# What Is a Good Engagement Rate on Instagram? 2026 Benchmarks by Follower Count

> A good Instagram engagement rate in 2026 is about 1% for brands and around 3% under 10K followers. Tier benchmarks from 140 audits, Socialinsider and Rival IQ.

By M Asif Rahman · Updated 2026-10-11 · https://instapect.com/blog/good-instagram-engagement-rate


A good engagement rate on Instagram in 2026 is **about 1% or higher for a brand account**, which puts it in the top 25% of brands in Rival IQ's benchmark (top quartile 1.05%, median 0.36%). For personal and creator accounts the bar moves with size. In 140 public profiles audited by Instapect between August 28 and October 11, 2026, the median account with **1K to 10K followers had a 2.75% engagement rate**, so around 3% is good there. **Above 10K followers, only about 1 in 3 accounts reached 1%**, and the median sat between 0.30% and 0.53%. Under 1K followers, double digits are normal.

So "good" is not one number. It is where you land against accounts of your own size, and the tables below give you those cut-offs.

![What is a good engagement rate on Instagram: 2026 benchmarks by follower count from 140 audits, Socialinsider and Rival IQ](/images/blog/good-instagram-engagement-rate/cover.webp)

> **Disclosure:** Instapect publishes this guide and makes one of the tools mentioned below. Every method here works without it, with a spreadsheet, any engagement rate calculator and Instagram Insights.

This page is about benchmarks: what counts as good, average and weak. If you still need to work out your own number, start with the [step-by-step guide to calculating Instagram engagement rate](/blog/how-to-calculate-instagram-engagement-rate), then come back and place your result in the tables.

## Key takeaways

| Question | Short answer (October 2026) |
|---|---|
| What is a good engagement rate on Instagram? | About 1% or higher for brands (top 25% per Rival IQ). Around 3% for accounts with 1K to 10K followers. Above 10K followers, 1% puts you in roughly the top third |
| What is the average Instagram engagement rate? | 0.48% per post for brand pages in 2025 (Socialinsider, 35M posts). Median 0.36% (Rival IQ). 1.18% median across all 140 Instapect audits, pulled up by small accounts |
| Does follower count change the answer? | Yes, a lot. Instapect medians: 13.96% under 1K, 2.75% for 1K to 10K, 0.35% for 10K to 100K, 0.30% for 100K to 1M, 0.53% for 1M+ |
| What counts as low? | Below the bottom quartile of your tier: under 1.28% at 1K to 10K, under about 0.1% above 10K |
| Which formats engage best? | Carousels (0.55%) and Reels (0.52%) beat single images (0.37%), per Socialinsider's 2025 data |
| Is engagement falling? | Yes. Socialinsider measured a drop of about 24% year on year for brand pages |
| Average or median? | Check both. On 62 of 140 audited accounts the average was at least 1.5x the typical post |

## What is a good engagement rate on Instagram?

**A good Instagram engagement rate is one in the top quarter of accounts your size.** For brand accounts, that is about 1%. For creators and personal accounts, use the follower tier table below: around 3% or more at 1K to 10K followers, and roughly 1% or more once you pass 10K.

Engagement rate here means engagement rate by followers: (average likes + average comments) ÷ followers × 100, over your recent feed posts. That is the version every public benchmark on this page uses. The [calculation guide](/blog/how-to-calculate-instagram-engagement-rate) covers the formula, the post window and the spreadsheet.

A simple way to read any result:

| Your result vs your follower tier | What it means |
|---|---|
| At or above the top quartile | Strong. Your audience interacts more than 3 in 4 accounts your size |
| Between the median and the top quartile | Good. Above the typical account in your tier |
| Between the bottom quartile and the median | Average to below average. Common, not a problem on its own |
| Below the bottom quartile | Weak. Check for the causes listed further down before changing your content |

Most of the "1% to 5% is good" ranges that rank in search come from small-creator data. They overstate what a brand page or a 200K-follower account should expect, and they understate what a 600-follower personal account normally gets.

## Instagram engagement rate benchmarks by follower count (2026)

These benchmarks come from public-profile audits run on Instapect between **August 28 and October 11, 2026**. **140 accounts met the quality bar**: at least 6 recent posts sampled, visible like counts, pinned posts excluded, not delisted. Rates use the standard follower formula.

| Follower tier | Accounts | Bottom quartile (weak below) | **Median (typical)** | Top quartile (strong at or above) | Accounts at 1%+ | Accounts at 3%+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 1K | 24 | 5.59% | **13.96%** | 23.39% | 24 of 24 (100%) | 20 of 24 (83%) |
| 1K to 10K | 28 | 1.28% | **2.75%** | 7.08% | 21 of 28 (75%) | 14 of 28 (50%) |
| 10K to 100K | 22 | 0.12% | **0.35%** | 1.30% | 7 of 22 (32%) | 3 of 22 (14%) |
| 100K to 1M | 20 | 0.08% | **0.30%** | 2.13% | 7 of 20 (35%) | 5 of 20 (25%) |
| 1M and above | 46 | 0.11% | **0.53%** | 1.16% | 14 of 46 (30%) | 4 of 46 (9%) |
| All accounts | 140 | 0.19% | **1.18%** | 4.48% | 73 of 140 (52%) | 46 of 140 (33%) |

![Instagram engagement rate by follower count: median and middle 50% range for five follower tiers, 140 Instapect audits, August to October 2026](/images/blog/good-instagram-engagement-rate/engagement-range-by-tier.svg)

How to read it: an account with 25,000 followers and a 0.9% engagement rate is above the median for its tier (0.35%) and just under the top quartile (1.30%). That is a good result, even though it looks low next to the 1% to 5% ranges quoted elsewhere.

The share of accounts clearing common thresholds falls fast once an account passes 10K followers:

![Share of audited Instagram accounts with engagement rate of 1% or more and 3% or more, by follower tier, 140 Instapect audits](/images/blog/good-instagram-engagement-rate/share-above-thresholds.svg)

**Limits of this data.** The 140 accounts are profiles people chose to audit, so the set leans toward celebrities, media and sports brands, and small creators checking their own numbers. Tiers hold 20 to 46 accounts each. The 10K to 100K tier coming in slightly lower than 100K to 1M and 1M+ is most likely a quirk of which accounts were audited (several news and brand pages sit in that band), not a rule. Treat the cut-offs as directional and pair them with the large-sample studies in the next section.

## What is the average Instagram engagement rate in 2026?

**The average Instagram engagement rate for brand pages was 0.48% per post in 2025**, according to [**Socialinsider's 2026 Instagram benchmarks**](https://www.socialinsider.io/social-media-benchmarks/instagram) (published February 20, 2026), which analysed 35 million posts from 447,613 pages active between January and December 2025. That was down about 24% year on year. [**Rival IQ**](https://www.rivaliq.com/blog/good-engagement-rate-instagram/) reports a lower figure, a **0.36% median** across industries, because a median ignores the few viral brands that pull an average up.

| Source (date checked) | Sample | Metric | Figure |
|---|---|---|---|
| [**Socialinsider**](https://www.socialinsider.io/social-media-benchmarks/instagram) (checked Oct 11, 2026) | 35M posts, 447,613 pages, Jan to Dec 2025 | Average engagement per post ÷ followers (likes + comments) | **0.48%**, down about 24% year on year |
| [**Rival IQ**](https://www.rivaliq.com/blog/good-engagement-rate-instagram/) (checked Oct 11, 2026) | 150 companies per industry, [2025 Social Media Industry Benchmark Report](https://www.rivaliq.com/blog/social-media-industry-benchmark-report/) | Median engagement per post ÷ followers (all interactions) | **0.36%** median; top 25% of brands at **1.05%** |
| Instapect audits (Aug 28 to Oct 11, 2026) | 140 public accounts, all sizes | Median of (avg likes + avg comments) ÷ followers | **1.18%** overall; **0.53%** for 1M+ accounts |

The three numbers measure different groups. Socialinsider and Rival IQ track brand pages, where 0.4% to 0.5% is normal. The Instapect sample includes small personal accounts, which is why its overall median is higher. If you run a brand page, compare yourself with the first two rows. If you run a personal or creator account, use the follower tier table above.

Rival IQ's method counts every measurable interaction (likes, comments, shares and reactions) and includes both organic and paid posts, according to its 2025 report methodology. Socialinsider counts likes and comments only. Neither uses reach, so both compare fairly with the number you get from a public calculator.

## Why engagement rate drops as follower count grows

Small accounts are mostly friends, family and early fans who see and react to nearly every post. As an account grows, it collects followers who stopped checking in, followers who only watch Reels from the Explore tab, and some inactive or spam accounts. Likes and comments grow more slowly than the follower count, so the ratio shrinks.

Comments fall faster than likes. The median account in each tier of the Instapect audits received:

| Follower tier | Comments per 100 likes (median) |
|---|---|
| Under 1K | 7.8 |
| 1K to 10K | 3.3 |
| 10K to 100K | 6.0 |
| 100K to 1M | 3.0 |
| 1M and above | 1.1 |
| All 140 accounts | 2.8 |

Comments per 100 likes is average comments ÷ average likes × 100. Accounts with 1M+ followers get about one comment per hundred likes, which is why a celebrity post with 500,000 likes can look busy and still score under 1%. The 10K to 100K tier holds up well here, which matches what the [micro vs nano influencer data](/blog/micro-vs-nano-influencers) shows: mid-sized creator accounts often keep a conversation going even when their headline rate is low.

## Instagram engagement rate by industry and format

**Industry changes the benchmark as much as size does.** Rival IQ's industry medians, from the same October 2025 analysis:

| Industry (Rival IQ) | Median Instagram engagement rate |
|---|---|
| Higher Education | 2.1% |
| Sports Teams | 1.3% |
| Influencers | 0.576% |
| Nonprofits | 0.561% |
| All industries | 0.36% |

A university page at 1.2% is below its industry median. A retail brand at 1.2% would be well ahead of most of its peers. When a client or manager asks whether a rate is good, the honest answer starts with "compared with which accounts?"

**Format matters too.** Socialinsider's 2025 data shows average engagement rates of **0.55% for carousels, 0.52% for Reels and 0.37% for single images**, with images down 17% year on year. If your feed is mostly single photos, expect your rate to sit below a carousel-heavy competitor's. For posting cadence and timing effects, see the [best time to post on Instagram](/blog/best-time-to-post-on-instagram) data from the same audits.

## Average or median: which benchmark should you compare against?

Most calculators report the average, and the average is easy to inflate. One post that goes viral can lift it for weeks. Across the 140 audits, **the average was at least 1.5 times the typical (median) post on 62 accounts (44%)**. The median-post rate for the whole sample was 0.74%, against 1.18% for the average.

| Follower tier | Median engagement rate, average formula | Median engagement rate, typical post |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1K | 13.96% | 10.58% |
| 1K to 10K | 2.75% | 1.46% |
| 10K to 100K | 0.35% | 0.21% |
| 100K to 1M | 0.30% | 0.28% |
| 1M and above | 0.53% | 0.33% |

Compare like with like. If your tool gives you an average, use the main tier table. If you calculated the rate of your median post, use the right-hand column above. The [calculation guide](/blog/how-to-calculate-instagram-engagement-rate#step-5-calculate-the-median-too) shows how to get both.

## How to tell if your Instagram engagement rate is good (4 steps)

This takes about 10 minutes for your own account or a competitor's.

1. **Get your rate over your last 12 feed posts.** Use a spreadsheet, a free calculator, or the [Instapect engagement rate calculator](/instagram-engagement-rate-calculator). Leave out pinned posts, since they are often old viral hits.
2. **Find your tier.** Under 1K, 1K to 10K, 10K to 100K, 100K to 1M or 1M+. If you are within 10% of a boundary, check both rows.
3. **Place your number.** Below the bottom quartile, between the bottom quartile and median, between the median and top quartile, or above the top quartile.
4. **Cross-check against your type of account.**
   - Brand or business page → also compare with Socialinsider (0.48%) and Rival IQ (0.36% median, 1.05% top quartile), plus your industry row.
   - Creator or influencer → also check comments per 100 likes. Under 1 at fewer than 1M followers is a warning sign.
   - Personal account under 1K → a rate under 5% is low for the tier, but the numbers swing a lot with a few likes either way.

**How to know it worked:** run the same check on two or three accounts you consider healthy in your niche. If they land in the "good" or "strong" band and your result lands where you expected, the method is set up correctly. If every account comes out above 20% or below 0.01%, the follower count or the post window is wrong (see the error questions in the FAQ).

**Re-check monthly** with the same 12-post window. A single month tells you little; three months in the same band tells you where you really sit.

## Worked examples from public Instapect reports

Three public reports, each placed against its tier. Figures were retrieved on the dates shown and will have moved since.

| Account | Followers (retrieved) | Engagement rate (average) | Typical post | Tier result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [@saurabh_dee](/report/saurabh_dee) | 44,569 (Sep 11, 2026) | 1.18% | 0.86% | Good: above the 10K to 100K median (0.35%), just under the top quartile (1.30%) |
| [@mazani.khonesh](/report/mazani.khonesh) | 93,542 (Sep 9, 2026) | 6.93% | 4.25% | Strong: more than five times the tier's top quartile |
| [@nasa](/report/nasa) | 104.4M (Sep 5, 2026) | 0.14% | 0.13% | Below the 1M+ median (0.53%), above the bottom quartile (0.11%) |

The NASA row is a useful reminder: 0.14% of 104 million followers is roughly 146,000 interactions per post. A "below average" rate on a very large account can still mean huge absolute engagement. For brand-side comparisons, the [brand reports hub](/reports/brands) and [creators hub](/reports/creators) list more public audits by category.

## Why is my Instagram engagement rate low? What to check first

A rate below the bottom quartile of your tier has a short list of usual causes. Check them in this order before rewriting your content plan:

| Check | What it looks like | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Wrong comparison | You are comparing a 50K account with a "1% to 5%" small-creator range | Use the tier table and your industry row |
| Inactive followers | Follower count grew from a giveaway, a follow-for-follow phase or a viral post years ago | Expect a lower rate; track the trend rather than the absolute number |
| Format mix | Mostly single images | Test carousels and Reels, which averaged 0.55% and 0.52% vs 0.37% (Socialinsider) |
| Hidden likes | Likes hidden on some posts | Public formulas undercount; use Insights for your own account |
| Posting gaps | Weeks between posts | Compare only posts from an active period |

Hashtags are rarely the fix. In the Instapect audits, posts with 3 to 5 hashtags performed about the same as posts with none ([full hashtag data](/blog/do-hashtags-work-on-instagram)).

## What public engagement rate can't tell you

A follower-based rate uses only public numbers: likes, comments and follower count. It cannot show reach, impressions, saves, shares, story views or who the audience is. Those live in the account owner's Instagram Insights (**Professional dashboard > Account insights**), and Instagram's reach-based engagement figure there will usually be higher than the follower-based one. Compare reach-based numbers only with other reach-based numbers.

Public data also cannot prove whether followers are real. A low rate with very few comments is a reason to ask questions, not a verdict. Instapect measures public signals only, so it does not detect fake followers, show demographics, or analyse private accounts.

## Methodology and limits of the Instapect data

- **Sample:** 140 public Instagram accounts audited on Instapect between August 28 and October 11, 2026, queried on October 11, 2026. Quality bar: at least 6 usable recent posts, no hidden like counts, follower count above zero, not delisted.
- **Metrics:** engagement rate by followers ((average likes + average comments) ÷ followers × 100), median-post engagement rate, and comments per 100 likes, all from recent feed posts with pinned posts excluded. Tier figures are medians and quartiles across accounts.
- **Who is in it:** accounts people chose to audit. It leans toward celebrities, media and sports brands, small businesses and creators checking their own numbers. It is not a random sample of Instagram.
- **Small tiers:** 20 to 46 accounts each. Large-sample studies (Socialinsider, Rival IQ) cover brands only, so the tier figures fill a gap rather than replace them.
- **External figures** were checked on the publishers' own pages on October 11, 2026. Rival IQ's article also mentions a 0.43% median and a 1.02% threshold in other sentences; this guide uses the 0.36% median and 1.05% top quartile that the article attributes to its 2025 report.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is a good engagement rate on Instagram in 2026?

About 1% or higher for a brand account, which is the top 25% in Rival IQ's data. For personal and creator accounts, use your follower tier: around 3% at 1K to 10K followers and about 1% above 10K, based on 140 Instapect audits.

### What is the average Instagram engagement rate?

0.48% per post for brand pages in 2025, according to Socialinsider's analysis of 35 million posts. Rival IQ's median across industries is 0.36%. Small personal accounts run much higher: the median under 1K followers in the Instapect audits was 13.96%.

### Is a 2% engagement rate good on Instagram?

Above 10K followers, yes: 2% is above the top quartile in the 10K to 100K and 1M+ tiers. For 1K to 10K followers it is a little below the 2.75% median. For a brand page it is about four times the Socialinsider average.

### Is a 10% engagement rate good?

For an account under 1K followers, 10% is a little below the 13.96% median. For any account above 10K followers, 10% is exceptional: only 3 of the 88 audited accounts above 10K reached it.

### What is a good engagement rate for 1,000 followers?

Around 3% or higher. Accounts just over 1K followers sit at the bottom of the 1K to 10K tier, where the median was 2.75% and the top quartile 7.08%. Just under 1K, rates above 10% are normal.

### My engagement rate is over 100%. What went wrong?

You probably added up the likes and comments on all your posts and divided by followers without dividing by the number of posts first. Use the average per post. The [calculation guide](/blog/how-to-calculate-instagram-engagement-rate) walks through it.

### My engagement rate dropped when I passed 10K followers. Is something wrong?

Probably not. In the Instapect data the median falls from 2.75% at 1K to 10K followers to 0.35% at 10K to 100K. New followers interact less than early ones. Compare yourself with the new tier and watch the trend over three months.

### Two tools show different engagement rates for the same account. Which is right?

Both can be right. They sample different posts (last 12 posts vs last 30 days), some use the median, and some add saves and shares from Insights. Pick one tool and one window, then compare benchmarks that use the same formula.

### Is engagement rate by reach better than by followers?

It answers a different question. Reach-based rates show how people who saw a post reacted, and only the account owner can see reach. Follower-based rates are the only ones you can calculate for any public account, and they are what the benchmarks on this page use.

### How often do Instagram engagement benchmarks change?

Every year. Socialinsider measured a drop of about 24% for brand pages from 2024 to 2025. Check benchmarks at least once a year and recheck your own rate monthly over the same post window.

## The short version

Find your follower tier, place your rate against the bottom quartile, median and top quartile, and check your industry and format. For brands, 1% is the line between average and good. For a 1K to 10K account it is about 3%. Above 10K followers, a rate near 1% already beats about two in three audited accounts.

To check any public account in under a minute, enter the handle in the [Instapect engagement rate calculator](/instagram-engagement-rate-calculator), which shows the average and the typical post side by side with the tier standing, or use a spreadsheet and the [formula guide](/blog/how-to-calculate-instagram-engagement-rate).