Best time to post on social media
Sprout Social, Buffer and Hootsuite each publish their own answer. This page puts them side by side for every platform and day, shows where they agree, and turns the result into calendar reminders in your time zone.
Darker = more of the 3 studies name that hour. Times are your audience’s local time.
- Monday 7 p.m. · named by Buffer, Hootsuite
- Tuesday 7 p.m. · named by Sprout Social, Buffer, Hootsuite
- Wednesday 12 p.m. · named by Sprout Social, Buffer
The file adds 3 repeating 15-minute events with a 10-minute alert, in your audience’s time zone, to Google Calendar, Apple Calendar or Outlook. It is built in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
There is no single best time for every platform, but the large 2026 studies agree on the pattern: Tuesday to Thursday is strongest almost everywhere, Saturday is the weakest day on most platforms, and times are in your audience’s local time. The exceptions are TikTok, where Buffer found Saturday the best day, and YouTube Shorts, which do best on Fridays and in the evening.
· and 13 more
· Sprout Social 2026 (checked 2026-09-24) · Buffer 2026 (checked 2026-09-24) · Hootsuite 2025 (checked 2026-09-24) · Buffer 2026 (checked 2026-09-24) · Sprout Social 2026 (checked 2026-09-24) · Buffer 2026 (checked 2026-09-24) · Hootsuite 2025 (checked 2026-09-24) · Sprout Social 2026 (checked 2026-09-24) · Buffer 2026 (checked 2026-09-24) · Hootsuite 2025 (checked 2026-09-24) · Sprout Social 2026 (checked 2026-09-24) · Buffer 2026 (checked 2026-09-24) · Sprout Social 2026 (checked 2026-09-24)Checked by Koldflux · updated 2026-09-24 · times re-read from each study page
Best times by platform
Headline result of each study, in the audience’s local time. Open a platform for the day-by-day comparison.
| Platform | Sprout Social | Buffer | Hootsuite |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midweek afternoons | Evenings, except Wednesday noon and Thursday morning | Late afternoon most days | |
| TikTok | Weekday afternoons | Evenings and weekends; single best slot Sunday 9 a.m. | Varies by day; long Saturday window |
| YouTube | not published | Long-form videos: mornings | not published |
| Tuesday and Wednesday, 12-8 p.m. | Weekday mornings; single best slot Thursday 9 a.m. | Early mornings, 5-8 a.m.; best Tuesday 5 a.m. | |
| Late morning to afternoon, Tuesday to Thursday | 3-8 p.m. on weekdays; single best slot Wednesday 4 p.m. | Tuesday and Wednesday 8-9 a.m. | |
| X (Twitter) | Tuesday to Thursday, 12-6 p.m. | Mornings every day; single best slot Tuesday 9 a.m. | not published |
| Midweek, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. | not published | not published |
Why the studies give different answers
Sprout Social measures when engagement happens across about 307,000 profiles. Buffer ranks each posting hour by the median engagement rate that posts published at that hour earned, across millions of posts sent through Buffer. Hootsuite reports peak engagement times from over a million business posts across 118 countries. A busy hour and an hour where a single post performs best are not always the same hour, which is why a page that shows only one study can send you to the wrong slot.
This page does not average them. It shows each study’s answer and marks the hours at least two of them name. Those shared hours are the safest place to start; your own analytics decide the rest.
Where to find your own best time
Once you have an audience, the platform’s own data beats any study.
| Platform | Where | How |
|---|---|---|
| Instagram Insights | Switch to a professional (creator or business) account, open Insights, then Total followers: the “Most active times” chart shows the hours and days your followers are on Instagram. | |
| TikTok | TikTok Studio analytics | Open TikTok Studio, go to Analytics, then the Followers tab: “Follower activity” shows the hours your followers were on TikTok, in your local time zone. Analytics can take 1-2 days to update. |
| YouTube | YouTube Studio | Open YouTube Studio, then Analytics, then the Audience tab: the “When your viewers are on YouTube” report shows the hours your viewers were on YouTube over the last 28 days, in your local time. |
| Page Insights | Open your Page’s Professional dashboard, then Insights. Meta’s own advice is to share content when your audience is online and to check that in Page Insights, then compare posts published at different hours. | |
| LinkedIn analytics | On a personal profile, open your post impressions or followers from the Analytics section of your profile; on a Page, use the Page’s Analytics tab. Neither shows an hour-by-hour activity chart, so compare the results of posts published at different times. | |
| X (Twitter) | X analytics | X shows views and engagements for each post but no chart of when your followers are online. Post at different hours for two weeks and compare views and engagements per post. |
| Pinterest Analytics | With a business account, open Analytics, then Overview, and compare impressions and saves for Pins published at different times. Pins keep getting found through search for months, so timing matters less than on feed-based apps. |
· and 4 more
· Meta Business Help: Growing your Page audience (checked 2026-09-24) · LinkedIn Help: View your creator analytics (checked 2026-09-24) · X Help: View counts (checked 2026-09-24) · Pinterest Help: Review Pinterest Analytics (checked 2026-09-24)How to use the planner
- Pick the platformThe heatmap shows which hours each study names, darker where more of them agree.
- Set both time zonesYour audience’s time zone and yours. The list converts each slot to your own clock.
- Choose posts per weekThe planner picks that many days, strongest first, and each day’s strongest hour.
- Download the remindersThe .ics file adds weekly repeating events with a 10-minute alert to Google Calendar, Apple Calendar or Outlook.
Limits and when to use something else
- The studies use their customers’ accounts, mostly brands and businesses. A small creator account can behave differently.
- Each study reports times for the platform as a whole; only Buffer splits YouTube into long-form videos and Shorts.
- Snapchat and Threads have no large published posting-time study, so they are not included.
- The .ics reminders are fixed weekly times. They do not update when the studies are revised; download again after an update.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best time to post on social media?
Midweek, and usually late morning to afternoon in your audience’s local time. The exact hour differs by platform and by study: see the table above, then check your own analytics after two weeks of testing.
Why do Sprout Social, Buffer and Hootsuite give different times?
They measure different things. Sprout Social measures when engagement happens across its customers’ profiles, Buffer ranks posting hours by the median engagement rate of posts sent through Buffer, and Hootsuite reports peak engagement times from over a million business posts. Their samples and date ranges differ too.
Do I need to convert the times to my time zone?
Only if your audience lives in a different time zone from you. All three studies report times in the audience’s local time. The planner converts them to your time and can add weekly reminders to your calendar.
How often should I post?
None of these studies sets a posting frequency. Choose a number you can keep up every week; the planner builds a weekly schedule for 1 to 7 posts from the strongest slots.
Is my own analytics better than these studies?
Yes, once you have an audience. Instagram, TikTok and YouTube show when your followers or viewers are active; the studies are a starting point until then.
Turn one idea into a week of posts
The hard part of posting at the right time is having something ready. Koldflux Studio turns one recording, idea or script into Shorts and carousel posts you approve and export, so the slots in your calendar are filled. It does not publish or schedule posts for you.
- 1 · Recording, idea or script
- 2 · Pick the angles
- 3 · Review and approve
- 4 · Export Shorts and carousels
