Best Time to Post on Instagram: Day-by-Day Tool by Collabios

When is the best time to post on Instagram? It depends on when your followers are online, and studies disagree. This page shows the best times to post on Instagram by day, today and for 2026, and where studies overlap on your clock.

Updated 2026-10-28Sources citedFree · no signupReviewed by Ghassen Daoud

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Where published studies overlap on Instagram

A window is listed only when at least two independent studies cover the same hour for at least one hour. Times are the audience's local time, as the studies measure them. Studies from the same publisher count once. Nothing here is averaged.

Overlap of independent studies by weekday, Instagram
Day	Result	Overlap window (audience local time)	Studies
Monday	Corroborated	3 pm to 4 pm; 6 pm to 9 pm	Hootsuite (with Critical Truth), Sprout Social, Buffer
Tuesday	Corroborated	3 pm to 7 pm	Buffer, Hootsuite (with Critical Truth), Sprout Social
Wednesday	Corroborated	12 pm to 1 pm; 5 pm to 7 pm	Buffer, Sprout Social, Hootsuite (with Critical Truth)
Thursday	Sources disagree	None	Sprout Social, Buffer, Hootsuite (with Critical Truth)
Friday	Sources disagree	None	Buffer, Hootsuite (with Critical Truth)
Saturday	Sources disagree	None	Buffer, Hootsuite (with Critical Truth)
Sunday	Sources disagree	None	Buffer, Hootsuite (with Critical Truth)

Studies behind the Instagram times

Each row is a published study we read on the date shown. Several publishers sell scheduling or analytics software, so treat them as vendor data. Collabios has no performance data of its own on this topic.

Source studies for Instagram: publisher, date, sample, metric and time-zone basis
Publisher	Published	Sample	Metric	Time zone	Read on
Sprout Social	2026-03-31	Nearly 2 billion engagements from roughly 307,000 profiles (six networks pooled) engagements, Sprout Social customers, worldwide, all six networks pooled, 27 Nov 2025 to 27 Feb 2026	Engagement volume	Audience local time	2026-10-28
Buffer	2026-09-23	9.6 million Instagram posts (part of a 52M+ post, 200,000+ account study) posts, Buffer user accounts, worldwide, all formats pooled, Jan 2024 to Dec 2025	Median engagement rate	Audience local time	2026-10-28
Hootsuite (with Critical Truth)	2026-07-14	Over 1 million social posts posts, Business accounts of all sizes, 118 countries, all formats pooled, not stated for the 2026 analysis	Not defined by the publisher	Audience local time	2026-10-28
Metricool	2026-06-18	24,364,803 posts from 375,118 accounts posts, Metricool 2026 Instagram study, worldwide, not stated	Not defined by the publisher	Not stated	2026-10-28
Sociality.io	2026-10-02	335,210 organic posts from 2,658 accounts posts, Sociality.io tracked accounts, worldwide, 1 Aug 2025 to 31 Jul 2026	Win rate vs own median	Not stated	2026-10-28
Sprout Social (UK edition)	2026-03-31	21.6 million tracked engagements (Instagram) engagements, Sprout Social customers, brand accounts in the United Kingdom, not stated	Engagement volume	Fixed zone (Europe/London)	2026-10-28
Sprout Social (Australia edition)	2026-03-31	Over 68 million engagements (all six networks, no Instagram-only count) engagements, Sprout Social customers, brand accounts in Australia, not stated	Engagement volume	Fixed zone (Australia/Brisbane)	2026-10-28

Best time to post on Instagram by day

Best time to post on Instagram on Monday

Two windows are corroborated for Monday, both in audience local time. Sprout Social (2026) lists 2 to 4 pm and Hootsuite (2026) lists 3 to 9 pm, so they overlap from 3 to 4 pm. Buffer (2026) lists 6 to 9 pm, which sits inside the Hootsuite range.

Best time to post on Instagram on Tuesday

Tuesday has the strongest agreement: Sprout Social, Buffer and Hootsuite all list 3 to 4 pm and 5 to 6 pm in audience local time. Sprout Social and Hootsuite also both cover the whole stretch from 3 to 7 pm. Hootsuite alone adds an early window, 5 to 8 am.

Best time to post on Instagram on Wednesday

Two windows are corroborated in audience local time. Sprout Social and Buffer both include 12 to 1 pm. Sprout Social also overlaps Hootsuite at 5 to 6 pm and Buffer at 6 to 7 pm, so 5 to 7 pm has two sources throughout. Buffer alone lists 8 to 9 am.

Best time to post on Instagram on Thursday

No window is corroborated for Thursday. Buffer lists 7 to 10 am, Sprout Social 12 to 2 pm and Hootsuite 4 to 5 pm, and none of them overlap. Treat it as an open question and test it in your own Insights.

Best time to post on Instagram on Friday

No window is corroborated for Friday. Buffer lists 6 to 7 am and 9 to 11 pm but rates the day Low itself, Hootsuite lists 4 to 5 pm, and Sprout Social lists no Friday window. The studies do not overlap.

Best time to post on Instagram on Saturday

No window is corroborated for Saturday. Buffer lists 8 to 11 pm and rates the day Low, Hootsuite lists 11 am to 12 pm and 5 to 6 pm, and Sprout Social lists no Saturday window. The studies do not overlap.

Best time to post on Instagram on Sunday

No window is corroborated for Sunday. Buffer lists 8 to 11 pm and Hootsuite lists 12 to 3 pm. Those are different parts of the day, so the studies disagree. Check your own most active times for Sunday.

What Instagram says about timing

Feed ranking uses when a post was shared and how quickly people like, comment, share and save it, among many signals; the article gives no best-time-to-post advice (dated 31 May 2023). Instagram: Instagram Ranking Explained (read 2026-10-28).

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Frequently asked questions

There is no single best time. In audience local time, Tuesday 3 to 4 pm is the clearest overlap, because Sprout Social, Buffer and Hootsuite all list it. Other days are weaker. Confirm any window against your own most active times.

It is the hour your followers are online and engaging, which differs by account. Studies measure different things and often disagree, so use windows where independent studies overlap as a starting point, then test them.

Afternoon and early evening appear most often: Sprout Social, Buffer and Hootsuite all cover parts of 3 to 7 pm on weekdays. Morning and late-night windows appear in single studies only, so treat them as untested.

Timing is one signal among many. Instagram says ranking looks at when a post was shared and how fast people like, comment, share and save it, but it gives no best-time advice. Posting when your followers are active helps that early engagement.

Probably, but no study listed here measures it for the general audience. Choose where your audience is, and the tool shows each window on that clock and on yours. Two Sprout Social editions publish brand-account windows for one country each.

The studies listed here pool all formats, so none gives a Reels-only window or a best time to post a Reel for engagement or likes. Open the Reels section of your own insights, compare it with your feed posts, then test slots before changing your schedule.

Tuesday has the strongest agreement: Sprout Social, Buffer and Hootsuite all list 3 to 4 pm in audience local time. Monday and Wednesday have weaker overlaps. Thursday to Sunday have no corroborated window, so check the day sections and your own insights.

Open your Most active times chart in Instagram Insights and note the top hours. Use the times above as a starting point, then test a few slots and compare.