CET to EST Converter (Central European Time to Eastern Time)

Eastern Time is 6 hours behind Central European Time for most of 2026. From March 8, 2026 to March 29, 2026: Eastern Time is 5 hours behind Central European Time. From October 25, 2026 to November 1, 2026: Eastern Time is 5 hours behind Central European Time.

Central European Time is the clock of Berlin, Paris, Madrid, Rome, Amsterdam, Brussels, Vienna, Zurich, Warsaw and Prague. It is UTC+01:00 in winter and UTC+02:00 (CEST) in summer. New York, six hours behind, is on UTC−05:00 and UTC−04:00 over the same seasons, so the six-hour gap holds for most of the year.

The exception is the stretch when the two continents have not yet changed clocks together. The United States moves on the second Sunday of March and the first Sunday of November, and the European Union on the last Sundays of March and October, so for a few weeks the gap is 5 hours.

How to use this tool

1. Pick a date and time in CET. The date matters when daylight saving time is in force.
2. Read the matching time in EST, with both UTC offsets.
3. Use "Use current time" for now, or the tables below for a quick look.

Formula

EST time = CET time − (CET UTC offset) + (EST UTC offset)

The converter looks up both UTC offsets for the actual instant in the saved IANA time zone rules, so daylight saving changes are included automatically.

Example

Worked with the saved rules:

9:00 AM CET on March 2, 2026 = 3:00 AM EST

6:30 PM CEST on August 3, 2026 = 12:30 PM EDT

Time difference through the year

The difference depends on the date when either place moves its clocks. These are the offsets on two reference days, from the saved IANA rules:

Clock changes in 2026

Between these dates the difference shifts by the size of the change.

CET to EST time table

Each hour in Central European Time with the matching Eastern Time time.

EST to CET time table

Each hour in Eastern Time with the matching Central European Time time.

Hours that work in both places

Hours (on the January reference day) that fall between 8:00 AM and 8:00 PM in both CET and EST:

The weeks when the gap is five hours

In 2026 the US changes clocks on March 8 and November 1, the EU on March 29 and October 25. From March 8 to March 28 and from October 25 to October 31, New York is only five hours behind Central Europe. A meeting fixed for 3 p.m. in Berlin is at 9 a.m. in New York most of the year but at 10 a.m. in those weeks.

Recurring calls between European and American teams are the most common victims. A Monday meeting that was comfortable in February can drift by an hour in March, so many teams re-send their invitations before the first Sunday of March.

European afternoon, American morning

The European workday is largely over before the American one gets going. Offices in Frankfurt or Paris close at around 5 or 6 p.m., which is 11 a.m. or noon in New York. The practical window for joint calls is the European late afternoon, 3 to 5 p.m., when New York is awake.

Financial markets overlap in the same window. The Xetra trading platform in Frankfurt is open until 5:30 p.m. CET, and the New York Stock Exchange opens at 9:30 a.m. Eastern, which is 3:30 p.m. CET in the usual six-hour period, so Frankfurt and New York trade together for about two hours.