Is Later's Reels data current?

Its page is dated 21 April 2026, but the main feed analysis covers January to October 2024. The 975,000-Reel sample has no stated date range.

Do any of these studies cover Reels only?

Later gives a Reels time and cites a 975,000-Reel sample, and SocialPilot analyses over 250,000 Reels. Buffer, Hootsuite and Sprout combine post types, and Buffer's page says so itself.

What is the best day for Instagram Reels?

It depends on the study. Later says Monday, Buffer says Wednesday and Thursday for all post types, Hootsuite says Wednesday to Friday afternoons, and SocialPilot says Monday to Thursday mornings. Your own posts will settle it.

How do I find when my followers are on Instagram?

Open Instagram Insights on a professional account and look at the follower insights. Instagram's help page describes the times your followers are most active there. A new account may not see it yet.

Guide

When is the best time to post Instagram Reels?

Updated 18 October 2026

In short: the studies do not agree. Later's page, dated 21 April 2026, rests on January to October 2024 data and says midnight to 6 am is strong for Reels. Buffer (23 September 2026) says Thursday 9 am, Wednesday 12 pm and Wednesday 6 pm for all post types combined, not Reels alone. Hootsuite and Sprout give no Reels-only times. Use them to pick slots to test, then let your own numbers decide.

The studies side by side

Each row comes from the study's own page, read on 18 October 2026. "Not stated" means the page does not say.

Study	Published	Data window	Sample	Headline answer
Later	21 April 2026 (also "updated" 21 April 2026)	January to October 2024 for the main feed data; no date range for the Reels figure	Over 6 million feed posts, including Reels; 975,000 Reels also cited	Reels: 12 am, Monday the best day, high engagement 12–6 am. Overall: 5 am. Worst Reels time: Wednesday 2 am. Local time zone.
Buffer	23 September 2026	January 2024 to December 2025	9.6 million Instagram posts, from a 52-million-post study across 10 platforms and over 200,000 accounts; median engagement rate	Thursday 9 am, Wednesday 12 pm, Wednesday 6 pm, all post types together. The page says these are not Reels-only slots, then says Reels do best 6–11 pm.
Hootsuite	14 July 2026	Not stated; the text cites a 2025 analysis and Q4 2024 time-zone charts	"Over 1 million social posts from businesses of all sizes", with Critical Truth	No Reels-only times. Overall: Wednesday 5 pm, Thursday 4–5 pm, Friday about 4 pm, Monday 3–9 pm.
Sprout Social	31 March 2026	27 November 2025 to 27 February 2026	Nearly 2 billion engagements, about 307,000 profiles, on all networks, from over 30,000 customers	No Reels-only times. Instagram overall: Monday 2–4 pm, Tuesday 1–7 pm, Wednesday 12–9 pm and 11 pm, Thursday 12–2 pm. Advises Reels and carousels in these midweek windows.
SocialPilot	Not stated	Not stated	Over 250,000 Reels, plus 30,000+ connected accounts cited	Summary: 8 am to 12 pm, Monday to Thursday. Its own list includes slots outside that, such as Monday 3 am and Friday 4 pm.

Where the stale data is

Later's page carries a 2026 title and date, but its main feed analysis covers January to October 2024, so the data ends 18 months before the date on the page. Later also says its Stories windows come from its research and industry patterns, not from a dataset. The page itself says to treat its times as a starting point. Sprout's window (November 2025 to February 2026) is the most recent of the five, but it gives no Reels-only times. Buffer's covers 2024 and 2025 but does not split out Reels.

What they agree on

Midweek daytime shows up more than anything else: Wednesday and Thursday appear in Buffer, Hootsuite and Sprout, and Monday to Thursday in SocialPilot.
Later is the outlier. None of the other four leads with a time as early as its midnight to 6 am Reels result.
Use your own audience data. Every page says so. Buffer also notes that engagement-based times and follower-activity times from Instagram's own insights are not the same thing.

Why your own data beats a study

Different samples and measures. Buffer uses median engagement rate, Sprout counts engagements, and Hootsuite does not define its measure. None measures views on a clip cut from a stream. Hootsuite says its sample is businesses; Sprout's comes from its customers.
Time zones. Later says its times are normalised to the audience's local zone but does not explain how. A viewer base in several time zones makes any single hour a blend.
Late-night audiences. If you stream at night, your viewers may be awake at night. Studies of business accounts have no reason to reflect that, and Later's small-hours result shows how far a sample can pull away from the others.
Reels are found later. Reels are recommended to people who do not follow you, so a Reel posted outside your followers' busy hours can still reach viewers afterwards. We found no number from Instagram on how long that takes, so we do not give one.

What Instagram shows you

Instagram's own Insights include a follower-activity view: Instagram's help centre describes it under "Total followers" as the times your followers are most active, for accounts that qualify (About Instagram insights, read 18 October 2026). It is meant for professional (business or creator) accounts and needs a minimum number of followers, so a new account may not see it yet. Follower activity measures when followers are on Instagram, not when they watch Reels, so use it to choose slots to test, not as the answer.

A test to find your own best time

Check Insights first. Note your followers' busiest hours in Instagram Insights, if you can see them.
Pick three slots. Use your own time zone and 4-hour blocks, for example morning, afternoon and evening. Add a late-night slot if you stream late, since that is when your regulars may be online.
Post similar Reels. Rotate stronger and weaker clips across the slots and shuffle the order each week.
Compare at the same age. Record each Reel's views at 24 hours. Add a 7-day number for weeks one and two, because Reels can pick up viewers later.
Use the middle value. Aim for at least three Reels per slot across the first two weeks and compare medians.
Narrow it down in weeks three and four. Keep the top two slots and add one challenger. If two are close, call it a tie and pick the one you can keep up.

How to do it in RipClip

RipClip's tracking view builds best times from your own posts: average views after 24 hours, by day and 4-hour block, in your time zone. It appears after 5 posts that have had a day of views, and covers the posts RipClip published, using the counts each platform sends. Each post also has checkpoints at 1 hour, 24 hours and 7 days. Posting switches on platform by platform as each platform approves RipClip; until then, download your clips and post them yourself. If you only post to Instagram, Instagram's own Insights is a fine place to start.

Sources

Later: best time to post on Instagram in 2026 (based on 6M+ posts). A study by a social media scheduling company. Used for the date (21 April 2026), the January to October 2024 window, the samples and the Reels times. Read 18 October 2026.
Buffer: best time to post on Instagram in 2026, data from 9.6 million posts. A study by a social media scheduling company. Used for the date (23 September 2026), the window, the sample and the time slots. Read 18 October 2026.
Hootsuite: the best time to post on Instagram. A study by a social media software company. Used for the date (14 July 2026), the sample and the day-by-day times. Read 18 October 2026.
Sprout Social: best times to post on social media. A study by a social media software company. Used for the date, window, sample and Instagram times. Read 18 October 2026.
SocialPilot: best time to post Reels on Instagram. A study by a social media scheduling company. Shows no date or data window. Used for the sample and the summary window. Read 18 October 2026.
Instagram Help Center: About Instagram insights. Instagram's own help article. Used only to say that Insights include the times followers are most active. Read 18 October 2026.