Understanding the Best TikTok Posting Time
Published on 28.06.2026 by Chizoba T
One reason TikTok has become popular among creators is that it doesn’t discriminate against new creators. Even if you have zero followers, the platform will still promote your content to audiences in the same way it does to accounts with thousands or even millions of followers.
However, the platform prioritizes popular content. It considers a video’s engagement level before deciding whether to show it to a larger audience. That means to increase the reach of your TikTok video, you need to focus on boosting its engagement through an outstanding TikTok growth strategy. One of the best ways to do that is to post when your audience is online. In this article, we guide you in understanding the best posting time on TikTok to drive the highest engagement.
Does Timing Really Matter When Posting on TikTok?
As noted earlier, the engagement rate is impacted by when you post, but the content must also be of good quality and relevant to the audience. Each time someone opens TikTok, they are presented with a set of curated content on the FYP (For You Page). That also means that by getting on the coveted FYP, you can increase your organic reach.
When considering what to show on the FYP page, the TikTok algorithm considers two signals. The page should have similar characteristics (such as topic and music), with content that users engaged with previously. Additionally, the algorithm considers a post’s engagement rate to determine whether people like the video. This is the essence of the right time to post.
Posting when your audience is online ensures instant visibility, builds momentum, and helps the content avoid getting buried in the heap. It’s more likely to get early engagement, such as likes, comments, and watch time. This increases the chances of the post appearing in the FYPs. Therefore, instead of posting randomly, share your post at the right time. This will bring the best results, especially when combined with the top TikTok video content ideas.
Understanding the Best Posting Time on TikTok
While this will depend on various factors (which we will discuss), there are some general guidelines for posting times. These times are based on different studies and can be helpful when creating your first content calendar. For instance, Buffer analyzed TikTok posts in 2026 and concluded that these are the best posting times for different days.
Monday
According to Buffer, the best posting time is on Monday at 1 p.m., with 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. also working well. That means if you are a B2B brand using TikTok to drive sales, you can post on Mondays when people are taking a break from work.
Tuesday
The Buffer study found that the best time to post on TikTok on Tuesday was at 6 a.m., with 1 p.m. and 7 a.m. also following closely as great posting times. These look like odd hours, especially if your business operates within the traditional 9-to-5 working hours. However, this is also a reminder that the TikTok hours don’t follow the normal working hours. It can, therefore, be helpful to test the early morning and late-night hours.
Wednesday
The best posting time on Wednesday is usually 10 p.m., followed by 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. This means that the end of the day works best for posting on Wednesday compared to the middle of the day. If your audience predominantly consists of young professionals, students, and people scrolling late at night, you can test posting on Wednesday evening.
Thursday
The best posting time for TikTok on Thursday is at 1 p.m., with other strong times being at 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. That means, when posting on Thursday, you can check two different audience behaviors: the people checking in during midday and unwinding after work. If you create content that is entertaining, useful, or both, Thursday can be a good day for experimenting.
Friday
The best posting time on Friday is at 6 p.m. This is closely followed by 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. These posting times indicate how times change at the end of the week. The energy in the office starts to reduce, and people start choosing content that is faster, lighter, and fun.
Saturday
The best day overall for posting on TikTok, according to Buffer, is on Saturday, by 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. This means weekends are also a good time to post on TikTok. This is especially true for brands in the food, beauty, retail, and entertainment industries.
Sundays
The best time to post on TikTok is Sunday at 9 a.m., with 1 p.m. and 12 p.m. following closely. If you are a marketer, Sunday can be a good time to create posts because people are relaxing at home searching for entertaining content.
Factors to Consider When Choosing the Best TikTok Posting Times
As noted earlier, the above posting times are only general guidelines based on research. The actual best posting time will depend on your brand’s needs and audience demographics.
Here are the key factors to consider:
Time Zones
When creating a TikTok content calendar, one key factor to consider is the time zone. You want to ensure you consider where your audience lives. While it’s impossible to create content that reaches everyone every week, make sure it reaches your core audience.
User Behavior
The behavior of your primary target audience will also vary depending on their life stage and the content they need. Engaging more with users will help you learn more about them. Make sure you remain granular on your audience’s needs and plan accordingly.
Target Audience
You can begin by creating an audience persona and imagining what a typical day of your audience’s experience looks like. When do they seem to be the busiest, bored, in downtime, social, and stressed?
For instance, if your audience predominantly consists of children, the best time to post may be after school hours. But if your audience consists of professionals, your best posting time may be during lunch breaks and at night. Therefore, understanding your audience will help you better determine when they are most active on the platform and which content themes might work for them.
Geographical Location
Another factor that will impact the posting time is the location, which affects shopping behaviors, seasonality, cultural moments, local events, and even downtime. For instance, if you create a back-to-school campaign for one market, it may not work in another. While the calendar matters, you also want to consider the context.
Engagement Trends
Just like other social media platforms, trends are big on TikTok. You can boost engagement by using popular songs, keywords, sound effects, and hashtags to increase the chances of going viral on the platform. Therefore, pay attention to broader TikTok trends to leverage them more effectively.
Content Type
Native content performs better on TikTok compared to content repurposed from other platforms, so you should familiarize yourself with TikTok’s video ad specs. Additionally, your choice of TikTok content will also depend on your target audience and whether you are creating a trending dance video or an explainer video.
Remember that TikTok trends are fast-moving, so you need to stay up to date on the latest happenings. In return, the audiences may have different behaviors and needs, including their online day. With Gen Zs being the biggest demographic on TikTok, you want to ensure that your content feels native to the platform.
How to Track the Effectiveness of Different Posting Times
Tracking the performance of videos posted at different times will depend on your goals and KPIs. For instance, are you looking to increase your social media following, boost conversions, or raise brand awareness? You want to ensure your goals are clear and measurable so you can determine how well the campaign is performing. If it doesn’t meet your needs, you can then recalibrate.
You can use a TikTok Pro account to determine the best posting time for your audience. To create one, you should visit your profile. At the far right, click the hamburger icon and choose Privacy and Settings. You can now tap on Switch to Pro Account. After setting up the account, you can view a wide range of analytics, such as:
- Overview. Provide insights into metrics such as profile views, video views, and the follower count of the past 7 to 28 days.
- Content. You can get insights into each video view for the past 7 days, including which ones have been on the FYP and individual insights for each video.
- Followers. This can provide insight into the total count, gender, top territories, and the optimal time for generating the highest engagement.
But does that mean you need to keep checking various individual posts? You don't have to do that individually. Instead, you can check the desktop version of the TikTok app to check several videos at the same time. You can click on View Analytics before downloading the full report to a spreadsheet. After exporting the data, you can view:
- Day and time of posting
- Comments
- Likes
- Shares
- Views
- Average watch time
- Territories reach
- Traffic source (followers or FYP)
Pay attention to the post patterns to see the hour generating the highest engagement. You will see the best time to post.
Final Thoughts
Posting at the right time can help you to receive the highest engagement, pushing your content to the FYP page. If you post when your audience is most active, you can be assured of instant visibility, increase momentum, and avoid content getting buried. Therefore, use the guide above to determine the best posting time.