Best Time to Post on Social Media in 2026: What 11.4 Million Brand Posts Show

The best day to post on social media is Sunday. In Vista Social’s analysis of 11.4 million brand posts published from November 2025 to October 2026, Sunday posts got more impressions than the same brand’s posts on other days on all seven networks we measured, from 3% more on TikTok to 10% more on YouTube. Brands also post the least on the weekend, which likely helps.

This guide gives the best days and times for Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, X and Threads, and how to find the right times for your own profiles. The full data, with heat maps for every network and results for 20 industries, is in our Best Times to Post on Social Media, 2027 Report.

How we measured the best times

The data covers 11.4 million posts from 62,622 brand profiles managed in Vista Social, both posts published through Vista Social and posts made directly on the networks. Every time is local time for the brand, in the time zone set for the profile.

Every number compares a brand with itself. For each brand, we compared the impressions of its posts on a given day, or at a given time, with its own posts at other days and times in the same quarter of the year, then took the median across brands. So “+7%” means the typical brand gets 7% more impressions from posts at that time than from its own posts at other times. Big brands don’t outweigh small ones, and a busy season doesn’t get mixed up with a busy day. Every percentage in this guide works the same way.

Two limits apply to every number. The data shows which days and times go with more impressions, not that the time causes them: a brand may save certain posts, like weekend events, for certain days. And each network counts impressions its own way, so compare days and times within a network, not one network against another.

Best times to post on social media, by network

Two patterns hold almost everywhere. The weekend beats weekdays, and the evening beats the morning. The busiest time for brand posts, 9am to 12pm, gets fewer impressions than other times on all seven networks.

Brands post least when posts get seen most

Brands publish only 14 to 22% of their posts on Saturday and Sunday, depending on the network, though the weekend is 29% of the week. On LinkedIn, just 6% of brand posts go out on Sunday. People don’t stop scrolling on the weekend, so one likely reason is that each brand post competes with fewer others for a place in the feed.

The time of day follows the same pattern. Brands publish 40 to 52% of their posts between 9am and 3pm, during the working day. After 9pm they publish only 3 to 9%, though posts from 9pm to 12am get more impressions than other times on six of the seven networks.

These numbers are per post. A brand still gets more total impressions on a weekday, because it publishes far more posts then. So the move is to shift some posts to the weekend and the evening, not to stop posting during the week.

The lead isn’t seasonal, and it isn’t a side effect of scheduling. In each of the four quarters from November 2025 to October 2026, Sunday posts got more impressions than posts on other days on all seven networks, from 2% more (LinkedIn, February to April) to 14% more (X from February to April, and YouTube from August to October). Posts published through Vista Social and posts made directly on the networks show a similar Sunday lift. Weekend posts also get more impressions on most networks when North American, UK and Australian brands are looked at separately.

[Must Read: Social Media Algorithm Guide for Agencies]

Timing changes reach more than engagement

A well-timed post gets seen more often. It doesn’t get a much bigger response. On every network, posts on any day of the week got within 3% of the engagements of posts on other days.

That means a lower engagement rate on the weekend. Sunday posts reach more people but get about the same number of engagements, so engagements divided by impressions falls on six of the seven networks, by up to 6% on YouTube. If your reports track engagement rate, expect a weekend schedule to lower it a little while total impressions go up.

If engagement is the goal, the time of day matters a little more than the day:

• Instagram posts published from 6pm to 9pm get 4% more engagements than other times, the largest time-of-day gain on any network.
• Posts published from 12am to 6am get 5 to 8% fewer engagements on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
• On Instagram, posts before 12pm get 4 to 5% fewer engagements.

What you post moves results much further than when. In our What Makes Social Media Content Perform, 2027 Report, YouTube videos of 1 to 3 minutes got 36% more engagement than the same brand’s other videos, a bigger effect than any day or time in this guide.

[Must Read: Ultimate Guide: How to Track Engagement on Social Media]

Best time to post on Facebook

Post on Facebook on Sunday or Saturday, in the evening. Sunday posts get 7% more impressions and Saturday posts 5% more. Posts from 6pm to 9pm get 5% more impressions, and the best single slot of the week is Sunday from 6pm to 9pm, at 13% more.

Mornings are the weakest time. Posts before 12pm get 3 to 5% fewer impressions, yet 9am to 12pm is when brands publish the most on Facebook (22% of posts). The weakest slot of the week is Thursday from 12am to 6am (-10%).

Best time to post on Instagram

On Instagram, the weekend and the evening win. Saturday posts get 5% more impressions and Sunday posts 4% more. Weekdays are within 2% of each other.

Posts from 9pm to 12am get 5% more impressions, and from 6pm to 9pm 4% more. The best single slot is Saturday from 9pm to 12am (+11%), with Saturday from 6pm to 9pm close behind (+9%). Evening is also the best time for engagements: posts from 6pm to 9pm get 4% more. Avoid 6am to 9am, which gets 5% fewer impressions.

Best time to post on LinkedIn

On LinkedIn, the day matters more than the hour. Sunday posts get 7% more impressions, though only 6% of brand posts on LinkedIn go out on Sunday. Among weekdays, Monday is best (+5%) and Friday worst (-3%).

From 6am to 12am, every time band lands within 1% of the others, so post when it suits your team. Avoid 12am to 6am (-6%). The best single slot is Sunday from 3pm to 6pm, at 16% more impressions.

Best time to post on TikTok

TikTok is the network where timing matters least. Sunday videos get 3% more impressions and Saturday videos 2% more. Every other day is within 1%. The best time of day is 9pm to 12am (+3%), and the best single slot is Saturday from 9pm to 12am (+4%).

For engagements, skip the overnight hours: videos posted from 12am to 6am get 5% fewer engagements.

Best time to post on YouTube

YouTube has the biggest weekend effect of any network. Videos that brands publish on Saturday or Sunday get 10% more impressions. Wednesday is the weakest day (-5%).

The best time of day is 9pm to 12am (+4%), and the best single slot is Saturday from 9pm to 12am, at 16% more impressions. Avoid 12am to 6am, which gets 7% fewer impressions and 8% fewer engagements. Use YouTube Analytics to see when your own subscribers are watching.

Best time to post on X

On X (formerly Twitter), post on the weekend and late in the evening. Sunday posts get 9% more impressions and Saturday posts 6% more. Posts from 9pm to 12am get 9% more impressions, and from 6pm to 9pm 5% more.

The best single slot is Saturday from 9pm to 12am (+16%). The weakest is Friday from 9am to 12pm (-7%), right in the window when brands publish the most.

Best time to post on Threads

On Threads, one window stands out: 9pm to 12am, when posts get 12% more impressions. Every other time band is within 2%, and Wednesday from 9am to 12pm is the weakest slot (-8%). Sunday posts get 7% more impressions, and the best single slot of any network in our data is Sunday from 9pm to 12am on Threads, at 20% more.

For more on Threads, see our guide to the best time to post on Threads.

Best time to post on Pinterest

Our report doesn’t cover Pinterest. Sprout Social’s 2026 data puts the best times on Tuesdays to Thursdays from 10am to 1pm. Sprout describes Pinterest as working more like a visual search engine than a feed, so posting steadily matters more there than hitting one exact hour.

Best times to post by industry

The best times shift by industry, and often by more than the network medians. The table covers industries where brands run many locations, like restaurants, clinics, salons and dealerships, on Facebook and Instagram. Across the 92 industry and network combinations in the report, Sunday is the best day in 49 and Saturday in 14.

A few results stand out:

• Evenings for local businesses: car dealers’ Facebook posts from 6pm to 9pm get 11% more impressions than the same dealer’s posts at other times, salons’ 6% more, and law firms’ 16% more.
• Real estate: Saturday is the best day on Facebook (+10%) and Instagram (+7%), and YouTube videos posted on Sunday get 38% more impressions than the same brand’s videos on other days.
• Grocery stores: on Facebook, Sunday posts get 9% more impressions and posts from 3pm to 6pm 10% more.
• Agencies, software and business services: Sunday is the best day on five of six networks, by up to 14% on YouTube and X, yet these brands publish only 12% of their LinkedIn posts on weekends.

The times are local to each profile. For a brand with locations in several time zones, 6pm means 6pm for each location. All 20 industries, with LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube and X, are in the industry section of the report.

How to find your brand’s best posting times

The numbers above are medians. Your audience, industry and time zone can move your best times. Three ways to find what works for you:

Check your own analytics

Look at which days and times your past posts got the most impressions and engagements. Compare like with like: a Sunday video against your weekday videos, not against a weekday text post.

If you manage several brands, locations or clients, Vista Social brings your analytics into one place, with custom and white label reports and scheduled client reports.

[Must Read: Master Social Media Analytics: How to Use Post Labels for Insightful Reports]

Test a weekend slot

Brands publish only 14 to 22% of their posts on the weekend, so most schedules have room to test it. Move a few posts you’d normally publish on a weekday morning to Saturday or Sunday evening, keep the content comparable, and compare impressions after four to six weeks.

Let Vista Social suggest your best times

Vista Social shows the best times to post for each profile, based on how that profile’s own posts performed over the last six months, by weekday and hour in your time zone. It also gives you:

• Scheduling: schedule posts in advance, so weekend and evening slots don’t need anyone online.
• Content calendar: plan every profile’s posts in one calendar and see where your best times fall.
• Analytics: track post performance across every network to check whether a new schedule is working.

The takeaway

Most brand posts go out on weekday mornings, when they get fewer impressions than other times. Moving some posts to the weekend and the evening is the simplest change our data supports. Then check your own results, because the right time for your brand can differ from the median.

P.S. If you’re new here, Vista Social is the social media management platform for enterprise brands, multi-location businesses, agencies and small teams. More than 30,000 brands and agencies use it to publish, engage, listen, report and manage reviews across every network. Larger teams get the approvals, permissions and security they need, and small teams get AI agents that keep social running without a full-time hire.

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FAQs on Best Time to Post on Social Media

Is it bad to post on weekends?

No. Sunday posts get more impressions than posts on other days on every network we measured, and Saturday posts do on six of seven, with about the same number of engagements. Brands publish only 14 to 22% of their posts on weekends, so there is likely less competition for attention.

Should I consider time zones when posting?

Yes. The times in this guide are local time for the brand. If most of your audience lives in another time zone, shift the times to their clock. For an audience spread across time zones, lean on the day of the week, because Sunday afternoon in New York is still Sunday in Los Angeles and London.

Does posting time affect engagement?

It affects impressions more than engagements. The day and time change a brand post’s impressions by up to 10% for the day and 12% for the time band, but engagements per post stay within 3% from day to day. Avoiding overnight posts is the main exception: they get 5 to 8% fewer engagements on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.

Does the type of content affect the best time to post?

The content matters more than the time. Format, length and whether a post carries a link move engagement further than any day or time in our data. See our content performance report for what works on each network.