,

DateTime ToDate = DateTime.Today;
DateTime FromDate = ToDate.Date.AddYears(-1).AddDays(1);

int monthCount = Enumerable.Range(0, 1 + ToDate.Subtract(FromDate).Days)
                    .Select(x => FromDate.AddDays(x))
                    .ToList<DateTime>()
                    .GroupBy(z => new { z.Year, z.Month })
                    .Count();

Simple fix. Works 100%

        var exactmonth = (date1.Year - date2.Year) * 12 + date1.Month - 
        date2.Month +  (date1.Day >= date2.Day ? 0 : -1);
        Console.WriteLine(exactmonth);