IntroductionPrior studies have demonstrated an association between time to revision total knee arthroplasty (rTKA) and indication; however, the impact of early versus late revision on post-operative outcomes has not been reported.Materials and methodsA retrospective, observational study examined patients who underwent unilateral, aseptic rTKA at an academic orthopedic hospital between 6/2011 and 4/2020 with > 1-year of follow-up. Patients wereearlyrevisions if they were revised within 2 years of primary TKA (pTKA) orlaterevisions if revised after greater than 2 years. Patient demographics, surgical factors, and post-operative outcomes were compared.Results470 rTKA were included (199 early, 271 late). Early rTKA patients were younger by 2.5 years (p= 0.002). The predominant indications forearlyrTKA were instability (28.6%) and arthrofibrosis/stiffness (26.6%), and the predominant indications forlaterTKA were aseptic loosening (45.8%) and instability (26.2%;p< 0.001). Late rTKA had longer operative times (119.20 ± 51.94 vs. 103.93 ± 44.66 min;p< 0.001). There were no differences in rTKA type, disposition, hospital length of stay, all-cause 90-day emergency department visits and readmissions, reoperations, and number of re-revisions.ConclusionsAseptic rTKA performed before 2 years had different indications but demonstrated similar outcomes to those performed later. Early revisions had shorter surgical times, which could be attributed to differences in rTKA indication.Level of evidenceIII, retrospective observational analysis.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s43019-023-00191-5.