Best times to post on each social network in 2026

For most networks, 2026 data points to weekdays, especially Tuesday through Thursday, from late morning to mid-afternoon in your audience's local time. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X and Pinterest follow that pattern. TikTok, YouTube and Bluesky are the exceptions, where some studies find weekends doing well. The large studies disagree on exact hours, so use the times below as starting points and confirm them with your own analytics.

This guide summarizes the main public studies network by network, explains why they conflict, and gives you a test plan to find your own best times.

The studies behind this guide

Each study below comes from a scheduling or social media management vendor. Each one measures something slightly different, which explains most of the disagreements later in this guide.

Two quick notes. Sprout's data window covers the late-November to February holiday season. Later's Instagram figures come from 2024 data, even though the article was updated in 2026.

Best times to post by network

Facebook

• Sprout Social's 2026 analysis found the strongest windows on Monday 12 to 1 p.m., Tuesday and Wednesday 12 to 8 p.m., and Thursday 12 to 2 p.m. plus 8 p.m. Weekends and early mornings were weakest.
• Buffer's 2026 data put the single best slot at Thursday 9 a.m. Wednesday was its best day overall and Saturday its quietest.
• Hootsuite's guide names Tuesday at 9 a.m.

Starting point: test a weekday morning (9 a.m.) against a weekday lunchtime to early afternoon slot, Tuesday through Thursday.

Instagram

Instagram has the widest spread of findings of any network:

• Sprout Social found afternoons strongest: Monday 2 to 4 p.m., Tuesday 1 to 7 p.m., Wednesday 12 to 9 p.m. (and 11 p.m.), Thursday 12 to 2 p.m.
• Buffer, drawing on nearly 10 million Instagram posts, found Thursday 9 a.m. best for reach. Wednesday was its best day and Friday its weakest.
• Later's analysis of more than 6 million feed posts found 5 a.m. local time was the best overall time, with posts between 3 and 6 a.m. getting above-average engagement. Its separate analysis of over 975,000 Reels put the best time at 12 a.m., with Monday the best day.
• Hootsuite lists Monday 3 to 9 p.m.

Later's early-morning result probably reflects its metric. Engagement rate can favor posts that face less competition when people first open the app. Sprout counts total interactions, which favors busy hours. For a deeper breakdown, see our best time to post on Instagram guide.

Starting point: test one early-morning slot (5 to 9 a.m.) against one afternoon slot (1 to 4 p.m.) on weekdays.

LinkedIn

• Sprout Social found LinkedIn works across the full work week. Its peaks were Tuesday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursday 11 a.m. and 1 to 5 p.m., and Friday 11 a.m. and 1 to 2 p.m.
• Buffer's analysis of nearly 5 million LinkedIn posts found a shift toward later in the day. Its best slots were Wednesday 4 p.m. and Friday 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. Posts published between 6 and 11 a.m. got comparatively lower engagement.
• Hootsuite points the other way, with Tuesday and Wednesday at 4 to 6 a.m.

Starting point: the two larger datasets agree on midweek afternoons. Test 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. against 3 to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday.

X (Twitter)

• Sprout Social found Monday 2 to 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., then Tuesday through Thursday 12 to 6 p.m.
• Buffer, drawing on more than 8 million X posts, found Tuesday 9 a.m. best, followed by Wednesday at 10 a.m. and 9 a.m. Saturday was its quietest day, with Sunday close behind.
• Hootsuite lists Wednesday through Friday, 9 to 11 a.m.

Starting point: weekday mornings (9 to 11 a.m.) are backed by two of the three studies. Test them against an early-afternoon slot.

TikTok

TikTok is where the studies disagree most sharply about weekends:

• Sprout Social found weekday afternoons strongest, from Monday 3 to 5 p.m. through Wednesday 1 to 8 p.m. Weekends were weakest.
• Buffer's analysis of 7.1 million TikTok posts, which measured views, found the top slots were Sunday 9 a.m., Monday 1 p.m. and Sunday 1 p.m. Saturday was its best day and Wednesday its weakest. Views also climbed in the evening.
• Hootsuite lists Thursday 7 to 11 a.m.

Part of the gap likely comes from the metric. Buffer measured views, while Sprout counted interactions, and the two don't always peak together.

Starting point: test a weekday afternoon slot against a weekend morning slot. TikTok is the network where your own data will most likely beat any average.

YouTube

Sprout Social's 2026 report does not include YouTube timing data and points readers to YouTube Studio instead. Buffer is the main public source:

• Long-form videos: Sunday 10 a.m. was best, followed by Sunday 9 a.m. and Friday 12 p.m. Midweek afternoons were weakest.
• Shorts: Friday 4 p.m. was best, with 6 and 7 p.m. on Fridays also strong. Friday and Saturday were the best days, and Tuesday was the weakest.

Buffer's own summary is not fully consistent. Its quick guide for long-form suggests 6 to 10 p.m. (Sunday to Tuesday), while the body text emphasizes mornings. YouTube is also the best example of a network where your own data is easy to get (see the test plan below).

Starting point: for long-form, test a weekend morning against a weekday evening. For Shorts, test late afternoon on Friday and Saturday.

Pinterest

• Sprout Social found mornings to midday strongest, Monday through Friday. Peaks included Monday 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., Tuesday 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and Wednesday 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Weekends were weakest.
• Hootsuite lists Tuesday and Friday at 12 p.m.
• Buffer's 2026 study does not cover Pinterest.

Starting point: weekday late mornings, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Threads

• Buffer analyzed 2.5 million Threads posts and found Thursday 9 a.m. best, with weekday mornings (7 a.m. to 12 p.m.) generally strong. Wednesday was the best day. Saturday, Sunday and Monday were weakest.
• Hootsuite lists Tuesday at 8 a.m.
• Sprout Social's 2026 report does not include Threads.

Starting point: weekday mornings, 7 to 10 a.m., Tuesday through Thursday.

Networks where the data is thin

Bluesky

Buffer's Bluesky study of over 3 million posts, published August 2026, is the most detailed public dataset. It found Saturday was the best day, with an average engagement rate of 6.17%. The best single time was Saturday at 5 p.m., at 6.89%. Thursday was the weakest day at 3.44%, and weekday late mornings to midday (about 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.) were quiet. This is one vendor's data on a young network, so treat it as a hypothesis to test.

Mastodon

We could not find a large-scale public study of posting times on Mastodon. What we do know: Mastodon shows the posts of people you follow in chronological order, with no algorithmic ranking. That means a post is most visible when your followers are actually online, so timing probably matters more here than on algorithmic feeds. Check when replies and boosts arrive on your own posts and build from there.

Google Business Profile

We found no credible public study of the best time to publish Google Business Profile posts. These posts are seen by people searching for your business, not by followers scrolling a feed. Publishing ahead of your busy periods (for example, before a weekend offer starts) is a better rule than any hour of the day.

Why the studies disagree

If Sprout says Instagram peaks in the afternoon and Later says 5 a.m., they are not both wrong. They are measuring different things.

1. Time zone handling. Sprout reports each profile's local time. Buffer and Later adjust to the audience's local time. Hootsuite normalizes across 118 countries. If your audience spans several time zones, a "local" 9 a.m. might not match anything in your analytics.
2. The metric. Sprout counts total interactions, including reactions, comments, shares, DMs and link clicks. Buffer uses median engagement, but switches to reach for Instagram's top slot and views for TikTok. Later uses engagement rate. A slot with high total interactions and a slot with a high engagement rate are often different hours.
3. Whose accounts. Each dataset is drawn from the accounts connected to that vendor's tool. Sprout's, for example, includes over 30,000 of its own customers. Different user bases mean different industries, account sizes and audiences.
4. When the data was collected. Sprout's window includes the holiday season. Later's Instagram data is from 2024. Platform algorithms change often.
5. Averages hide competition. A busy hour has more viewers and more competing posts. A quieter hour can win on engagement rate and lose on total reach.
6. Vendor interest. Every study here comes from a company that sells scheduling. That doesn't make the data wrong, but none of it is independent research.

The useful takeaway is the overlap. Weekdays outperform weekends on most networks, and Sunday was the weakest day overall in Sprout's data. Beyond that, your audience decides.

How to find your own best times: a 6-week test plan

Your native analytics show when your followers are online, which beats any average. Here's a simple plan.

Step 1: Check when your audience is online

• Instagram: Instagram's About Instagram insights help page says the Total followers section shows when your followers are most active, along with growth and top locations. These follower trends appear once you have at least 100 followers. You need a professional (business or creator) account.
• YouTube: the "When your viewers are on YouTube" report shows when your viewers were online across YouTube in the last 28 days. Find it in YouTube Studio under Analytics, then the Audience tab.
• TikTok: in TikTok Studio analytics, the Followers tab breaks down follower activity by hours and days, according to TikTok's Creator Academy guide to analytics. Check which time zone the chart uses before you compare it with other data.
• Other networks: if there's no activity chart, use post-level data. Export your last 90 days of posts and sort engagement by hour and day posted.

Step 2: Pick three candidate slots

Combine the activity chart with the study ranges above. For example, on LinkedIn you might test Tuesday 11 a.m., Wednesday 4 p.m. and Thursday 8 a.m. Make the slots genuinely different. Testing 1 p.m. against 2 p.m. won't tell you much.

Step 3: Rotate for four to six weeks

• Post the same content types in each slot. Rotate them so no slot gets all your best posts.
• Keep your posting frequency the same as usual.
• Use a calendar so the rotation is planned in advance. The free content calendar generator can draft the plan.

Step 4: Measure the right number

Choose one primary metric per network and stick with it:

Compare the median per slot, not the average. One viral post can distort an average.

Step 5: Lock in, then retest each quarter

Keep the winning slot as your default and keep one slot for ongoing experiments. Audiences shift, especially after a platform changes its feed. Re-run the test every quarter or after a big change in your audience, such as a new market or a campaign that brings in many new followers.

Running this by hand across several networks takes time. Social9's analytics dashboard tracks how posts perform by posting time across networks. Social9's automation can schedule each post for an AI-recommended time based on your audience and past engagement. For the wider scheduling workflow, see our complete guide to social media scheduling and the content scheduling strategy guide. More research-based posts are in the data hub.

FAQ

What is the single best time to post on social media in 2026?

There isn't one. Sprout Social's 2026 data points to Tuesday and Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time, as the best overall window. Buffer and Hootsuite name different hours. A midweek late-morning to afternoon slot is a reasonable default until your own data says otherwise.

Is it bad to post on weekends?

On Facebook, LinkedIn, X and Pinterest, most 2026 data shows weekends underperform. TikTok, YouTube and Bluesky are exceptions: Buffer's data found Saturday was TikTok's best day and Sunday mornings strong for long-form YouTube.

Which time zone should I use?

Use your audience's time zone, not yours. The major studies report local time for the audience. If your followers are split across regions, schedule for the largest group, or post at different times for each.

How long should I test posting times before deciding?

Four to six weeks with at least a few posts per slot is a practical minimum. Shorter tests are easily skewed by one strong or weak post.

Does posting time matter more than content?

No. Timing affects early distribution, but every study here frames its numbers as a starting point. A weak post at the perfect time still underperforms a strong post at an average time.

Why do my Instagram Insights disagree with the studies?

Insights show when your own followers are online, while the studies average hundreds of thousands of accounts. When they disagree, trust your Insights and test both.