Best Time to Post on Facebook in the UK (2026): What the Data Says

Last updated: 26 October 2026. Based on three large studies covering more than 15 million Facebook posts and 2 billion engagements, plus Ofcom’s UK usage data.

The short answer: post on Facebook on weekdays, with Tuesday to Thursday the safest days, and start by testing 8–10am and 12–1pm UK time. Weekends, and Saturday in particular, are the weakest days in the major studies. The studies disagree on the exact hour, so use these slots as a starting point and confirm them in your own Meta Business Suite insights.

What the studies say

All three agree on one thing: weekdays beat weekends for most pages. They split on the hour. Buffer and Hootsuite favour early morning, while Sprout Social finds the strongest engagement from midday into the evening. Sprout’s sample is mostly brands, Buffer’s mixes businesses and creators, and each tool measures engagement on posts sent through its own platform, which explains much of the gap.

A starting schedule for UK pages

Facebook is still the second-biggest platform in the UK by reach: Ofcom found Facebook and Messenger reach 93% of UK online adults, who spend an average of 43 minutes a day on them (Ofcom, Online Nation 2025). With almost every online adult on it, the audience is broad, so start with the slots where the studies agree before narrowing down.

Each slot comes from at least one of the studies above. Local businesses that serve evening or weekend customers, such as restaurants, pubs and events, should test their own peak hours rather than follow office-hour benchmarks.

How to find your own best time

1. Open Meta Business Suite and go to Insights for your Facebook page.
2. Check when your audience is online and which recent posts reached the most people.
3. Schedule posts shortly before the peak, so they are fresh when followers arrive.
4. Change one thing at a time and compare reach and engagement over two to three weeks.
5. Mind the clock change. The UK moves from BST to GMT on the last Sunday of October; check that scheduled posts still land at the hour you planned.

Does posting time still matter on Facebook?

Yes, but less than it did. Facebook’s feed now mixes posts from pages you follow with recommended content, so a good post can keep reaching people long after it goes live. The first hour still matters, because early Facebook reactions, comments and shares help decide how widely a post is shown. Posting when your audience is online gives every post that head start.

New pages often struggle with the opposite problem: a post looks ignored because the page has few followers. Some page owners build a base with Facebook page likes or Facebook followers so the page looks established while they grow organically. It works as social proof, not as a replacement for posting at the right time.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best time to post on Facebook in the UK?

Start with weekday mornings around 8–10am and lunchtime around 12–1pm UK time, with Tuesday to Thursday as your main days. Then adjust using Meta Business Suite insights for your own page.

What is the best day to post on Facebook?

Midweek. Buffer found Wednesday the best day and Thursday 9am the best single slot, and Sprout Social found Tuesday and Wednesday strongest.

What is the worst day to post on Facebook?

The weekend. Buffer found Saturday the weakest day, and Sprout Social found Sunday engagement universally low.

Are these times in UK time?

Yes. The studies converted their results to the audience’s local time, so read the hours as UK time (GMT or BST).

Should I post on Facebook in the evening?

Test it. Sprout Social found engagement holding up until 8pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and Buffer found Monday 9pm strong, but both rank weekday mornings or midday higher overall.

Related reading

See how to grow a Facebook page in 2026, the general guide to the best time to post on social media, and our UK social media statistics for 2026.