Facebook · Friday
When to post on Facebook on a Friday
Post early on Friday, between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. in your audience’s time zone. Buffer’s three best Friday hours are 6, 7 and 8 a.m., CoSchedule’s top two are 9 a.m. and 7 a.m., and Hootsuite picks 6 a.m. Sprout Social is the outlier, saying only that Friday’s best time is midday.
Studies checked
Short answer
Early morning, 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. local time, where Buffer, CoSchedule and Hootsuite put Friday’s best hours. Sprout Social says midday instead.
What the studies found
| Window | Times | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Friday’s best, with two more peaks | 8 a.m.; also 7 a.m. and 6 a.m. | Buffer, 2026 |
| Best Friday hours, ranked | 9 a.m., 7 a.m., 4 p.m., 10 a.m., 8 a.m. | CoSchedule, 2026 |
| Friday’s best time | 6 a.m. | Hootsuite, 2025 |
| Friday peak | Midday, with no exact hours given | Sprout Social, 2026 |
| Food and beverage | 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. | Sprout Social, 2026 |
| Retail | 10 a.m., then 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. | Sprout Social, 2026 |
| Consumer goods and retail | 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. | Hootsuite, 2025 |
| Software and technology | 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. | Sprout Social, 2026 |
Times are in the audience’s local time zone unless a row says otherwise.
Where the numbers come from
Friday came first in its ranking of the seven days, ahead of Wednesday and Monday. Its best Friday hours were 9 a.m., 7 a.m., 4 p.m., 10 a.m. and 8 a.m. Because 9 a.m. tops its list on every day from Wednesday to Saturday, the rest of the Friday list says more about Friday itself.
coschedule.com
Friday’s best time was 8 a.m., with 7 a.m. and 6 a.m. also strong. Buffer notes that performance begins to taper as the weekend approaches; its best day was Wednesday and its worst Saturday.
Sample: 14 million+ Facebook posts, ranked on median engagementbuffer.com
Its best Friday time was 6 a.m., an hour it also gives Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Its best time of the whole week was earlier still: 5 a.m. on Tuesday.
Sample: Over a million business posts, times localised across 118 countriesblog.hootsuite.com
Its best time for Friday is midday, with no exact hours, and Friday falls outside its four strongest days, Monday to Thursday. Its industry windows for Friday are more precise, from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. for software to 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for food and beverage.
Sample: Nearly 2 billion engagements, 307,000 profiles, Nov 27, 2025 to Feb 27, 2026sproutsocial.com
Checked against each study on . Each link opens the study itself.
Find your own best time
Studies pool many accounts at once. When your own followers are online matters more, and your insights show it.
- Open Meta Business Suite for your Page and start scheduling a post.
- Choose Active times to see when Meta expects your audience to be online. It needs some history first.
- Post a little before those times, and keep that slot for a few weeks.
- Compare each post’s reach and engagement in Insights, then try another slot.
The studies can’t agree on Friday itself
The day is the disagreement. CoSchedule ranks Friday the best day of the week for Facebook. Buffer’s data shows performance tapering as the weekend gets closer, with Wednesday on top and Saturday at the bottom. Sprout Social’s strongest days run from Monday to Thursday, which leaves Friday outside them.
On the hour they come much closer. Whatever they think of the day, three of the four put Friday’s best slot before 10 a.m. Only Sprout Social points later, to midday.
Friday by industry
Sprout Social’s industry breakdown is much more specific about Friday than its headline midday:
- Food and beverage: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., a long window that covers lunch.
- Retail: 10 a.m., then 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.
- Education, and travel and hospitality: 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. for both.
- Healthcare: 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., and again at 6 p.m.
- Financial services: 9 a.m.
- Software and technology: 7 a.m. to 10 a.m., the earliest start in the list.
Hootsuite’s industry table hardly mentions Friday. Its one Friday slot is for consumer goods and retail, 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., a window it gives Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday too. Where both studies cover retail, they touch at 10 a.m.
When Friday isn’t a working day
Buffer reads the Friday dip as the weekend approaching, which assumes a Saturday and Sunday weekend. That isn’t universal. In Saudi Arabia, for example, the weekend is Friday and Saturday, so Friday there is a day off. If many of your followers live in a country like that, a Friday slot taken from global averages may not fit them, and your own audience data is the better guide.
Time zones can shift Friday too. For followers in Sydney, 8 a.m. on Friday is 2:30 a.m. on Friday in India while Sydney is on daylight saving time, from October to April, and 3:30 a.m. the rest of the year. Scheduling the post beats setting an alarm.
Testing Friday on your Page
- Check Active times first. Sprout Social’s guide finds it in Meta Business Suite: open the Planner, start a post, choose Schedule, then Active times, which covers the past seven days.
- Pick an early slot, 7 a.m. or 8 a.m., and use CoSchedule’s 4 p.m. as the challenger.
- Alternate them over eight Fridays, and leave out Fridays before public holidays, when routines change.
- Compare reactions, comments and shares per person reached, measured the same number of hours after each post.
Questions people ask
Is Friday a good day to post on Facebook?
It depends which study you trust. CoSchedule ranks Friday first of the seven days. Buffer sees performance taper as the weekend nears, and Sprout Social’s strongest days end on Thursday. The morning is the part of Friday that most of the studies still rate.
Is Friday afternoon too late to post on Facebook?
Not according to CoSchedule, whose third-best Friday hour is 4 p.m. Buffer’s data points the other way, with engagement dropping from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. If your followers finish work early on Fridays, try 4 p.m. against a morning slot.
Should I post on Facebook on Friday night?
None of the four studies names a Friday evening hour among its main picks; the latest is CoSchedule’s 4 p.m. Industry data offers an exception: Sprout Social lists 6 p.m. on Friday for healthcare. Try a night post only if your own Active times point there.
What does Sprout Social mean by midday on Friday?
It doesn’t give exact hours. Most of its Friday windows by industry fall between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., so testing a slot between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. is a fair way to try its advice.
Related guides
- Best time to post on FacebookThe studies split. Buffer and Hootsuite mostly favour weekday mornings; Sprout Social favours Tuesday and Wednesday from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. Test both on your Page.
- Best time to post on Facebook on Thursday9 a.m. local time: Buffer’s best hour of the week and CoSchedule’s top Thursday hour. For a second slot, test Sprout Social’s 12 p.m. to 2 p.m.
- Best time to post on Facebook on SaturdaySaturday is the weakest Facebook day in most studies. If you post, test 6 a.m. (Buffer, Hootsuite), 9 a.m. (CoSchedule) or 10 p.m. (Buffer), local time.
- Best time to post on Facebook on SundaySunday morning, 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. local time, where Buffer’s and Hootsuite’s Sunday picks fall. Sprout Social rates Sunday the weakest day, so measure your own.
- Best time to post on Facebook for businessStart with weekday late mornings, around 10 a.m., a time every industry in Sprout Social’s 2026 data covers on at least one weekday. Hootsuite’s industry windows vary more, so test.
- Best time to post on Instagram on FridayAbout 4 p.m. (Hootsuite) or 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. (Buffer), in your followers’ local time. Friday is weak on average, so save your most important post for midweek.
More best times to post
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