Best Time to Post on TikTok, by Day and Time Zone
The heatmap combines the latest posting-time studies from Sprout Social, Buffer and Hootsuite. Darker hours are where more of them agree. Pick your time zone, and where your viewers live, to see the slots on your own clock.
Best TikTok slots for today
Finding your time zone…
Times are shown as your audience’s local time.
| 12a | 1a | 2a | 3a | 4a | 5a | 6a | 7a | 8a | 9a | 10a | 11a | 12p | 1p | 2p | 3p | 4p | 5p | 6p | 7p | 8p | 9p | 10p | 11p | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | Monday 8 AM: Buffer | Monday 11 AM: Buffer | Monday 1 PM: Buffer | Monday 3 PM: Sprout Social | Monday 4 PM: Sprout Social | Monday 5 PM: Hootsuite | ||||||||||||||||||
| Tue | Tuesday 6 AM: Buffer | Tuesday 7 AM: Buffer | Tuesday 10 AM: Hootsuite | Tuesday 11 AM: Hootsuite | Tuesday 12 PM: Hootsuite | Tuesday 2 PM: Sprout Social | Tuesday 3 PM: Sprout Social | Tuesday 4 PM: Sprout Social | Tuesday 5 PM: Sprout Social | Tuesday 10 PM: Buffer | ||||||||||||||
| Wed | Wednesday 6 AM: Buffer | Wednesday 1 PM: Sprout Social | Wednesday 2 PM: Sprout Social | Wednesday 3 PM: Sprout Social | Wednesday 4 PM: Sprout Social, Hootsuite | Wednesday 5 PM: Sprout Social, Hootsuite | Wednesday 6 PM: Sprout Social | Wednesday 7 PM: Sprout Social | Wednesday 9 PM: Buffer | Wednesday 10 PM: Buffer | ||||||||||||||
| Thu | Thursday 6 AM: Buffer | Thursday 7 AM: Hootsuite | Thursday 8 AM: Hootsuite | Thursday 1 PM: Sprout Social, Buffer | Thursday 2 PM: Sprout Social | Thursday 3 PM: Sprout Social | Thursday 4 PM: Sprout Social | Thursday 10 PM: Buffer | ||||||||||||||||
| Fri | Friday 3 PM: Sprout Social | Friday 4 PM: Sprout Social, Hootsuite | Friday 5 PM: Hootsuite | Friday 6 PM: Buffer | Friday 8 PM: Buffer | Friday 10 PM: Buffer | ||||||||||||||||||
| Sat | Saturday 10 AM: Hootsuite | Saturday 11 AM: Hootsuite | Saturday 12 PM: Hootsuite | Saturday 1 PM: Hootsuite | Saturday 2 PM: Hootsuite | Saturday 3 PM: Buffer, Hootsuite | Saturday 4 PM: Buffer, Hootsuite | Saturday 5 PM: Buffer, Hootsuite | Saturday 6 PM: Hootsuite | |||||||||||||||
| Sun | Sunday 8 AM: Hootsuite | Sunday 9 AM: Buffer, Hootsuite | Sunday 10 AM: Hootsuite | Sunday 11 AM: Hootsuite | Sunday 12 PM: Buffer | Sunday 1 PM: Buffer |
Sources behind the map
- Sprout Social: Best times to post on TikTok in 2026 · Mar 31, 2026 · About 2 billion engagements across 307,000 social profiles of 30,000 Sprout customers, Nov 27, 2025 to Feb 27, 2026 · When content got the most engagements · Times: local time of each audience
- Buffer: The Best Time to Post on TikTok in 2026: New Data from 7M Posts · Sep 14, 2026 · 7.1 million TikTok posts (videos, carousels, photos, text) published through Buffer · Median engagement rate by hour · Times: normalized so the times apply in local time
- Hootsuite: Best time to post on TikTok · Nov 19, 2025, updated Oct 2, 2026 · Hootsuite’s own experiments plus an analysis of 1 million social posts · Engagement by hour · Times: localized across the 118 countries in the sample
What the studies say, day by day
All times are in your audience’s local time. Buffer names single hours (best first); Sprout and Hootsuite name windows.
| Day | Sprout Social | Buffer | Hootsuite | Where 2+ agree |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 3–5 PM | 1 PM, then 11 AM and 8 AM | 5 PM | No overlap |
| Tuesday | 2–6 PM | 6 AM, then 10 PM and 7 AM | 10 AM–1 PM | No overlap |
| Wednesday | 1–8 PM | 10 PM, then 6 AM and 9 PM | 4–6 PM | 4–6 PM |
| Thursday | 1–5 PM | 1 PM, then 10 PM and 6 AM | 7–9 AM | 1–2 PM |
| Friday | 3–5 PM | 6 PM, then 10 PM and 8 PM | 4–6 PM | 4–5 PM |
| Saturday | Skip | 5 PM, then 4 PM and 3 PM | 10 AM–7 PM | 3–6 PM |
| Sunday | Skip | 9 AM, then 1 PM and 12 PM | 8 AM–12 PM | 9–10 AM |
Sources: Sprout Social, Mar 31, 2026, about 2 billion engagements from 307,000 profiles, Nov 2025 to Feb 2026. Buffer, Sep 14, 2026, median engagement rate of 7.1 million posts. Hootsuite, Nov 19, 2025 (updated Oct 2, 2026), its own experiments plus 1 million posts across 118 countries.
Best time to post on TikTok on each day of the week
The numbers come straight from the three studies above, in your audience’s local time.
Best time to post on TikTok on Monday
Sprout Social: 3–5 PM. Buffer: 1 PM, then 11 AM and 8 AM. Hootsuite: 5 PM. The studies don’t overlap on Monday, but they lean the same way: Buffer’s top slot is 1 PM, Sprout’s window is 3–5 PM and Hootsuite’s is 5 PM. The afternoon is the safe bet.
Best time to post on TikTok on Tuesday
Sprout Social: 2–6 PM. Buffer: 6 AM, then 10 PM and 7 AM. Hootsuite: 10 AM–1 PM. Tuesday is where the studies split the most: Buffer likes 6 to 7 AM, Hootsuite late morning, Sprout the afternoon. Test a morning and an afternoon slot.
Best time to post on TikTok on Wednesday
Where two or more agree: 4–6 PM. Sprout Social: 1–8 PM. Buffer: 10 PM, then 6 AM and 9 PM. Hootsuite: 4–6 PM. Wednesday has the cleanest weekday overlap. Sprout’s window runs all afternoon and Hootsuite’s 4–6 PM window sits inside it.
Best time to post on TikTok on Thursday
Where two or more agree: 1–2 PM. Sprout Social: 1–5 PM. Buffer: 1 PM, then 10 PM and 6 AM. Hootsuite: 7–9 AM. Thursday mornings show up in two studies (Hootsuite 7–9 AM, Buffer 6 AM), and Sprout and Buffer both like early afternoon.
Best time to post on TikTok on Friday
Where two or more agree: 4–5 PM. Sprout Social: 3–5 PM. Buffer: 6 PM, then 10 PM and 8 PM. Hootsuite: 4–6 PM. Friday leans late afternoon to evening in every study. Sprout and Hootsuite overlap from 4 to 5 PM, and Buffer’s top slot follows at 6 PM.
Best time to post on TikTok on Saturday
Where two or more agree: 3–6 PM. Sprout found no good time on Saturdays and says to avoid them. Buffer: 5 PM, then 4 PM and 3 PM. Hootsuite: 10 AM–7 PM. Saturday is the biggest disagreement. Buffer calls it the best day of the week and Hootsuite likes the whole 10 AM–7 PM stretch, while Sprout says to skip it. Your own analytics should decide this one.
Best time to post on TikTok on Sunday
Where two or more agree: 9–10 AM. Sprout calls Sunday the worst day of the week for TikTok. Buffer: 9 AM, then 1 PM and 12 PM. Hootsuite: 8 AM–12 PM. Sunday also splits the studies. Buffer’s single best slot of the week is Sunday at 9 AM and Hootsuite likes 8 AM to noon, but Sprout calls Sunday the worst day.
Why the studies disagree
The three studies measure different things. Sprout Social counts when posts got the most engagements across its customers’ profiles. Buffer ranks hours by median engagement rate, so a quiet hour can win if the posts in it did well relative to their reach. Hootsuite combines its own experiments with a sample of 1 million posts. Different yardsticks give different peaks.
They also study different accounts. All three samples come from people who use a scheduling tool, which skews toward brands, agencies and regular posters. If you are a solo creator with a young audience, your followers may keep very different hours from a retailer’s.
The biggest split is the weekend. Sprout found no good time on Saturday and calls Sunday the worst day. Buffer found the opposite: Saturday is its best day, and Sunday at 9 AM is its best single slot. When studies disagree this much, the honest answer is that it depends on the audience, so test it.
What they do agree on: weekday late afternoons are rarely a bad choice, Wednesday 4 to 6 PM and Friday 4 to 5 PM show up in more than one study, and the best time for your account is whenever your followers are on the app.
How to find your own best time in TikTok analytics
Studies are a starting point. Your follower data beats any of them once you have some.
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Open TikTok Studio
In the app, go to your profile, tap the menu (☰) and choose TikTok Studio. On a computer, sign in at tiktok.com and open TikTok Studio from your profile menu.
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Go to Analytics, then Followers
The Followers tab shows when your followers are most active, by hour and by day. Note the busiest hours and the time zone the chart is shown in.
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Put your peak into the heatmap
Set “Where most of your viewers are” to the time zone from your analytics (or the country most of your followers are in). The heatmap shifts so you can see the overlap between the studies and your audience on your own clock.
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Test two slots for two weeks
Post at a study window one day and at your follower peak the next. Compare views and watch time after the first day. Change one thing at a time, so the result means something.
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Lock in a schedule
Pick the two or three slots that won and post at them every week. A steady cadence trains your audience to expect you.
Timing tips that matter more than the exact hour
- Your hook beats your timing. A great slot won’t save a video people swipe past in the first second. Our guide to video hooks covers what to put up front.
- Post a little before the peak. A video posted as your followers arrive has time to collect its first views while they are scrolling.
- Consistency is a signal too. Two good slots you hit every week are worth more than a perfect slot you hit once.
- Mind your audience’s clock, not yours. If you live in London and your viewers are in the US, the US evening is your night. Use the second time-zone box above.
- Get the format right. Vertical 9:16 at 1080×1920 is the safe size. See TikTok video size and dimensions.
Post at your best times without setting an alarm
Short.now cuts your long videos into captioned TikToks, Shorts and Reels, then posts them for you on the weekly time slots you set, in your time zone. Auto-posting to TikTok, YouTube and Instagram is on the Creator and Pro plans.
Questions
There is no single answer. Sprout Social’s 2026 study says Tuesday to Thursday, 2 to 6 PM. Buffer’s 2026 study of 7.1 million posts says Sunday at 9 AM is the best single slot and Saturday the best day. Hootsuite points to Thursday 6 to 9 AM and Saturday 10 AM to 6 PM. Where they overlap, Wednesday 4 to 6 PM and Friday 4 to 5 PM are good weekday picks. All times are your audience’s local time.
The studies split. Buffer ranks Saturday at 3, 4 and 5 PM and Sunday at 9 AM among the best slots of the week, and Hootsuite likes Saturday 10 AM to 7 PM and Sunday 8 AM to noon. Sprout Social says to avoid both days. Post one weekend video and compare it with your weekday results.
Your audience’s local time. All three studies say they localize their results. If your viewers live in a different time zone than you, set “Where most of your viewers are” in the tool and it converts the slots to your clock.
Somewhat. TikTok shows new videos to a small group first and expands from there, so posting while your followers are active gives that first test the best chance. But content, hook and watch time matter more than the hour.
Open TikTok Studio, go to Analytics, then Followers. It shows the hours and days your followers are most active. Use that over any study once you have the data.
Yes. TikTok Studio on the web lets you schedule videos ahead, and third-party tools can post for you through TikTok’s API. Short.now does this for clips it makes from your long videos.
