How Many People Can You Follow on Instagram? Every Limit
The short answer to “how many people can you follow on Instagram?” is 7,500 accounts, and that holds however many followers you have. Instagram’s Help Center is blunt about it: “To help reduce spam, Instagram doesn’t allow anyone to follow more than 7,500 people.” Checked against Instagram Help Center: How many accounts you can follow on Instagram No cap on followers is published, and neither is any hourly or daily number for follows, likes or comments.
Below are the other numbered limits in Instagram’s own help pages, each linked to its article, then the limits Instagram doesn’t publish at all. Already blocked from doing something? Skip to what to do if Instagram limits your account. For everything else about running an account, browse our Instagram how-to library.
Table of Contents
- How many people can you follow on Instagram?
- Is there a daily follow limit on Instagram?
- Every limit Instagram publishes
- Posting limits with their own guides
- Limits Instagram doesn’t publish
- Limits that start after a warning
- What to do if Instagram limits your account
- What Outfeed checks before it posts
- Instagram limits: FAQ
How many people can you follow on Instagram?
7,500 accounts. Instagram’s Help Center says it doesn’t allow anyone to follow more than 7,500, to help reduce spam, and that trying to follow past the cap shows an error no matter how many followers you have. The profiles you see following more than 7,500 got there before the rule existed.
The cap runs one way. Instagram publishes no limit on how many people can follow you: 7,500 counts only the accounts you follow. Checked against Instagram Help Center: How many accounts you can follow on Instagram
Did Instagram raise or remove the 7,500 limit?
Not according to its Help Center, which still gives 7,500 in the article stamped above. What the article doesn’t say is when the rule was introduced, so this page gives no start date.
Is there a daily follow limit on Instagram?
Instagram doesn’t publish one. Its Help Center gives no per-hour or per-day number for follows, unfollows, likes or comments. Checked against Instagram Help Center: How many accounts you can follow on Instagram (no daily limit stated)Not verified Daily figures that circulate online are third-party estimates, not Instagram rules, so this page doesn’t repeat them.
The follow limits Instagram does document are the 7,500 total and a cap on approving follow requests for accounts that keep switching between public and private, covered below. It also says it limits direct messages to stop spam. What it never gives is a “safe” number to stay under.
Every limit Instagram publishes
Instagram’s Help Center puts a number on each of these, from the follow cap to how many places you can hide on the map. Each row links to the article it comes from, with the date it was last checked. Instagram hedges group chat size with the word “most”; posting limits follow in the next section.
Two rows are easy to get wrong: Instagram’s current articles give 10 accounts logged in at one time and up to 250 people in most group chats. The 10 is a logged-in limit, not a cap on how many accounts you can own, a difference our guide to how many Instagram accounts you can have unpacks.
Posting limits with their own guides
Four posting limits have full guides of their own, so here’s each number and where to read more.
- Photos and videos in one post: up to 20 in a carousel, in the app and on instagram.com. Checked against Instagram Help Center: Share a post with multiple photos or videos on Instagram More on why some apps stop at 10 in how many photos you can post on Instagram.
- Hashtags: up to 5 in a reel or post, under guidance Instagram’s @creators account announced on 18 December 2025. Checked against Instagram's @Creators on Threads: new hashtag guidance (18 December 2025) Instagram’s publishing API reference still says 30, so the two sources differ. Checked against Meta for Developers: IG User Media reference (caption parameter) The Instagram hashtag limit guide covers what changed.
- Caption length: up to 2,200 characters, the figure in Instagram’s publishing documentation; no Help Center article states one. Checked against Meta for Developers: IG User Media reference (caption parameter) Test a draft in the free Instagram character counter.
- Video length: reels can be recorded and edited up to 20 minutes, but Instagram says reels over 3 minutes won’t be recommended to new audiences. Checked against Instagram Help Center: How do I post a video? (serves "Record a reel on Instagram") Stories and file sizes are in our Instagram video length guide.
Limits Instagram doesn’t publish
For several limits people often ask about, Instagram gives no number at all. Any figure you find for these is someone else’s estimate:
- Follows, unfollows, likes and comments per hour or per day: no published number. Checked against Instagram Help Center: How many accounts you can follow on Instagram (no daily limit stated)Not verified
- Followers: no published cap. The 7,500 is a following limit. Checked against Instagram Help Center: How many accounts you can follow on Instagram
- Close Friends list size: Instagram’s Close Friends article gives no maximum. Checked against Instagram Help Center: Create a Close Friends list on Instagram (no post steps, size limit or make-public option)Not verified
- Accounts one person can own: no published limit, only the 10 you can have logged in at once. Checked against Instagram Help Center: Add and switch between multiple Instagram profiles
- Accounts per phone number: the article that sets 5 accounts per email address gives no number for phone numbers. Checked against Instagram Help Center: What to do if your login info is already used by another Instagram account
- How long an action block lasts: Instagram’s Help Center has no article for an “Action Blocked” message, so there’s no official duration to quote. Checked against Instagram Help Center: Check your Account Status on Instagram (no action-blocked article found)Not verified
Limits that start after a warning
Two documented limits have no fixed number: they switch on when Instagram sees behaviour it treats as spam or inauthentic.
Messages. Instagram limits direct messages to stop spam. If you’ve been warned about sending too many and keep going, you may be unable to send more for a period of time, which the article doesn’t specify. Checked against Instagram Help Center: Why there are limits for sending messages on Instagram
Follow requests. If an account switches between public and private too many times, Instagram may temporarily limit how many follow requests it can approve per day and remove existing follow requests. In Instagram’s words, repeated switching “is discouraged on Instagram to help protect the community from inauthentic activity.” Checked against Instagram Help Center: Why you're limited from approving follow requests on Instagram
What to do if Instagram limits your account
Open Account Status. It’s the place Instagram documents for seeing content that was removed and features you can’t use, and for requesting a review. Instagram adds that in most cases you’ll get a warning before losing access to your account. The iPhone steps below are the same on Android:
On iPhone:
- Tap Profile or your profile picture in the bottom right to go to your profile.
- Tap Menu in the top right.
- Below More info and support, tap Account Status.
Checked against Instagram Help Center: Check your Account Status on Instagram.
On a computer:
On the web:
- Click More in the bottom left, then click Settings.
- Click Account Status below More info and support.
Checked against Instagram Help Center: Check your Account Status on Instagram.
Stick to Instagram’s own routes. Meta says it disables accounts that keep violating its rules after warnings and restrictions, and disables accounts created to get around its restrictions, so a second account is no way past a limit. Checked against Meta Transparency Center: Disabling accounts (updated Jul 17, 2025) If you can’t post at all, our guide to being banned from posting on Instagram walks through the review and appeal routes.
What Outfeed checks before it posts
Apps that publish through Instagram’s API work within its limits, which can be tighter than the app’s: the API takes up to 10 items per carousel, not 20. Checked against Meta for Developers: Instagram Graph API, IG User Media reference
How our own app, Outfeed AI, handles this:
Check your next Instagram post in Outfeed AI
Instagram limits: FAQ
What is the maximum number of people you can follow on Instagram?
7,500 accounts. Instagram’s Help Center says that, to help reduce spam, it doesn’t allow anyone to follow more than 7,500, and that trying to go past that shows an error no matter how many followers you have. Accounts following more than 7,500 got there before the rule existed.
How many people can you follow per day on Instagram?
Instagram doesn’t publish a number. Its Help Center gives no per-hour or per-day figure for follows, unfollows, likes or comments, so any daily figure you see comes from a third party, not Instagram. The follow limits it documents are the 7,500 total and a cap on approving follow requests after repeated switching between public and private.
Is there a limit to how many followers you can have on Instagram?
Instagram publishes no follower cap. Its 7,500 limit applies to the accounts you follow, not to the people who follow you.
Did Instagram remove or raise the 7,500 following limit?
Not according to its Help Center. Instagram’s article on how many accounts you can follow still says it doesn’t allow anyone to follow more than 7,500. The article doesn’t say when the rule was introduced.
What are Instagram’s other limits?
Instagram’s Help Center gives these numbers: up to 10 accounts logged in at one time, up to 5 accounts per email address, up to 250 people in most group chats, forwarding a message to up to 5 chats at a time, up to 3 pinned posts, a 150-character bio and up to 20 photos and videos in one post. Instagram’s @creators account announced a limit of 5 hashtags per post or reel in December 2025.