What's the Best Time to Post Notes on Substack?

You're probably Googling "best time to post on Substack" hoping for a simple answer like "Tuesday at 10am EST."

Most articles will tell you to post during "peak hours" or copy what successful creators do:

So you try posting at 9am.
Then noon.
Then 7pm.

Some notes do well. Others flop. And you still don't know why.

The problem isn't the clock. It's that you're following generic advice instead of understanding how Substack's algorithm actually decides which notes to promote.

There's a specific window that determines whether your note reaches 50 people or 5,000—and most creators miss it completely.

By the end, you'll know exactly when to post for your specific audience and how to schedule it automatically even if you're in the wrong timezone.

The first 4 hours

After analyzing hundreds of notes, here's what we found.

How well your note performs depends heavily on what happens in the first 4 hours.

If your note generates clicks and interaction early, the algorithm pushes it to more people. If it sits there with no engagement, it doesn't get that boost.

Think of it like a party. If people show up early and start talking, more people want to join. If nobody's there for the first hour, people assume it's dead and leave.

Your note needs your actual readers online in those first 4 hours. Not random people. Your people.

Your audience's timezone matters more than "peak times"

Let's say you write about European business topics and most of your readers are in London, Paris, and Berlin.

Posting at 10am EST (a common "best time" recommendation) means it's 3pm in London and 4pm in Paris.

That might work.

But posting at 8am London time means you catch people during their morning coffee scroll. That's when they're most likely to engage.

If you're writing for North Americans, notes posted between 8-10am in Eastern or Pacific time tend to perform well. That's when people check Substack before work or during their morning routine.

The pattern is simple. Post when your readers are actually on the platform.

If you're writing for retirees who read in the afternoon, posting at 6am doesn't help you. If you're writing for busy professionals, posting at 2pm when they're in meetings means fewer eyes.

Post with your audience in mind.

Being seen isn't the same as getting engagement

Your note can be shown to people at any time of day.

But if your core audience isn't active in those first 4 hours, you miss the engagement window.

Here's what happens: Your note goes live. A few random people see it. Maybe they click, maybe they don't. But your actual subscribers—the people who care about your work—aren't online yet.

By the time they log in 8 hours later, your note is old. The algorithm already decided it wasn't worth promoting.

You needed engagement early. You got it late. That's the problem.

This is why posting at random times feels inconsistent. Some notes blow up. Others don't. The difference is often just timing.

Time zone conflicts hurt creators who post manually

If you're in Australia writing for a US audience, the "best time" to post is 2am your time.

If you're in California writing for Europeans, you need to post at 11pm.

Manual posting locks you into your own schedule. You end up posting when it's convenient for you, not optimal for them.

And trying to wake up at weird hours to post a note is not sustainable. You'll do it once or twice, then go back to posting whenever.

This is where most creators get stuck. They know timing matters. They just can't make it work with their actual life.

Tools like StacksWeller solve the timing problem

This is why scheduling tools exist.

StacksWeller lets you write your note and schedule it to post when your audience is most active. Even if that's 3am your time.

You write during your work hours. It posts during their active hours.

The other benefit: StacksWeller shows you which notes performed better than others. So you can see patterns. Maybe your Tuesday morning notes always do well. Maybe your Friday posts flop.

Once you know what works, you can repurpose your best-performing notes. Turn them into longer posts. Reference them in your next piece. Get more mileage from ideas that already resonated.

Of course, timing isn't everything. You also need to post consistently—1-3 notes per day is the sweet spot for staying visible without burning out.

You can start with a 7-day free trial here and test it with your next 5-10 notes.