Best Time to Post on Social Media in 2026: What the Studies Say

The short answer: there is no single best time to post on social media, but the big 2026 studies agree more on days than on hours. Sprout Social's analysis of nearly 2 billion engagements puts the overall peak on Tuesdays and Wednesdays between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. local time, with Sunday the weakest day. Buffer's platform studies also favour midweek for Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn, but disagree with Sprout on the time of day for several networks.

So treat any published time as a starting point, then check when your own followers are active and test it. This guide shows what each study found for Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and LinkedIn, where they contradict each other, and how to find your own best times using each platform's built-in insights.

A note on where these numbers come from: Wahlu doesn't have its own posting-time dataset. Every time recommendation below is attributed to a named third-party study, with its publication date. Those studies measure posts published through their own tools, so they describe their customers' audiences, not necessarily yours.

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The studies used in this guide

Each study measures something slightly different, which explains a lot of the disagreement. All of them report times in the audience's local time (or, for Sprout's country reports, a stated national time zone), so you don't need to convert from US Eastern time.

Two things are worth knowing before you read the tables. First, "best" usually means highest median engagement rate (Buffer, for example, divides likes, comments, shares and saves by followers), not most reach or most sales. Second, when many brands pile into the same popular slot, the average can reflect competition as much as audience availability. Both are good reasons to test rather than copy.

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Why posting time matters at all

Timing matters because early response is one of the things ranking systems look at. Instagram's own ranking explainer lists "how quickly people are liking, commenting, sharing and saving a post" among its Feed signals, alongside "when it was posted". Posting when more of your followers are scrolling gives a good post a better chance to collect those early signals.

It doesn't rescue a weak post. The same explainer ranks your audience's own activity and interest above post information, so a strong hook at an average time will usually beat a forgettable post at the "perfect" time.

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Best time to post on Instagram

Short answer: the studies agree that midweek is strongest: Sprout Social favours Monday to Thursday, Buffer names Wednesday the best day, and both find weekends (or, for Buffer, Friday and Saturday) weakest. They disagree sharply on hours, from Later's 5 a.m. to Sprout's afternoon-to-evening window, so Instagram is the platform where your own insights matter most.

Country reports (Sprout Social, March 2026): in the UK, Monday to Thursday 5–9 p.m. GMT. In Australia, Monday to Thursday 5–10 p.m. AEST.

What to do with it: Wednesday around midday and early evening sits inside both Sprout's and Buffer's findings, so it's a sensible first slot to test. If you post Reels as well as feed posts, test them separately; Later, for example, reports a separate Reels finding (12 a.m., with Monday the best day). Wahlu can publish Instagram feed posts, carousels, Stories and Reels, so you can schedule each format for its own slot.

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Best time to post on Facebook

Short answer: Sprout Social and Buffer contradict each other. Sprout's data favours Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons into the evening; Buffer's favours weekday mornings and finds afternoons the weakest part of the day. Test one of each.

Country reports (Sprout Social, March 2026): in the UK, Tuesday to Thursday 3–9 p.m. GMT. In Australia, Monday to Friday 4–9 p.m. AEST, with mid-week morning spikes.

What to do with it: put a weekday morning slot (for example Thursday 9 a.m.) against a midweek late-afternoon slot (for example Wednesday 5 p.m.) for a month and let your own Page decide.

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Best time to post on TikTok

Short answer: this is where the studies disagree most. Sprout Social's data points to weekday late afternoons, Tuesday to Friday 2–6 p.m., and finds weekends weakest. Buffer's points the other way, to weekends and evenings, with Saturday the best day, Sunday at 9 a.m. the single best slot and afternoons the weakest.

Country reports (Sprout Social, March 2026): in the UK, Wednesdays 3–11 p.m. and Mondays and Thursdays 4 p.m. to midnight GMT. In Australia, fragmented windows including 8–11 a.m. and late evenings up to 11 p.m. AEST.

What to do with it: test three slots rather than two: a weekday late afternoon (Sprout), a weekday evening (Buffer's 6–11 p.m. band) and a weekend morning (Buffer's Sunday 9 a.m.). If you're choosing a scheduler for TikTok, our TikTok scheduler guide covers what to check.

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Best time to post on YouTube

Short answer: Sprout Social's 2026 report doesn't cover YouTube, so Buffer is the main source here. Buffer found long-form videos and Shorts peak at almost opposite times: long-form on Sunday at 10 a.m., Shorts on Friday at 4 p.m., 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Buffer also suggests publishing long-form videos one to two hours before your audience's peak, so YouTube has time to process the upload and start recommending it as viewers arrive.

What to do with it: schedule long-form and Shorts on separate rhythms, then compare against YouTube Studio's own viewer-activity report (below), which is based on your channel rather than an average.

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Best time to post on LinkedIn

Short answer: both big studies favour weekdays, with Buffer finding Monday the weakest of them, but they differ on hours. Sprout Social says Tuesday to Thursday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Buffer says weekdays 3–8 p.m., with Wednesday at 4 p.m. the strongest slot. Mid-afternoon on a Wednesday or Thursday satisfies both.

Country reports (Sprout Social, March 2026): in the UK, Thursdays 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Fridays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. GMT. In Australia, business hours of 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 3–5 p.m. AEST.

What to do with it: start with Wednesday or Thursday between 3 and 5 p.m. local time. Wahlu currently publishes to LinkedIn personal profiles (company pages are coming soon), and neither study separates personal profiles from company pages, so your own results are the better guide. Our LinkedIn scheduling guide covers the practical side.

Sprout Social also publishes X (Twitter) timings. This guide compares the five platforms above, so X isn't covered here, though Wahlu does publish to X.

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A starting schedule to test

This table is editorial judgement, not a study finding: for each platform it picks the slots where the studies above overlap, or sets the contradicting findings against each other so your own data can settle it. All times are your audience's local time.

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How to find your own best time to post

Averages describe thousands of other accounts. Every platform Wahlu publishes to gives you some data about your audience, and it's free.

Instagram: Insights, "Total followers"

Instagram shows follower trends, including "times they're most active on Instagram", once you have at least 100 followers, according to Instagram's help centre. You need a public account. Open your Insights, tap Total followers and look at the most active days and hours.

If you manage Instagram through Meta Business Suite, the Audience tab in Insights also shows "when followers are more active on the platform" (Meta Business Help Centre).

Facebook: Meta Business Suite Audience tab

For a Facebook Page, go to Meta Business Suite, choose the Page, open Insights and then Audience. Meta says this tab shows trends including when followers are more active. Follower insights in the Professional dashboard need at least 100 followers who aren't also your friends (Meta).

TikTok: TikTok Studio, Viewers and Followers

TikTok's Creator Academy guide to analytics (updated 16 September 2026) says the Viewers page includes "Most active times" for the last 7 days, and the Followers tab breaks audience activity down by hours and days. In the app, go to your profile, open the menu, select TikTok Studio, then Analytics and View all. On desktop, it's the Analytics tab in TikTok Studio.

TikTok reports viewer activity and follower activity separately. If the two charts differ, test a slot from each.

YouTube: "When your viewers are on YouTube"

In YouTube Studio, select Analytics, then Audience. The "When your viewers are on YouTube" report shows when your viewers were online across YouTube in the last 28 days (YouTube Help). Following Buffer's advice, aim to publish long-form videos an hour or two before the darkest block.

LinkedIn: test with post analytics

LinkedIn's creator analytics show how your posts perform over time and who follows you (job title, location, industry and so on), but LinkedIn doesn't document an active-times chart for personal profiles. Here, testing is the method: compare impressions and engagement for similar posts published at different times, using LinkedIn's post analytics.

When your audience spans time zones

All the studies above use local time, so the question is whose local time. Check the location breakdown in your insights and schedule for the largest group. If you have two big audiences (say the UK and Australia), give each its own slot rather than hoping one time suits both. Wahlu queues have their own time zone setting, which helps when you manage a brand whose audience lives somewhere other than you.

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A four-week timing test

A single post at a new time proves nothing: the topic, the hook and the news cycle all move results more than the clock does. Run a small, fair test instead.

1. Week 1: pick two slots per platform: one from the starting schedule above, one from your own insights.
2. Weeks 1–3: alternate similar posts between the two slots. Keep the format the same (don't put all your Reels in one slot and all your photos in the other).
3. Measure the same way each time: check each post at a fixed point, such as one hour and 48 hours after publishing. Compare reach or views and interactions per view, not raw likes.
4. Week 4: move the weaker slot and pit the winner against a new challenger.
5. Repeat each quarter, or when your audience changes (a new market, a seasonal business, a big jump in followers).

Keep a simple log (date, slot, format, reach, interactions) in a spreadsheet. After a month you'll have more useful evidence about your audience than any average can give you.

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Post at your best times without being online

Once you know your slots, the hard part is hitting them every week, including Sunday mornings and Friday evenings.

• Calendar scheduling: for one-off posts (launches, announcements, event reminders), schedule each post for its slot from the Wahlu calendar. It publishes to Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn personal profiles, Threads, X, Bluesky, Telegram, Discord, Tumblr and Pinterest.
• Queues for recurring slots: a queue can post at specific times of day in the time zone you set, so you fill it with content once and it publishes into your chosen slots. For posts that stay accurate, looping reuses them later. Our guide to setting up an evergreen social media queue explains what belongs in a loop and what doesn't.
• Check before you schedule: paste a caption into the free social media post checker to see character, hashtag and link limits and a preview for each platform.

To be clear about what Wahlu doesn't do: it doesn't analyse your audience or pick times for you. You bring the times from your insights and your tests; Wahlu publishes at them. Plans are on the pricing page.

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FAQs

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

According to Sprout Social's March 2026 analysis, the overall peak is Tuesdays and Wednesdays between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. local time, and Sunday is the weakest day. Platform-by-platform studies from Buffer and others disagree on hours, so use that as a first test, not a rule.

What is the best time to post on Instagram?

Buffer's September 2026 study found Thursday at 9 a.m., Wednesday at 12 p.m. and Wednesday at 6 p.m. performed best; Sprout Social points to Tuesdays 1–7 p.m. and Wednesdays 12–9 p.m. Your follower activity in Instagram Insights is the better guide once you have 100 followers.

What is the best time to post on TikTok?

Sprout Social says Tuesday to Friday, 2–6 p.m. local time. Buffer's September 2026 study found Sunday at 9 a.m. the single best slot, Saturday the best day and evenings generally strong. Check "Most active times" in TikTok Studio and test both.

What is the best day to post on social media?

Across Sprout Social's data, Tuesday and Wednesday. Buffer names Wednesday best for Instagram and LinkedIn, but Saturday best for TikTok and Sunday best for long-form YouTube. The "best day" depends on the platform.

Are weekends worth posting on?

For some platforms and audiences, yes. Sprout Social finds weekends weakest on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and LinkedIn, and Buffer finds Saturday worst for Facebook and weak for Instagram. But Buffer's TikTok and YouTube long-form data favour weekends. Test at least one weekend slot on video platforms before ruling it out.

What time zone should I use?

Your audience's. The studies here all report local time (Sprout's UK and Australia reports use GMT and AEST). Check the location breakdown in your insights and schedule for your largest group.

How often should I recheck my best times?

Every quarter is a sensible rhythm, and sooner if your audience changes. The studies themselves update at least yearly, and this guide was last checked against them on 24 September 2026.

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Sources

• Sprout Social, Best times to post on social media in 2026 (31 March 2026), plus the UK and Australia reports
• Buffer: Instagram (23 Sept 2026), TikTok (14 Sept 2026), LinkedIn (9 Sept 2026), YouTube (24 July 2026), Facebook (26 Feb 2026)
• Hootsuite, The best time to post on Instagram (July 2026)
• Later, Best time to post on Instagram in 2026 (April 2026)
• Instagram, Instagram ranking explained and About Instagram insights
• Meta, About Insights in Meta Business Suite and Insights on your Facebook Page
• TikTok Creator Academy, Introducing TikTok analytics
• YouTube Help, Understand your YouTube audience
• LinkedIn Help, View your creator analytics and View post analytics for your content