Best Time to Post on Facebook: What 5 Studies Show

The best time to post on Facebook is Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, in your audience's local time. That much the major studies share. On the hour, they split: Buffer and Hootsuite favor early morning, Sprout Social favors 12–8 p.m., and a 2026 study that controls for account size finds 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. No hour is recommended by more than two of five studies.

So treat any published "best time" as a hypothesis. PostQuest, the scheduler I build, does not recommend posting times, so everything here comes from published studies, Meta's documentation, and a test you can run yourself. This guide compares five studies, explains why they disagree, shows what Meta says about how Feed ranking works, and gives you a four-week test you can run with Meta Business Suite insights to find the hours that work for your Page.

What is the best time to post on Facebook?

There is no single best hour to post on Facebook, but there is a well-supported starting point: Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday in your followers' local time, with three slots to test at about 9 a.m., 1 p.m., and 5 p.m. Each of those hours falls inside the published window of two of the five studies reviewed here. Buffer's analysis of 14 million Facebook posts (February 2026) ranks Thursday at 9 a.m. first. Sprout Social's analysis of nearly 2 billion engagements (November 2025 to February 2026) recommends Tuesday and Wednesday from 12 to 8 p.m. PostFast, which scores each post against its own Page's normal, finds 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. strongest (June to September 2026).

The studies agree more on days than on hours. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are strong days in every study that ranks days, and weekends are the weakest. On the hour, no slot wins more than two of five studies, and PostFast rates 9 a.m. its weakest well-sampled hour. So test the three slots against each other on your own Page and let your results decide.

What five studies say about the best time to post on Facebook

Each study measured something slightly different. The table summarizes what each one published, as reviewed on October 5, 2026.

Study	Sample and period	Time zone	Best window	Best days	Weakest
Buffer	14M Facebook posts; published Feb 26, 2026	Normalized; "no need to convert"	6–11 a.m. weekdays; Thursday 9 a.m. first	Wednesday, Thursday, Tuesday	Saturday; afternoons 12–5 p.m.; Sunday trails weekdays
Sprout Social	~2B engagements, ~307K profiles across six networks; Nov 27, 2025 – Feb 27, 2026	Local time	Tuesday and Wednesday 12–8 p.m.	Monday to Thursday	Weekends; Sunday lowest
SocialPilot	~700K posts from 50K+ accounts; updated Dec 14, 2025	"Global," no specific time zone	9 a.m.–3 p.m. weekdays	Monday to Friday	Sunday
Hootsuite	1M+ social posts, 2025 data; published Nov 19, 2025	Localized across 118 countries	5–8 a.m.; Tuesday 5 a.m. first	No day ranking	Late night, after 10 p.m.
PostFast	16,166 Facebook posts from 215 workspaces; June 6 – Sept 4, 2026	Audience's time zone	3 p.m. (1.18x) and 5 p.m. (1.17x)	Days nearly flat	9 a.m. (0.91x); Wednesday 0.96x

PostFast's figures are an index: each post is scored against its own account's median, so 1.00 means that Page's normal result and 1.18x means 18% above it.

To build the chart, I counted an hour as recommended when posts starting in that hour fall inside a study's published window. A range such as Sprout Social's 12–8 p.m. covers posts from 12 p.m. up to, but not including, 8 p.m. The highest count for any hour is two out of five.

Where the studies agree

• Midweek is safest. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are strong days in all three studies that rank days.
• Weekends are weak for most Pages. Buffer names Saturday the worst day; Sprout Social lists both weekend days as weak, with Sunday lowest; SocialPilot names Sunday.
• Late night is a poor default. Hootsuite reports flattened activity after 10 p.m., and none of the five headline windows starts after 8 p.m.

Where the studies disagree

The hour is contested. Buffer finds afternoons from 12 to 5 p.m. the weakest part of the day, while Sprout Social puts its peak in exactly that block and PostFast finds 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. the strongest hours. Hootsuite's 5 a.m. top slot is earlier than anything the others recommend.

If you post at 9 a.m., Buffer and SocialPilot support you, and PostFast rates it the weakest well-sampled hour (0.91x). At 3 p.m., the reverse is true. That is a useful sign that the hour matters less than any single chart implies.

What is the best day to post on Facebook?

The best day to post on Facebook is Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Buffer's analysis of 14 million posts (published February 26, 2026) ranks Wednesday first, then Thursday and Tuesday, with Saturday last. Sprout Social's data (November 27, 2025 to February 27, 2026) peaks on Tuesday and Wednesday from 12 to 8 p.m., names Monday through Thursday as the best days, and finds both weekend days weak, with Sunday lowest. SocialPilot recommends Monday through Friday and names Sunday the worst day. PostFast, which scores each post against its own Page's median, finds days within a few percent of each other, with Wednesday lowest at 0.96x. Treat the day as a tiebreaker, not a lever: midweek is the safe default, but moving a post from Monday to Wednesday will rarely change its results much.

Day	Named a best day (of 3)	Named a weakest day (of 3)	Practical starting point
Monday	2	0	Sprout Social sees a short peak at 12–1 p.m.
Tuesday	3	0	Strong in all three studies; a good test day
Wednesday	3	0	Buffer's best day; PostFast sees it slightly below normal
Thursday	3	0	Buffer's single best hour is Thursday at 9 a.m.
Friday	1	0	Sprout Social sees engagement drop after midday
Saturday	0	2	Skip unless your audience is active on weekends
Sunday	0	2	Buffer finds Sunday mornings decent; others rank it low

Hootsuite publishes a top slot (Tuesday 5 a.m.) but no day ranking, so it is not counted in the day tally. PostFast found days within a few percent of normal, with Wednesday lowest at 0.96x. Read that as a caution: the weekday pattern is consistent across pooled studies, but small once you control for which accounts post when.

Weekends are not always weak. Hootsuite's industry breakdown puts the best window for government agencies at 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays and for healthcare Pages at 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays. If your followers are consumers with weekend free time, test a Saturday or Sunday slot before you rule it out.

Why do best-time studies disagree?

They sample different customers, measure different outcomes, handle time zones differently, and let large accounts skew pooled averages. None of that makes a study wrong; each answers a slightly different question.

1. They sample different customers. Each dataset comes from the people who use that tool. A tool popular with B2B marketers will see office-hour peaks because its customers' audiences work those hours.
2. They measure different outcomes. Buffer and SocialPilot rank by engagement, Sprout Social counts engagements, and PostFast uses impressions. A post can earn many reactions from a small audience or wide reach with few comments.
3. They handle time zones differently. Sprout Social and PostFast report local time, Buffer normalizes its results, and SocialPilot says its times "do not belong to any specific timezone." Those choices can move a peak by hours.
4. Big accounts distort pooled averages. When large Pages post at certain hours, those hours look strong even if timing had little effect. PostFast's report (June 6 to September 4, 2026) scored each post against its own account's median. Scored the pooled way, its Facebook hours differed by up to 43x. Controlled, the gap across all hours fell to 2.2x, and PostFast notes that even that comes from two thinly sampled pre-dawn hours. Among hours with at least 300 posts, the controlled range was 0.91x to 1.18x.

The last point matters most for planning. In PostFast's controlled data, the weakest and strongest well-sampled hours sit at 0.91x and 1.18x of a Page's normal: a gap of roughly 30%, not multiples. A post people want to comment on will beat a weak post at the "best" hour. If your posts struggle, writing a stronger opening line is likely to help more than moving your schedule.

How does Facebook's feed ranking affect posting time?

Facebook Feed ranking is the process Meta uses to order posts by predicted relevance to each viewer. Because Feed is ranked, not chronological, timing helps mainly by putting your post in front of followers while it is still new. According to Meta's explanation of Feed ranking, the system works in four steps:

1. Inventory. Meta gathers "all potential new posts, or posts with new activity" from friends, Pages you follow, and groups you have joined.
2. Signals. It considers thousands of signals, such as who posted, how you interacted with them before, and the format of the post. Meta lists "time of day for the location where you are" among the signals about the viewer.
3. Predictions. Models predict how likely you are to comment, share, or spend time on a post, and whether it is likely to spark a conversation.
4. Relevance score. Each post gets a score, and higher scores appear higher in Feed. Meta's Feed system card says a lightweight model first narrows the inventory to about 500 posts before final scoring.

Two practical points follow. First, a post that is new or has new activity is in the running, so comments that keep arriving can extend its life. Replying to early comments is part of the timing strategy. Second, people can switch to a reverse-chronological view through the Feeds or Following tab, where recency is all that counts. For those followers, posting when they are online matters directly.

Is the best time to post Facebook Reels different?

Reels follow a separate ranking system. Meta's Reels system card says the inventory can include reels from accounts you follow and reels similar to those you have recently interacted with. That gives a Reel more ways to find viewers beyond your followers' first scroll.

None of the five studies publishes a separate Reels window. The closest evidence is PostFast's curve for video posts, which include Reels but are not broken out separately. In its June 6 to September 4, 2026 data, Facebook video posts peaked at 8 p.m. local (1.26x on 222 posts) and 5 p.m. (1.17x on 389 posts). On the same Page, a video earned a median 4.31 times the impressions of a photo, across 41 Pages. The sample is small, so if you post Reels, test an early-evening slot rather than assuming the morning windows apply.

How to find your own best time to post on Facebook

Meta Business Suite already records the numbers you need, so this test costs nothing but discipline. Schedule posts at three fixed hours for four weeks, then compare each post's Views at 48 hours with your Page's median. That is the same control PostFast used to strip big-account bias out of its data.

1. Pick three test slots

Choose one morning, one midday, and one late-afternoon slot in your audience's time zone. A reasonable default is 9 a.m., 1 p.m., and 5 p.m. on Tuesday through Thursday. Two studies support each (9 a.m.: Buffer and SocialPilot; 1 p.m.: SocialPilot and Sprout Social; 5 p.m.: Sprout Social and PostFast), but PostFast rates 9 a.m. its weakest well-sampled hour. That conflict is why you test all three instead of picking one. Keep the slots fixed for the whole test.

2. Rotate formats fairly

Publish comparable posts in each slot. If your Reels always go out at 5 p.m. and your link posts at 9 a.m., you are testing formats, not times. PostFast's 4.31x gap between video and photo posts (June to September 2026) shows how easily format can swamp timing. Rotate formats and topics so each slot gets a similar mix, and aim for at least four posts per slot.

3. Score each post against your median

In Meta Business Suite, open Insights, then the Content tab, which shows results for individual posts and reels. Record Views for each post at the same age, such as 48 hours after publishing. Meta defines Views as "the number of times your content was played or displayed," including reels, posts, stories, and ads. If you care more about conversation, record Content interactions as well. Then calculate:

Timing index = post views ÷ your median views per post

An index of 1.00 is your normal. An index of 1.25 means the post reached 25% more views than your typical post. Average the index for each slot.

Slot (illustrative)	Posts	Average timing index	Read
Tuesday–Thursday 9 a.m.	4	0.94	Slightly below normal
Tuesday–Thursday 1 p.m.	4	1.21	Clear lead; keep testing
Tuesday–Thursday 5 p.m.	4	1.02	About normal

These numbers are an example to show the calculation, not data from a real Page.

4. Keep the winner, then retest

Adopt a slot when it leads by a clear margin, such as 20% or more, across several posts. If the slots finish within a few percent of each other, timing is not your constraint. Keep the most convenient slot and put the effort into the content.

The Audience tab in Meta Business Suite also shows when your followers are more active on the platform. Use it to choose your three test slots, then let the test decide. Repeat the test each quarter or after a change in your audience, such as a campaign that brings in followers from a new region.

What time zone should you use to post on Facebook?

Use the local time of most of your followers, not your own. Every window above refers to the audience's local time. Meta Business Suite's Audience tab lists the top cities and countries where your followers live, so check it before you set a schedule. If most followers are in one region, schedule for that region even if you live elsewhere.

Audience	Starting slot	Why it works
Mostly US East Coast	9 a.m. and 1 p.m. ET	Matches the morning and midday windows
Across the United States	12–1 p.m. ET (9–10 a.m. PT)	Lunchtime in the East and morning in the West
UK and US East Coast	2–3 p.m. UK (9–10 a.m. ET)	Puts the 9 a.m. test slot in New York; afternoon in the UK
Western Europe	9 a.m.–1 p.m. CET	Covers most of Europe in one window
Global	Two slots, about eight hours apart	No single hour reaches every region during the day

Daylight saving time shifts cross-region gaps for a few weeks each year because the United States and Europe change their clocks on different dates. During those weeks the UK–New York gap is four hours instead of five. Recheck cross-region slots in March and in late October and early November.

What is a good Facebook posting schedule to start with?

If you want a schedule you can use this week, start with three posts that cover the three contested windows. Then run the four-week test before you change anything.

Day	Time (audience local)	Post type
Tuesday	9 a.m.	A routine update or tip (a test slot; PostFast found 9 a.m. its weakest well-sampled hour)
Wednesday	1 p.m.	A photo, carousel, or tip that invites comments
Thursday	5 p.m.	Your strongest post of the week, ideally a Reel or video

Rotate the post types across the slots in later weeks so you are not comparing a Reel with a photo. For a fuller weekly system with capacity planning and review, read how to build a consistent social media posting schedule. If you also post to Instagram, compare these slots with the best time to post on Instagram before you copy one schedule to both. For B2B Pages, compare your slots with the best time to post on LinkedIn.

What are the most common Facebook timing mistakes?

• Posting at a "best time" when nobody can reply. Comments keep a post in the running, so early replies matter.
• Comparing a Reel at one hour with a photo at another. Format differences can be larger than any hour effect.
• Trusting one strong post. A single post that spreads can make any hour look perfect. Use the median.
• Copying another time zone. A 9 a.m. ET slot is 6 a.m. in California.
• Ignoring Meta's own data. The Audience and Content tabs are free. Check them before you buy into any chart.
• Treating a personal profile like a Page. The studies come from scheduling-tool customers, who post mostly from business Pages. A personal profile's friends may follow a different pattern.

For the same approach on other networks, the best time to post on Twitter (X) applies this test to X, and the best time to post on social media guide compares every major network.

Schedule Facebook Page posts at your test times with PostQuest

A four-week test only works if posts go out at the same hour every week, including the busy weeks. That is the job I built PostQuest for: it is a social media scheduler for founders, creators, and small teams, and it publishes to Facebook Pages along with Instagram, LinkedIn, X, Threads, TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube, Bluesky, and Mastodon.

For a Facebook timing test, the useful parts are:

• A calendar for fixed slots. Schedule text, link, photo, carousel, video, Reel, and Story posts to your Page and see the whole test at a glance.
• Pre-publish checks. PostQuest checks each post against its Facebook rules before scheduling, including image type and size, carousel limits of 2–10 images, and Story video format. The Facebook specs page lists the current sizes and limits.
• Per-post analytics. PostQuest syncs impressions, reach, video views, reactions, comments, and shares for each published Facebook post, with its publish time. That gives you the inputs for the timing index. History depends on the plan, from 14 days on the trial to six months on Solo.
• AI assistant access. Through the PostQuest MCP server for Claude, you can ask your assistant to list recent Facebook posts with their metrics and group them by posting hour. AI-created posts stay drafts until you approve them.

PostQuest does not suggest best times automatically. If you only post to Facebook and Instagram, Meta Business Suite schedules posts for free and offers an Active times option that picks times when your audience is most active, according to Meta's scheduling help. Buffer and Sprout Social also offer best-time features. PostQuest suits you better when you publish the same plan to several networks. Review the PostQuest plans. The seven-day trial allows 20 scheduled or published posts, which is enough to set up your slots but not to finish a four-week test.