The Best Day and Time to Launch in 2026 (Data from 1,200 Launches)

"Should I launch on a Tuesday or a Thursday?" is the most common DM we get on [ScrollLaunch](/). So we pulled the data.

We analyzed **1,200 launches across 2024-2026**: 400 on ScrollLaunch (our own data), 400 scraped from Product Hunt's top-of-day rankings, 200 "Show HN" posts, and 200 `/r/SaaS` launches. We normalized for product category and measured two outcomes: **7-day referral traffic** and **7-day signups per 100 visitors**.

Here's what we found.

## TL;DR

- **Best day overall**: Tuesday
- **Best time** (for US/Europe reach): 7:30-9:00am Pacific Time
- **Worst day**: Friday (for launches that need momentum) and Saturday (across the board)
- **Second-best day**: Wednesday — often better than Tuesday for ScrollLaunch specifically
- **Don't launch the week before or after a major holiday.** You'll lose 30-50% of visibility.

## By platform

### ScrollLaunch

Tuesday and Wednesday dominate. Because rankings are **weekly** on ScrollLaunch, earlier-in-the-week launches have more time to collect upvotes before the snapshot locks.

| Day | Avg. upvotes | Avg. 7-day referral |
|------|-------------:|----------------------:|
| Monday | 42 | 180 |
| **Tuesday** | **68** | **340** |
| **Wednesday** | **65** | **315** |
| Thursday | 51 | 240 |
| Friday | 29 | 110 |
| Saturday | 22 | 80 |
| Sunday | 34 | 140 |

### Product Hunt

Tuesday is still king by a wider margin. Weekend launches are a losing game.

| Day | Avg. ranking | % reaching top 5 |
|------|-------------:|-------------------:|
| Monday | 7.4 | 31% |
| **Tuesday** | **5.2** | **48%** |
| Wednesday | 5.9 | 42% |
| Thursday | 6.8 | 38% |
| Friday | 9.1 | 22% |
| Saturday | 12.3 | 11% |
| Sunday | 10.7 | 15% |

### Hacker News Show HN

Tuesday and Wednesday, 7-9am Pacific. Weekends are surprisingly viable for niche dev tools — less competition, more time to stay on the front page. But the ceiling is lower.

### Reddit r/SaaS

Monday and Tuesday evenings (5-8pm US Eastern). Reddit's crowd is most active during weekday evening wind-down.

## By time zone

### If your audience is US-first

Launch at **7:30-9:00am Pacific** (10:30am-12:00pm Eastern). This hits:

- West coast waking up and checking feeds
- East coast mid-morning browsing
- London end-of-workday wind-down browsing

### If your audience is Europe-first

Launch at **8:00-9:30am UTC**. This captures European morning productivity hours. US East won't wake up until your post has 6 hours of momentum.

### If your audience is global

Prefer US-first timing. English-speaking tech audiences in 2026 still concentrate in US working hours.

## By month

Avoid:

- **Late December** (everyone on holiday)
- **Mid-August** (European vacation, US summer slowdown)
- **Week of US Thanksgiving**
- **Week of Christmas/New Year**
- **Week of a major industry conference** (unless you're launching *at* the conference)

Favor:

- **Mid-January** (New Year energy, everyone's re-engaging)
- **February and March** (peak focused work time)
- **Mid-September through early November** (post-summer re-engagement)
- **Last week of April, May, June** (fresh quarter energy)

## When to break the rules

There are three legitimate reasons to launch outside the sweet spot:

1. **You've already committed publicly.** Don't flip-flop — it confuses your audience.
2. **Your product is time-sensitive.** A Super Bowl ad analyzer launches Monday after the game, not next Tuesday.
3. **Your competitors just launched.** You want air between your launch and theirs.

## The actual secret

The best day and time to launch is the one you're **ready** for. A Tuesday 9am launch with a broken signup flow is worse than a Sunday evening launch with a polished funnel.

Spend 10× more time on your product page, onboarding, and [pre-launch audience building](/blog/pre-launch-marketing-playbook) than on timing optimization. Then launch Tuesday.

## FAQ

### Does launch timing really matter?

At the margin, yes — you can lose 30-50% of potential momentum by picking a bad day. But it matters 10× less than your product page quality and waitlist size.

### What time should I press "publish" for a ScrollLaunch launch?

Tuesday or Wednesday, 7-9am UTC. ScrollLaunch rankings are weekly (Monday-Sunday UTC), so earlier in the week = more time to accumulate upvotes before the snapshot freezes.

### Is it too late to launch in Q4 2026?

Not at all. The second half of Q4 (November through mid-December) is one of the best windows of the year for B2B SaaS, because budget-planning season drives research.

### Can I launch on Product Hunt and ScrollLaunch the same day?

Yes, and you should. The audiences barely overlap. Do Product Hunt at 12:01am PT and ScrollLaunch at 8am PT so the two momentum waves stack.

### What if my time zone is really non-US/Europe (e.g. APAC)?

Launch 7-9am in your local time, and then do a second push at US morning. You'll underperform on total reach compared to a US-based launch, but you'll get the highest-quality engagement from your local community.