Best Time to Post on Instagram

On Instagram, it’s not just about what you say, it’s about when you say it. The time your content is shared has a dramatic impact on how many users see and engage with it. Here, we’ve broken down when Instagram posts tend to get the best engagement, both by time of day and week. These aren’t exactly set-in-stone rules, but they should still help guide you on your way.

Before we dive into the recommendations, bear in mind that this engagement data is based on your audience being in the same time-zone as the account you’re posting from. Therefore, you may need to adjust these if your audience members are mostly based in different time-zones. For example, if the best time for engagement is 12:00, aim to post at 12:00 in the time zone your audience is based, even if this actually means posting at a different time for you.

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Best time of day to post on Instagram

The best time to post on Instagram is between 6pm and 9pm. Content posted between 6pm and 9pm got the highest engagement rate, but in general, evenings are a pretty safe bet, as engagement remains on the high side right through to midnight. Mornings are a bit of a dead zone — 5am to 12pm offer the lowest engagement rate, with things gradually rising after that. If we look at the average number of engagements, rather than engagement rate, we see a similar picture, just with a little more variation. While evenings are still king, here the 6pm - 9pm sweet spot is even more pronounced. We also see a dramatic drop in engagement between 5am and 8am, followed by a steady rise from 10am - 4pm.

Average engagement rate vs. Hour of day

Average engagement rate

Best day of the week to post on Instagram

There’s no day of the week that’s outright bad to post on Instagram, but the weekends do have a slight edge. Sunday is the clear outlier here, with an average engagement rate of 6.47%. Saturday and Monday are close behind, with 6.05% and 5.95%, respectively. From Tuesday to Friday, the average engagement rate hovers around 5.6%.

Average engagement rate vs. Day of the week

Average engagement rate

Best day of the week to post on Instagram by engagement

Again, looking at volume of engagement rather than rate gives us a little more variation in the same overall picture. Specifically, when calculating this way, Wednesday emerges as the mid-week winner, with 461 average engagements. But Saturday and Sunday still come out on top — so don’t forget to schedule those weekend posts! This is where a social media scheduling tool can really make the difference - we’re sure that you don’t want to work on a Sunday evening either.

Average engagement vs. Day of the week

Average engagement

Best time to post on Instagram on Monday

Best time to post on Instagram on Monday is between 6 PM and 9 PM. The peak time is 8 PM, with an average engagement rate of 6.83%, followed by 9 PM with 6.78%.

On the other hand, the Monday mornings, from 5am to 12pm, offer the lowest engagement rate, with things gradually rising after that.

Monday

Average engagement rate

Best time to post on Instagram on Tuesday

The best time to post on Instagram on Tuesday is between 7 PM and 10 PM. The peak times are 8 PM and 9 PM, both hours averaging a 6.58% engagement rate, followed by 7 PM with 6.38%.

In addition, Tuesday mornings, from 4:00 AM to 11:00 AM, offer the lowest engagement rate, and things gradually pick up after that.

Tuesday

Average engagement rate

Best time to post on Instagram on Wednesday

The best time to post on Instagram on Wednesday is between 7 PM and 10 PM. The peak times are 8 PM and 9 PM with both of these times having an average engagement rate of 6.60%, closely followed by 7 AM with 6.41%.

Additionally, Wednesday mornings from 5 AM to 12 PM provide the poorest engagement rate, and then it progressively goes up.

Wednesday

Average engagement rate

Best time to post on Instagram on Thursday

The best time to post on Instagram on Thursday is between 7 PM and 10 PM. Prime time is at 9 PM, with an average engagement rate of 6.48%, followed by 8 PM with 6.37%.

By contrast, Thursday mornings, from 5 AM to 12 PM, offers the lowest engagement rate, only between 4.92% and 5.20% engagement rate.

Thursday

Average engagement rate

Best time to post on Instagram on Friday

The best time to post on Instagram on Friday is between 8 PM and 11 PM. The peak hour is at 9 PM, with a 6.48% average engagement rate, which is followed by 8 PM with a rate of 6.44%.

Meanwhile, Friday mornings, from 5 AM to 12 PM, shows the poorest engagement rate, just 4.93% to 5.25% engagement rate.

Friday

Average engagement rate

Best time to post on Instagram on Saturday

The best time to post on Instagram on Saturday is between 7 PM and 10 PM. The peak time is at 8 PM, showing an average engagement rate of 7.20%, which is followed by 9 PM with an average of 7.12%.

The other way around, Saturday mornings, from 7 AM to 1 PM, show the worst engagement rate, only 5.05% to 5.70%.

Saturday

Average engagement rate

Best time to post on Instagram on Sunday

The best time to post on Instagram on Sunday is between 6 PM and 9 PM. Peak time is at 8 PM, averaging a 7.33% engagement rate, that is followed by 9 PM with a 7.30% on average. In contrast, Sunday mornings, from 4 AM to 10 AM, display the worst engagement rate of the day, just 5.39% to 5.87%.

Sunday

Average engagement rate

Best time of day to post on Instagram in North America

In North America, evening and night posts once again bring in the best engagement. Interestingly, while posting between 5pm and 12am offers the best engagement rate, the data shows a lower average number of engagements during this time. This could be an indicator of smaller accounts posting more frequently at night, bringing in fewer total engagements, but a higher percentage of their total followers.

Average engagement rate vs. Hour of day in North America

Average engagement rate

Best time of day to post on Instagram in the UK

In terms of engagement rate, 5pm is the sweet spot for UK Instagram posts, although engagement rates remain high until midnight. However, content shared at 2am, followed by 1pm, brought in the highest volume of engagements on average. Despite these variations, the engagement rate shows that just like in the rest of the world, evening is the best time for Instagram engagement in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Average engagement rate vs. Hour of day in North America

Average engagement rate

Best day of the week to post on Instagram in North America

There’s not much variation by day of the week for North American Instagram users. Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday brought in over 400 average engagements, with a clear mid-week slump reaching a low of 379.5 on Thursday.

By engagement rate, the pattern of higher engagement on the weekends, again, is visible here.

Average engagement vs. Day of the week in North America

Average engagement

Best day of the week to post on Instagram in the UK

Similarly to in North America, the UK/Ireland engagement rate rises on the weekend. However, the most average engagements were found on Wednesday and Sunday.

Average engagement vs. Day of the week in the UK

Average engagement

Best time to post on Instagram in Los Angeles

Average engagement was high around from 5-8pm, peaking again at 3am. By engagement rate, posts did well from 6pm right through until midnight, and 12pm was another mid-day sweet spot. Through the week, Monday, Saturday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were high-performing days, both by average engagements and by rate.

Average engagement vs. Hour of day in Los Angeles

Average engagement

Best time to post on Instagram in Atlanta

Midnight is a good time on Instagram in Atlanta — content shared around 11pm and 12am got good average engagement, and engagement rate. By day of the week, Saturday and Sunday performed well. Wednesday and Friday also got high average engagement, while Mondays showed a high engagement rate.

Average engagement vs. Hour of day in Atlanta

Average engagement

Best time to post on Instagram in Kensington-Chinatown, Toronto, Canada

Mornings around 9-11 were highly engaging here, while 4pm and 10pm showed the best engagement rate. Fridays, weekends, and Tuesdays showed highest average engagement. By engagement rate, the weeks were fairly even, although content shared on Sunday and Monday did get a slight boost.

Average engagement vs. Hour of day in Kensington-Chinatown

Average engagement

Best time to post on Instagram in Miami

Instagram in Miami is pretty unusual! There was a huge spike in engagement in the morning here — 9am by average engagement, and 8am by engagement rate — that completely dwarfed all other activity. Sunday was the best day for both average engagement and engagement rate, followed by Friday, Saturday, and Wednesday.

Average engagement vs. Hour of day in Miami

Average engagement

Best time to post on Instagram in Houston

In Houston, both average engagement and engagement rate peaked at 10am. Engagement spiked again around 1-2am, depending on how we calculated it. But in general, evenings do well here. Engagement rates stayed pretty decent from 9pm to 12am. Again, weekends were busy on Instagram in Texas’s most populated city — by both average engagement and engagement rate.

Average engagement vs. Hour of day in Houston

Average engagement

Best time to post on Instagram in London

In the UK’s largest city, content posted at 12pm, 9pm, and 1am saw the most average engagements. By engagement rate, 9pm remained a good choice, with a noticeable dip at 2pm. Wednesday, Saturday and Monday were the most engaging days to post here. However, Saturday and Sunday offered the best engagement rate.

Average engagement vs. Hour of day in London

Average engagement

Best time to post on Instagram in Manchester

Posts shared at 9pm, 11pm, and 3am saw the highest engagement. They also seem to be staying up late — the highest engagement rate was found at 3am, although 6-11pm also performed well. Wednesday and Tuesday are the top days here, both by average engagement and engagement rate.

Average engagement vs. Hour of day in Manchester

Average engagement