Best Time to Post Calculator

Where do the recommended times come from?

From a fixed lookup table written into the tool’s code, not from live platform data or your own account. It holds a list of day-and-hour slots, a “best” and a “worst” label and a one-line note for each platform and industry pairing. The tool’s footer describes the table as based on published research from Hootsuite, Sprout Social and Later; the calculator cannot verify that itself, so treat the times as a heuristic starting point.

Which platforms really have their own data?

Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok each have a table covering all ten industries. Facebook, Twitter / X and Pinterest are in the platform menu but have no table of their own, so the calculator falls back to the Instagram table and says so on the header line (“no dedicated table; Instagram table shown”). Do not read those results as Facebook, X or Pinterest research.

Does the timezone setting convert the times?

No. The timezone is only a label appended to each slot. Choosing PST rather than EST changes the text “(EST)” to “(PST)” and nothing else. The slots are meant to be read as local time for your audience, so pick the zone where most of your followers live and ignore the offset shown in the menu.

What do the “days to schedule” options do?

They filter the slot list by its day prefix: “Weekdays only” keeps Mon to Fri, “Weekends only” keeps Sat and Sun, and the full week keeps everything. The “best single time” and “worst time” lines are not filtered, so a weekend-only Instagram fitness schedule still prints “Weekday mornings 6–7am” as best. LinkedIn has no weekend slots, so that combination prints “No times available for selected days”.

Does the goal I choose change the times?

No. The goal selects one fixed paragraph of advice that is printed below the schedule, and the slots, best time and worst time are identical for every goal. The goal text contains general advice such as replying to comments quickly; the tool does not test or source those statements.

Why do two lines on the page sometimes seem to disagree?

Because the schedule list, the best-time label and the note are separate hand-entered strings per pairing. TikTok’s general entry lists several posting windows per day, while its best-time label names only Tuesday and Friday ranges. Use the schedule as the list of candidate slots and the best label as the tool’s single favourite.

Can I rely on this to maximise reach?

Use it to choose a few test slots, then compare them in the analytics that your platform provides for your own audience, which is the only data about your followers. An audience in several time zones, a niche community or unusual working patterns can differ from any generic table. The calculator has no information about your follower count, content format, posting frequency or holidays.