Facebook · Thursday
What time to post on Facebook on Thursday
Post at 9 a.m. on Thursday, in your audience’s time zone. It is the best time of the whole week in Buffer’s data and the top Thursday hour in CoSchedule’s. Sprout Social sees it differently, with a Thursday peak from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. and another at 8 p.m., while Hootsuite picks 6 a.m.
Studies checked
Short answer
9 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.
What the studies found
| Window | Times | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Best time of the whole week | Thursday 9 a.m.; Thursday’s other peaks are 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. | Buffer, 2026 |
| Thursday’s five best hours | 9 a.m., 4 p.m., 11 a.m., 10 a.m., 7 a.m. | CoSchedule, 2026 |
| Lunch peak and an evening spike | 12 p.m. to 2 p.m., then 8 p.m. | Sprout Social, 2026 |
| Single Thursday time | 6 a.m. | Hootsuite, 2025 |
| Marketing agencies | 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. | Hootsuite, 2025 |
| Real estate, legal and professional services | 5 p.m. | Hootsuite, 2025 |
| Government | 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. | Sprout Social, 2026 |
| Healthcare | 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., and 4 p.m. | Sprout Social, 2026 |
Times are in the audience’s local time zone unless a row says otherwise.
Where the numbers come from
Thursday at 9 a.m. was the best posting time of the whole week, and 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. were Thursday’s other peaks. Wednesday was the best day overall, and the afternoon, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., was when engagement dropped.
Sample: Over 14 million Facebook posts; times apply as given, with no convertingbuffer.com
Its best Thursday hours were 9 a.m., 4 p.m., 11 a.m., 10 a.m. and 7 a.m. As a day, though, Thursday ranked fifth of seven, ahead of only Sunday and Saturday. CoSchedule says to read the times in your main audience’s time zone.
coschedule.com
Thursday peaked from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. and again at 8 p.m., local time, and was one of its four strongest days with Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Its Thursday industry windows range from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. for software to 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. for government.
Sample: About 307,000 profiles from 30,000+ customers, late Nov 2025 to late Feb 2026sproutsocial.com
Its best Thursday time was 6 a.m. Thursday also comes up in its industry table more than any other day: 8 of the 13 industries have a Thursday slot, from construction (10 a.m. to 12 p.m.) to marketing agencies (2 p.m. to 6 p.m.).
Sample: More than 1 million business posts, localised to 118 countriesblog.hootsuite.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.
Why 9 a.m. leads on Thursday
Two studies put the same hour first. Buffer’s data makes Thursday at 9 a.m. the strongest slot of the week, and CoSchedule’s Thursday list opens with 9 a.m. too. The hours around it line up as well: Buffer adds 8 a.m. and 10 a.m., and CoSchedule adds 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. Together they mark out a morning band, 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., with two separate data sets behind it.
The other two studies fall either side of that band. Hootsuite’s 6 a.m. is earlier than any Thursday hour Buffer or CoSchedule name, and Sprout Social’s first Thursday peak doesn’t begin until noon.
A top hour on an average day
Thursday as a whole gets mixed marks. CoSchedule, whose best Thursday hour matches Buffer’s, still ranks the day fifth of seven. Buffer’s best day is Wednesday, not Thursday. Sprout Social is the most positive, grouping Thursday with Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday as its strongest days.
That is less of a contradiction than it looks. A day’s rank describes all of Thursday, while a best hour describes one slot in it. If you post once on a Thursday, the slot is what you are choosing, and the morning has the most support.
Thursday is the busiest day in Hootsuite’s industry table
Hootsuite splits its Facebook findings into 13 industries, and 8 of them have a Thursday slot, more than any other day. For construction, marketing agencies and real estate, Thursday is the only day listed. Sprout Social covers some of the same fields:
| Industry | Hootsuite, 2025 | Sprout Social, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Construction, mining and manufacturing | 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. | Not covered |
| Consumer goods and retail | 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.; 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. | 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. |
| Education | 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. | 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.; 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. |
| Financial services | 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. | 9 a.m.; 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. |
| Marketing agencies | 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. | Not covered |
| Media and entertainment | Early morning | Not covered |
| Real estate, legal and professional services | 5 p.m. | Not covered |
| Technology | 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. | 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. |
Education and finance agree across the two: Hootsuite’s 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. for education sits inside Sprout Social’s 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and both name 9 a.m. for financial services. Technology is where they part: Sprout Social’s software window is over by 10 a.m., and Hootsuite’s doesn’t open until 11 a.m.
A Thursday test: morning against lunch
With two studies behind 9 a.m. and one behind lunchtime, the useful test is between those two.
- Slot A, 9 a.m.: Buffer’s best hour of the week and the top of CoSchedule’s Thursday list.
- Slot B, 12:30 p.m.: the middle of Sprout Social’s Thursday peak, and inside the afternoon hours where Buffer saw engagement fall, so it tests the disagreement head-on.
- Slot C, 8 p.m., only if you post twice on Thursdays: Sprout Social’s separate evening peak.
Alternate slots A and B for six Thursdays and compare engagement per person reached. Before you start, check Active times in the Meta Business Suite Planner, which reflects your followers’ activity over the past week; if it suggests a different morning hour, use that as slot A.
Thursday 9 a.m. in another time zone
Each study’s times are local to the audience, and CoSchedule spells this out with a California example: its 9 a.m. means 9 a.m. Pacific time there. For a business in India with followers in Los Angeles, a Thursday 9 a.m. post goes out at 9:30 p.m. Thursday in India while California is on daylight saving time. After US clocks go back on November 1, 2026, the same post goes out at 10:30 p.m.
Questions people ask
Is Thursday a good day to post on Facebook?
Its mornings are. Thursday holds Buffer’s best single time, 9 a.m., and Sprout Social counts it among its four strongest days. CoSchedule is cooler on the day as a whole, ranking it fifth of seven, though its best Thursday hour is also 9 a.m.
Is Thursday afternoon a bad time to post on Facebook?
The studies can’t agree. Buffer saw engagement fall from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., yet 4 p.m. is CoSchedule’s second-best Thursday hour, and Sprout Social’s peak runs from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. An afternoon slot is worth testing rather than ruling out.
Which industries do best on Thursday?
In Hootsuite’s data, marketing agencies (2 p.m. to 6 p.m.), construction and manufacturing (10 a.m. to 12 p.m.) and real estate, legal and professional services (5 p.m.) have their only slot on a Thursday. In Sprout Social’s, government Pages get a long Thursday window, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Is 8 p.m. on Thursday worth trying?
As a second post, perhaps. Sprout Social lists 8 p.m. as a separate Thursday peak, but none of the other three studies names a Thursday evening hour. Buffer’s Thursday hours stop at 10 a.m., and CoSchedule’s latest is 4 p.m.
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 Wednesday8 a.m. or 9 a.m. local time, backed by Buffer and CoSchedule, or 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., inside Sprout Social’s 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. peak.
- Best time to post on Facebook on FridayEarly 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.
- 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 Facebook in IndiaRead study times as IST: Thursday 9 a.m. is Buffer’s best, Tuesday and Wednesday 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sprout Social’s. None has India-only data, so check your Active times.
- Best time to post on Instagram on Thursday9 a.m. (Buffer) or 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. (Hootsuite), local time, with Sprout Social’s 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. in between. The studies never overlap on Thursday, so test two.
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