What Is the Best Times to Post on Facebook in 2026?
Boasting over 3 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most powerful social media platform. Whether you’re a business owner looking to drive sales, a content creator seeking somewhere to grow your audience, or a social media manager who wants to wow your clients with increased online engagement, Facebook is one of the best places to be.
However, the billions of active users won’t do much if you don’t develop a strategic posting plan.
As with most social media platforms, timing is almost everything on Facebook. If you publish content when your target audience is actively online, you’ll be a step closer to achieving your goals. Conversely, if you post at random times just to get it over with, your numbers will likely miss the mark.
So, when are audiences the most engaged? This guide looks at the best posting days and times on Facebook (based on Sprout Social’s analysis of billions of engagements) and offers practical tips to boost engagement on the platform.
Does Timing Really Matter?
Without a doubt. Even next-level content requires the right timing to be successful — especially on Facebook.
The Facebook algorithm prioritizes engagement signals when determining whether to show your content to audiences and in what order to show it. When a post gets many likes, reactions, comments, and shares, the algorithm sees it as valuable and, as such, presents it to more people in their News Feeds. Essentially, the higher your engagement numbers, the better your reach and visibility on the platform will be.
That’s why timing is so important. When you publish content at times when users are active on the platform, you increase their likelihood of interacting with your posts. This, in turn, exposes the content (and your brand) to more users.
Is There a Universal Best Time to Post on Facebook?
Not really. Let us explain: while there are specific times when many Facebook users are active, there’s no guarantee those will be your ideal posting times.
Every audience is different. Your target audience may be the most active on Mondays at 1 p.m., another creator’s on Thursdays at 9 p.m., and another’s on Sundays at 10 a.m. Your audience should be your top consideration when choosing your posting time.
That said, knowing the highest engagement timeframes does help. It can make it easier to narrow down your variables when experimenting with different posting times. For example, if data shows that the 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. timeframe has the highest engagement, you can test different times within this period to find what works best with your audience.
Best Times to Post on Facebook
According to social media management platform Sprout Social, the 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. timeframe on Mondays through Thursdays, and Saturdays has the highest engagement. As such, it’s the best starting point if you’re still trying to identify your best posting time.
However, engagement varies on some days. Here’s a quick breakdown of when best to post every day:
- Monday: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Tuesday: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Wednesday: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Thursday: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Friday: Between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
- Saturday: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Sunday: Between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. and 3 to 6 p.m.
Tip: Use the posting times discussed above as a starting point before you fully understand your audience.
How Do These Timeframes Compare to Other Social Media Platforms?
Facebook’s peak times are unique. As you’ve seen, users’ engagement on the platform is relatively consistent throughout the day, with most days’ peak activity starting in the morning.
Other social media platforms have shorter engagement windows. User activity also starts later than on Facebook. For example, the best times to post on TikTok are between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m., Monday through Thursday.
This contrast could be explained by how users view the platforms. According to a Pew Research Center Report, 93% of Facebook users say they use the platform to keep up with friends and family. This explains the peak engagement in the morning and continued user activity throughout the day — people want to know what their loved ones are up to.
On the other hand, 95% of TikTok users say they use the platform primarily for entertainment. This is why there’s peak activity after work hours. TikTok helps users wind down and de-stress after long days.
How to Find the Best Time for You to Post on Facebook
Again, while the times mentioned above do have the highest user engagement, they may not reflect your target audience’s behavior. Below is a look at how to find your “best” posting window:
Use Insights from Meta Business Suite
Meta Business Suite can help you understand Facebook users’ engagement habits. It offers various insights, including your audience’s most active times, which can help you narrow down your ideal posting timeframe.
To access this data:
- Log in to your Facebook Page.
- Tap the Meta Business Suite section on the left.
- Go to Insights.
- Tap Audience — you’ll see Demographics, Trends, and Potential audience sections.
- Click on Trends, then scroll down to Most active times. Here, you’ll find a breakdown of your audience’s engagement at different times on different days.
- Tap the button on the right to switch between days.
Experiment With Different Timings
Some content creators assume that the best posting window is the time with the highest engagement in their analytics. However, this isn’t always the case.
Rather than automatically settle on a specific publishing window after checking your insights, note down your top engagement times for each day. Then, A/B test the different times to find what works best for your Facebook account.
Say your page’s insights show that 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. are peak hours. Create two “similar” pieces of content, one for each time. For example, you could create two product tutorials, two memes, or two behind-the-scenes videos.
When your content is ready, post the first piece on Monday at 9 a.m., and the second one on Monday at 1 p.m. the following week. Then, monitor their performance to identify the time with the highest engagement.
We know what you’re thinking: conducting A/B tests when you have multiple peak times throughout the week will take forever if you have to space them out. Luckily, there’s a solution: creating multiple Facebook accounts for engagement testing.
With GeeLark, you can create multiple accounts without risking bans. We offer cloud phone environments that perform and look like actual, distinct mobile devices (to Facebook), allowing you to create multiple isolated accounts.
Further, with our AI automation solution, you can post content at different times across multiple accounts with minimal manual input. This shortens the testing cycle without overwhelming you or your team.
Analyze the Performance of Competitors’ Content
A deep dive into competitors’ content performance can be helpful if you have the same audience. Review their accounts and note the content pieces with the highest engagement. Then check when they posted them to get an idea of the best time to post on your account.
However, don’t rely solely on competitor insights — many variables can affect content performance. For example, some posts may perform well not because of timing, but because they resonate with their audience.
Instead, combine insights from your own content’s performance and competitors’, and then run A/B tests to find what works.
Other Best Practices for Maximizing Facebook Engagement
While timing is a key factor in determining your performance on Facebook, it’s not the only one. Here are other things to do beyond getting your timing right to increase engagement:
- Create high-quality content that resonates with your audience: Invest in both image and video quality. Also, leverage Facebook’s analytics to identify the type of content that registers the most engagement.
- Encourage your audience to add you to their “Favorite” lists: Facebook users can choose which pages rank high in their feeds through the Favorite feature. Ask them to add you so they never miss your page’s content.
- Engage with your community: You can interact with your audience by posing questions, running polls, resharing user-generated content (UGC) related to your brand, and actively responding to comments and messages. The more you interact with your people, the likelier they are to continue engaging with your page.
- Follow Meta’s Community Standards: The last thing you want is to make the Facebook algorithm your enemy. If it is, even the most well-timed posts won’t reach your audience. To protect your engagement, review and adhere to the platform’s guidelines.
Maximize Your Engagement on Facebook with Proper Timing
Your timing could be the difference between high engagement numbers and zero growth on Facebook. So, don’t just publish content at random times. Use tools like the Meta Business Suite to identify when most of your audience is online, experiment with different peak timeframes, and create a consistent posting schedule based on your findings.
GeeLark can help streamline the testing process. We provide cloud phone profiles with unique fingerprints, allowing you to create multiple accounts for testing without detection.
We can also help you make the most out of your best posting windows by automating content publishing. To automate this process, create a new cloud phone profile for each Facebook account. When everything is set, go to Automation, then Marketplace, and search for the “Post content on Facebook” template. Then, upload your content, fill in all required details, pick the ideal posting date and time (based on your A/B tests), and start the automation.