Best Times to Send a Newsletter

This article was updated in August 2026 for accuracy and relevancy.

Is there one perfect time to send a newsletter?

Not exactly. According to beehiiv’s 2025 platform data, open rates remain relatively consistent across the week, while engagement changes more noticeably throughout the day.

Monday produced the highest average open rate at 40.45%, but Saturday was only 1.04 percentage points behind. Opens peaked at 5 a.m. EST, with a second strong window between 3 and 4 p.m. EST.

These benchmarks provide a useful starting point, but your ideal schedule will depend on your audience, content, location, and desired outcome.

This guide uses data from beehiiv’s State of Newsletters 2026 to explain when newsletters receive the most opens and clicks, plus how to find the best send time for your own readers.

Key Takeaways

• There is no universal best day to send a newsletter. In beehiiv’s 2025 data, open rates remained close throughout the week.

• Monday produced the highest open rate at 40.45%, while Saturday produced the lowest at 39.41%.

• Weekend newsletters generated slightly higher click-through rates, with Saturday at 3.39% and Sunday at 3.40%.

• Opens peaked around 5 a.m. EST, with another strong window between 3 and 4 p.m. EST.

• Use these benchmarks as a starting point, then test different times based on your audience, content, location, and desired outcome.

What Is the Best Time of Day to Send a Newsletter?

beehiiv’s 2025 data shows two clear engagement peaks during the day.

The strongest period occurred in the early morning. Newsletters sent at 5 a.m. EST generated an average open rate of 44.46%, followed by 42.12% at 6 a.m. EST.

A second peak appeared during the afternoon:

• 5 a.m. EST: 44.46% open rate

• 6 a.m. EST: 42.12% open rate

• 3 p.m. EST: 43.50% open rate

• 4 p.m. EST: 43.01% open rate

Open rates reached their lowest point around 10 p.m. EST, falling to approximately 28.61%.

These results suggest two useful starting windows: early morning, when a newsletter can reach the top of the inbox, and mid-to-late afternoon, when readers may return to email after completing the busiest part of their day.

However, 5 a.m. EST will not be the best time for every publication. A local newsletter, business publication, entertainment newsletter, and global media company may all serve audiences with different routines.

Use these findings as a starting point, then compare different times using your own click, reply, conversion, and unsubscribe data.

What Is the Best Day to Send a Newsletter?

There is no single best day to send a newsletter.

According to beehiiv’s 2025 platform data, Monday produced the highest average open rate at 40.45%. Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday followed closely behind:

• Monday: 40.45%

• Wednesday: 40.31%

• Friday: 40.23%

• Sunday: 40.15%

• Saturday: 39.41%

The difference between the strongest and weakest days was only 1.04 percentage points. That means choosing Monday instead of Wednesday is unlikely to transform performance on its own.

The results also challenge the assumption that weekends are always bad for newsletters. Saturday and Sunday recorded the highest average click-through rates, at 3.39% and 3.40%, respectively.

Weekdays may provide slightly stronger open rates, while weekends can attract readers who have more time to engage with the content. The best choice depends on whether you are optimizing for visibility, clicks, replies, purchases, or another action.

Instead of treating a particular weekday as a universal rule, choose a logical starting day based on your audience and test it consistently.

What Changes the Best Time to Send a Newsletter?

Benchmarks show what works across a large number of newsletters. Your ideal send time depends on the habits of your own readers.

Consider the following factors before choosing a schedule:

Audience Type

A newsletter for professionals may perform well during the workday, while entertainment, shopping, hobby, or lifestyle content may receive more attention during evenings and weekends.

Reader Routines

Think about when readers are most likely to have time to act. Are they checking email before work, during lunch, after finishing work, or while relaxing on the weekend?

Content and Objective

The best time can change depending on what you want readers to do. Breaking news should arrive when it is relevant. A business newsletter may be designed for the beginning of the workday. A weekend roundup can give readers more time to explore multiple stories.

You should also distinguish between opens and meaningful engagement. The time that generates the most opens may not generate the most clicks, replies, signups, or purchases.

Audience Location

A single scheduled time can reach subscribers in different parts of the world at very different hours. Review where your subscribers live and consider separate schedules for major geographic segments.

Inbox Competition

The most frequently recommended send times can also be the most crowded. Test times immediately before or after common windows, such as 8:30 a.m. instead of 9 a.m., to see whether reduced inbox competition improves performance.

The goal is not to discover the internet’s perfect send time. It is to identify the time that consistently works for your audience.

How to Find Your Best Newsletter Send Time

Industry benchmarks should provide your first hypothesis, not your final answer. To determine when your readers are most responsive, run a controlled send-time experiment.

1. Choose One Variable

Test either the day or the time, but not both at once. If you change multiple variables, you will not know which change affected performance.

2. Use Comparable Newsletter Editions

Compare newsletters with similar topics, formats, subject-line styles, and calls to action. A major product announcement should not be compared directly with a routine weekly roundup.

3. Test Across Multiple Sends

One successful send can be an outlier. Repeat each timing variation across several comparable editions before changing your regular schedule.

For example, alternate between 6 a.m. and 3 p.m. over several weeks. Once you have identified the stronger time, test different days while keeping the time consistent.

4. Measure the Right Outcome

Open rates can provide directional information, but they should not be your only measure. Privacy features and automatic image loading can inflate recorded opens.

Compare:

• Verified clicks

• Click-through rates

• Replies

• Conversions

• Unsubscribes

• Revenue, when applicable

Choose the time that produces the action your newsletter is designed to generate.

5. Compare Audience Segments

Different groups may respond at different times. Compare performance by location, subscriber source, engagement level, or audience type when your list is large enough to produce meaningful results.

6. Repeat the Experiment

Audience behavior changes over time. Revisit your send-time data when your audience grows, your content changes, or engagement begins to decline.

beehiiv’s native A/B testing is designed for testing subject lines. Send-time comparisons should be conducted through separate, controlled newsletter sends.

How to Schedule Newsletters Across Time Zones

A newsletter scheduled for the perfect time in New York may reach readers in London, Los Angeles, or Tokyo at a completely different point in their day.

Start by reviewing the geographic distribution of your subscribers. If most readers live in one region, schedule around that region’s local time. If your audience is distributed globally, consider creating geographic segments and scheduling separate sends for each major region.

For example, a publication with large audiences in North America, Europe, and Asia could create three regional segments and send the same newsletter when readers in each segment are most likely to be active.

When scheduling a newsletter in beehiiv, confirm the timezone used by your browser. The scheduled send time follows the browser’s local timezone. Your publication’s default timezone controls how dates are displayed, but it does not determine when a scheduled newsletter is delivered.

For automated emails, beehiiv’s Wait Until step can schedule an action using the publication’s default timezone, a specific timezone, or an individual subscriber’s timezone.

Regardless of the method you use, compare performance across locations. Readers in different regions may have different work schedules, weekend habits, and expectations.

Send Your Newsletter at the Right Time With beehiiv

Industry benchmarks can help you choose an initial newsletter schedule. Your own audience data should determine what you do next.

With beehiiv’s newsletter analytics, you can track opens, clicks, unsubscribes, subscriber growth, and revenue to understand how different sends perform. You can also create audience segments, publish to specific segments, and use polls to ask readers about their preferences.

beehiiv’s native A/B testing is designed for comparing subject lines. To test newsletter timing, compare separate, controlled sends while keeping the subject, content, audience, and call to action as consistent as possible.

Continue testing as your publication grows. The schedule that works for your first 1,000 subscribers may change as your audience, content, and geographic reach expand.

Sign up for beehiiv for free. The Launch plan supports up to 2,500 subscribers, includes unlimited email sends, and does not require a credit card.

Best Times to Send a Newsletter: Frequently Asked Questions

Are Weekends or Weekdays Better for Sending Newsletters in General?

Neither is universally better.

In beehiiv’s 2025 data, weekdays produced slightly stronger average open rates, with Monday leading at 40.45%. However, weekends generated the highest click-through rates, with Saturday at 3.39% and Sunday at 3.40%.

Weekdays may be a stronger starting point when visibility is the primary goal. Weekends may work well for content that readers want more time to explore.

Choose based on your audience and the action you want readers to take, then confirm the decision using your own performance data.

How Can One Account For Holidays or Seasonal Changes in Newsletter Timing?

Reader behavior can change around holidays, vacations, major events, and seasonal shifts. However, this does not mean publishers should automatically avoid every holiday.

Consider whether your content is relevant to the occasion and review how previous sends performed during similar periods. A holiday-themed newsletter may perform well immediately before or during an event, while an unrelated business newsletter may receive less attention.

If your audience spans multiple countries or regions, account for local holidays and seasonal routines rather than following a single global calendar.

Does a Monthly Newsletter Need a Different Send Time?

Monthly newsletters should prioritize consistency and audience expectations. Choose a recognizable point in the month, such as the first Tuesday or final Thursday, and send at approximately the same time.

Avoid assuming that the beginning or end of the month will always perform better. Holidays, pay cycles, seasonal routines, and the subject of the newsletter can all affect engagement.

Compare several monthly sends before making a decision. Because monthly newsletters provide fewer experiments than weekly newsletters, it may take several months to identify a dependable pattern.