Best time to post: where the studies agree
Four large studies, five platforms, one grid of where they overlap.
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The short answer
There is no single best time to post: Four large published studies disagree on almost every platform. Where they overlap most, the windows are Saturday around 3 p.m. and Sunday around 9 a.m. on TikTok, Tuesday afternoon on Instagram, Sunday around 8 a.m. on Facebook and Tuesday to Thursday afternoons on LinkedIn, all in your audience’s local time. After a month of posting, your own analytics beat any study.
Updated
Where the studies agree
Where 3 of 4 studies agree on TikTok
- Saturday 3 p.m.–4 p.m.
- Sunday 9 a.m.–10 a.m.
Each cell counts how many studies name that hour, in the audience’s local time. SocialPilot’s LinkedIn list is given in Eastern Time, so it is left out of the LinkedIn grid. Hours read from each study on 1 October 2026; sources below.
Find your own best time
- 01
Start where the studies agree
Use the strongest windows above for your platform as a first schedule. They are averages across many accounts, not a rule for yours.
- 02
Keep the times steady for four weeks
Post at the same few times so the results are comparable. Changing the time and the content together tells you nothing.
- 03
Read when your followers are online
TikTok, Instagram and YouTube analytics show when your own audience is active. Where it differs from the studies, trust your audience.
- 04
Compare the first hours, not the totals
A post’s early views and engagement show the effect of timing best; a week later the content matters far more than the hour.
- 05
Move one slot at a time
Shift a single posting time, keep the rest, and compare again after two weeks.
The four studies
Each study’s own page, read on 1 October 2026. Weekday hours in the grid come from each page’s per-day lists. Where a page contradicts itself, the grid uses its per-day list. Percify is not affiliated with any of them.
Buffer
Times made “universally applicable”: use your local time.
Source: buffer.com; quote: Instagram, read Invalid Date
- TikTok, as published
- Sunday at 9 a.m., followed by Monday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
- Instagram, as published
- Thursday at 9 a.m., Wednesday at 12 p.m. and Wednesday at 6 p.m.
- Data
- 7.1 million TikTok posts; 9.6 million Instagram posts
Hootsuite
Time of day “localized across 118 countries”.
Source: blog.hootsuite.com; quote: Instagram, read Invalid Date
- TikTok, as published
- Thursday morning (6–9 am) and Saturday midday (10 am–6 pm)
- Instagram, as published
- 3–9 PM on Mondays, 5–8 AM and 3–7 PM on Tuesdays, 5 PM on Wednesdays, 4–5 PM on Thursdays
- Data
- Over 1 million social posts
Read next
Your questions, answered
Short answers to what people ask next.
It depends on the platform, and the large studies disagree. Where they overlap most: TikTok Saturday around 3 p.m. and Sunday around 9 a.m., Instagram Tuesday afternoon, Facebook Sunday around 8 a.m., LinkedIn Tuesday to Thursday afternoons, in your audience’s local time.
They measure different customers’ accounts, over different months, with different definitions of success: Buffer uses median engagement rate, Sprout counts engagements. Each is an average of someone else’s audience, which is why your own analytics should decide in the end.
Your audience’s. Sprout Social, Buffer, Hootsuite and SocialPilot all state their times in local time, so post at those hours where most of your followers live.
Less than what you post. Timing helps a post get its first views from people who are online; whether it travels after that depends on the post.
Only two of the studies cover Shorts. Buffer’s best is Friday at 4 p.m.; SocialPilot gives 12–2 p.m. or 6–7 p.m. Both point to early evening, which is where the grid overlaps.
Yes. Percify schedules the posts you approve to your connected accounts at the days and times you choose. Posting accounts come with Scale (3) and Ultra (10), and any plan can add one for $5 a month.