The best time to post, in your audience's time.
Eight networks, each one's peak window and full weekly shape, taken from published studies of billions of engagements. Every source measures in the audience's own local time, so a benchmark reads correctly whether your followers are in New York or Madrid.
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The answer
Peak window by platform
Bars show the week, Monday to Sunday
Peak window
12 PM – 9 PM
strongest on Wednesday
Monday: 2h, Tuesday: 6h, Wednesday: 10h, Thursday: 2h, Friday: 0h, Saturday: 0h, Sunday: 0h
Peak window
2 PM – 6 PM
strongest on Wednesday
Monday: 2h, Tuesday: 4h, Wednesday: 7h, Thursday: 4h, Friday: 2h, Saturday: 0h, Sunday: 0h
Peak window
12 PM – 8 PM
strongest on Tuesday
Monday: 1h, Tuesday: 8h, Wednesday: 8h, Thursday: 3h, Friday: 0h, Saturday: 0h, Sunday: 0h
Peak window
11 AM – 5 PM
strongest on Tuesday
Monday: 1h, Tuesday: 6h, Wednesday: 5h, Thursday: 5h, Friday: 2h, Saturday: 0h, Sunday: 0h
Peak window
2 PM – 4 PM
strongest on Wednesday
Monday: 2h, Tuesday: 2h, Wednesday: 2h, Thursday: 2h, Friday: 2h, Saturday: 2h, Sunday: 2h
Peak window
12 PM – 6 PM
strongest on Tuesday
Monday: 2h, Tuesday: 6h, Wednesday: 6h, Thursday: 6h, Friday: 0h, Saturday: 0h, Sunday: 0h
Peak window
10 AM – 1 PM
strongest on Wednesday
Monday: 3h, Tuesday: 4h, Wednesday: 6h, Thursday: 3h, Friday: 1h, Saturday: 0h, Sunday: 0h
Peak window
9 AM – 12 PM
strongest on Thursday
Monday: 3h, Tuesday: 3h, Wednesday: 3h, Thursday: 3h, Friday: 3h, Saturday: 4h, Sunday: 3h
Bar height is how many hours of that day the study flags as a recommended window; the solid bar is the day the study ranks strongest. Those are two different measurements and they do not always agree — Threads has its widest window on Saturday but its best engagement on Thursday. A day with no bar is one the study names no window for at all.
Next step · from your AI
Know the slot. Let your AI hit it.
“Draft a post for each of my accounts and schedule each one at its platform's best time this week.”
All eight, one axis
Who is awake, hour by hour
Every network on the same 24-hour axis, so you can see which ones share a window and which one is alone in it. A cell is darker when more days of the week name that hour.
1 PM – 4 PM is the crowded block
7 of the 8 networks have a recommended window there. It is the widest reach available, and everyone else is posting into it too.
Mornings are nearly empty
At 9 AM only 3 networks are inside a recommended window: YouTube, Pinterest, Threads. Everything else does not start until around noon.
Only two networks work weekends
YouTube & Threads are the only ones with any recommended window on Saturday or Sunday. Every other study here lists the weekend among its worst days.
Where these numbers come from
Every window on this page is transcribed from a published study. None of it is estimated, and none of it is ours: we have not measured billions of engagements, so we cite the people who have. All three normalise to the audience's local time.
- Sprout Social, “Best Times to Post on Social Media in 2026” — Nearly 2 billion engagements across ~307,000 social profiles, 27 Nov 2025 to 27 Feb 2026. Published 2026-03-31.
- SocialPilot, “Best Time to Post on YouTube in 2026” — 301,000+ videos across 27,000+ YouTube channels. Published 2026-05-01.
- Buffer, “The Best Time to Post on Threads in 2026” — 2.5 million Threads posts. Published 2026-02-04.
So when is the best time to post on social media?
Across the three studies behind this page the answer clusters tighter than most guides admit: early afternoon on a weekday. Seven of the eight networks here carry a recommended window at 1 PM, and Tuesday to Thursday hold the widest windows on almost every platform. The exceptions are the useful part. Threads peaks in the morning at 9 AM, Pinterest runs late morning rather than evening, and YouTube is the only network with a real weekend recommendation.
These are aggregate benchmarks measured in the audience's own local time, which is why no timezone conversion is applied to them: 1 PM means 1 PM where your followers are. Use them to start a new account, then read your own analytics after three or four weeks and let those win.
Using the numbers
Four things that matter more than the exact minute
Post 15 to 30 minutes early
So the content is already live and gathering when the wave arrives, rather than showing up halfway through it.
The first hour decides the rest
Platforms read early engagement as a quality signal. Be around to reply to the first comments instead of posting and walking away.
Post for their clock, not yours
A follower in São Paulo is not on Madrid time. Set the control at the top to where the audience actually is and the page will tell you when to publish.
Then stop trusting this page
After three or four weeks your own analytics beat any benchmark, however large the sample. Use these numbers to get started, not to settle it.
FAQ
Questions people actually ask
Does the best time to post actually matter?
Why are times shown in my audience's timezone and not mine?
How do I find the best time for my own account?
Where does this data come from?
Can I schedule for these windows automatically?
Publish from your AI
Post to any of them from your AI
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