Updated · Data through · 48,442 Show HN posts tracked · Refreshed daily
Best time to post on Hacker News, from every Show HN of the last year
Show HN posts made at 12 PM Eastern reached 50 points more often than any other busy hour: 4.3%, against 2.9% across all 48,442 posts in the 365 days to November 7, 2026. That shows when posts did well, not that posting then makes them do well. By day, Sunday was highest (3.3%) and Wednesday lowest (2.7%).
This page is for founders and makers about to post a Show HN. The best hour did 1.5x the average, and half of all Show HN posts still finished with 2 points or fewer.
- Show HN posts
- 48,442
- Reached 50+ points
- 2.9% (1,403)
- Reached 100+ points
- 1.6% (787)
- Median points
- 2
Window: November 8, 2025 to November 7, 2026, Eastern time. A post counts once it is 48 hours old, so its points have mostly settled. Source: the public Hacker News API (hn.algolia.com), read by our collector every morning.
Check your posting slot
Pick the day and hour you plan to post. The result shows how Show HN posts made in that hour did over the last year. It opens on Sunday at 12 PM: the top day and the top hour taken separately, not the top combination. Slots with fewer than 100 posts are flagged as a rough read.
Show HN posts made on a Sunday between 12 PM and 1 PM ET
- Posts
- 341
- Reached 50+ points
- 3.8%
- Median points
- 2
13 of 341 reached 50 points, 1.3x the rate for all Show HN posts (2.9%).
365 days of Show HN posts, data through November 7, 2026.
Best day to post a Show HN
Weekend posts reached 50 points 3.2% of the time and weekday posts 2.8%. Tuesday had the most Show HN posts (8,786) and Saturday the fewest (4,935).
| Day (ET) | Posts | Median points | Reached 50+ | Reached 100+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 7,256 | 2 | 2.9% | 1.8% |
| Tuesday | 8,786 | 2 | 2.9% | 1.6% |
| Wednesday | 7,979 | 2 | 2.7% | 1.3% |
| Thursday | 7,786 | 2 | 2.7% | 1.5% |
| Friday | 6,266 | 2 | 2.8% | 1.6% |
| Saturday | 4,935 | 2 | 3.1% | 1.9% |
| Sunday | 5,434 | 2 | 3.3% | 1.9% |
Best hour to post on Hacker News
The best hour with at least 500 posts was 12 PM ET (4.3% reached 50 points, 3,324 posts). The worst was 3 AM ET (1.7%, 1,399 posts). The heat map shows each day in three-hour blocks; darker means a higher share of posts reached 50 points than the 2.9% average.
| Day | 12 AM | 3 AM | 6 AM | 9 AM | 12 PM | 3 PM | 6 PM | 9 PM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | 2.9% | 2.7% | 2.3% | 3.5% | 3.7% | 2.4% | 2.9% | 1.1% |
| Tue | 3.2% | 1.6% | 2.7% | 3.0% | 4.1% | 2.5% | 3.4% | 1.7% |
| Wed | 1.4% | 1.7% | 1.5% | 2.9% | 4.2% | 2.5% | 3.1% | 2.2% |
| Thu | 1.5% | 2.0% | 2.6% | 3.4% | 2.4% | 3.1% | 3.6% | 2.0% |
| Fri | 3.1% | 1.9% | 2.6% | 2.6% | 3.9% | 2.4% | 3.3% | 2.0% |
| Sat | 1.7% | 2.7% | 2.6% | 3.4% | 3.2% | 3.7% | 3.8% | 3.3% |
| Sun | 3.0% | 3.1% | 3.8% | 3.0% | 3.5% | 3.6% | 3.4% | 2.1% |
Each cell is a three-hour block starting at the hour shown, Eastern time, with 343 to 2,434 posts per cell.
Every hour, all days together
| Hour (ET) | Posts | Reached 50+ | Reached 100+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 AM | 977 | 3.2% | 1.8% |
| 1 AM | 1,051 | 2.2% | 1.0% |
| 2 AM | 1,145 | 1.9% | 1.3% |
| 3 AM | 1,399 | 1.7% | 0.7% |
| 4 AM | 1,436 | 2.1% | 0.8% |
| 5 AM | 1,648 | 2.7% | 1.7% |
| 6 AM | 1,774 | 2.4% | 1.1% |
| 7 AM | 2,264 | 2.3% | 1.4% |
| 8 AM | 3,396 | 2.8% | 1.4% |
| 9 AM | 3,781 | 3.1% | 1.6% |
| 10 AM | 3,964 | 3.0% | 1.7% |
| 11 AM | 3,819 | 3.3% | 1.8% |
| 12 PM | 3,324 | 4.3% | 2.4% |
| 1 PM | 2,845 | 3.6% | 2.2% |
| 2 PM | 2,497 | 2.7% | 1.6% |
| 3 PM | 2,353 | 2.8% | 1.6% |
| 4 PM | 2,093 | 3.0% | 1.8% |
| 5 PM | 1,819 | 2.7% | 1.6% |
| 6 PM | 1,463 | 2.7% | 1.4% |
| 7 PM | 1,258 | 3.9% | 2.2% |
| 8 PM | 1,088 | 3.7% | 2.4% |
| 9 PM | 1,050 | 2.0% | 1.1% |
| 10 PM | 1,025 | 1.8% | 0.6% |
| 11 PM | 973 | 2.4% | 1.3% |
The last 90 days
From August 10, 2026 to November 7, 2026 there were 11,688 Show HN posts, and 2.7% reached 50 points. The best hour in that window was 12 PM ET (3.9%) and the best day Monday (3.3%). With fewer posts per slot, these 90-day figures move more from week to week than the full year.
GitHub link, website or text post
| What the post links to | Posts | Reached 50+ | Reached 100+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| github.com | 17,327 | 3.4% | 1.8% |
| Any other site | 28,668 | 2.7% | 1.6% |
| No link (text post) | 2,447 | 1.2% | 0.9% |
A GitHub repo reached 50 points 1.3x as often as a link to any other site, and a text post 0.4x as often. The Show HN rules ask for something people can try without barriers.
How many Show HN posts go up each month
More posts means more competition for the same readers. The first and last months below are partial, because the window starts on November 8, 2025 and ends on November 7, 2026.
| Month | Posts | Reached 50+ |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 2025 (partial) | 2,042 | 3.1% |
| Dec 2025 | 3,521 | 2.7% |
| Jan 2026 | 4,759 | 3.3% |
| Feb 2026 | 6,229 | 2.2% |
| Mar 2026 | 5,410 | 2.4% |
| Apr 2026 | 3,430 | 3.8% |
| May 2026 | 2,643 | 3.7% |
| Jun 2026 | 3,474 | 3.3% |
| Jul 2026 | 4,193 | 3.1% |
| Aug 2026 | 3,714 | 2.8% |
| Sep 2026 | 3,747 | 2.7% |
| Oct 2026 | 4,255 | 2.7% |
| Nov 2026 (partial) | 1,025 | 2.5% |
How to use this when you post
- Read the Show HN rules first. A Show HN must be something people can try now (not a landing page, sign-up page or blog post), and the rules say not to ask friends to upvote or comment.
- Pick a slot from the tool above. If you can only post on a weekday, take the darkest weekday block in the heat map.
- Link the thing itself: a repo or a page where someone can use the product without signing up.
- Stay in the thread after you post and answer the questions people ask.
- If it sinks, learn from the comments and come back when you have shipped something new. Do not repost the same thing the next day.
Planning a wider launch? Read how to launch on Product Hunt, how to find supporters without breaking the rules, and why building in public gives a launch an audience before the day. The full order is on the pre-launch tactics page.
How we count
- Every post tagged Show HN in the public Hacker News API is read each morning for the last 400 days. We keep the post id, its time, points, comment count and the domain it links to. Titles are not stored.
- Points are a stand-in for reach. The API has no record of which posts made the front page, so we report how many crossed 50 and 100 points rather than a front-page rate.
- These are averages across tens of thousands of posts. A slot with a higher share does not cause a post to do well; it may reflect who is online at that hour.
- Times are Eastern (America/New_York), including daylight saving changes.
Questions
What is the best time to post on Hacker News?
In the data, 12 PM Eastern time did best among busy hours. In the 365 days to November 7, 2026, 4.3% of Show HN posts made in that hour reached 50 points, against 2.9% for all 48,442 posts. That is an association, not proof the hour causes it. By day, Sunday was highest (3.3%) and Wednesday lowest (2.7%).
How many points does a Show HN need to reach the front page?
There is no fixed number, and the public data has no front-page flag, so this page counts points instead. Half of all Show HN posts in the last year finished with 2 points or fewer. 2.9% reached 50 points and 1.6% reached 100. The top 1% finished at 156 points or more.
What day is best to post a Show HN?
Sunday, in the last year. Sunday posts reached 50 points 3.3% of the time, against 2.7% on Wednesday. The quietest day was Saturday (4,935 posts) and the busiest Tuesday (8,786), so the day you pick also decides how many other posts you compete with.
Does a GitHub link do better than a website on Show HN?
In this data, yes, 1.3x as often in the last year. That is an association; repos may simply be easier to try. Show HN posts linking to github.com reached 50 points 3.4% of the time (17,327 posts), against 2.7% for posts linking to any other site and 1.2% for text posts with no link.
Sources
- Hacker News Search API (Algolia), tag show_hn, read November 9, 2026, 10:52 AM ET; data through November 7, 2026
- Show HN guidelines, read November 9, 2026
Cite this
The Growth List, "Best time to post on Hacker News", data through November 7, 2026, https://www.thegrowthlist.co/launch/best-time-to-post-on-hacker-news
By Ryan Doyle, founder of CommunityMentions and Sales.co. Published November 9, 2026; the numbers rebuild from the data every day.