Best Time to Send Email Calculator
Pick where your readers live. See what time your email will land for each of them, and the one send time that works best across all their time zones.
Check a send time
| Readers in | It lands at | How that works |
|---|
Good starting points
| Who you're emailing | Try | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Businesses and professionals | Tuesday to Thursday, 9 to 11 AM their time, or 1 to 3 PM | Weekends, late evenings, overnight |
| Homeowners, buyers and sellers | Weekday evenings 7 to 9 PM, early mornings, lunchtime; weekend mornings work too | Overnight, late at night |
These are common starting points, not rules. The best time for your list is the one your own open and reply numbers show. Send half your list at one time and half at another, and compare.
Why the time zone matters more than the hour
An email sent at 9 AM in Florida lands at 6 AM in California. By the time a West Coast reader looks, it's buried under everything that arrived since. For a national list, the sweet spot is usually mid-to-late morning Eastern time, which is still morning on the West Coast. This calculator does that sum for every time zone you tick and finds the time that suits the most readers.
Use "Schedule send"
If the best time is inconvenient for you, schedule it. In Gmail, click the arrow next to Send and choose Schedule send. In Outlook, use Delay Delivery (desktop) or Schedule send (web and new Outlook). Every email marketing service, including Mailchimp and Constant Contact, has a scheduling option.
Related free tools
What the best time to send email calculator does
This calculator shows what time your email will arrive for readers in different time zones, and suggests the send time that suits the most of them. It solves a common problem: an email sent at a good hour for you can land at 6 AM or in the middle of the night for someone else, and get buried before they ever see it.
Benefits
- One clear send timeTick the places your readers live and the tool picks a single best time, shown in your own time zone, plus a couple of other good options when they exist.
- See it from the reader's sideType any send time and a table shows when it lands in each place you ticked, with a simple rating like Great, Good, OK or Night and a short reason.
- Work email or personal emailChoose businesses or homeowners and consumers. The ratings change, because office inboxes and personal inboxes get checked at different times of day.
- Handles date changesThe table flags when your email arrives on the next day or the day before for a reader, so a Friday evening send in one place does not quietly become a Saturday in another.
- Daylight saving built inPick the actual day you plan to send and the clock changes for that date are taken into account.
- Covers the US and beyondThe list covers the mainland US, Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Europe, India, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and you can set your own time zone to any zone your browser knows.
Who it is for
- A small-business owner sending a newsletter to customers spread across the US who wants it to land in the morning everywhere.
- A real estate agent emailing homeowners who wants to reach them in the evening, when they actually read personal mail.
- A salesperson doing cold outreach to companies in several countries who needs a time that lands during working hours for most of them.
- A freelancer or remote worker based overseas who needs to know when an email will arrive for US clients.
How to use it
- Check that your own time zone is right; it is filled in from your browser.
- Choose whether you are emailing businesses or homeowners and consumers, and pick the day you plan to send.
- Tick every place where your readers live.
- Read the best send time at the top, then type any other time into Check a send time to see how it lands for each group.
- Use Schedule send in your email program if the best time is not convenient for you.
Your privacy
Everything is worked out in your browser using its own time zone rules. Nothing you pick or type is sent anywhere.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best time to send an email?
For work email, mid-morning on Tuesday to Thursday (around 9 to 11 AM the reader's time) is a common sweet spot. For personal email, evenings and early mornings often do better. Test with your own list to be sure.
What time should I send an email to people across the US?
Around 10 or 11 AM Eastern time. That's 9 or 10 AM Central and 7 or 8 AM Pacific, so it lands during the morning everywhere in the mainland US.
Is it bad to send emails on the weekend?
For work inboxes, usually yes: many aren't checked until Monday, when your email is buried. For homeowners and consumers, weekend mornings can work well.
Does it handle daylight saving time?
Yes. It uses your browser's up-to-date time zone rules for the day you pick, so clock changes are handled automatically.
How do I schedule an email in Gmail or Outlook?
In Gmail, click the small arrow next to Send and choose Schedule send. In Outlook, use Schedule send or Delay Delivery.