An IGDataHub report fits a lot onto one page: followers and how they changed, average and median likes, an engagement rate with a comparison, posts per week, posting hours and a sponsorship range. This guide explains what each number means, where it comes from and how much weight it can carry, using the 2,678 reports live on the site on 9 October 2026.
Where the numbers come from
Every report is built from what a logged-out visitor can see on Instagram: the public profile (followers, following, post count, verified badge, bio, category) and the recent posts Instagram shows on it, each with its likes, comments, video views, caption, hashtags and time. We don't log in, so we never see private accounts, Stories, audience demographics or Instagram's own insights.
A report analyses up to 12 of the account's recent posts: 99.3% of our reports are built from exactly 12. Everything about posts on a report describes those posts, not the account's whole history.
Followers: exact, rounded, and changing
Instagram sometimes returns a rounded follower count instead of the exact figure. A report prints a count of 100,000 or more that is an exact multiple of 1,000 with "about" in front, rather than as if every digit were exact. Among the live reports, 104 accounts with 100,000 or more followers carry a count that is an exact multiple of 1,000, the mark of a rounded reading.
Follower change on a report comes from our own readings of the account on different days. Rounded readings are left out of the change whenever exact ones exist: a rounded first reading of 77.8M followed by an exact 77,812,345 would otherwise look like a gain of 12,345 that never happened. A report shows a change only when there are enough exact readings.
Growth is not the norm, least of all for big accounts. When we read 4,467 accounts about once a day for a month, 54% ended with fewer followers, and 69% of those with a million or more. The details are in our follower study.
The tier on a report follows the follower count:
| Tier | Followers | Reports |
|---|---|---|
| Nano | 1,000 to 9,999 | 529 |
| Micro | 10,000 to 49,999 | 443 |
| Mid-Tier | 50,000 to 99,999 | 203 |
| Macro | 100,000 to 999,999 | 608 |
| Mega | 1,000,000 or more | 895 |
Accounts under 1,000 followers are Starter; there are none among the live reports.
Twelve posts: read the median first
A report gives both the average and the median likes per post. The median is the middle value: half the analysed posts got more likes and half got fewer (with 12 posts, the average of the 6th and 7th). The average adds them all up and divides by the number of posts with counts (usually 12), so a single post that took off can drag it far above what the account normally gets.
That happens a lot. In 755 of the 2,536 reports with both figures stored (30%), the average is at least twice the median. For almost one account in three, the average is pulled up by a post or two that did far better than the rest. If you want to know what the next post is likely to get, use the median.
Engagement rate: compare within the tier
Engagement rate on a report is likes plus comments per post, divided by followers. It is measured against followers rather than views because Instagram shows views only for videos.
The rate falls steadily as accounts grow, so a single "good engagement rate" doesn't exist. Here is what the live reports with post data showed on 9 October 2026, tier by tier, computed the same way as the comparison on each report (which refreshes every few hours, so its figures drift a little). "Middle half" is the range the central 50% of accounts in the tier fall in.
| Tier | Median rate | Middle half | Reports |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nano | 3.81% | 1.52% to 8.08% | 500 |
| Micro | 2.48% | 0.94% to 6.00% | 419 |
| Mid-Tier | 1.72% | 0.76% to 4.13% | 196 |
| Macro | 1.36% | 0.51% to 3.51% | 596 |
| Mega | 0.94% | 0.30% to 2.58% | 877 |
A report places the account's rate against the accounts of the same tier that we track: top quarter, above the median, below the median or bottom quarter. So 3% is in the top quarter for a Mega account and below the median for a Nano one. The spread inside each tier is wide, which is one more reason not to judge an account on engagement alone. Our engagement study cuts the data differently: 2,549 accounts in tenfold follower bands, each scored by its median post rather than its average one, and it compares photos with videos. That is why it puts a typical account with 1,000 to 10,000 followers at 3.04%, below the Nano median above: a median post sits below the average when a post or two take off.
Posting rhythm and hours
Posts per week is the number of analysed posts divided by the weeks between the oldest and the newest of them, leaving out pinned posts. Instagram keeps up to three pinned posts at the top of a profile however old they are, and counting a two-year-old pinned post would make an account that posts daily look as if it hardly posts at all. Reports built before October 2026 counted pinned posts, so where an account's posts include any, those reports don't show a weekly rate.
Posting hours come from each post's time and are shown in UTC. They tell you when the account posts, not when its followers are online.
Sponsorship estimates
Instagram does not publish what creators are paid. The estimate for one sponsored post is a range per follower: $0.005 to $0.012 for accounts with a million or more, $0.008 to $0.015 for 100,000 or more, $0.01 to $0.02 for 10,000 or more, and none below that, never dropping below what an account just under a tier gets. It uses followers only, so it can't see that an account with a high engagement rate or a valuable audience country may charge more. Treat it as a starting point for a conversation.
Dates and corrections
Each report states the date of its follower count. A report is not rebuilt on a schedule or every time we read the account, so an older report describes the account as it was on that date: its 12 posts may not be the latest 12. Check the date before quoting a figure.
A five-step check before you contact a creator
- Look at the median likes per post, not the average. If the average is at least twice the median, a post or two is doing the talking.
- Compare the engagement rate with the middle half for the account's tier in the table above, not with a single benchmark.
- Check whether the follower count is exact or "about", and whether the report shows a follower change.
- Check the posting rate and the report's "as of" date: an account that stopped posting months ago may have moved on.
- Read the sponsorship range as a starting point for negotiation, not a price list.
Every formula on a report, and its limits, is written out on our methodology page. If a number looks wrong, or you are the creator and want a report refreshed, write to us through the contact page with the report's address.
Written by Mark Jones, IGDataHub editor.