diff --git a/web/src/lib/components/InstanceCard.svelte b/web/src/lib/components/InstanceCard.svelte
index bdb2f45..90ac3d6 100644
--- a/web/src/lib/components/InstanceCard.svelte
+++ b/web/src/lib/components/InstanceCard.svelte
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 	import ConfirmDialog from './ConfirmDialog.svelte';
 	import { IconPlay, IconStop, IconRestart, IconTrash, IconExternalLink, IconEvents } from '$lib/components/icons';
 	import { t } from '$lib/i18n';
+	import { fmt } from '$lib/format/datetime';
 	import * as api from '$lib/api';
 
 	interface Props {
@@ -31,17 +32,7 @@
 			: instance.subdomain ? `https://${instance.subdomain}` : ''
 	);
 
-	const timeSinceCreated = $derived(() => {
-		const created = new Date(instance.created_at);
-		const now = new Date();
-		const diffMs = now.getTime() - created.getTime();
-		const diffMins = Math.floor(diffMs / 60_000);
-		if (diffMins < 60) return `${diffMins}m ago`;
-		const diffHours = Math.floor(diffMins / 60);
-		if (diffHours < 24) return `${diffHours}h ago`;
-		const diffDays = Math.floor(diffHours / 24);
-		return `${diffDays}d ago`;
-	});
+	const timeSinceCreated = $derived(() => $fmt.relative(instance.created_at));
 
 	async function handleAction(action: 'stop' | 'start' | 'restart' | 'remove') {
 		loading = true;
diff --git a/web/src/lib/format/datetime.ts b/web/src/lib/format/datetime.ts
index 777cc1a..2be564a 100644
--- a/web/src/lib/format/datetime.ts
+++ b/web/src/lib/format/datetime.ts
@@ -18,6 +18,23 @@ export type DateInput = string | number | Date | null | undefined;
 
 const PLACEHOLDER = '—';
 
+/**
+ * Backend emits `store.Now()` as `"2006-01-02 15:04:05"` (UTC, but no `Z`).
+ * Bare ISO strings without a zone (e.g. `"2026-04-23T14:05:32"`) show up too.
+ * JavaScript interprets both as **local** time, which silently skews every
+ * relative label ("3h ago") by the user's UTC offset. Normalise anything
+ * that lacks an explicit zone marker to UTC before constructing the Date.
+ */
+function normalizeIsoUtc(input: string): string {
+	const trimmed = input.trim();
+	// Already has Z or ±HH:MM / ±HHMM offset → trust it.
+	if (/(Z|[+-]\d{2}:?\d{2})$/.test(trimmed)) return trimmed;
+	// SQLite-style "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS(.ffff)?" — swap space for T, append Z.
+	const sqliteMatch = trimmed.match(/^(\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2})[ T](\d{2}:\d{2}(?::\d{2}(?:\.\d+)?)?)$/);
+	if (sqliteMatch) return `${sqliteMatch[1]}T${sqliteMatch[2]}Z`;
+	return trimmed;
+}
+
 function toDate(input: DateInput): Date | null {
 	if (input === null || input === undefined || input === '') return null;
 	if (input instanceof Date) return isNaN(input.getTime()) ? null : input;
@@ -28,7 +45,7 @@ function toDate(input: DateInput): Date | null {
 		const d = new Date(ms);
 		return isNaN(d.getTime()) ? null : d;
 	}
-	const d = new Date(input);
+	const d = new Date(normalizeIsoUtc(input));
 	return isNaN(d.getTime()) ? null : d;
 }