Best Time to Post Analyzer: when your own followers respond most
A day-by-hour heatmap of your own posts' engagement, with the best slots and how many posts each is based on.
For Instagram Facebook LinkedIn X
- Free to use
- Runs in your browser
- No sign-up
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How it works
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Download a post-level export from Meta Business Suite, LinkedIn or X and save it as CSV, or copy the table from a spreadsheet.
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Open the file or paste the table, check the columns we matched and your time zone, and say whether the times in the file are UTC or local.
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Look at the best slots that are based on enough posts, post in them for a few weeks, then run a new export and compare.
About the Best Time to Post Analyzer
Open a post-level export from Meta Business Suite (Instagram or Facebook), LinkedIn or X, or paste the table, and see on which days and at which hours your own posts did best. The tool matches your export's column names, moves the times into your time zone (India by default), and shows a heatmap of the median engagement rate for each day and hour, your best and weakest slots with the number of posts behind each, your best days, post types and top 10 posts. It runs in your browser: your export is not uploaded, and the result describes your past posts, not a general rule.
How the heatmap is worked out
For each post we add up likes or reactions, comments, shares and saves (or use the export's own engagements column), divide by reach, or by impressions or views when there is no reach, and multiply by 100. That is our measure of engagement rate; the Engagement Rate Calculator explains the other formulas. Each cell shows the median rate of the posts published on that day and hour, so one viral post cannot make a slot look good on its own. Slots with fewer posts than the minimum you set (3 by default, our measure) are marked as too thin to trust.
Time zones in exports
X says its post activity export uses UTC, so a post made at 7 pm in India shows as 1:30 pm in the file. We have not found a Meta help page that says which time zone its exports use, so the tool looks at the times and makes a guess: if many posts seem to go out between midnight and 6 am, the times are probably UTC. Check one post against the time you see in the app and change the setting if needed. LinkedIn exports Page analytics as an XLS file, so save it as CSV first.
What this tool cannot do
It only sees the posts in your export, so it shows when your past posts did well, not when your followers are online or what will happen next. A slot you never posted in has no data at all. Reach and engagement also depend on the topic, the format and whether a post was boosted. It cannot read your accounts or fetch data from Meta, LinkedIn or X.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best time to post on Instagram in India?
There is no single answer that fits every account, and Instagram does not publish one. Your own posts are the best guide: open your export in this tool to see the days and hours your posts did best, then test those slots for a few weeks and compare.
How do I get the export from Meta Business Suite?
Meta Business Suite has your Facebook and Instagram insights under Insights, then Content, and Meta says insights can be exported there. Choose a post-level export covering a few months, save it as CSV and open it here. If a column is not matched, pick it in the list of columns.
Why do the times look wrong?
Many exports use UTC rather than Indian time, and X says its post activity export is in UTC. If your 7 pm posts show at 1:30 pm, choose "UTC" under "Times in the file are" and keep India as your time zone. The tool also guesses from the times and says what it guessed.
How many posts do I need?
The more the better. Each cell of the heatmap needs a few posts before its median means much, so by default we mark slots with fewer than 3 posts as too thin (our measure). Three months or more of regular posting gives most accounts enough. Wider slots, such as 2 or 3 hours, group more posts together.
Can I use a LinkedIn or X export?
Yes. LinkedIn exports Page analytics as an XLS file, so save the sheet with your posts as CSV first. X exports post activity as a CSV, with times in UTC. For LinkedIn and X you can also count clicks as engagement, as their own analytics do.
Sources and checks
Rules last checked
The Best Time to Post Analyzer follows these official pages:
- Content insights in Business Suite (facebook.com)
- Export your LinkedIn Page analytics report (linkedin.com)
- Export CSV Definitions (help.x.com)
The engagement rate, the median per slot and the minimum number of posts per slot are our measures.
Scores, limits and suggestions marked "our checklist", "our measure" or "our suggestion" are ours, not Google's or the platform's. How our tools work
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