How to get more likes on Instagram

Likes come from two places. Your followers, who see the post in their feed. And strangers, who see it on Explore or in Reels. Most of the likes on most posts come from the first group.

So the fastest way to more likes is to make more of your followers see the post, and give them a reason to tap. Instagram ranks feed posts for followers mainly on how likely each person is to like, comment, share or save (Instagram ranking explained, 2023). Post the formats that earn those actions, post when people are online, and reply fast.

Below is what a normal number of likes looks like, and the five changes that move it. Then the reasons a post gets almost none, and what buying likes does and does not do.

How many likes is good on Instagram?

Judge likes against your follower count, not against other accounts. Hootsuite’s 2026 report puts the average Instagram engagement rate at roughly 2 to 4 percent, depending on the industry (Hootsuite, 2026). An account with 1,000 followers and 25 likes on a post is at 2.5 percent. That is normal, not a problem.

Followers	Likes at 2 percent	Likes at 4 percent
500	10	20
1,000	20	40
5,000	100	200
10,000	200	400

If your posts sit inside that band, your content is fine. Work on reach, which means more followers and more Reels. If they sit well below it, the followers are not looking, and the fixes below are for you. Our guide on the Instagram engagement rate has a calculator and the industry averages.

What makes Instagram show a post to more people

There is no single algorithm. Feed, Stories, Explore and Reels each rank in their own way (Instagram ranking explained, 2023). For the feed, Instagram looks at each follower’s history with you, and at how likely that person is to like, comment, share or save. The more people react early, the more people the post is shown to.

For Reels, the people watching mostly do not follow you. There Instagram weights watch time and shares most heavily. A Reel that gets finished and sent to friends reaches strangers, and some of them like it.

Two things follow from this. First, the early reaction matters, so timing and the first hour count. Second, likes follow reach. If you want more likes, you usually need more people to see the post.

Step 1: post carousels and Reels, not single photos

Rival IQ’s 2025 benchmark report found that carousels and Reels earn the highest engagement in most industries (Rival IQ, 2025). A single photo is the format most likely to be scrolled past.

A carousel keeps people on the post while they swipe. A Reel can reach people who do not follow you at all. If you have one photo, turn it into a three-slide carousel with a caption slide, or shoot a ten-second Reel around it.

Step 2: post when your followers are online

Likes in the first hour tell Instagram to keep showing the post. So post when people are there to tap. Sprout Social’s 2026 study found these windows get the most engagement on Instagram (Sprout Social, 2026):

• Mondays, 2 to 4 p.m.
• Tuesdays, 1 to 7 p.m.
• Wednesdays, 12 to 9 p.m.
• Thursdays, 12 to 2 p.m.
• Weekends are the lowest.

Those are averages across many accounts. Your own insights show when your followers are most active. Check there after a month. Our guide on the best time to post on Instagram explains how to read that screen.

Step 3: ask for something in the caption

A caption that ends with a real question gets more comments, and comments push the post to more people. Keep the question specific. “Which one would you pick, 1 or 2?” works. “Thoughts?” does not.

Asking people to double-tap works too, but use it rarely. If every caption begs for a like, people stop reading captions. If you struggle with captions, our free Instagram caption generator gives you a starting draft.

Step 4: reply to every comment in the first hour

The top-ranking pages for this search all say the same thing. Reply fast. A reply is a comment, so it doubles the comment count. It also brings the commenter back to the post, and it shows the next person that someone is home.

Set a timer for the hour after you post. Stay in the app and answer. That one habit does more for likes than any hashtag.

Step 5: use three to five hashtags, not thirty

Use three to five hashtags that describe the post exactly. “#sourdoughstarter” beats “#food”. The advice that ranks on the first page of Google has moved to a small number of specific tags. Hashtags help Instagram place a post by topic. They do not push a post to strangers on their own. Our free Instagram hashtag generator suggests specific tags for a topic.

Tip: if likes are not showing on a post, check Settings, then What you see, then Like and share counts. Instagram lets anyone hide like counts, on their own posts and on everyone else’s (Instagram, May 2021). Hidden likes still count, and you still see the number in your insights.

Why am I not getting likes on Instagram?

If a post gets almost nothing, run through these in order.

Your followers are not real. If you bought cheap followers, or ran a giveaway, a big share of your list never looks at your posts. A 5,000-follower account with 20 likes is usually this. How to check: look at your engagement rate. Below 1 percent points here.

You post when nobody is online. A post that goes up at 3 a.m. gets its first hour while everyone sleeps. How to check: compare the time on your best posts with your worst.

You changed what you post. People followed you for one thing. When the post is about something else, they scroll past. How to check: your last nine posts should look like they belong together.

Instagram limited the post. Posts that break Instagram’s recommendation guidelines are not shown to people who do not follow you. How to check: open Settings, then Account Status.

Like counts are hidden. The likes are there, just not on the post. How to check: open the post’s insights.

What does not work

Like-for-like groups. Trading likes with strangers gives you likes from people who will never see your next post. Instagram ranks on how each viewer reacts, and those viewers do not come back.

Thirty generic hashtags. They place your post in thirty crowded rooms where nobody is looking for you.

Buying followers without likes. More followers with the same likes lowers your engagement rate. The profile looks worse, not better. If you buy followers, buy likes to match, or do not buy at all. Our guide on how to get more followers on Instagram covers the honest way to grow the list.

What buying likes does and does not do

We sell Instagram likes. They start at $2.95 for 100, they arrive spread over time rather than all at once, and we never ask for your password. Only the post link is needed.

Here is what they do. A new post with 4 likes reads as ignored, and a stranger who lands on it moves on. The same post with 60 likes reads as normal. Bought likes keep the numbers on your profile in proportion, and they give a new post a first push while your real followers arrive.

Here is what they do not do. Bought likes do not bring comments, sales or followers. They do not make Instagram show the post to more people. Ranking is based on how each viewer reacts, and bought likes do not watch, save or share (Instagram ranking explained, 2023). They fix how a post looks. They do not fix what it is.

If you post often, our automatic Instagram likes plan sends a set number of likes to every new post for 30 days, from $79.95 for 50 likes per post. Our guide on what Instagram auto likes are explains how it works. To see delivery before spending anything, there is a free trial of 50 Instagram likes. It needs an email code and a post link, no card. Regular Instagram likes start at $2.95.

Watch out: never give your password to a site that promises free likes. A like can be sent to any public post from the outside. Nobody needs your login for that.

A routine for every post

• Make it a carousel or a Reel.
• Post inside one of the Sprout Social windows, or your own best hour from insights.
• End the caption with one specific question.
• Stay in the app for the first hour and reply to every comment.
• Use three to five hashtags that describe the post exactly.
• Once a week, compare likes to followers and note the rate.

Do that for a month. The posts will not all take off, but the floor rises, and the floor is what people see when they scroll your grid.