EST
Eastern Standard Time
GMT -5
12am
3am
6am
9am
12pm
3pm
6pm
9pm
CST
Cuba Standard Time
GMT -5
12am
3am
6am
9am
12pm
3pm
6pm
9pm

Quick answers

EST and CST use the same UTC offset for this comparison. EST uses GMT -5, and CST uses GMT -5 for this comparison.

For example, 7:00 am EST is 7:00 am CST. Use the converter above to adjust the date or time and create a shareable meeting link.

Best meeting overlap: 9am-5pm EST, which is 9am-5pm CST.

EST is a fixed UTC-5 standard-time offset. For current Eastern Time, compare EDT to CST-CARIBBEAN or ET to CST-CARIBBEAN.

Compare EST time with CST time, including current local time, UTC offsets, time difference, daylight saving changes, working hours, and shareable meeting times.

Time Difference

Eastern Standard Time is 0 hours ahead of Cuba Standard Time
7:00 am07:00 in EST is 7:00 am07:00 in CST

EST to CST call time
Best time for a conference call or a meeting is between 9am-5pm in EST which corresponds to 9am-5pm in CST

7:00 am07:00 Eastern Standard Time (EST). Offset UTC -5:00 hours
7:00 am07:00 Cuba Standard Time (CST). Offset UTC -5:00 hours

7:00 am07:00 EST / 7:00 am07:00 CST

ESTCST
12am (midnight)12am (midnight)
1am1am
2am2am
3am3am
4am4am
5am5am
6am6am
7am7am
8am8am
9am9am
10am10am
11am11am
12pm (noon)12pm (noon)
1pm1pm
2pm2pm
3pm3pm
4pm4pm
5pm5pm
6pm6pm
7pm7pm
8pm8pm
9pm9pm
10pm10pm
11pm11pm
00:0000:00
01:0001:00
02:0002:00
03:0003:00
04:0004:00
05:0005:00
06:0006:00
07:0007:00
08:0008:00
09:0009:00
10:0010:00
11:0011:00
12:0012:00
13:0013:00
14:0014:00
15:0015:00
16:0016:00
17:0017:00
18:0018:00
19:0019:00
20:0020:00
21:0021:00
22:0022:00
23:0023:00

Eastern Standard Time

Offset: EST is 5 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and is used in North America

Countries using this time zone: Bahamas, Canada, Haiti, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Mexico, Panama, Turks & Caicos Is, United States

Principal Cities: The largest city in the EST time zone is New York City in the United States, with about 8.175 million people. Other major cities in this time zone include Toronto, Montreal, Brooklyn, Borough of Queens.

French: HNE - Heure Normale de l'Est

Spanish: ET - Tiempo del Este, ET - Zona Sureste

EST Time Zone Geo Map
EST timezone map

Daylight Saving: This is a standard time zone. During summer, some places set clocks forward one hour for daylight saving time and observe Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).

Daylight saving time clock moves back for one hour from 2am to 1amStart: Eastern Standard Time (EST) started on Sunday, November 2, 2025 at 2:00 am local time and clocks were set one hour back to Sunday, November 2, 2025, 1:00 am. Standard time starts annually on the first Sunday of November.

Daylight saving time clock moves forward for one hour from 2am to 3amEnd: Eastern Standard Time (EST) ends on Sunday, March 8, 2026 at 2:00 am local time and clocks are set one hour forward to Sunday, March 8, 2026, 3:00 am local daylight time instead. Standard time ends annually on the second Sunday of March.

EST representations, usage and related time zones

W3C/ISO-8601: International standard covering representation and exchange of dates and time-related data
  • -05 - basic short
  • -0500 - basic
  • -05:00 - extended
Email/RFC-2822: Internet Message Format Date Standard, typically used for timestamps in email headers
  • -0500 - sign character (-) followed by a four digit time providing hours (05) and minutes (00) of the offset. Indicates an offset of five hours to the west of the zero meridian.
Military/NATO: Used by the U.S. military, Chinese military and others
  • Romeo - Military abbreviation for EST
  • R - short form of 'Romeo'
IANA/Olson: Reflects EST time zone boundaries defined by political bodies, primarily intended for use with computer programs and operating systems
  • America/Atikokan
  • America/Cancun
  • America/Cayman
  • America/Coral_Harbour
  • America/Detroit
  • America/Fort_Wayne
  • America/Grand_Turk
  • America/Indiana/Indianapolis
  • America/Indiana/Marengo
  • America/Indiana/Petersburg
  • America/Indiana/Vevay
  • America/Indiana/Vincennes
  • America/Indiana/Winamac
  • America/Indianapolis
  • America/Iqaluit
  • America/Jamaica
  • America/Kentucky/Louisville
  • America/Kentucky/Monticello
  • America/Louisville
  • America/Montreal
  • America/Nassau
  • America/New_York
  • America/Nipigon
  • America/Panama
  • America/Pangnirtung
  • America/Port-au-Prince
  • America/Thunder_Bay
  • America/Toronto
  • Canada/Eastern
  • EST
  • EST5EDT
  • Jamaica
  • US/East-Indiana
  • US/Eastern
  • US/Michigan
Time zones with the GMT -5 offset:
  • CDT - Central Daylight Time
  • EST - Eastern Standard Time
  • ET - Eastern Time
  • COT - Colombia Time
  • CST - Cuba Standard Time
  • EASST - Easter Island Summer Time
  • ECT - Ecuador Time
  • PET - Peru Time
  • R - Romeo Time Zone

Cuba Standard Time

Offset: CST is 5 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and is used in Caribbean

Countries using this time zone: Cuba

Principal Cities: The largest city in the CST time zone is Havana in Cuba, with about 2.164 million people. Other major cities in this time zone include Santiago de Cuba, Camaguey, Holguin, Guantanamo.

CST Time Zone Geo Map
CST timezone map

Daylight Saving: This is a standard time zone. During summer, some places set clocks forward one hour for daylight saving time and observe Cuba Daylight Time (CDT).

Daylight saving time clock moves back for one hour from 1am to 12amStart: Cuba Standard Time (CST) started on Sunday, November 2, 2025 at 1:00 am local time and clocks were set one hour back to Sunday, November 2, 2025, 12:00 am. Standard time starts annually on the first Sunday of November.

Daylight saving time clock moves forward for one hour from 12am to 1amEnd: Cuba Standard Time (CST) ends on Sunday, March 8, 2026 at 12:00 am local time and clocks are set one hour forward to Sunday, March 8, 2026, 1:00 am local daylight time instead. Standard time ends annually on the second Sunday of March.

CST representations, usage and related time zones

W3C/ISO-8601: International standard covering representation and exchange of dates and time-related data
  • -05 - basic short
  • -0500 - basic
  • -05:00 - extended
Email/RFC-2822: Internet Message Format Date Standard, typically used for timestamps in email headers
  • -0500 - sign character (-) followed by a four digit time providing hours (05) and minutes (00) of the offset. Indicates an offset of five hours to the west of the zero meridian.
Military/NATO: Used by the U.S. military, Chinese military and others
  • Romeo - Military abbreviation for CST
  • R - short form of 'Romeo'
IANA/Olson: Reflects CST time zone boundaries defined by political bodies, primarily intended for use with computer programs and operating systems
  • America/Havana
  • Cuba
CST Abbreviation: Several time zones share CST abbreviation and it could refer to these time zones
  • Central Standard Time - UTC -6
  • China Standard Time - UTC +8
  • Cuba Standard Time - UTC -5
Time zones with the GMT -5 offset:
  • CDT - Central Daylight Time
  • EST - Eastern Standard Time
  • ET - Eastern Time
  • COT - Colombia Time
  • CST - Cuba Standard Time
  • EASST - Easter Island Summer Time
  • ECT - Ecuador Time
  • PET - Peru Time
  • R - Romeo Time Zone