Instagram Statistics 2026
Meta's latest official figures on Instagram, next to what we measured ourselves: engagement, likes, video views, posting and follower change across 2,774 accounts, by size.
Last updated: · Official figures: Meta, Q3 2026 results (checked 3 November 2026) · Our data: profiles read 9 October 2026 to 3 November 2026
By Mark Jones, IGDataHub editor
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Key Instagram statistics
- The median Instagram post gets likes and comments equal to 1.19% of followers (2,774 accounts). More
- Accounts with 1K to 10K followers get 2.73%; accounts with 10M and up get 0.60%. More
- 60.5% of the accounts we read daily had fewer followers on 2 November 2026 than on 3 October 2026 (3,523 accounts). More
- Median likes per post: 83 at 1K to 10K followers, 194,643 at 10M and up. More
- A typical video gets views equal to 19.0% of followers at 1K to 10K followers and 3.0% at 10M and up. More
- The median account posts 1.08 times a week; the bigger the account, the more often it posts. More
- @instagram has the most followers of the accounts we track (686.4 million), then @cristiano (679.9 million). More
- Instagram has 3 billion monthly actives (Meta, October 2025) and 2 billion daily actives (Meta, July 2026). More
- In Q3 2026, time spent per Instagram user grew double digits in a year, to an all-time high (Meta). More
- Meta does not report Instagram's revenue; Meta's own was $64.60 billion in Q3 2026, up 26%. More
- Creator ads: partnership ads passed $15 billion in annual revenue run-rate, up over 97% in a year (Meta, Q3 2026). More
- Followers needed to earn: 500 for Gifts, 1,000 for Creator Marketplace, 10,000 for Subscriptions (Instagram Help Center). More
Who are the most followed Instagram accounts?
Of the accounts we track, @instagram (Instagram) has the most followers, 686,356,334, followed by @cristiano (Cristiano Ronaldo) with 679,856,476.
| Rank | Account | Followers |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 686,356,334 | |
| 2 | @cristiano | 679,856,476 |
| 3 | @leomessi | 517,590,897 |
| 4 | @selenagomez | 402,371,065 |
| 5 | @kyliejenner | 381,243,805 |
| 6 | @therock | 380,256,786 |
| 7 | @arianagrande | 362,172,658 |
| 8 | @kimkardashian | 343,729,092 |
| 9 | @beyonce | 298,505,183 |
| 10 | @khloekardashian | 291,220,354 |
| 11 | @nike | 290,838,818 |
| 12 | @lilbieber | 285,836,631 |
| 13 | @kendalljenner | 277,641,329 |
| 14 | @taylorswift | 272,338,865 |
| 15 | @virat.kohli | 270,902,757 |
| 16 | @natgeo | 268,216,423 |
| 17 | @neymarjr | 241,136,778 |
| 18 | @jlo | 239,695,034 |
| 19 | @kourtneykardash | 208,880,554 |
Verified accounts we track, ranked by our latest exact reading (2 November 2026); each count agrees within 2% with the reading before it. The table stops where we could not confirm the next account's count. Instagram publishes no official ranking, and accounts we do not track are not ranked. More: weekly growth rankings.
How many people use Instagram?
Instagram has 3 billion monthly actives, Meta said in October 2025, and 2 billion daily actives, as of July 2026. Meta does not publish a quarterly Instagram user count; its quarterly figure covers all its apps together.
| Milestone | When | Meta's words |
|---|---|---|
| 3 billion monthly actives | October 2025 | "Instagram hit a major milestone with 3 billion monthly actives." (Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, Meta, Q3 2025 earnings call transcript, 29 October 2025) |
| 2 billion daily actives | July 2026 | "Instagram reached 2 billion daily actives." (Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, Meta, Q2 2026 earnings call transcript, 29 July 2026) |
Meta (all apps): daily active people by quarter
Meta counts a daily active person as someone who used at least one of Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp on a given day, counting each person once across the apps. It was 3.64 billion on average in September 2026, up 3% on a year earlier, against 3.29 billion in Q3 2024.
| Quarter | Daily active people (billions) | Meta revenue ($ millions) |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 3.64 | 64,601 |
| Q2 2026 | 3.60 | 60,801 |
| Q1 2026 | 3.56 | 56,311 |
| Q4 2025 | 3.58 | 59,893 |
| Q3 2025 | 3.54 | 51,242 |
| Q2 2025 | 3.48 | 47,516 |
| Q1 2025 | 3.43 | 42,314 |
| Q4 2024 | 3.35 | 48,385 |
| Q3 2024 | 3.29 | 40,589 |
Source: Meta, Q3 2026 earnings presentation, 21 October 2026; latest quarter: Meta, Meta Reports Third Quarter 2026 Results, 21 October 2026. Meta attributes the slight decline in the first quarter of 2026 to internet disruptions in Iran and a restriction on access to WhatsApp in Russia.
What is a good engagement rate on Instagram?
Across 2,774 accounts, the median post gets likes and comments equal to 1.19% of the account's followers. Size changes that a lot: 2.73% for accounts with 1K to 10K followers, 0.60% for 10M and up, about 5 times lower.
A "good" rate is one above the median for the account's size. The table shows the middle half of each group and how many clear 3% or sit under 1%. In our October reading (the engagement study, 2,549 accounts read 6 September to 8 October 2026) the overall median was 1.28%; this page uses newer reads and only posts at least 7 days old, so the figures differ slightly.
| Followers | Accounts | Median rate | Over 3% | Under 1% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1K to 10K | 680 | 2.73% | 47.6% | 21.9% |
| 10K to 100K | 740 | 1.33% | 25.7% | 42.8% |
| 100K to 1M | 617 | 0.73% | 15.6% | 57.7% |
| 1M to 10M | 419 | 0.68% | 14.8% | 61.6% |
| 10M and up | 318 | 0.60% | 13.5% | 62.9% |
| All | 2,774 | 1.19% | 25.8% | 46.1% |
Each account's rate is the median over its recent posts (at least 6, each at least 7 days old when read). See methodology.
How many followers do you need to make money on Instagram?
Instagram sets a separate bar for each way to earn: 500 followers for Gifts, 1,000 followers for Creator Marketplace, 10,000 followers for Subscriptions, and creators must be 18 or older. Instagram does not publish a pay rate per follower or per view.
| Feature | Minimum followers | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Gifts | 500 | Instagram Help Center, How to earn money on Instagram Gifts, read 3 November 2026 |
| Creator Marketplace | 1,000 | Instagram Help Center, Eligibility requirements for creators on Meta Creator Marketplace, read 3 November 2026 |
| Subscriptions | 10,000 | Instagram Help Center, Eligibility requirements for Instagram Subscriptions, read 3 November 2026 |
To see which bars an account clears today, use our Instagram monetization eligibility checker.
How much revenue does Instagram make?
Meta does not report Instagram's revenue separately. Meta's revenue across all its apps was $64.60 billion in Q3 2026, up 26% on a year earlier. Instagram revenue figures quoted elsewhere are estimates or forecasts, not Meta's numbers.
One creator figure Meta does give: Partnership ads let advertisers run ads with creators, brands and other businesses. In Q3 2026, "Our partnership ads product grew over 97% year-over-year and surpassed $15 billion in annual revenue run-rate." Meta also said more than 10 million creators are now discoverable in its Creator Marketing Hub.
Sources: Meta, Meta Reports Third Quarter 2026 Results, 21 October 2026; Meta, Q3 2026 earnings call transcript, 21 October 2026.
Is Instagram growing or declining?
By Meta's figures, growing: Instagram passed 3 billion monthly actives in October 2025 and 2 billion daily actives in July 2026, and in Q3 2026 time spent per Instagram user grew double digits in a year, to an all-time high. Individual accounts are another matter: 60.5% of the accounts we read daily lost followers over 30 days (next section).
- "On Instagram, global time spent per user reached an all-time high and grew double-digits year-over-year in Q3, with strength across both Reels and Feed." (Meta, Q3 2026; Meta, Q3 2026 earnings call transcript, 21 October 2026)
- "on Instagram Reels, our relevance launches in Q3 increased Reels time spent by over 4%" (Meta, Q3 2026; Meta, Q3 2026 earnings call transcript, 21 October 2026)
- "Nearly 45% of recommended Instagram Reels are now less than one day old, up more than 11 percentage points from Q2." (Meta, Q3 2026; Meta, Q3 2026 earnings call transcript, 21 October 2026)
Are Instagram accounts losing followers?
Most of the ones we track are. Of 3,523 accounts we read on both 3 October 2026 and 2 November 2026, 60.5% had fewer followers at the end (2,133 lost, 1,354 gained); the median change was -0.09%. The share is highest for accounts with 1M to 10M followers: 71.0%.
| Followers | Accounts | Share that lost | Median change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1K to 10K | 756 | 49.6% | 0.00% |
| 10K to 100K | 888 | 58.6% | -0.07% |
| 100K to 1M | 806 | 60.3% | -0.10% |
| 1M to 10M | 606 | 71.0% | -0.15% |
| 10M and up | 467 | 69.0% | -0.13% |
| All | 3,523 | 60.5% | -0.09% |
Largest follower losses among verified accounts with 10 million or more
| Account | 2 November 2026 | Change | Change (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| @kartikaaryan | 48,270,301 | -835,956 | -1.70% |
| @alihaydarkalender | 14,636,169 | -773,174 | -5.02% |
| @therock | 380,256,786 | -721,895 | -0.19% |
| @neymarjr | 241,136,778 | -623,038 | -0.26% |
| @tamerhosny | 49,844,480 | -616,415 | -1.22% |
| @vozinha1 | 27,658,319 | -613,072 | -2.17% |
| @selenagomez | 402,371,065 | -585,932 | -0.15% |
| @virat.kohli | 270,902,757 | -580,874 | -0.21% |
| @yong.lixx | 35,799,249 | -580,347 | -1.60% |
| @hynjinnnn | 35,286,611 | -576,868 | -1.61% |
Exact follower readings only; rounded readings and one-off outliers are left out. These are accounts people looked up or that we track for public interest, not a sample of Instagram. Our earlier study: Most big Instagram accounts are losing followers.
How many likes does an Instagram post get?
The median post from an account with 1K to 10K followers gets 83 likes; from an account with 10M and up, 194,643. Across all 2,774 accounts the median is 813.
| Followers | Accounts | Median likes per post |
|---|---|---|
| 1K to 10K | 680 | 83 |
| 10K to 100K | 740 | 344 |
| 100K to 1M | 617 | 2,255 |
| 1M to 10M | 419 | 18,068 |
| 10M and up | 318 | 194,643 |
Median over each account's recent posts, then across accounts; same posts as the engagement rate. No chart: the bands differ a thousandfold, so a bar chart would hide the smaller ones.
How many views does an Instagram video get?
A typical video from an account with 1K to 10K followers gets 681 views, equal to 19.0% of its followers. At 10M and up it is 839,814 views, 3.0% of followers.
| Followers | Accounts | Median views per video | As a share of followers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1K to 10K | 310 | 681 | 19.0% |
| 10K to 100K | 441 | 2,789 | 9.1% |
| 100K to 1M | 412 | 17,500 | 5.5% |
| 1M to 10M | 311 | 121,580 | 4.7% |
| 10M and up | 225 | 839,814 | 3.0% |
From Meta, on Reels: "Nearly 45% of recommended Instagram Reels are now less than one day old, up more than 11 percentage points from Q2." (Q3 2026).
Views are the count Instagram shows on a public video post. Sources: IGDataHub; Meta, Q3 2026 earnings call transcript, 21 October 2026.
Do Instagram videos get more likes than photos?
Usually not, per follower. Of 1,075 accounts that posted at least 3 of each, videos had the higher median engagement rate for 35.8%. The share falls with size from 46.2% at 1K to 10K followers to 22.5% at 10M and up.
| Followers | Accounts posting both | Videos higher | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1K to 10K | 223 | 103 | 46.2% |
| 10K to 100K | 301 | 120 | 39.9% |
| 100K to 1M | 248 | 81 | 32.7% |
| 1M to 10M | 152 | 47 | 30.9% |
| 10M and up | 151 | 34 | 22.5% |
This counts likes and comments against followers. Videos can also be shown to people who do not follow the account, so a video can reach more people while collecting fewer likes per follower.
How often do Instagram accounts post?
The median account in our data posts 1.08 times a week. Bigger accounts post more: 0.37 a week at 1K to 10K followers, 2.25 at 10M and up.
| Followers | Accounts | Median posts a week | Middle half |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1K to 10K | 765 | 0.37 | 0.12 to 1.59 |
| 10K to 100K | 936 | 0.66 | 0.19 to 2.43 |
| 100K to 1M | 861 | 1.47 | 0.39 to 3.85 |
| 1M to 10M | 614 | 1.92 | 0.60 to 4.58 |
| 10M and up | 460 | 2.25 | 0.99 to 5.13 |
This is how often accounts do post, not advice on how often to post. Pinned posts are left out.
Do verified Instagram accounts get more engagement?
Where we have enough of both, verified accounts have a median rate at least as high as unverified ones of the same size. We can't tell whether the badge helps or simply marks accounts that already have an engaged audience.
| Followers | Verified median | Unverified median |
|---|---|---|
| 1K to 10K | 3.15% | 2.68% |
| 10K to 100K | 1.39% | 1.28% |
| 100K to 1M | 0.73% | 0.73% |
Bands are shown only where each group has at least 50 accounts. Almost every account we track above 1 million followers is verified.
How many people use Threads and Edits?
Meta's latest figures for its Threads and Edits apps: Threads crossed 500 million monthly actives (July 2026); Threads overtook X in monthly actives (October 2026); Edits passed 50 million actives (October 2026).
- Threads: "Threads crossed 500 million monthly actives, making it the fastest growing conversation app ever." (Meta, Q2 2026 earnings call transcript, 29 July 2026)
- Threads: "Threads has now overtaken X in monthly actives and continues to grow quickly." (Meta, Q3 2026 earnings call transcript, 21 October 2026)
- Edits: "In the last year, we shipped Edits and it has already passed 50 million actives." (Meta, Q3 2026 earnings call transcript, 21 October 2026)
Which Instagram statistics are out of date?
These figures still appear on top-ranking Instagram statistics pages (Google results, checked 3 November 2026). Each has been replaced by a newer Meta figure, or is not a Meta figure at all.
| Quoted as | Where it comes from | Current figure |
|---|---|---|
| "500 million daily active users" | An earlier Instagram figure, still the headline on a top-ranking page | 2 billion daily actives (Meta, July 2026) |
| "2 billion active users" | An earlier Instagram milestone | 3 billion monthly actives (Meta, October 2025) |
| "$86.3 billion Instagram revenue in 2025" | A third-party estimate | Meta does not report Instagram revenue |
| "Instagram ad revenue of $42.5 billion in 2026" | A forecast | Meta does not report Instagram revenue |
| "Cristiano Ronaldo has 347 million followers" | A September 2021 count | See the most followed table (read November 2026) |
| "@instagram has 700 million followers" | Not traced to a dated count | See the most followed table (read November 2026) |
What do these numbers mean for creators and brands?
For creators
- Judge your rate against your size. 2.73% is the median at 1K to 10K followers and 0.60% at 10M and up; a falling rate as you grow is the norm. Details
- Losing followers is common. 60.5% of the accounts we read daily lost followers in 30 days, and the median change was -0.09%. Details
- The earning bars start low. Gifts from 500 followers, Creator Marketplace from 1,000 followers, Subscriptions from 10,000 followers. Details
For brands
- Judge creators on likes and views, not followers. A typical video reaches views equal to 19.0% of followers on a small account and 3.0% on a very large one. Details
- Creator ads are a growing line for Meta. Partnership ads passed $15 billion in annual revenue run-rate, up over 97% in a year (Q3 2026). Details
- Photos still hold their own. Videos out-engaged photos per follower for only 35.8% of accounts posting both. Details
These are readings of the figures above, not predictions for any one creator or campaign.
Instagram and Meta at a glance
| Owner | Meta Platforms, Inc. (Nasdaq: META) | Meta, Meta Reports Third Quarter 2026 Results, 21 October 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Founder and CEO | Mark Zuckerberg | Meta, Meta Reports Third Quarter 2026 Results, 21 October 2026 |
| Meta employees | 66,775 on 30 September 2026, down 15% in a year | Meta, Meta Reports Third Quarter 2026 Results, 21 October 2026 |
| Meta revenue, Q3 2026 | $64.60 billion, up 26% in a year | Meta, Meta Reports Third Quarter 2026 Results, 21 October 2026 |
| Instagram revenue | Not reported separately by Meta | Meta, Meta Reports Third Quarter 2026 Results, 21 October 2026 |
| Instagram users | 3 billion monthly actives (October 2025) | Meta, Q3 2025 earnings call transcript, 29 October 2025 |
| Instagram users | 2 billion daily actives (July 2026) | Meta, Q2 2026 earnings call transcript, 29 July 2026 |
How we measured this
Our numbers come from IGDataHub's own index of public Instagram profiles (4,849 profiles and 423,161 follower readings on 3 November 2026), read without Instagram's own analytics. Official figures are Meta's and Instagram's own, each linked to where it was published.
- Accounts. Public profiles with 1,000 to 700,000,000 followers, read 9 October 2026 to 3 November 2026. Size is the follower count at the same read as the posts.
- Posts. Each account's most recent posts at that read (usually 12), leaving out pinned posts, posts with no visible like count, and posts under 7 days old when read, whose likes are still climbing (27,671 posts in all).
- Engagement rate is likes plus comments on a post divided by the account's followers. An account's rate is the median over at least 6 posts; each group's figure is the median across its accounts. Likes per post use the same posts.
- Video views are the counts Instagram shows on public video posts, for accounts with at least 3 videos.
- Posting rate comes from the upload dates of each account's recent posts (at least 6), of any age.
- Follower change compares each account's last exact reading on 3 October 2026 with its last on 2 November 2026. Rounded readings, one-off outliers and readings from before a username changed hands are dropped, as on our follower charts.
- Most followed: verified accounts, ranked by their latest exact reading, kept only when it is at most 3 days old and agrees within 2% with the reading before it.
- Limits. The index holds accounts people looked up or that we track for public interest. It is not a sample of Instagram, so we publish no averages of followers, no country or age figures and no share of all accounts above a follower bar. Trends over time come from Meta's figures, not ours.
- Refresh. Our numbers are recomputed monthly by a read-only script; Meta's figures are replaced after each quarterly release. The "Last updated" date changes only when a number does. More: how IGDataHub calculates Instagram stats.
Sources
- Instagram Help Center, Eligibility requirements for Instagram Subscriptions, read 3 November 2026 (current rules)
- Instagram Help Center, How to earn money on Instagram Gifts, read 3 November 2026 (current rules)
- Instagram Help Center, Eligibility requirements for creators on Meta Creator Marketplace, read 3 November 2026 (current rules)
- Meta, Meta Reports Third Quarter 2026 Results, 21 October 2026 (quarter ended 30 September 2026)
- Meta, Q3 2026 earnings presentation, 21 October 2026 (Q3 2024 to Q3 2026)
- Meta, Q3 2026 earnings call transcript, 21 October 2026 (quarter ended 30 September 2026)
- Meta, Q2 2026 earnings call transcript, 29 July 2026 (quarter ended 30 June 2026)
- Meta, Q3 2025 earnings call transcript, 29 October 2025 (quarter ended 30 September 2025)
- IGDataHub index of public Instagram profiles, read 3 November 2026: aggregates as CSV
Cite this page
Our figures are free to republish, including commercially, with attribution to IGDataHub and a link to this page. For Meta's figures, please cite Meta's release as well.
Our aggregates are available as CSV (CC BY 4.0).
FAQ
Is Instagram growing or declining?
Growing, by Meta's own figures: Instagram passed 3 billion monthly actives in October 2025 and 2 billion daily actives in July 2026, and in Q3 2026 time spent per Instagram user grew double digits in a year, to an all-time high. Individual accounts are a different story: of the 3,523 accounts IGDataHub read on both 3 October 2026 and 2 November 2026, 60.5% had fewer followers at the end.
Who has the most followers on Instagram?
Among the accounts IGDataHub tracks, @instagram (Instagram) has the most, 686,356,334 followers when read on 2 November 2026, followed by @cristiano (Cristiano Ronaldo) with 679,856,476. Instagram publishes no official ranking.
What is a good engagement rate on Instagram?
It depends on account size. Across 2,774 accounts IGDataHub tracks, the median post gets likes and comments equal to 1.19% of followers: 2.73% for accounts with 1K to 10K followers and 0.60% for 10M and up. In the 100K to 1M, 1M to 10M and 10M and up bands most accounts are under 1%, so a rate of 1% or more is above the median there.
Is 1,000 likes on Instagram a lot?
It is more than a typical post gets on accounts with up to 100K followers. Median likes per post in IGDataHub's data by account size: 1K to 10K followers, 83; 10K to 100K followers, 344; 100K to 1M followers, 2,255; 1M to 10M followers, 18,068; 10M and up followers, 194,643. A typical post passes 10,000 likes only at 1M to 10M followers and above.
How many followers do you need to make money on Instagram?
Instagram sets a different bar for each feature: at least 500 followers for Gifts, 1,000 for Creator Marketplace and 10,000 for Subscriptions, and creators must be 18 or older. Instagram does not publish a pay rate per follower or per view.
How much money does Instagram make?
Meta does not report Instagram's revenue separately. Meta's total revenue across its apps was $64.60 billion in Q3 2026, up 26% on a year earlier. Instagram revenue figures quoted elsewhere are estimates.