---
title: 'Best Time to Post on Pinterest: Hours, Days, and Seasons'
description: 'The best time to post on Pinterest, compared across four studies, plus the 45–60 day seasonal lead time and a four-week test for your own account.'
category: 'Social media scheduling'
author: 'Aleksandr Samokhin'
published_at: '2026-10-18'
updated_at: '2026-10-18'
related:
    [
        best-time-to-post-on-social-media,
        best-time-to-post-on-instagram,
        build-a-consistent-social-media-posting-schedule,
    ]
image: 'infographics/best-time-to-post-on-pinterest/featured-thumbnail.webp'
image_alt: 'Best time to post on Pinterest headline beside a calendar with a pin marker and a clock'
thumbnail: 'infographics/best-time-to-post-on-pinterest/featured-thumbnail.webp'
thumbnail_alt: 'Best time to post on Pinterest headline beside a calendar with a pin marker and a clock'
---

The best time to post on Pinterest, to the extent anyone can say, is a weekday between about 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. in your audience's local time, with Tuesday as the safest day. But the hour matters less on Pinterest than on most networks. The bigger timing decision is the season: publish seasonal Pins 45 to 60 days before the moment they target.

Pinterest timing data is also thinner than for Instagram or X. Two large studies give hours drawn from cross-network datasets, one gives evening windows without a methodology, and the largest Pinterest-only study found no universal best time at all. This guide compares them, explains the lead-time rule, and gives you a four-week test for your own account.

## What is the best time to post on Pinterest?

The best time to post on Pinterest is late morning to early afternoon on weekdays, in your followers' time zone. [Sprout Social's 2026 analysis](https://sproutsocial.com/insights/best-times-to-post-on-social-media/) of nearly 2 billion engagements recommends Tuesday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. [Hootsuite's data](https://blog.hootsuite.com/best-time-to-post-on-social-media/) lists one time for every day and calls 12 p.m. on Tuesday and Friday its overall best time. [Later](https://later.com/blog/best-time-to-post-on-social-media/) points the other way, to Tuesday through Friday from 8 to 11 p.m. [Tailwind](https://www.tailwindapp.com/pinterest/scheduling-and-publishing), which studied 1.2 million organic Pins, concluded that there is no universal best time. Only Tailwind's study is built on Pinterest accounts alone.

So treat any hour as a weak default rather than a rule. Pinterest is a search and discovery product: a Pin can be found through search for months, so the first few hours after publishing decide far less than they do on X or Instagram. What does matter is lead time. Pinterest advises planning your content calendar 45 to 60 days ahead, because people search for seasonal ideas long before the date arrives.

## What the studies say about the best time to post on Pinterest

The table summarizes what each source published when I reviewed them in October 2026. Notice how little methodology some of them disclose.

| Study                                                                                  | Sample and period                                                            | Time zone                       | Best window                                              | Best days         | Weakest days    |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------- | --------------- |
| [Sprout Social](https://sproutsocial.com/insights/best-times-to-post-on-social-media/) | ~2B engagements, ~307K profiles across networks, Nov 27, 2025 – Feb 27, 2026 | Local time                      | 10 a.m.–1 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday                      | Monday to Friday  | Weekends        |
| [Hootsuite](https://blog.hootsuite.com/best-time-to-post-on-social-media/)             | 1M+ posts across networks; period not stated; updated Nov 19, 2025           | Normalized across 118 countries | 12 p.m. Tuesday and Friday; one time per day             | Tuesday, Friday   | Not stated      |
| [Later](https://later.com/blog/best-time-to-post-on-social-media/)                     | Not disclosed; updated May 6, 2026                                           | Not stated                      | 8–11 p.m., Tuesday to Friday; 9 a.m.–12 p.m. on weekends | Tuesday to Friday | Not stated      |
| [Tailwind](https://www.tailwindapp.com/pinterest/scheduling-and-publishing)            | 1.2M organic Pins from 17K+ accounts, 2023–2024; success = outbound clicks   | Not applicable                  | "No universal best time"                                 | None identified   | None identified |

Buffer, which publishes one of the largest best-time datasets, has no current Pinterest study: its 2026 study omits Pinterest, and its [dedicated Pinterest timing article](https://buffer.com/resources/pinterest-scheduling-frequency-timing/) dates from 2015. Apart from Tailwind's, no recent Pinterest-only scheduler dataset is published.

![PostQuest field guide comparing weekday posting hours for Pinterest from four sources: Sprout Social 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Hootsuite single slots at 10 a.m., noon, and 6 p.m., Later 8 to 11 p.m., and Tailwind finding no universal best time. No hour is named by more than two of the three studies that give hours.](/infographics/best-time-to-post-on-pinterest/posting-windows.webp)

To build the chart, I counted a weekday hour as recommended when a study's published window covered posts starting in that hour. Hootsuite gives one time per day (10 a.m. Monday and Wednesday, 12 p.m. Tuesday and Friday, 6 p.m. Thursday), so each of those hours counts once.

### Where the studies agree

- **Weekdays are a safe default.** Sprout Social names Monday through Friday as its best days, Hootsuite calls 12 p.m. on Tuesday and Friday its best time, and Later's main window runs Tuesday through Friday.
- **Late morning to midday has the most support.** 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. are the only hours named by two studies.
- **Timing is a minor lever.** Hootsuite says Pinterest "prioritizes content through searchability rather than recency," and Later calls timing "less critical" there.

### Where the studies disagree

The split is daytime versus evening. Sprout Social and Hootsuite point to late morning and midday. Later points to 8–11 p.m. on weekdays. Weekends are contested too: Sprout Social calls them the worst days, while Later says weekend mornings work well for lifestyle and DIY content, and Hootsuite lists a Saturday 1 p.m. and Sunday 4 p.m. slot.

## What is the best day to post on Pinterest?

Tuesday and Friday have the most support as days to post on Pinterest. All three studies that rank days include both: Sprout Social lists Monday to Friday, Hootsuite lists a time for every day but calls 12 p.m. on Tuesday and Friday its overall best, and Later recommends Tuesday to Friday. Because Hootsuite covers every day, its vote is the weakest of the three. Wednesday and Thursday are named by two studies, Sprout Social and Later, though Sprout Social's strongest window, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., runs Tuesday to Thursday. Weekends are contested. Sprout Social ranks Saturday and Sunday weakest, Hootsuite still lists Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at 4 p.m., and Later suggests weekend mornings for lifestyle and DIY content. Because Pinterest says Pins have no set engagement window, the day works best as a tiebreaker. Put your most important new Pin on Tuesday, then test a Friday or weekend slot if your audience plans projects then.

![PostQuest field guide showing how many of the three day-ranking studies include each weekday as a best day to post on Pinterest: Tuesday and Friday 3, Wednesday and Thursday 2, Monday 1, and Saturday and Sunday 0. Sprout Social names both weekend days as weakest.](/infographics/best-time-to-post-on-pinterest/best-days.webp)

In the chart, a day counts for a study when the study recommends it as a best day. Hootsuite lists a time for every day, so I counted only Tuesday and Friday, the days of its overall best time. Sprout Social is the only study that ranks weakest days, which is why only Saturday and Sunday have weakest-day bars.

| Day       | What the studies say                                                     | Practical starting point                       |
| --------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------- |
| Monday    | Sprout Social: 10 a.m.–12 p.m. and 2–3 p.m.; Hootsuite: 10 a.m.          | Fine for evergreen Pins                        |
| Tuesday   | Sprout Social: 7 a.m. and 10 a.m.–1 p.m.; Hootsuite best time, 12 p.m.   | Publish your most important new Pin            |
| Wednesday | Sprout Social: 8 a.m.–1 p.m. and 3 p.m.; Hootsuite: 10 a.m.              | Good slot for a second new Pin                 |
| Thursday  | Sprout Social: 10–11 a.m. and 2–4 p.m.; Hootsuite: 6 p.m.                | Good day to test an evening slot               |
| Friday    | Sprout Social: 10–11 a.m.; Hootsuite top slot at 12 p.m.                 | Ties Tuesday; suits weekend-planning Pins      |
| Saturday  | Sprout Social: weakest; Hootsuite: 1 p.m.; Later: mornings for lifestyle | Test only if your audience plans projects then |
| Sunday    | Sprout Social: weakest; Hootsuite: 4 p.m.; Later: mornings for lifestyle | Same as Saturday                               |

## Why does timing matter less on Pinterest?

Pinterest describes itself as "a visual search and discovery platform where people find inspiration, curate ideas and shop products" on its [investor overview](https://investor.pinterestinc.com/overview/default.aspx). That changes how a Pin earns attention. On X or Threads, a post lives or dies in its first hours. On Pinterest, people find Pins by searching and browsing ideas long after they were published.

Pinterest's own help center is explicit about this. Its article on [Pin performance and distribution](https://help.pinterest.com/en/business/article/pin-performance-and-distribution) says, "There's no set engagement window for Pins, so it's possible that a Pin can gain engagement hours, days, months, or even years after it's first published." It adds that "high quality, relevant Pins can continue to resurface seasonally," and that distribution depends on factors such as language, location, seasons, holidays, formats, and trending topics.

Tailwind's research points the same way. After measuring outbound clicks on 1.2 million Pins, it wrote: "Timing didn't predict success. So what did? Consistency, and fresh content, including alt text on every Pin."

## Why do the Pinterest timing studies disagree?

Each source scored a different outcome on a different set of accounts. These five gaps account for most of the disagreement.

1. **They measure different outcomes.** Sprout Social counts engagements. Tailwind measures outbound clicks, the metric that represents traffic to your site. A Pin can collect saves at one hour and clicks at another.
2. **Most of the data is not Pinterest-first.** Sprout Social and Hootsuite publish Pinterest times from datasets that span every network they support. Tailwind is the only source here built on Pinterest accounts alone.
3. **They handle time zones differently.** Sprout Social reports local time. Hootsuite normalizes across 118 countries. Later does not say.
4. **Methodology is uneven.** Later publishes Pinterest windows without a sample size or period, and Hootsuite does not state its period. Weigh these sources accordingly.
5. **Pins have a long tail.** A study that scores early engagement measures something different from one that counts clicks over a longer period.

If your Pins underperform, check keywords, titles, images, and seasonal timing before you move your posting hour. The hour carries more weight on feed-first networks; the [best time to post on Instagram](/blog/best-time-to-post-on-instagram) guide covers one of them.

## When should you publish seasonal Pins?

Seasonal timing is the part of Pinterest scheduling that actually moves results. Pinterest's [Create fundamentals](https://create.pinterest.com/fundamentals/) advise you to "plan your content calendar 45–60 days in advance for maximum relevance." Its [2026 marketing moments guide](https://business.pinterest.com/blog/pinterest-brand-moments-guide-2026/), published January 15, 2026, puts it more directly: "If the moment peaks in June, launch in April."

For the end-of-year holidays, Pinterest goes earlier still. Its [2026 holiday guide](https://business.pinterest.com/blog/holiday-2026-starts-now-a-pinterest-guide-to-success/), published July 30, 2026, tells advertisers to "go live as early as possible between September and November."

![PostQuest field guide showing when to start publishing seasonal Pins: a 45 to 60 day window before each moment from Thanksgiving 2026 to Halloween 2027, calculated from Pinterest's planning guidance. Valentine's Day 2027 Pins should start between December 16 and December 31, 2026.](/infographics/best-time-to-post-on-pinterest/seasonal-lead-time.webp)

The table applies Pinterest's 45–60 day guidance to the next year of US calendar moments. The publishing windows are my calculation from that rule, not dates Pinterest published.

| Moment                | Date          | Start publishing (60–45 days before) | Note                                              |
| --------------------- | ------------- | ------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------- |
| Thanksgiving (US)     | Nov 26, 2026  | Sep 27 – Oct 12, 2026                | Ideal window ended Oct 12; a late Pin beats none  |
| Christmas and gifting | Dec 25, 2026  | Oct 26 – Nov 10, 2026                | Pinterest's holiday guide says September–November |
| New Year's            | Jan 1, 2027   | Nov 2 – Nov 17, 2026                 | Goals, planners, and party ideas                  |
| Valentine's Day       | Feb 14, 2027  | Dec 16 – Dec 31, 2026                | Gifts, date ideas, and Galentine's Pins           |
| Easter                | Mar 28, 2027  | Jan 27 – Feb 11, 2027                | Date moves every year; recheck it                 |
| Mother's Day (US)     | May 9, 2027   | Mar 10 – Mar 25, 2027                | Gift guides and recipes                           |
| Summer                | Peaks in June | April                                | Pinterest's own example                           |
| Father's Day (US)     | Jun 20, 2027  | Apr 21 – May 6, 2027                 | Overlaps with summer content                      |
| Halloween             | Oct 31, 2027  | Sep 1 – Sep 16, 2027                 | Costumes and decor                                |

You do not have to guess when interest starts for your niche. The [Pinterest Trends tool](https://help.pinterest.com/en/business/article/pinterest-trends) shows up to two years of search, save, and shopping trends by region, shows whether a trend is seasonal, and tracks moments as interest builds, peaks, and cools. Look up your main keywords, find when the curve starts rising, and publish a few weeks before that point. Pinterest also publishes an annual trend forecast, [Pinterest Predicts](https://business.pinterest.com/pinterest-predicts/), if you want ideas for the year ahead.

## How to find your own best time to post on Pinterest

The studies give you a starting point. This four-week test shows whether the hour matters for your own account.

![PostQuest field guide showing a four-week Pinterest timing test: pick three slots, rotate comparable Pins, score each Pin at seven days against your median, and keep a slot only if it leads by 20 percent or more. An illustrative example shows 11 a.m. at 1.06, 2 p.m. at 1.02, and 9 p.m. at 0.95, which means timing is not the lever.](/infographics/best-time-to-post-on-pinterest/four-week-test.webp)

### 1. Pick three slots

Choose one late-morning, one afternoon, and one evening slot in your audience's time zone. A fair default based on the studies is 11 a.m., 2 p.m., and 9 p.m. on Tuesday through Thursday. Keep the slots fixed for four weeks.

### 2. Rotate comparable Pins

Spread formats, boards, and topics evenly across the slots, or you will be testing content rather than time. Aim for at least four Pins per slot, and leave seasonal Pins out of the test.

### 3. Score each Pin at seven days

You need a [Pinterest business account](https://help.pinterest.com/en/business/article/pinterest-analytics) to see analytics. Pinterest defines the core metrics this way:

- **Impressions:** the number of times your Pins were on screen.
- **Saves:** the number of times people saved your Pin to a board.
- **Pin clicks:** clicks that open your Pin in closeup.
- **Outbound clicks:** actions that take people to a destination off Pinterest.

Pinterest labels the last 48 hours of data as real-time estimates, so read each Pin's numbers at the same age, such as seven days. Then calculate a timing index:

> Timing index = Pin impressions at 7 days ÷ your median impressions at 7 days

Use outbound clicks instead of impressions if traffic is your goal. An index of 1.00 is your normal. Average the index for each slot.

| Slot (illustrative)      | Pins | Average timing index | Read                    |
| ------------------------ | ---: | -------------------: | ----------------------- |
| Tuesday–Thursday 11 a.m. |    4 |                 1.06 | Within normal variation |
| Tuesday–Thursday 2 p.m.  |    4 |                 1.02 | Within normal variation |
| Tuesday–Thursday 9 p.m.  |    4 |                 0.95 | Within normal variation |

The figures are made up to show the arithmetic; they do not come from a real account.

### 4. Decide, then move on

Adopt a slot only if it leads by a clear margin, such as 20% or more across several Pins. If the slots land within a few percent of each other, as in the example, timing is not your lever. Keep the most convenient slot and spend the effort on keywords, images, and seasonal lead time. Retest once or twice a year.

Pinterest's analytics help page does not describe an hourly breakdown, so record each Pin's publish time yourself or use a scheduler that stores it.

## Which time zone should you schedule Pins for?

All the hours above are in your audience's local time. When most of your audience sits in one region, schedule for that region, wherever you happen to live.

| Audience                 | Starting slot                    | Why it works                                          |
| ------------------------ | -------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- |
| Mostly US East Coast     | 10 a.m.–1 p.m. ET                | Matches the midday window with the most support       |
| Across the United States | 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT)           | Early afternoon in the East, late morning in the West |
| UK and US East Coast     | 3–5 p.m. UK (10 a.m.–12 p.m. ET) | Afternoon in the UK and late morning in New York      |
| Western Europe           | 10 a.m.–1 p.m. CET               | Covers most of Europe in one window                   |
| Global                   | Spread Pins across the day       | Search traffic arrives around the clock               |

Because Pins are found through search, a global audience matters less on Pinterest than on X.

## A starter Pinterest posting schedule

If you want a schedule you can use this week, start with the overlap between the studies and add the seasonal layer on top.

| When                          | What to publish                                           | Why                                           |
| ----------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------- |
| Tuesday, 11 a.m.              | A fresh Pin for your strongest evergreen idea             | Midday window with the most study support     |
| Wednesday, 2 p.m.             | A new Pin for an existing page, with a new image or title | Fresh content on proven URLs                  |
| Friday, 9 p.m.                | A test Pin in the evening slot                            | Checks Later's evening window on your account |
| 45–60 days before each moment | Seasonal Pins                                             | Matches Pinterest's planning guidance         |

Pinterest recommends "a consistent posting cadence" without naming a number, so pick a pace you can sustain for months. A steady weekly rhythm beats a burst followed by silence. For a fuller weekly system, read [how to build a consistent social media posting schedule](/blog/build-a-consistent-social-media-posting-schedule). If you run out of ideas, [content pillars](/blog/choose-content-pillars-that-generate-ideas) give each slot a clear theme, and you can [turn one content idea into five posts](/blog/turn-one-content-idea-into-five-posts), with Pinterest getting the most visual version.

## Common Pinterest timing mistakes

- **Publishing seasonal Pins on the holiday.** By then most people have finished planning. Start 45 to 60 days ahead.
- **Judging a Pin after one day.** Pins can gain traction for months. Compare Pins at the same age.
- **Optimizing the hour before the basics.** Keywords, titles, images, and alt text affect distribution more than the time you post.
- **Treating cross-network studies as Pinterest truth.** Most published times come from datasets that span every network.
- **Moving the slot and switching formats in the same week.** The result can no longer be traced to either change.
- **Forgetting the time zone.** A 10 a.m. ET slot is 7 a.m. in California.

## Schedule Pinterest Pins with PostQuest

A scheduler helps with both halves of Pinterest timing: fixed weekly slots and seasonal Pins queued weeks ahead. PostQuest is a social media scheduler for founders, creators, and small teams. It supports Pinterest alongside Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X, Threads, TikTok, YouTube, Bluesky, and Mastodon.

For Pinterest, PostQuest covers:

- **Boards, titles, and links.** Pick a board or create one, add a Pin title of up to 100 characters, and set the destination link.
- **Pre-publish checks.** PostQuest checks Pins against Pinterest's rules before they are scheduled: an 800-character description, JPEG or PNG images up to 10 MB with a 2:3 recommended ratio, MP4 or MOV video from 4 seconds to 15 minutes, and two to five equally sized images for a carousel. The [Pinterest specs page](/specs/pinterest) lists the full requirements.
- **Calendar scheduling.** Queue Valentine's Day Pins in December and see them next to your weekly slots.
- **Per-Pin analytics.** PostQuest syncs impressions, saves, reactions, comments, follows, and video views for Pins it publishes, with the publish time. It does not sync outbound clicks or Pin clicks, so use Pinterest Analytics for traffic. Comparing a seasonal Pin with last year's needs a year of history, which the Pro and Agency plans keep.
- **AI assistant drafts.** Through the [PostQuest MCP server for Claude](/mcp/claude), you can ask your assistant to draft seasonal Pins. They stay drafts until you approve scheduling.

PostQuest does not suggest best times or plan seasonal lead times for you. If Pinterest is your main channel and you want automatic slot suggestions, Tailwind's SmartSchedule is built for Pinterest, and Sprout Social and Hootsuite offer best-time features across networks. You can review the current [PostQuest plans](/#pricing), which start with a seven-day trial. For timing on every other network, see the [best time to post on social media](/blog/best-time-to-post-on-social-media) hub, or compare with the [best time to post on Twitter (X)](/blog/best-time-to-post-on-twitter).

## Frequently asked questions

### Is it better to post on Pinterest in the morning or at night?

The studies split. Sprout Social recommends 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesday through Thursday, Hootsuite's overall best time is 12 p.m. on Tuesday and Friday, and Later recommends 8 to 11 p.m. on weekdays. Tailwind found no universal best time. Start with a late-morning slot, test one evening slot for four weeks, and keep whichever performs better on your account.

### How far ahead should I post seasonal Pins?

Start 45 to 60 days before the moment. Pinterest's Create guidance says to plan your content calendar 45–60 days ahead, and its 2026 moments guide says a moment that peaks in June should launch in April. For Christmas and holiday gifting, Pinterest's 2026 guide recommends going live between September and November. Check Pinterest Trends to see when searches in your niche start rising.

### Does the time you post on Pinterest really matter?

Less than on most networks. Pinterest's help center says there is no set engagement window and that Pins can gain engagement days, months, or years after publishing. Tailwind's study of 1.2 million Pins found that timing did not predict outbound clicks, while consistency and fresh content did. Pinterest does not say that posting time affects distribution, so treat the hour as a tiebreaker.

### How often should I post on Pinterest?

Pinterest does not publish a required number. Its Create guidance recommends a consistent posting cadence built from a mix of evergreen, trending, and seasonal ideas. Tailwind found that consistency and fresh content predicted success better than timing. Choose a weekly pace you can keep for months, such as three fresh Pins a week (my starting suggestion, not a Pinterest figure), and add seasonal Pins 45 to 60 days before key moments.