How to add 1 hour to date Carbon?

Try to parse() it first:

$date = Carbon::parse('2016-11-24 11:59:56')->addHour();

Better way is to add datetime column to a dates variable:

protected $dates = ['datetime_column'];

Then you can just do this:

$date = $model->datetime_column->addHour();

You can try this:

$date = "2016-11-24 11:59:56";
$carbon_date = Carbon::parse($date);
$carbon_date->addHours(1);

You can now compare the date using lt() & gt() methods of Carbon. See Carbon Comparison Docs for exploring more methods like - eq(), ne(), gte(), lte(), etc.

$carbon_date->lt(Carbon::now()); // Less then current datetime (returns boolean)
$carbon_date->gt(Carbon::now()); // Greater than current datetime (returns boolean)

Hope this helps!