Compiled by the Zolyp team · Studies checked
Your own audience beats any average
Paste the times and results of your last posts and the free tool shows which days and hours work for your followers, in your time zone.
Find your best time to post on XWhat the published studies found
These are other companies' studies, summarised in our words with a link to each. They measure different accounts in different ways, so read them as a starting point to test, not a rule.
Sprout Social
Tuesday to Thursday from around midday to early evening were the strongest windows. Weekends were weakest, Saturday especially. All times are in the audience's local time.
Sample: Nearly 2 billion engagements across about 307,000 social profiles on six networks, from over 30,000 Sprout Social customers, collected 27 November 2025 to 27 February 2026.. Published 31 March 2026. Best times to post on X in 2026, checked 14 October 2026.
Buffer
Weekday mid-morning was most reliable. Tuesday morning was the top single slot, Wednesday, Tuesday and Thursday were the best days, and Saturday and Friday were lowest. Times are normalised so you read them as local time.
Sample: More than 8.7 million posts sent through Buffer. The number of accounts and the date range are not stated.. Published 13 March 2026. The Best Time to Post on Twitter/X in 2026: 8.7 Million Posts Analyzed, checked 14 October 2026.
Hootsuite
In its X section, Hootsuite found mid-morning on Wednesday to Friday best and very early morning worst. Times were localised across 118 countries.
Sample: Over 1 million social posts from businesses of all sizes, analysed with the data science agency Critical Truth. The number of accounts and the date range are not stated.. Published 19 November 2025. The best time to post on social media in 2025 (by platform), checked 14 October 2026.
Where they agree: All three put weekdays ahead, and Wednesday and Thursday appear in every study. Buffer and Hootsuite found mid-morning best, while Sprout Social found the strongest windows from midday to early evening. They differ on Friday: Hootsuite rates it highly, Buffer found it among the weakest days.
What X itself says
X's For you timeline mixes posts from accounts and topics you follow with recommended posts, chosen using a variety of signals. The Following timeline shows posts only from accounts you follow.
Source: X Help Center: About your For you timeline on X, checked 14 October 2026
X's Post Activity Dashboard is free. Its post list shows posts sent in the date range you pick, with all the results each has gathered since, and you can export the data as a CSV file.
Source: X Help Center: Common analytics discrepancies, checked 14 October 2026
How to see when your X audience is online
X's help pages don't describe a chart of when your followers are online. Its analytics do list your posts with their results, so you can work out your best times from your own data.
- Open X's analytics on the web. X's help centre points to analytics.x.com, which now redirects to x.com/i/account_analytics.
- Choose a date range of at least four weeks. The post list shows only posts sent in that range, each with all the results it has gathered since.
- Export the data as a CSV file and sort it by engagements or impressions.
- Group your posts by the hour and day they went out, and look for the slots that do consistently better.
- Try your best slot for two to three weeks with similar posts, then compare again.
Source: X Help Center: Common analytics discrepancies, checked 14 October 2026
Tips that work whatever the study says
- X moves fast, so timing matters more here than on most platforms. Post 30 to 60 minutes before the window you want to hit.
- Test one slot change at a time for two to three weeks, and compare similar posts, not a thread against a single post.
- Use your audience's time zone. If you post about local news or events, match the local morning.
- Keep a regular rhythm so your followers learn when to expect you and your data stays comparable.
- If you post several times a day, spread posts across your best windows rather than stacking them together.
- Our free tool at /tools/best-time-to-post works out your best times from your own post results.
Common questions
What is the best day to post on X?
Midweek. Buffer found Wednesday best, followed by Tuesday and Thursday. Sprout Social found Tuesday to Thursday strongest, and Hootsuite picked Wednesday to Friday. Saturday was weak in both Sprout's and Buffer's data.
Does posting time still matter on X?
Yes. The For you timeline uses recommendations, but X is still used heavily for news and live conversation, so posts that arrive when your audience is active tend to get seen sooner.
Does X analytics show when my followers are online?
X's help pages don't describe one. The Post Activity Dashboard lists your posts and their results and lets you export a CSV, so you can compare posts made at different times.
What time zone should I use for X?
Your audience's. All three studies give their times in the audience's local time. If your followers are spread out, pick the zone where most of them are.