Last updated: 5 November 2026
The best time to post on TikTok is Sunday at 9am, according to the biggest study published this year. Buffer looked at 7.1 million TikTok posts and found that Sunday 9am, Monday 1pm and Sunday 1pm were the three strongest slots. Saturday was the best day overall, and evenings between 6pm and 11pm did well across the week.
There is a catch. TikTok does not publish a universal best time, and other studies disagree with Buffer. So treat these times as a starting point, then check your own followers’ activity in TikTok Analytics. This guide shows you the times, the day-by-day breakdown and exactly how to find your own best slot.
Quick Answer: Best Times to Post on TikTok in 2026
| Category | Buffer’s 2026 finding |
|---|---|
| Best single time | Sunday, 9am |
| Second-best time | Monday, 1pm |
| Third-best time | Sunday, 1pm |
| Best day overall | Saturday |
| Strong evening window | 6pm to 11pm |
Best Time to Post on TikTok by Day of the Week
The table below shows Buffer’s top slot for each day, plus what two other studies reported. Each study measures things differently, so read across the row as a set of ideas to test, not one agreed answer.
| Day | Buffer’s top slot | Buffer’s next slots | SocialPilot | Hootsuite |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 1pm | 11am, 8am | 5pm to 7pm, 10pm | Not reported |
| Tuesday | 6am | 10pm, 7am | 8am, 2pm to 4pm, 8pm | Not reported |
| Wednesday | 10pm | 6am, 9pm | 8am, 2pm to 4pm, 8pm | Not reported |
| Thursday | 1pm | 10pm, 6am | 9am, 2pm to 4pm, 8pm | 6am to 9am |
| Friday | 6pm | 10pm, 8pm | 8am, 1pm to 3pm | Not reported |
| Saturday | 5pm | 4pm, 3pm | 11am, 3pm, 8pm | 10am to 6pm |
| Sunday | 9am | 1pm, 12pm | 9am to 11am, 4pm | Not reported |
Best Time to Post on TikTok on Monday
Buffer points to 1pm, with 11am and 8am as backups. SocialPilot leans towards the early evening, 5pm to 7pm. If your followers are at work or school at lunchtime, test the evening slot first.
Best Time to Post on TikTok on Tuesday
Buffer’s top slot is an early 6am, followed by 10pm and 7am. SocialPilot reports 8am, mid-afternoon and 8pm. The common thread is the start and end of the day, so compare a morning post against a late-evening one.
Best Time to Post on TikTok on Wednesday
Buffer favours 10pm, then 6am and 9pm. SocialPilot reports 8am, 2pm to 4pm and 8pm. Both point to an evening slot, so 8pm to 10pm is a sensible first test.
Best Time to Post on TikTok on Thursday
Buffer says 1pm, then 10pm and 6am. Hootsuite reports 6am to 9am, and SocialPilot says 9am, mid-afternoon and 8pm. Thursday morning shows up in all three, so it is worth testing.
Best Time to Post on TikTok on Friday
All three of Buffer’s Friday slots are in the evening: 6pm, 10pm and 8pm. SocialPilot instead reports 8am and 1pm to 3pm. If your audience is mostly students or young adults, start with Friday evening.
Best Time to Post on TikTok on Saturday
Saturday was Buffer’s strongest day overall, with 5pm, 4pm and 3pm as its top slots. Hootsuite also reports a wide daytime window, 10am to 6pm. Saturday afternoon is the safest bet in this table.
Best Time to Post on TikTok on Sunday
Sunday holds Buffer’s single best slot, 9am, plus 1pm and 12pm. SocialPilot also reports 9am to 11am. Morning is the main message here, which suggests people scroll at a slower pace at the weekend.
Which Part of the Day Wins? A Quick Visual
Buffer lists three top slots for each day, so 21 in total. Split by time of day, they divide perfectly into thirds: 7 in the morning, 7 in the afternoon and 7 in the evening or at night. That is a useful reminder that no single part of the day wins on its own.
The grid below shows where those slots fall. Darker cells mean more of Buffer’s top slots land there.
| Day | Morning | Afternoon | Evening / night |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Tue | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Wed | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Thu | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Fri | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Sat | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Sun | 1 | 2 | 0 |
What Is the Best Day to Post on TikTok?
Saturday, followed by Monday and Sunday, according to Buffer. The weekend came out ahead of the working week in that study. SocialPilot disagrees: it reported Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday as strongest and Sunday as weakest. Hootsuite lands somewhere in between, with Thursday mornings and Saturday daytime.
The practical answer is to test both. Post on two weekdays and one weekend day for a few weeks, then compare.
Best Time to Post on TikTok in the UK (GMT and BST)
No UK-only study of TikTok posting times has been published that we could verify, so there is no official “UK best time”. What UK creators can do is use the global research above, then confirm it against their own audience.
Buffer says its times are meant to work for a global audience, so you should not convert them. Other studies give a time zone, and those do need converting. Later, for example, reports 10am Pacific on weekdays.
| US time | UK time (most of the year) | UK time (short gaps in March and Oct/Nov) |
|---|---|---|
| 10am Pacific | 6pm | 5pm |
| 10am Eastern | 3pm | 2pm |
| 7pm Eastern | Midnight | 11pm |
The UK uses Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) in winter and British Summer Time (BST) in summer. The clocks went back on 25 October 2026, so the UK is on GMT until the clocks go forward on 28 March 2027. You can check dates on the GOV.UK clock changes page.
A simple UK starting plan
- Weekdays: test lunchtime (around 1pm) and an evening slot between 8pm and 10pm.
- Weekends: test Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.
- Check after every clock change: your followers’ habits stay the same, but the numbers on your analytics screen may shift by an hour.
This plan is a suggestion built from the study times above. It is not a proven UK result.
What Do the Latest TikTok Posting-Time Studies Say?
Many websites copy the same time tables without saying where they came from. Here are the five main studies, with their size and limits. Every one of them comes from a company that sells social media tools.
| Study | Date | Sample | Main finding | Limit to know |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buffer | 14 Sep 2026 | 7.1 million posts | Sunday 9am best slot; Saturday best day; evenings strong | Buffer users only; measures median engagement rate |
| SocialPilot | Jan to 10 Dec 2025 | 700,000 posts, 50,000+ accounts | Tuesday to Thursday strongest; Sunday weakest | Connected SocialPilot accounts only |
| Hootsuite | 2025 data | 1 million+ posts | Thursday 6am to 9am; Saturday 10am to 6pm | Time zone not clearly stated |
| Sprout Social | 2026 analysis | About 2 billion engagements, about 307,000 profiles | Tuesday to Thursday, 2pm to 6pm | Reported second-hand; time zone not clear |
| Later | Updated 7 Mar 2025 | Later’s own social team | Weekdays, 10am Pacific | Very small, self-selected sample |
Why do the studies disagree?
- Different people: each company only sees its own users’ accounts.
- Different measures: median engagement rate is not the same as views or reach.
- Different places: a global average may not match a UK-only audience.
- Different periods: 2025 data may not match 2026 habits.
- Different time zones: some studies show local audience time, others a company or US time.
Does Posting Time Really Matter on TikTok?
A little, but less than the video itself. TikTok shows videos to people based on what they watch, like, share, comment on or skip. Posting when your followers are online can help a video collect early views and reactions, which may help it reach more people. It will not rescue a weak video, and no time guarantees views.
Buffer’s own advice is to treat its times as patterns, not promises. If you are more interested in what views are worth, see our guide on how much TikTok pays for 1 million views.
How to Find Your Best Time to Post Using TikTok Analytics
Your own data beats any study. This is the route Buffer describes for the current app. Menu names change from time to time, so follow what you see on your screen.
- Open the TikTok app and go to your profile.
- Open TikTok Studio.
- Tap Analytics.
- Open the Followers tab.
- Find Most active times. This shows when your followers were most active over the past week.
- Post shortly before the busiest hours, then compare results.
Check it every few weeks. Followers’ habits change with school terms, holidays and the clocks going back and forward. Some accounts may not see this data, so check your account type if the tab is missing.
How to Test Your Best Posting Time
Pick three slots, post similar videos in each, and track the results. One post proves nothing, because a single viral video can skew everything. Aim for several posts per slot over a few weeks.
| Date | Posting time | Views (24 hours) | Views (7 days) | Average watch time | Shares | New followers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 1pm | |||||
| Wednesday | 8pm | |||||
| Saturday | 4pm |
Keep everything else steady: similar video length, topic and style. Once a slot clearly wins over a few weeks, make it part of your weekly routine and retest every three months.
How Often Should You Post on TikTok?
There is no official rule. Buffer’s advice is that being consistent matters more than posting every day, so choose a routine you can keep up. Posting less often with better videos usually beats posting daily with rushed ones. If you only manage a few posts a week, put them in your best-testing slots.
Can You Schedule TikTok Posts?
Yes. TikTok has its own scheduling option for some accounts, and tools such as Buffer, Hootsuite, Later and SocialPilot also support scheduling or reminders. Limits and eligibility change, so check the upload screen in your app for what is available to you. Scheduling is handy for hitting a 6am or 10pm slot without being awake for it.
Best Time to Post for Small Accounts, Businesses, Views and Engagement
No study we checked proved different best times for small accounts, brands or particular niches such as food or fitness. Use the general times above as a first test, then lean on your own analytics. For more views, aim for when your followers are most active. For more engagement, compare shares, comments and watch time, not only views.
Businesses should do the same, and measure whether the posts lead anywhere. Our guide to B2B marketing for technology companies covers how to tie social activity to real leads, and the best AI search visibility tools can show whether your brand is being found beyond TikTok.
If your audience also uses other apps, compare habits before reusing a schedule. The number of Snapchat users and the latest Pinterest monthly active users show how differently each platform’s audience is built.
TikTok LIVE: Age and Follower Requirements
Many people searching for posting times also ask about going LIVE, so here are the basics.
| Question | Answer | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum age to go LIVE | 18. You may be asked to confirm your age, possibly with government-issued ID. | Official TikTok statement |
| LIVE Gifts | Need to be 18+ (19 in South Korea), eligible for LIVE, and in good standing under TikTok’s rules. | Official TikTok statement |
| Followers needed | 1,000 is the figure usually quoted, but it may vary by country. | Check in your app |
| Going LIVE without meeting the rules | Only eligible creators can go LIVE. Avoid “unlock” tricks. | Official TikTok statement |
To go LIVE, open the app, tap +, choose LIVE if it appears, add a title and start. If you do not see the option, you probably do not meet the requirements yet. Never share personal details such as your address or school on a stream, and read the official LIVE age requirements before you start.
Common TikTok Posting Mistakes to Avoid
- Using US times without converting them for UK viewers.
- Copying another creator’s schedule instead of checking your own analytics.
- Changing your posting time every few days, so you never get a fair test.
- Posting low-quality videos just to stay active.
- Skipping a strong caption. If you need ideas, try our social media caption generator.
- Buying followers or views. This breaks TikTok’s rules, and undisclosed paid content breaks UK advertising rules too. The ASA expects paid posts to be clearly labelled, with “Ad” preferred.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best time to post on TikTok overall?
Buffer’s 2026 study says Sunday at 9am. Other studies suggest different times, so use it as a starting point and check your own analytics.
What is the best time to post on TikTok today?
Look up today’s day in the table above and pick one of the listed slots. For a better answer, open Most active times in your Analytics and post just before your busiest hour.
Is Saturday the best day to post on TikTok?
In Buffer’s study, yes. But SocialPilot found Tuesday to Thursday strongest, so it is not true for every account.
Is Sunday a good day to post on TikTok?
Sunday at 9am was Buffer’s best slot, but SocialPilot reported Sunday as its weakest day. Test it for yourself.
Should I post on TikTok in the morning or at night?
Buffer’s top slots split evenly between morning, afternoon and evening. Test one of each and keep the winner.
Does posting time affect TikTok views?
It can help early engagement, but video quality and watch time matter more. No time guarantees views.
How do I know when my TikTok followers are most active?
Go to your profile, then TikTok Studio, Analytics, Followers, and Most active times.
How many times should I post on TikTok a day?
There is no official number. Post as often as you can while keeping quality high. Consistency matters more than volume.
Is the best time different for every account?
Yes. It depends on where your followers live, their age, their interests and their routines.
Can I schedule TikTok posts?
Yes, through TikTok’s own option where available, or through tools like Buffer, Hootsuite, Later and SocialPilot.
Final Thoughts
Start with Buffer’s top slots: Sunday 9am, Monday 1pm and Saturday afternoon. Then open TikTok Analytics, find your followers’ busiest hours and test three slots for a few weeks. Keep the one that works, and keep your videos good. That will do more for your views than any posting-time table.