How do I find a meeting time that works across multiple time zones?

To find a good overlap: identify "business hours" for each participant (typically 9am–6pm local). List out the UTC offset for each location. A participant in New York (UTC-5) and one in London (UTC+0) have a 5-hour gap — if London has a meeting at 3pm, New York sees it at 10am. If you add Tokyo (UTC+9), the gap becomes 14 hours from New York — there is no business-hours overlap. Use this calculator to visualize all participants simultaneously and see which hours are green (business hours) for the most people.

What time zones are hardest to schedule meetings across?

The most difficult timezone pairs: US West Coast (PT, UTC-8) and Asia-Pacific (SGT/JST, UTC+8/+9) have a 16–17 hour gap — no business-hours overlap exists without someone working very early or very late. US East Coast (ET, UTC-5) and India (IST, UTC+5:30) have a 10.5-hour gap — the overlap window is roughly 6:30–8:30 AM Eastern / 5–7 PM India. US and Australia are similarly difficult. The best cross-timezone windows tend to be Western Europe + US East Coast (5-hour gap, overlap around 9am ET / 2pm London).

What is the difference between UTC offset and a timezone?

A UTC offset is the fixed number of hours a location is ahead of or behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). A timezone is a named region that may shift its UTC offset seasonally due to Daylight Saving Time (DST). For example, New York is normally UTC-5 (Eastern Standard Time, EST) but shifts to UTC-4 in summer (Eastern Daylight Time, EDT). London is normally UTC+0 (GMT) but shifts to UTC+1 in summer (BST). When scheduling meetings, always check whether DST is in effect — a missed DST transition can shift a meeting by 1 hour.

How does Daylight Saving Time affect cross-timezone meetings?

DST shifts a location's UTC offset by +1 hour during summer. The problem: not all countries observe DST, and those that do change on different dates. The US switches in March and November; Europe switches slightly later. During the gap weeks, the US-Europe offset changes by 1 hour (e.g., New York-London goes from 5 hours to 4 hours, then back). Countries near the equator (India, Singapore, Japan, UAE) do not observe DST — their offset stays fixed year-round. Always verify DST status when scheduling critical international meetings.

What is a good meeting time for US and UK participants?

For US Eastern Time (ET) and UK (GMT/BST): the offset is 5 hours in winter (EST vs GMT) and 4 hours in spring/fall when US is on EDT and UK is on GMT, or both on DST. Good windows: 9–10am ET = 2–3pm London (standard overlap for both in business hours). 11am ET = 4pm London is also common. Avoid meetings after 1pm ET (6pm London is end of day). For US Pacific and UK, the gap is 8 hours — 9am London = 1am PT, meaning US must be up very early. Morning London meetings rarely work for US West Coast.

What does UTC mean and why is it used for scheduling?

UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) is the world's primary time standard — it does not observe Daylight Saving Time, so it never changes. All timezones are defined as offsets from UTC (e.g., UTC+9 for Tokyo, UTC-5 for New York in winter). For scheduling: convert all meeting times to UTC to find a universal anchor, then convert back to each participant's local time. Example: if you want 3pm UTC, that is 10am ET (UTC-5), 3pm London (UTC+0), 8pm India (UTC+5:30), and midnight Singapore (UTC+8). UTC removes DST confusion from the equation.

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Meeting Time Planner

To find a meeting time across timezones: convert all local times to UTC, then find a UTC hour where all participants are within 9am–6pm local time. New York (ET, UTC−5) and London (GMT, UTC+0) have a 5-hour gap; 10am ET = 3pm London. Adding Tokyo (JST, UTC+9) creates a 14-hour gap from New York — no full business-hours overlap exists. The best strategy for 3+ timezone meetings is to find the UTC window with the highest total business-hours score across all participants.

Find the best meeting time across multiple timezones. Add participants from different cities, pick a date, and see which hours work for everyone. Color-coded by business hours (green), early/late (yellow), or outside hours (red). Supports up to 6 participants across 18 common timezones.

Meeting Date

Participants & Timezones

Person 1

Person 2

Best Meeting Times

All participants in business hours — showing top 4 slots

9:00 AM (Eastern Time (ET))

Eastern Time (ET)9:00 AMBusiness hours

London (GMT/BST)2:00 PMBusiness hours

10:00 AM (Eastern Time (ET))

Eastern Time (ET)10:00 AMBusiness hours

London (GMT/BST)3:00 PMBusiness hours

11:00 AM (Eastern Time (ET))

Eastern Time (ET)11:00 AMBusiness hours

London (GMT/BST)4:00 PMBusiness hours

12:00 PM (Eastern Time (ET))

Eastern Time (ET)12:00 PMBusiness hours

London (GMT/BST)5:00 PMBusiness hours

Timezone Offset Reference

Region	UTC Offset	When UTC is 15:00
Pacific (PT)	UTC-8 / UTC-7 (DST)	7:00 AM / 8:00 AM
Eastern (ET)	UTC-5 / UTC-4 (DST)	10:00 AM / 11:00 AM
London (GMT/BST)	UTC+0 / UTC+1 (BST)	3:00 PM / 4:00 PM
Paris/Berlin (CET)	UTC+1 / UTC+2 (CEST)	4:00 PM / 5:00 PM
India (IST)	UTC+5:30	8:30 PM
Singapore (SGT)	UTC+8	11:00 PM
Tokyo (JST)	UTC+9	12:00 AM (+1 day)

Note: DST (Daylight Saving Time) shifts offsets by +1 hour. DST dates vary by country; verify for exact scheduling.

How to Use

1
Set the meeting date
Pick a date using the date picker. The planner uses this date to display context (DST may affect some timezone offsets depending on the time of year).
2
Select timezones for each participant
Use the dropdown to assign a timezone to each participant. The first participant is used as the anchor timezone for the best-slot display.
3
Add or remove participants
Click "Add participant" to add up to 6 people. Click "Remove" to remove extra participants. At least 2 participants are needed to find overlap.
4
Read the best meeting times
The planner shows the hours with the highest combined score: green = business hours (9am–6pm), yellow = early/late (7–9am or 6–8pm), red = outside hours. The recommendation lists the top slots sorted by overlap quality.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I find a meeting time that works across multiple time zones?: To find a good overlap: identify "business hours" for each participant (typically 9am–6pm local). List out the UTC offset for each location. A participant in New York (UTC-5) and one in London (UTC+0) have a 5-hour gap — if London has a meeting at 3pm, New York sees it at 10am. If you add Tokyo (UTC+9), the gap becomes 14 hours from New York — there is no business-hours overlap. Use this calculator to visualize all participants simultaneously and see which hours are green (business hours) for the most people.
What time zones are hardest to schedule meetings across?: The most difficult timezone pairs: US West Coast (PT, UTC-8) and Asia-Pacific (SGT/JST, UTC+8/+9) have a 16–17 hour gap — no business-hours overlap exists without someone working very early or very late. US East Coast (ET, UTC-5) and India (IST, UTC+5:30) have a 10.5-hour gap — the overlap window is roughly 6:30–8:30 AM Eastern / 5–7 PM India. US and Australia are similarly difficult. The best cross-timezone windows tend to be Western Europe + US East Coast (5-hour gap, overlap around 9am ET / 2pm London).
What is the difference between UTC offset and a timezone?: A UTC offset is the fixed number of hours a location is ahead of or behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). A timezone is a named region that may shift its UTC offset seasonally due to Daylight Saving Time (DST). For example, New York is normally UTC-5 (Eastern Standard Time, EST) but shifts to UTC-4 in summer (Eastern Daylight Time, EDT). London is normally UTC+0 (GMT) but shifts to UTC+1 in summer (BST). When scheduling meetings, always check whether DST is in effect — a missed DST transition can shift a meeting by 1 hour.
How does Daylight Saving Time affect cross-timezone meetings?: DST shifts a location's UTC offset by +1 hour during summer. The problem: not all countries observe DST, and those that do change on different dates. The US switches in March and November; Europe switches slightly later. During the gap weeks, the US-Europe offset changes by 1 hour (e.g., New York-London goes from 5 hours to 4 hours, then back). Countries near the equator (India, Singapore, Japan, UAE) do not observe DST — their offset stays fixed year-round. Always verify DST status when scheduling critical international meetings.
What is a good meeting time for US and UK participants?: For US Eastern Time (ET) and UK (GMT/BST): the offset is 5 hours in winter (EST vs GMT) and 4 hours in spring/fall when US is on EDT and UK is on GMT, or both on DST. Good windows: 9–10am ET = 2–3pm London (standard overlap for both in business hours). 11am ET = 4pm London is also common. Avoid meetings after 1pm ET (6pm London is end of day). For US Pacific and UK, the gap is 8 hours — 9am London = 1am PT, meaning US must be up very early. Morning London meetings rarely work for US West Coast.
What does UTC mean and why is it used for scheduling?: UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) is the world's primary time standard — it does not observe Daylight Saving Time, so it never changes. All timezones are defined as offsets from UTC (e.g., UTC+9 for Tokyo, UTC-5 for New York in winter). For scheduling: convert all meeting times to UTC to find a universal anchor, then convert back to each participant's local time. Example: if you want 3pm UTC, that is 10am ET (UTC-5), 3pm London (UTC+0), 8pm India (UTC+5:30), and midnight Singapore (UTC+8). UTC removes DST confusion from the equation.