Best time to post · 3 studies compared
Best time to post on Instagram
Short answer
Sprout Social, Buffer and Hootsuite each publish their own best hours. They overlap on 3 of 7 days: Monday 3-4 p.m. and 6-9 p.m.; Tuesday 3-7 p.m.; Wednesday 12-1 p.m. and 5-7 p.m.. Times are your audience's local time.
Compared: Sprout Social, Buffer and Hootsuite.
Best time to post on Instagram by day
| Day | Studies agree | Sprout Social | Buffer | Hootsuite |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 3-4 p.m., 6-9 p.m. | 2-4 p.m. | 7 p.m., then 6 p.m. or 8 p.m. | 3-9 p.m. |
| Tuesday | 3-7 p.m. | 1-7 p.m. | 7 p.m., then 3 p.m. or 5 p.m. | 5-8 a.m. and 3-7 p.m. |
| Wednesday | 12-1 p.m., 5-7 p.m. | 12-9 p.m., plus 11 p.m. | 12 p.m., then 6 p.m. or 8 a.m. | 5 p.m. |
| Thursday | No overlap | 12-2 p.m. | 9 a.m., then 8 a.m. or 7 a.m. | 4-5 p.m. |
| Friday | No overlap | No significant peak | 10 p.m., then 9 p.m. or 6 a.m. | Around 4 p.m. |
| Saturday | No overlap | No peak (lowest engagement of the week) | 9 p.m., then 10 p.m. or 8 p.m. | 11 a.m. and around 5 p.m. |
| Sunday | No overlap | No peak (one of the worst days) | 9 p.m., then 10 p.m. or 8 p.m. | 12-3 p.m. |
Convert to your time zone
The Tuesday window where the studies agree for that audience is 7 p.m.-11 p.m. on your clock (UTC).
Which days the studies call best
| Study | Best days | Weakest days | Based on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sprout Social | Tuesday and Wednesday | Saturday and Sunday | nearly 2 billion engagements across about 307,000 profiles (Nov 2025 to Feb 2026), published 2026-03-31 |
| Buffer | Wednesday and Thursday | Friday and Saturday | 9.6 million Instagram posts (Jan 2024 to Dec 2025), published 2026-09-23 |
| Hootsuite | Not stated | Not stated | over 1 million posts, published 2026-07-14 |
Find your own best time
Instagram insights show the times your followers are most active once you have at least 100 followers (Insights, then Total followers, on a professional or public account). (Instagram Help: About Instagram insights). Post at the hours above for two or three weeks, then compare against your own most active times and keep whichever performs better.
Have something ready for the window
Koldflux turns one source into ready-to-post Shorts, Reels and TikToks.
Questions people ask
What is the best time to post on Instagram?
Sprout Social, Buffer and Hootsuite each publish their own best hours. They overlap on 3 of 7 days: Monday 3-4 p.m. and 6-9 p.m.; Tuesday 3-7 p.m.; Wednesday 12-1 p.m. and 5-7 p.m.. Times are your audience's local time.
Which days are best for posting on Instagram?
Sprout Social: Tuesday and Wednesday (weakest: Saturday and Sunday); Buffer: Wednesday and Thursday (weakest: Friday and Saturday).
What time zone are these times in?
Your audience's local time. Sprout Social lists its times in local time, and Buffer and Hootsuite normalized their data so the times apply in any time zone. If most of your audience lives elsewhere, convert with the tool on this page.
Why do the studies disagree?
Each study measures different accounts (its own customers), over different periods, with different definitions of engagement. Where at least two of the three studies name the same hour, that hour is more likely to hold for a typical account; your own analytics beat any study.
Other platforms
Sources and how we checked
- Sprout Social: best times to post on Instagram, published 2026-03-31, nearly 2 billion engagements across about 307,000 profiles (Nov 2025 to Feb 2026). Read 2026-10-05.
- Buffer: best times to post on Instagram, published 2026-09-23, 9.6 million Instagram posts (Jan 2024 to Dec 2025). Read 2026-10-05.
- Hootsuite: best times to post on Instagram, published 2026-07-14, over 1 million posts. Read 2026-10-05.
Reviewed October 5, 2026 by the Koldflux team. Each study's hours are copied from its published article (linked above); "the studies agree" means at least two of the three studies name the same hour.