COUNTIF Function in Excel – Count With One Condition Easily

Imagine you’re working with a product list or customer order sheet in Excel.

Some items say Available, some say Out of Stock, some say Pending, and a few cells are completely blank.

Now you want to know something very specific, like:

• How many products are marked as Available?
• How many orders have more than 100 units?
• How many entries say Pending?

You don’t want to count everything.

you only want to count the cells that meet one condition.

Doing this manually?

Scroll… scroll… scroll…

“Did I count this one already?”

“Nope… starting again…”

This is where the COUNTIF function makes life so much easier.

In simple words:

COUNTIF = counts cells that match ONE specific condition.

Whether it’s numbers greater than 100, text like “Completed”, or dates after a certain day — COUNTIF can handle it.

What Is the COUNTIF Function?

The COUNTIF function in Excel counts how many cells meet one condition.

It works with:

• numbers
• text
• dates
• symbols
• comparisons (`>`, `<`, `>=`, `<>`)
• partial matches (`”abc”`)

COUNTIF is perfect when you want to filter your data using one rule.

Syntax:

=COUNTIF(range, criteria)

Arguments:

• range: The cells you want to check
• criteria: The condition the cells must match

You can use:

• a number
• text
• a cell value
• a comparison
• a wildcard pattern

Examples:

Here’s a full product/order table to make the examples real:

1. Count Orders Marked as Pending:

=COUNTIF(E2:E11, “Pending”)

Result → 3 (Orders 102, 106, 109)

2. Count Quantities Greater Than 2:

=COUNTIF(D2:D11, “>2”)

Counts values greater than 2

Result → 4 (quantities: 3, 3, 4, 5)

3. Count Exact Matches (e.g., Quantity = 1):

=COUNTIF(D2:D11, 1)

Result → 3 (orders with quantity 1)

4. Count Blank Cells Using COUNTIF:

Even though COUNTBLANK exists, COUNTIF can do it:

=COUNTIF(A1:A10, “”)

Counts empty cells.

Result: 0

5. Count Cells NOT Equal to Something:

=COUNTIF(E2:E11, “<>Pending”)

Counts all statuses except “Pending”.

Result: 7

6. Count Text That Contains a Word (Exact Match):

For example, count all products contains “Laptop”:

=COUNTIF(C2:C11, “Laptop”)

Result → 4 (all “Laptop” entries)

7. Count Dates Before or After a Specific Day:

Example: count dates after 01-01-2024:

=COUNTIF(A2:A11, “>01-01-2024”)

When Should You Use COUNTIF?

Use COUNTIF when you want to count only the values that match one condition.

Perfect for:

• counting orders above a target
• counting “Completed” tasks
• counting students who passed (>40)
• counting sales greater than a certain value
• counting customers from a specific region
• counting feedback containing keywords
• counting products with a specific status

COUNTIF helps you filter and analyze data quickly, without complex formulas.

Related Functions (Quick Guide):

In Simple Words:

 COUNTIF = count only what you need

 Works with one condition (like `>100`, `”Done”`, `”Laptop”`)

 Perfect for filtering, analyzing, and summarizing real data.

COUNTIF makes Excel smarter — and your work much faster.