Why we don't publish one magic hour
The well-known best-time charts come from studies of millions of posts by other brands, in other countries and industries. They are useful to start with, and we link every one we summarise. But your followers have their own routine: a café's audience in Karachi and a law firm's in London are online at different times.
So each page below does three things: it summarises the published studies with their sample and date, says what the platform itself tells you, and shows the steps to see when your own followers are online. Then the free best-time tool works out your best days and hours from your own post results.
Best time to post on Instagram
Most published studies point to weekdays, with Tuesday to Thursday strongest and weekends weakest. They disagree on the hour: some favour late morning to evening, one found very early morning best. Treat those as starting points. Instagram Insights shows when your own followers are most active, and your own post results beat any average across millions of other accounts.
Best time to post on Facebook
The published studies agree that weekdays beat weekends on Facebook, with Tuesday to Thursday strongest. They disagree on the hour: two found mornings best, one found midday to evening. Use that as a starting point only. Meta Business Suite suggests active times from your own followers' activity, and your own results are a better guide than any average.
Best time to post on TikTok
On TikTok the studies disagree more than on any other platform. One found weekday afternoons best and Sunday worst; another found weekends and evenings best. That gap is the useful finding: there is no safe average. TikTok Analytics shows when your own followers are active, and testing against that will tell you more than any study.
Best time to post on LinkedIn
Published studies agree on midweek: Tuesday to Thursday do best on LinkedIn and weekends do worst. They disagree on the hour, from early morning to late afternoon. LinkedIn Page analytics doesn't show when your followers are online, so the honest way to find your time is to test a few slots and compare your own post results.
Best time to post on YouTube
Studies split on YouTube. Two found weekends, especially Sunday, slightly ahead for long videos; another found weekday afternoons best. Shorts seem to do better later in the day than long videos. One large study found the upload hour barely changed 30-day views. YouTube Studio shows when your own viewers are on YouTube, which is the better guide.
Best time to post on X
Published studies agree that weekdays work best on X, with Tuesday to Thursday strongest and Saturday weakest. Two found mid-morning best; one found midday to early evening. X's analytics don't show a chart of when your followers are online, so compare your own posts' results at different times. Your own data beats any average.