I Analyzed 12,463,022 Substack Notes. Here's The Best Time To Post Them.

Avoid the same mistakes most creators do

Hey everybody. 👋

This is the second addition to this article, but with twice the data. If you read the previous one, feel free to skip to the data.

If you didn’t, I am going to break down the best times to post and what to post. So you’re going to find it extremely useful.

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But before I do that, I want to tell you about WriteStack. This is an app that I built for Substack creators.

WriteStack will help you:

1. Schedule Notes - Build a schedule that fits the best times for you to post, so you don’t have to manually send the Notes.

2. Notes Analytics - Learn what converts for your audience and what brought you subscribers (free and paid).

3. Followers Activity Graph - See when your audience is active, based on real-time data that’s collected throughout the day, so you know the BEST times to post, even if your audience changes.

And the best part? You can try it today, for 7 days FREE.

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It’s not a secret anymore that most of the traffic creators get is from Notes.

30-50% of their subscribers come from Notes. For some creators, these numbers shoot up to 70-80%.

Crazy effective.

Now, in order to make it even more effective, you’re going to need to know exactly when to write them, how to write them and what makes them effective.

And I analyzed over 12,463,022 notes to figure those out.

There’s one thing that caught me by huge surprise when I discovered it, so read through to find out what it is.

Understanding the Science Behind Peak Engagement Hours

Content timing isn’t just about posting when you’re awake.

It’s about understanding when readers and creators are most receptive to your content and are willing to engage. When they are inside Substack and are willing enough to engage.

For example, if 80% of creators and readers are in America, posting a note when they’re asleep won’t get you too much exposure. Other notes will be posted at the right time to overshadow yours.

That’s why it’s so important to know the best time to post your Notes and write them in a way people want to consume.

You want to hit your readers as soon as they open the app.

The Best Days To Post Notes

Peak Performance Windows

Notes count per day bars and likes per note line

The data shows clear engagement patterns throughout the week, and here’s where it gets interesting:

Saturday
delivers the highest engagement per note, clocking in at 53.0 likes per note. Yes, the weekend wins again, like in the previous analysis.

Wednesday
holds strong in second place, with 50.8 likes per note.

Friday
comes in third with 50.3 likes per note.

Tuesday
Has the highest volume of notes published but ranks lowest on engagement. Most likely volume is diluting attention.

Insight

All the days have around the same engagement average (48.7-53.0).

The reason weekdays have lower EPN (Engagement Per Note) is probably due to the higher volume of Notes posted these days.

Notes count per day bars and count of notes with <26 likes per day line

This second graph tracks something different: the number of notes that “flopped” (got fewer than 26 likes) on each day.

Why does this matter? Because averages can be misleading.

A day could have a decent average because a few viral notes pulled up the numbers, while most creators still struggled. By tracking low-performing notes separately, we see the ‘risk’ of posting on each day.

Notice how the red line drops on weekends? That’s actually good news. It means:

• Fewer notes fail on Saturday and Sunday
• Your odds of getting decent engagement are higher on weekends
• The “floor” is higher. Even average notes do better

For the average creator, this is the main takeaway: weekends are the safer choice for your Notes.

You’re less likely to post something that completely tanks.

My guess is that during the weekend more people consume content, rather than create it. That’s why the engagement is higher there.

Summary

More people are active on Substack during the week, which gives you a higher chance for more exposure.

During the weekends people are more chill and like to consume more than create.

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The Best Hours To Post Notes

Most active hours for Note posting, America/New York time zone

The assumption was always that weekday mornings, prime “coffee break” hours, would naturally be ideal.

The data says otherwise:

Saturday Evening is the Engagement King 🔥

8:00 PM ET

Weekend evening chill. Folks are at home scrolling. No work stress.
The data shows Saturday 8 PM hits a massive 90.3 average likes. The highest engagement window in the entire dataset.

Evening Hours (All Days)

6:00 PM – 10:00 PM ET

Work’s done. People are chilling, snacking, scrolling. Consistently strong engagement in the 60-75 range across all days. This is your safest bet.

Tuesday Late Evening

10:00 PM ET

Surprising spike to 75.0 likes. The “I should be asleep, but I’m not” scroll session.

Sunday Midnight

12:00 AM ET

Late Saturday night bleeding into Sunday. Still awake. Still swiping. 68.4 likes. Sunday scaries are real.

When to Avoid

3:00 AM – 6:00 AM ET

The dead zone. Engagement drops to 25-35 likes across all days. America is sleeping.

Volume of Notes

Notes count per hour, America/New York time zone t

The volume heatmap tells a different story from engagement.

The darkest bands, representing peak posting hours, are weekday late mornings till afternoon (10 AM – 2 PM).

This is exactly when engagement per note dips, due to massive competition.

On the other hand, the evenings and weekends show much lighter shades, indicating significantly fewer notes posted. Exactly when engagement spikes.

Less competition, more attention per note.

Why This Makes Sense: This inverse relationship between volume and engagement is a supply-and-demand dynamic.

Note volume is high → Creators flood readers with content → Attention is spreading thin → Less chance the reader sees your content.

During evenings and weekends:
Fewer creators post → Less content supply → Reader attention remains stable (or even increases during leisure hours) → Each note has far less competition and gets significantly more engagement.

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The Image Advantage

70.6

Avg likes WITH image

43.2

Avg likes WITHOUT image

Notes with images get 63% more engagement than text-only notes.

This was one of the clearest signals in the data. Out of 5.46 million notes:

• ~3m million had images (25%)
• ~9m million were text-only (75%)

Yet that 25% with images consistently outperforms.

They’re shortcuts for your brain: People can look at an image and instantly know if your post is worth their time. No mental gymnastics required.

They make people curious: A good image is like a movie trailer for your content. It makes people want to know more.

They stick: We’re just wired to remember visual stuff better than text. That image could be the reason someone remembers your post weeks later.

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Strategic Timing Recommendations

Here’s the TL;DR—save this for your next post:

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For maximum engagement

Weekend Evenings (Sat & Sun)
→ 7 PM – 10 PM ET
→ Saturday 8 PM is the single best hour (90.3 avg likes)
→ Fewer posts competing = more attention on yours

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For consistent performance

Weekday Evenings (Mon–Fri)
→ 5 PM – 10 PM ET
→ Reliable 60-75 avg likes
→ Your audience is relaxed and scrolling after work

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Bonus time

Late Night (All Days)
→ 11 PM – 1 AM ET
→ Surprisingly high engagement
→ Minimal competition from other creators

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When to avoid

Early Morning (All Days)
→ 3 AM – 6 AM ET
→ Lowest engagement (25-35 avg likes)
→ America is sleeping. Your note will be buried by morning.

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Final Thought

Look, analyzing millions of Notes taught me something I wasn’t expecting:

Most creators are doing this backwards.

They’re posting when it’s convenient for them, not when their audience is actually paying attention.

They’re skipping images when the data shows a clear 63% engagement boost.

They’re competing in the crowded midday hours when the evenings offer less competition.

But here’s what really matters:

Your audience is scrolling fast, they’re distracted, and they’re looking for a reason to stop.

Give them that reason with smart timing and visuals that actually add something.

The data doesn’t lie.

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P.S.

If your audience is on the other side of the globe, and you don’t want to wake up a few times every night just to get more engagement, there’s a solution.

I built WriteStack to help you create, manage and schedule your Notes, so they hit your audience at the best time.

And you can use it today for FREE! Get your 7-day free trial now:

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