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Best time to post

Best time to post on YouTube in 2026: what the studies (and YouTube) say

For long YouTube videos the honest answer is: the hour matters less than on any other platform. YouTube says publish time isn’t known to affect long-term performance, and vidIQ’s 40 million videos agree. The studies that do find a pattern point to Sunday mornings and weekday early afternoons, in your audience’s local time.

By Kumar Gaurav, founder of OctoqueUpdated Facts checked

Convert to your time zoneFind your own golden hour
The short answer
  • Best day: Sunday, in both of the studies that rank days (Buffer and vidIQ).[1][2]
  • Most agreed hours: Sunday 10 AM and Wednesday 3 PM, each named by all three studies that give hours.
  • Weekday window: about 2–4 PM local time (SocialPilot), inside Metricool’s 10 AM–4 PM.[3][4]
  • How much it matters: vidIQ found Sunday uploads get about 3.5% more 30-day views than a channel’s average day, and “exact upload times had little effect”.[2]

Post when your viewers are on YouTube, a little before their peak, and spend the rest of your energy on the title and thumbnail.

What each study found

Every row is a separate published study, read and checked on the date in the byline. Times are the local time of the accounts in each study unless the time-zone column says otherwise.

Best times to post on YouTube, by study
StudyTop slotsSamplePeriodMeasuredTime zone
Buffer (long-form)Published 24 Jul 2026Top slotsSun 10 AM, Sun 9 AM, Fri 12 PMSample1.8M YouTube videos, Shorts and long-form (split not stated)PeriodNot statedMeasuredMedian engagement (formula not stated)Time zoneStated as universal: use your local time
SocialPilot (long-form)Undated (2026 edition)Top slotsWeekdays 2⁠–⁠4 PM; Sunday 10 AM the peak single slotSample301K videos from 27K+ channels (Shorts and long-form)PeriodNot statedMeasuredEngagement rate normalised per viewTime zoneLocal time
Metricool (long-form)29 Jul 2026Top slots10 AM–4 PM, any daySample799,718 videos from 71,177 channelsPeriodNot statedMeasuredNot stated ("activity")Time zoneNot stated
vidIQ (days only)Updated 23 Jun 2026Top slotsSunday (+3.5%), Saturday (+2.2%); no best hourSample40.2M US long-form uploadsPeriodNot statedMeasured30-day views vs the channel's own average dayTime zoneDays: not stated; hour charts in Eastern time
vidIQ gives day-of-week results only, so it is in the table and day sections but not in the hour heatmap. Sprout Social and Hootsuite publish no YouTube study.

Where the studies agree

  • Sunday is the best day in both studies that rank days: Buffer’s top two slots are Sunday 10 AM and 9 AM, and vidIQ’s 40 million uploads give Sunday the biggest lift.[1][2] SocialPilot also calls Sunday 10 AM its “peak single slot”.[3]
  • Midweek is softer: Buffer ranks Thursday and Wednesday lowest; vidIQ has Wednesday, Thursday and Tuesday below average.[1][2]
  • Daytime beats night for long videos in all three hour-level studies; the heatmap shows the overlap.
Consensus of 3 studies: how many name each hour as a best time to post on YouTube, in your audience’s local time
Day12a1 AM2 AM3a4 AM5 AM6a7 AM8 AM9a10 AM11 AM12p1 PM2 PM3p4 PM5 PM6p7 PM8 PM9p10 PM11 PM
MonMonday 12 AM: 0Monday 1 AM: 0Monday 2 AM: 0Monday 3 AM: 0Monday 4 AM: 0Monday 5 AM: 0Monday 6 AM: 0Monday 7 AM: Monday 8 AM: 0Monday 9 AM: Monday 10 AM: Monday 11 AM: Monday 12 PM: Monday 1 PM: Monday 2 PM: Monday 3 PM: Monday 4 PM: 0Monday 5 PM: 0Monday 6 PM: 0Monday 7 PM: 0Monday 8 PM: 0Monday 9 PM: 0Monday 10 PM: Monday 11 PM: 0
TueTuesday 12 AM: 0Tuesday 1 AM: 0Tuesday 2 AM: 0Tuesday 3 AM: 0Tuesday 4 AM: 0Tuesday 5 AM: 0Tuesday 6 AM: 0Tuesday 7 AM: 0Tuesday 8 AM: Tuesday 9 AM: Tuesday 10 AM: Tuesday 11 AM: Tuesday 12 PM: Tuesday 1 PM: Tuesday 2 PM: Tuesday 3 PM: Tuesday 4 PM: 0Tuesday 5 PM: 0Tuesday 6 PM: 0Tuesday 7 PM: 0Tuesday 8 PM: 0Tuesday 9 PM: 0Tuesday 10 PM: 0Tuesday 11 PM: 0
WedWednesday 12 AM: 0Wednesday 1 AM: 0Wednesday 2 AM: 0Wednesday 3 AM: 0Wednesday 4 AM: 0Wednesday 5 AM: 0Wednesday 6 AM: 0Wednesday 7 AM: Wednesday 8 AM: 0Wednesday 9 AM: 0Wednesday 10 AM: Wednesday 11 AM: Wednesday 12 PM: Wednesday 1 PM: Wednesday 2 PM: Wednesday 3 PM: Wednesday 4 PM: Wednesday 5 PM: Wednesday 6 PM: 0Wednesday 7 PM: 0Wednesday 8 PM: 0Wednesday 9 PM: 0Wednesday 10 PM: 0Wednesday 11 PM: 0
ThuThursday 12 AM: 0Thursday 1 AM: 0Thursday 2 AM: 0Thursday 3 AM: 0Thursday 4 AM: 0Thursday 5 AM: 0Thursday 6 AM: 0Thursday 7 AM: Thursday 8 AM: 0Thursday 9 AM: 0Thursday 10 AM: Thursday 11 AM: Thursday 12 PM: Thursday 1 PM: Thursday 2 PM: Thursday 3 PM: Thursday 4 PM: Thursday 5 PM: Thursday 6 PM: Thursday 7 PM: 0Thursday 8 PM: 0Thursday 9 PM: 0Thursday 10 PM: 0Thursday 11 PM: 0
FriFriday 12 AM: 0Friday 1 AM: 0Friday 2 AM: 0Friday 3 AM: 0Friday 4 AM: 0Friday 5 AM: 0Friday 6 AM: 0Friday 7 AM: 0Friday 8 AM: 0Friday 9 AM: 0Friday 10 AM: Friday 11 AM: Friday 12 PM: Friday 1 PM: Friday 2 PM: Friday 3 PM: Friday 4 PM: 0Friday 5 PM: 0Friday 6 PM: 0Friday 7 PM: 0Friday 8 PM: 0Friday 9 PM: 0Friday 10 PM: 0Friday 11 PM: 0
SatSaturday 12 AM: 0Saturday 1 AM: 0Saturday 2 AM: 0Saturday 3 AM: 0Saturday 4 AM: 0Saturday 5 AM: 0Saturday 6 AM: 0Saturday 7 AM: 0Saturday 8 AM: Saturday 9 AM: Saturday 10 AM: Saturday 11 AM: Saturday 12 PM: Saturday 1 PM: Saturday 2 PM: Saturday 3 PM: Saturday 4 PM: 0Saturday 5 PM: 0Saturday 6 PM: 0Saturday 7 PM: 0Saturday 8 PM: 0Saturday 9 PM: 0Saturday 10 PM: 0Saturday 11 PM: 0
SunSunday 12 AM: 0Sunday 1 AM: 0Sunday 2 AM: 0Sunday 3 AM: 0Sunday 4 AM: 0Sunday 5 AM: 0Sunday 6 AM: 0Sunday 7 AM: 0Sunday 8 AM: Sunday 9 AM: Sunday 10 AM: Sunday 11 AM: Sunday 12 PM: Sunday 1 PM: Sunday 2 PM: Sunday 3 PM: Sunday 4 PM: 0Sunday 5 PM: 0Sunday 6 PM: 0Sunday 7 PM: 0Sunday 8 PM: 0Sunday 9 PM: 0Sunday 10 PM: 0Sunday 11 PM: 0

Named by the most studies (3 of 3): Wednesday 3 PM; Sunday 10 AM.

This shows agreement between published studies, not engagement. Each study counts once per hour it names; the windows come from the “What each study found” table. A brighter cell means more studies agree, not that more people are online.

Where they disagree, and why

Weekday hours. SocialPilot says 2–4 PM on weekdays; Buffer’s weekday picks are mostly mornings (7–11 AM), and it calls early-to-mid weekday afternoons weak.[3][1] Buffer’s 2025 edition had said weekday 3–5 PM, so its own answer moved in a year.

Which days. SocialPilot’s best long-form days are Wednesday to Friday, the days Buffer and vidIQ rate weakest.[3]

Why: different metrics (Buffer’s median engagement, SocialPilot’s engagement per view, vidIQ’s 30-day views against each channel’s own average), and neither Buffer nor SocialPilot says how many of its videos were long-form. vidIQ’s method is the most careful, and its finding is that the differences are small.[2]

Day by day

Each study’s long-form picks for each day. vidIQ’s figures are 30-day views compared with the channel’s own average day.

Best time to post on YouTube on Monday

  • Buffer (long-form): 9 AM, 10 PM, 7 AM
  • SocialPilot (long-form): 2–4 PM
  • Metricool (long-form): 10 AM–4 PM
  • vidIQ (days only): About even with the channel's average day

Best time to post on YouTube on Tuesday

  • Buffer (long-form): 9 AM, 11 AM, 8 AM
  • SocialPilot (long-form): 2–4 PM
  • Metricool (long-form): 10 AM–4 PM
  • vidIQ (days only): About 1.4% below average

Best time to post on YouTube on Wednesday

  • Buffer (long-form): 7 AM, 3 PM, 5 PM
  • SocialPilot (long-form): 3–5 PM
  • Metricool (long-form): 10 AM–4 PM
  • vidIQ (days only): About 2.2% below average (worst day)

Wednesday 3 PM is one of the two most agreed hours, even though vidIQ finds Wednesday the weakest day overall.

Best time to post on YouTube on Thursday

  • Buffer (long-form): 5 PM, 6 PM, 7 AM (weakest day)
  • SocialPilot (long-form): 3–5 PM
  • Metricool (long-form): 10 AM–4 PM
  • vidIQ (days only): About 1.6% below average

Best time to post on YouTube on Friday

  • Buffer (long-form): 12 PM, 11 AM, 3 PM
  • SocialPilot (long-form): 1–3 PM
  • Metricool (long-form): 10 AM–4 PM
  • vidIQ (days only): About 0.5% below average

Best time to post on YouTube on Saturday

  • Buffer (long-form): 12 PM, 10 AM, 3 PM
  • SocialPilot (long-form): 8–10 AM
  • Metricool (long-form): 10 AM–4 PM
  • vidIQ (days only): About 2.2% above average

Best time to post on YouTube on Sunday

  • Buffer (long-form): 10 AM, 9 AM, 12 PM (best day)
  • SocialPilot (long-form): 8–10 AM, and 10 AM as the peak single slot
  • Metricool (long-form): 10 AM–4 PM
  • vidIQ (days only): About 3.5% above average (best day)

Sunday 10 AM is named by all three hour-level studies.

Worst times to post on YouTube

  • Thursday, then Wednesday (Buffer); Thursday 2 PM scored lowest of its slots.[1]
  • Wednesday, about 2.2% below a channel’s average day (vidIQ).[2]
  • Before 9 AM and after 10 PM, and early Saturday morning (SocialPilot).[3]

By format

Long videos and Shorts have different windows in every study that splits them; Shorts lean to late afternoon and evening. See the YouTube Shorts guide. For Premieres and live streams, YouTube says timing does matter, and points to the same audience report below.[6]

What YouTube itself says about timing

“Publish time is not known to impact a video’s long-term performance.” YouTube’s recommendation system aims to deliver the right videos “regardless of when that video was uploaded”. Timing is important for Live and Premiere videos.[6]

Its recommendation-system page goes further, under the heading “Don’t overthink your publish time”: posting when your audience is most active “might lead to more immediate views”, but YouTube hasn’t observed “any evidence it affects long-term viewership”.[5]

Your audience is different: find your own golden hour

Every study above averages thousands of accounts. Your followers live in their own time zones and keep their own routines, so treat the windows as a first guess and check your own numbers.

In YouTube’s own analytics

  1. Open YouTube Studio, choose Analytics in the left menu, then Audience.[7]
  2. Find When your viewers are on YouTube: when your viewers were on YouTube in the last 28 days.[7]
  3. Publish one to two hours before the darkest bars, so the video has time to be picked up.
  4. vidIQ notes the chart is sparse for channels under about 1,000 subscribers; past about 5,000, trust it over any study.[2]

With Octoque

Octoque posts YouTube videos up to 3 minutes long, so Shorts and short clips, not long videos. For a long video, use YouTube Studio’s own scheduling and pick a time from the windows above.

For your Shorts, Octoque starts at 18:00 in your audience’s local time; see the Shorts guide for how that compares with the Shorts studies.

How we put this together

Studies: the long-form YouTube studies with a stated sample: Buffer, SocialPilot and Metricool (hours) and vidIQ (days). Sprout Social has no YouTube study and Hootsuite’s YouTube page returned an error when we checked. OpusClip publishes upload counts, not performance, so it is not included. Pages read on 14 October 2026.

Counting consensus: each study marks the hours it names for each day (“2–4 PM” marks 2 PM and 3 PM; Metricool’s 10 AM–4 PM applies to every day because it gives no days). The heatmap counts how many of the three studies mark each hour.

Limits: none states the upload period; Buffer and SocialPilot mix Shorts and long videos without giving the split; Metricool shows no method. None of this is Octoque data.

Questions people ask

What is the best time to upload on YouTube?

For long videos, Sunday morning (around 9–10 AM local time) has the most support, then weekday early afternoons around 2–4 PM. YouTube says the hour isn’t known to change long-term performance.

What is the best day to post on YouTube?

Sunday, in both Buffer’s data and vidIQ’s 40 million uploads. Saturday is second for vidIQ.

Should I publish before my audience is online?

Buffer advises one to two hours before your peak; that gives YouTube time to start showing it. It is advice, not a measured result.

Do Shorts follow the same times?

No: Shorts do better later in the day. See the Shorts guide.

Does timing matter for Premieres and live streams?

Yes. YouTube says publish time is important for those formats, and suggests the “When your viewers are on YouTube” report to plan them.

Keep reading

YouTube Shorts schedulerSchedule Shorts at golden hourBest time calculatorGolden hours in your audience's time and yoursBest time to post on every platformThe short answer for all eightBest time to post on InstagramMon–Wed, about 3–7 PMBest time to post on TikTokTue–Thu 2–6 PM; Sat 3 PM, Sun 9 AMBest time to post on YouTube ShortsAbout 4–9 PM; Fri and Sat 4 PMBest time to post in IndiaStudy windows in IST, festivals, RamadanBest time to post in the UAEStudy windows in GST, the weekend, Ramadan

Sources

All links checked on 14 October 2026.

  1. Buffer: The Best Time to Post on YouTube, Data from 1.8M Shorts and Long-form Videos
  2. vidIQ: Best Time to Post on YouTube, What 40 Million Videos Actually Show
  3. SocialPilot: Best Time to Post on YouTube in 2026, Videos and Shorts
  4. Metricool: What Is the Best Time to Post on YouTube?
  5. YouTube Help: YouTube's Recommendation System
  6. YouTube Help: YouTube performance FAQ & troubleshooting
  7. YouTube Help: Understand your YouTube audience

Your next post could go out at golden hour tonight.

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