Best Time to Post Carousels on Instagram: What 7,976 Posts Show

There is no weekday that makes a carousel outperform. In our sample of 7,976 scored carousels, the best day (Tuesday, in UTC) reached 2× its creator’s usual 26.7% of the time and the weakest days 22.9%, a gap much smaller than the one between short and long carousels or between niches.

So timing is worth a minute of thought, not an afternoon. Here is what the data shows, and what it can’t.

What is the best day to post carousels on Instagram?

We took every carousel we’ve scored and grouped it by the weekday it went up, in UTC. Each carousel is scored against its own creator’s usual: likes + comments divided by the median of up to 20 of that creator’s carousels posted closest in time. If that’s new to you, how the outlier score works explains it step by step.

Here is how often carousels posted on each day reached 2× their creator’s usual:

• Monday: 25.3% (1,162 carousels)
• Tuesday: 26.7% (1,184)
• Wednesday: 24.3% (1,253)
• Thursday: 23.0% (1,232)
• Friday: 22.9% (1,182)
• Saturday: 22.9% (954)
• Sunday: 24.5% (1,009)

Across all 7,976, the figure is 24.2%. Monday and Tuesday sit a little above it, Thursday to Saturday a little below.

The softer bar tells the same story. Carousels posted on a Monday beat their creator’s usual (1× or more) 52% of the time, Sunday 51.4% and Tuesday 51.2%, against 47.5% to 48.7% from Wednesday to Saturday.

One more pattern is visible in the counts themselves: creators in our library post fewer carousels at the weekend. Saturday has 954 and Sunday 1,009, against more than 1,150 on every weekday.

Why the weekday is a pattern, not a schedule

Two caveats before anyone moves their posting day.

The days are in UTC. The creators we track post from many time zones. A carousel published on Monday evening in Los Angeles is logged as Tuesday in UTC. A “Tuesday” in this data is a mix of local Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so read it as a loose pattern rather than a calendar instruction.

It’s a correlation across creators. These base rates mix the creators we track, with different audiences, niches and habits. Tuesday carousels reaching 2× a little more often doesn’t mean Tuesday caused it. It could be who tends to post on Tuesdays, or what they post.

How much does the posting day matter compared with everything else?

Less than almost anything else we measure. Look at the spread between the best and worst group on each factor, using the same “reached 2×” measure:

• Weekday: 26.7% (Tuesday) against 22.9% (Friday and Saturday). A gap of 3.8 points.
• First-slide length: 25.2% for 6–10 words against 18.1% for 1–5 words. A gap of 7.1 points.
• Slide count: 28.2% for 11–15 slides against 16.5% for 2–3 slides. A gap of 11.7 points.
• Niche: 31.5% for food & cooking against 17.2% for fashion & beauty. A gap of 14.3 points.

None of these are causes either. But if you only have an hour to improve your next carousel, the evidence points to the idea, the first slide and the length long before it points to the calendar. Our study of the full sample goes through slide count and format in more detail.

Outliers don’t keep to a schedule

The biggest outliers in the library went up on all sorts of days. This week’s top outlier, “Don’t get too drunk. Don’t drink from an open cup.” (@victorianpoetry, 54×), was posted on a Wednesday, one of the weaker days in the base rates. So were the next two: a carousel by @bossbabe.inc (11.1×) and “Loewe illustrations are having their moment” by @anastasia_shtompel (9.4×).

The month tells the same story. Among the top outliers of the last 30 days:

• @pm_alec, 465.9×, posted on a Tuesday
• @organic_arc, 436.9×, posted on a Thursday
• @rilovento, 103.9×, posted on a Wednesday
• @maripolonskaps, 151×, posted on a Sunday

A Thursday post can be a 400× outlier. The day shifts the odds by a few points at most; the post decides the rest.

What about the time of day?

Our data is grouped by weekday only, so I won’t give you an hour. Any single “best hour” would also run into the time-zone problem above: an hour that suits followers in London is the middle of the night in Sydney.

The better guide is your own audience. Post when the people who follow you are awake and scrolling, which you’ll know better than any cross-creator average.

Why posting regularly matters more than the perfect slot

Every score in our library is relative: a carousel is compared with up to 20 of its creator’s carousels posted closest in time, and we need at least 7 of them to score it at all. The same logic works for your own account. You can only tell whether a carousel did well if you have a steady run of recent posts to compare it with.

That’s why I’d pick a day you can keep to over a day that wins a 3.8-point contest. A creator who posts every Thursday builds a clear usual, and a clear usual is what lets you spot the post that beat it, then make more like it.

A simple way to choose your day

1. Start with your own week. Pick a day and time you can post on reliably for the next two months.
2. If you have no preference, lean early in the week. Monday and Tuesday (UTC) had slightly higher rates in our sample. It’s a nudge, not a rule.
3. Spend the saved time on the post. Find a structure that already worked in your niche, for example in food & cooking, where 31.5% of carousels reached 2×, and write a 6–10 word first slide.
4. Judge each carousel against your own usual, not against other accounts. If your carousels usually get 400 likes + comments and one gets 1,200, that’s 3×, whatever day it went up.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best day to post carousels on Instagram?

In our sample of 7,976 carousels, those posted on a Tuesday (UTC) reached 2× their creator’s usual most often, 26.7%, followed by Monday at 25.3%. Friday and Saturday were lowest at 22.9%. The differences are small, so treat them as a pattern rather than a schedule.

What time should I post a carousel on Instagram?

Our data is grouped by weekday, not by hour, and creators post from many time zones. Post when your own followers are most likely to be online, and keep that slot consistent so you can compare each carousel with your usual.

Is it bad to post carousels at the weekend?

Not in our data. Sunday carousels reached 2× their creator’s usual 24.5% of the time, close to the overall 24.2%. Saturday was lower at 22.9%, the same as Friday. Creators in our library simply post fewer carousels at the weekend.

Does posting time matter more than the content?

No. The gap between the best and worst weekday was 3.8 points. The gap between 2–3 slide and 11–15 slide carousels was 11.7 points, and between niches 14.3 points. These are correlations, but they suggest the post itself matters far more than when it goes up.