SAST
South Africa Standard Time
GMT +2
12am
3am
6am
9am
12pm
3pm
6pm
9pm
CST
Central Standard Time
GMT -6
12am
3am
6am
9am
12pm
3pm
6pm
9pm

Quick answers

SAST is 8 hours ahead of CST. SAST uses GMT +2, and CST uses GMT -6 for this comparison.

For example, 2:00 pm SAST is 6:00 am CST. Use the converter above to adjust the date or time and create a shareable meeting link.

Best meeting overlap: 4:30pm-5:30pm SAST, which is 8:30am-9:30am CST.

CST is a fixed UTC-6 standard-time offset. For current Central Time, compare SAST to CDT or SAST to CT.

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

Time Difference

South Africa Standard Time is 8 hours ahead of Central Standard Time
2:00 pm14:00 in SAST is 6:00 am06:00 in CST

SAST to CST call time
Best time for a conference call or a meeting is between 4:30pm-5:30pm in SAST which corresponds to 8:30am-9:30am in CST

2:00 pm14:00 South Africa Standard Time (SAST). Offset UTC +2:00 hours
6:00 am06:00 Central Standard Time (CST). Offset UTC -6:00 hours

2:00 pm14:00 SAST / 6:00 am06:00 CST

SASTCST
12am (midnight)4pm
1am5pm
2am6pm
3am7pm
4am8pm
5am9pm
6am10pm
7am11pm
8am12am (midnight)
9am1am
10am2am
11am3am
12pm (noon)4am
1pm5am
2pm6am
3pm7am
4pm8am
5pm9am
6pm10am
7pm11am
8pm12pm (noon)
9pm1pm
10pm2pm
11pm3pm
00:0016:00
01:0017:00
02:0018:00
03:0019:00
04:0020:00
05:0021:00
06:0022:00
07:0023:00
08:0000:00
09:0001:00
10:0002:00
11:0003:00
12:0004:00
13:0005:00
14:0006:00
15:0007:00
16:0008:00
17:0009:00
18:0010:00
19:0011:00
20:0012:00
21:0013:00
22:0014:00
23:0015:00

South Africa Standard Time

Offset: SAST is 2 hours ahead Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and is used in Africa

Countries using this time zone: Lesotho, Eswatini (Swaziland), South Africa

Principal Cities: The largest city in the SAST time zone is Cape Town in South Africa, with about 3.433 million people. Other major cities in this time zone include Durban, Johannesburg, Soweto, Pretoria.

Daylight Saving: Clocks in South Africa Standard Time (SAST) do not change for daylight saving time, so SAST stays the same throughout the year. Other time zones may set clocks forward in summer and back in winter.

SAST Time Zone Geo Map
SAST timezone map

SAST representations, usage and related time zones

W3C/ISO-8601: International standard covering representation and exchange of dates and time-related data
  • +02 - basic short
  • +0200 - basic
  • +02:00 - extended
Email/RFC-2822: Internet Message Format Date Standard, typically used for timestamps in email headers
  • +0200 - sign character (+) followed by a four digit time providing hours (02) and minutes (00) of the offset. Indicates an offset of two hours to the east of the zero meridian.
Military/NATO: Used by the U.S. military, Chinese military and others
  • Bravo - Military abbreviation for SAST
  • B - short form of 'Bravo'
IANA/Olson: Reflects SAST time zone boundaries defined by political bodies, primarily intended for use with computer programs and operating systems
  • Africa/Johannesburg
  • Africa/Maseru
  • Africa/Mbabane
Time zones with the GMT +2 offset:
  • CEST - Central European Summer Time
  • EET - Eastern European Time
  • MESZ - Mitteleuropäische Sommerzeit
  • B - Bravo Time Zone
  • CAT - Central Africa Time
  • IST - Israel Standard Time
  • SAST - South Africa Standard Time
  • WAST - West Africa Summer Time

Central Standard Time

Offset: CST is 6 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and is used in North America

Countries using this time zone: Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, El Salvador, United States

Principal Cities: The largest city in the CST time zone is Mexico City in Mexico, with about 12.294 million people. Other major cities in this time zone include Chicago, Houston, Iztapalapa, Ecatepec.

French: HNC - Heure Normale du Centre

Spanish: CT - Tiempo Central Estándar, CT - Zona Centro

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 Central Daylight Time (CDT).

Daylight saving time clock moves back for one hour from 2am to 1amStart: Central Standard Time (CST) 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: Central Standard Time (CST) 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.

CST representations, usage and related time zones

W3C/ISO-8601: International standard covering representation and exchange of dates and time-related data
  • -06 - basic short
  • -0600 - basic
  • -06:00 - extended
Email/RFC-2822: Internet Message Format Date Standard, typically used for timestamps in email headers
  • -0600 - sign character (-) followed by a four digit time providing hours (06) and minutes (00) of the offset. Indicates an offset of six hours to the west of the zero meridian.
Military/NATO: Used by the U.S. military, Chinese military and others
  • Sierra - Military abbreviation for CST
  • S - short form of 'Sierra'
IANA/Olson: Reflects CST time zone boundaries defined by political bodies, primarily intended for use with computer programs and operating systems
  • America/Bahia_Banderas
  • America/Belize
  • America/Chicago
  • America/Chihuahua
  • America/Costa_Rica
  • America/El_Salvador
  • America/Guatemala
  • America/Indiana/Knox
  • America/Indiana/Tell_City
  • America/Knox_IN
  • America/Managua
  • America/Matamoros
  • America/Menominee
  • America/Merida
  • America/Mexico_City
  • America/Monterrey
  • America/North_Dakota/Beulah
  • America/North_Dakota/Center
  • America/North_Dakota/New_Salem
  • America/Ojinaga
  • America/Rainy_River
  • America/Rankin_Inlet
  • America/Regina
  • America/Resolute
  • America/Swift_Current
  • America/Tegucigalpa
  • America/Winnipeg
  • CST6CDT
  • Canada/Central
  • Canada/Saskatchewan
  • Mexico/General
  • US/Central
  • US/Indiana-Starke
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 -6 offset:
  • CST - Central Standard Time
  • CT - Central Time
  • MDT - Mountain Daylight Time
  • EAST - Easter Island Standard Time
  • GALT - Galapagos Time
  • S - Sierra Time Zone