Best Time to Post on Social Media in 2026, by Day
Best times to post on social media for every network, Monday to Sunday. Thursday at 9 AM leads on Instagram, Facebook and Threads.
Evgenii PlugarevPublished
The best time to post on social media is Thursday at 9 AM in your audience's local time. It's the top slot for Instagram, Facebook and Threads in 2026 engagement studies of millions of posts. Others peak elsewhere: X on Tuesday at 9 AM, LinkedIn on Wednesday at 4 PM, TikTok on Sunday at 9 AM, long YouTube videos on Sunday at 10 AM and YouTube Shorts on Friday at 4 PM. Pinterest's best slot is Friday at 12 PM.
Pick a network and your audience's location to see each day's best times on your clock.
Best time to post on Instagram
Thursday, 9 AM
Your audience's local time
| Day | Best times |
|---|---|
| Monday | 6 PM, 7 PM, 8 PM |
| Tuesday | 3 PM, 5 PM, 7 PM |
| Wednesday | 8 AM, 12 PM, 6 PM |
| Thursday | 7 AM, 8 AM, 9 AM |
| Friday | 6 AM, 9 PM, 10 PM |
| Saturday | 8 PM, 9 PM, 10 PM |
| Sunday | 8 PM, 9 PM, 10 PM |
Times are a starting point from aggregate engagement data. Test against your own analytics.
Best time to post on each network
Instagram, Facebook, Threads, X, TikTok and long YouTube videos peak in the morning, Pinterest at midday, LinkedIn and YouTube Shorts in the afternoon. The table shows each network's best day and hour, plus that day's top hours, in your audience's local time.
| Network | Best time | Top hours that day |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday at 9 AM | 7 AM, 8 AM, 9 AM | |
| Thursday at 9 AM | 8 AM, 9 AM, 10 AM | |
| Threads | Thursday at 9 AM | 9 AM, 10 AM, 11 AM |
| X | Tuesday at 9 AM | 9 AM, 10 AM, 11 AM |
| Wednesday at 4 PM | 3 PM, 4 PM, 5 PM | |
| TikTok | Sunday at 9 AM | 9 AM, 12 PM, 1 PM |
| YouTube | Sunday at 10 AM | 9 AM, 10 AM, 12 PM |
| YouTube Shorts | Friday at 4 PM | 4 PM, 6 PM, 7 PM |
| Friday at 12 PM | 12 PM |
On Instagram, Monday and Tuesday peak at 7 PM, Wednesday at 12 PM. From Friday the top hour moves late: 10 PM on Friday, 9 PM on Saturday and Sunday. These times cover all Instagram posts, Reels included. Each day's top hours are in our guide to the best time to post on Instagram.
Facebook rewards mornings: Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday peak at 8 AM. Monday peaks at 9 PM and Saturday at 10 PM. Each day's top hours are in our guide to the best time to post on Facebook.
Threads
The best time to post on Threads is Thursday at 9 AM. On other days, late morning to noon leads: 10 AM on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday, 11 AM on Sunday, and 12 PM on Monday and Wednesday.
X (Twitter)
X has the steadiest schedule: each day peaks at 9 AM or 10 AM. The best slot is Tuesday at 9 AM, and weekend mornings work too.
LinkedIn peaks in the afternoon: Tuesday and Wednesday at 4 PM, Thursday at 5 PM and Friday at 3 PM. Saturday peaks at 9 AM, Sunday at 10 PM. Each day's top hours are in our guide to the best time to post on LinkedIn.
TikTok
TikTok's weekday peaks spread across the day: 6 AM on Tuesday, 1 PM on Monday and Thursday, 10 PM on Wednesday, then 6 PM on Friday and 5 PM on Saturday. Each day's top hours are in our guide to the best time to post on TikTok.
YouTube and YouTube Shorts
Long YouTube videos do best in the morning and midday: Monday and Tuesday peak at 9 AM, Friday and Saturday at 12 PM. YouTube Shorts lean toward evenings, with the peak at 7 PM or 8 PM on most days. Both are broken down by day in our guide to the best time to post on YouTube.
Pinterest has one best hour per day. The top slot is Friday at 12 PM, Tuesday also peaks at 12 PM, Monday and Wednesday at 10 AM, Thursday at 6 PM, Saturday at 1 PM and Sunday at 4 PM.
Telegram
For a Telegram channel, the Views by hours chart in your statistics shows when subscribers read your posts.
Best time to post by day of the week
The best hour on every network for each day, in your audience's local time.
Best time to post on Monday
On Monday, the best time to post on Instagram is 7 PM.
- Instagram: 7 PM
- TikTok: 1 PM
- Facebook: 9 PM
- LinkedIn: 10 PM
- X: 9 AM
- YouTube: 9 AM
- YouTube Shorts: 8 PM
- Threads: 12 PM
- Pinterest: 10 AM
Best time to post on Tuesday
On Tuesday, the best time to post on Instagram is 7 PM.
- Instagram: 7 PM
- TikTok: 6 AM
- Facebook: 8 AM
- LinkedIn: 4 PM
- X: 9 AM
- YouTube: 9 AM
- YouTube Shorts: 8 PM
- Threads: 10 AM
- Pinterest: 12 PM
Best time to post on Wednesday
On Wednesday, the best time to post on Instagram is 12 PM.
- Instagram: 12 PM
- TikTok: 10 PM
- Facebook: 8 AM
- LinkedIn: 4 PM
- X: 10 AM
- YouTube: 7 AM
- YouTube Shorts: 7 PM
- Threads: 12 PM
- Pinterest: 10 AM
Best time to post on Thursday
On Thursday, the best time to post on Instagram, Facebook and Threads is 9 AM.
- Instagram: 9 AM
- TikTok: 1 PM
- Facebook: 9 AM
- LinkedIn: 5 PM
- X: 9 AM
- YouTube: 5 PM
- YouTube Shorts: 7 PM
- Threads: 9 AM
- Pinterest: 6 PM
Best time to post on Friday
On Friday, the best time to post on Instagram is 10 PM.
- Instagram: 10 PM
- TikTok: 6 PM
- Facebook: 8 AM
- LinkedIn: 3 PM
- X: 9 AM
- YouTube: 12 PM
- YouTube Shorts: 4 PM
- Threads: 10 AM
- Pinterest: 12 PM
Best time to post on Saturday
On Saturday, the best time to post on Instagram is 9 PM.
- Instagram: 9 PM
- TikTok: 5 PM
- Facebook: 10 PM
- LinkedIn: 9 AM
- X: 9 AM
- YouTube: 12 PM
- YouTube Shorts: 7 PM
- Threads: 10 AM
- Pinterest: 1 PM
Best time to post on Sunday
On Sunday, the best time to post on Instagram is 9 PM. Sunday is also the best day for TikTok, at 9 AM, and for long YouTube videos, at 10 AM.
- Instagram: 9 PM
- TikTok: 9 AM
- Facebook: 10 AM
- LinkedIn: 10 PM
- X: 9 AM
- YouTube: 10 AM
- YouTube Shorts: 7 PM
- Threads: 11 AM
- Pinterest: 4 PM
Why your audience's time zone matters
Every time on this page is local to your audience, not to you. A 9 AM slot in New York is mid-afternoon in London, so posting at 9 AM on your own clock can miss followers. Use the time zone where most of them live; network analytics show where.
The calculator above converts for you: choose where your audience is, and its table switches to your time. Pubblica's scheduler shows your time zone, so enter the converted time on your own clock.
How to find your own best time to post
Your followers may keep different hours than the studies above. Four networks show when your audience is online:
- Instagram. Insights shows the times your followers are most active on Instagram, by hour and day, once you have at least 100 followers (Meta Business Help Center).
- TikTok. In TikTok analytics, the Followers tab shows Most active times: when your viewers were on TikTok over the last 7 days (TikTok Creator Academy).
- YouTube. In YouTube Studio, open Analytics, then Audience, and find the When your viewers are on YouTube report for the last 28 days (YouTube Help).
- Telegram. Channel admins open Statistics from the channel profile, where the Views by hours chart shows when subscribers read posts. Advanced statistics are available for channels with more than 500 subscribers (Telegram).
On other networks, use post insights: sort recent posts by reach and note when the best ones went out.
Then test: post at the suggested hours for a few weeks, alternating with your usual times, and compare reach and engagement; our social media glossary explains how each network counts them. Keep the winners and recheck every few months.
Schedule posts for the best time with Pubblica
A scheduler lets you hit each network's peak hour without being online. In Pubblica you write a post, pick the accounts, set the date and time, and it publishes then. Plan the week in one sitting on one calendar.
The Free plan includes 20 posts a month on every network except X, with unlimited accounts and no card. Pro is $20 a month for unlimited posts on all 9 networks, with a 7-day free trial. See both plans of our free social media scheduler.