When do TikTok and Instagram posts get views? (2026 data)
We put every published 2026 study on posting times side by side, hour by hour, and added the year's engagement rate benchmarks. Use the charts, cite the numbers, and see where the studies agree and where they don't.
Key findings
- TikTok: Fri 3–7 p.m.The only window all 3 TikTok studies share. Around 4 p.m. is the hour the most study-days name.
- Instagram: weekday afternoons3 of 4 Instagram studies agree on Mon 2–9 p.m., Tue 1–8 p.m., Wed 12–9 p.m. None of the windows is shared by all 4.
- Best days: Wednesday and Saturday (TikTok), Tuesday (Instagram)Measured as the hours the studies recommend each day. Fewest: Monday on TikTok, Saturday on Instagram.
- Engagement: 2.01% on TikTok, 0.3% on InstagramThe median brand post, by followers (Rival IQ / Quid, 2026). Instagram was 0.36% the year before.
The charts
Each chart is an SVG you can embed. Times are in the audience's local time.
Day by day
Where at least two studies name the same hours, and how many studies give data that day.
| Day | Hours two or more studies share | Hours recommended (avg per study) |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 3–6 p.m. (2 of 3) | 2.0 |
| Tuesday | The studies don't overlap | 3.3 |
| Wednesday | 1–8 p.m. (2 of 3) | 4.0 |
| Thursday | 6–9 a.m. (2 of 3), 1–5 p.m. (2 of 3) | 3.0 |
| Friday | 3–7 p.m. (3 of 3) | 2.3 |
| Saturday | 10 a.m.–7 p.m. (2 of 3) | 4.0 |
| Sunday | 8 a.m.–2 p.m. (2 of 3) | 2.3 |
| Day | Hours two or more studies share | Hours recommended (avg per study) |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 2–9 p.m. (3 of 4) | 3.3 |
| Tuesday | 5–8 a.m. (2 of 4), 1–8 p.m. (3 of 4) | 4.3 |
| Wednesday | 12–9 p.m. (3 of 4) | 4.0 |
| Thursday | The studies don't overlap | 2.0 |
| Friday | 3–7 a.m. (2 of 4) | 1.8 |
| Saturday | The studies don't overlap | 1.5 |
| Sunday | 8 p.m.–12 a.m. (2 of 4) | 2.3 |
Turn these into your own time zone with the TikTok best-time tool or the Instagram best-time tool.
Engagement rate benchmarks, 2026
Measured as total interactions divided by follower count, across 150 companies chosen at random from each of 18 industries (Rival IQ / Quid: 2026 Social Media Industry Benchmark Report (March 5, 2026)). These are brand accounts; small creator accounts usually run higher.Work out your own rate from any post's numbers.
Method and sources
Each study publishes its best times per weekday, in the audience's local time. We copied those windows as written (a single time like "1 p.m." counts as one hour) and, for every day and hour, counted how many of the platform's studies name it. A darker square means more studies agree. Days a study doesn't cover are left out of that day's count. "Hours recommended" is the average number of hours a study names that day.
Every study comes from a scheduling or analytics company measuring posts made through its own product, mostly by brands and businesses, so the numbers describe brand accounts. We didn't collect any posts ourselves and we don't adjust what the studies say.
| Publisher | Study | Sample | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sprout Social | Best times to post on social media in 2026 (March 31, 2026) | Nearly 2 billion engagements on about 307,000 profiles of 30,000+ Sprout customers | TikTok, Instagram |
| Buffer | The best time to post on TikTok in 2026 (September 14, 2026) | 7.1 million+ TikTok posts published through Buffer | TikTok |
| Hootsuite | Best time to post on TikTok (November 19, 2025) | 1 million+ social posts across networks, with Critical Truth | TikTok |
| Buffer | The best time to post on Instagram in 2026 (September 23, 2026) | 9.6 million Instagram posts (part of a 52M-post study of 200,000+ accounts) | |
| Hootsuite | Best time to post on Instagram [2026 data] (July 14, 2026) | 1 million+ social posts across networks, with Critical Truth | |
| Later | Best time to post on Instagram in 2026 (April 21, 2026) | 6 million+ Instagram feed posts (Reels: 975,000+ analysed separately) | |
| Rival IQ / Quid | 2026 Social Media Industry Benchmark Report | 150 companies chosen at random from each of 18 industries | TikTok, Instagram |
Cite this study
UGCLive (2026). When do TikTok and Instagram posts get views? (2026 data). https://ugc.live/best-time-to-post-statisticsThe charts and numbers on this page are licensed CC BY 4.0: use them anywhere with a link to this page. The underlying studies belong to their publishers.
Questions
What is the best time to post on TikTok in 2026?
All 3 studies we track agree on one window for TikTok: Fri 3–7 p.m. (audience's local time). The studies recommend the most hours on Wednesday and Saturday and the fewest on Monday. Our TikTok posting-time tool turns this into your time zone.
What is the best time to post on Instagram in 2026?
No single window is shared by all 4 studies we track for Instagram; 3 of 4 agree on Mon 2–9 p.m., Tue 1–8 p.m., Wed 12–9 p.m. (audience's local time). The studies recommend the most hours on Tuesday and the fewest on Saturday. The Instagram best-time tool shows it in your time zone.
Do the studies agree with each other?
Partly. They agree most on weekday afternoons. They disagree outright on Tuesday for TikTok and Thursday and Saturday for Instagram, where no two studies name the same hours. That's why the charts show how many studies name each hour, not one "best" time.
What is a good engagement rate on TikTok and Instagram?
The median brand post gets 2.01% on TikTok and 0.3% on Instagram, measured as total interactions divided by follower count. Small creator accounts usually run higher. Check your own rate in under a minute.
Where does this data come from?
From the studies each publisher released for 2026 (Sprout Social, Buffer, Hootsuite and Later) and Rival IQ / Quid's 2026 benchmark report. We copied their published windows as written and read every page on 2026-10-14. We didn't collect posts of our own.
Can I use these charts?
Yes. The charts and numbers on this page are CC BY 4.0: use them anywhere, including commercially, with a link to this page. The underlying studies belong to their publishers; link to them too when you quote their numbers.
