Instagram

Bringing you closer to the people and things you love

As of 30 August 2026, Instagram is free to use. Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by Meta. Softwr lists it under Social Media. Instagram is made by Meta Platforms Inc, launched in 2010, available on iOS, Android, Web.

Visit siteVisit Instagram

Overview

What Instagram does

Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by Meta. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging.

What people use it for

Social networking
Brand marketing
Content creation
E-commerce
Personal sharing

Where it falls short

Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about Instagram.

Algorithm changes frequently affect content reach and organic visibility
Requires public account and 1000+ followers to access live streaming (as of August 2025)
Increasingly focused on video content, reducing discoverability of photo-only posts
Limited content creator earnings compared to YouTube
Heavy emphasis on ads can make free experience cluttered

Cross-shopped

What people choose instead of Instagram

Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.

Instagramvs
Snapchat
Snapchat: Photo and video sharing platform focused on temporary content with similar story features
Instagramvs
TikTok
TikTok: Short-form video platform competing directly for user engagement and creator content
Instagramvs
Threads
Threads: Meta-owned text-based social network offering alternative communication model to Instagram

Capabilities

Features

Photo and video sharing
Stories
Reels
IGTV
Direct messaging
Live streaming
Shopping
Explore page
Facebook
Integration with Facebook
WhatsApp
Integration with WhatsApp
Creator Studio
Integration with Creator Studio
Business Suite
Integration with Business Suite

Answered, with sources

Questions people ask

Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.

Is Instagram free to use?

Yes. Instagram is free for all users. Meta monetizes through advertising rather than subscription fees.

Source

How many users does Instagram have?

As of September 2025, Instagram has more than three billion users, making it one of the world's largest social media platforms.

Source

What platforms does Instagram support?

Instagram is available on iOS, Android, and web browsers as the primary platforms.

Source

Can you upload both photos and videos on Instagram?

Yes. Instagram supports photo sharing, video uploads, stories, reels (short-form videos), and lives streams.

Source

Behind it

Who makes Instagram

Company: Meta Platforms Inc
Based in: Menlo Park, CA
Founders: Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger

Timeline

Instagram over time

Milestone2022-01-01
Instagram surpasses 2 billion monthly active users
Source
Acquisition2012-04-09$1bn
Facebook acquires Instagram for $1 billion in cash and stock
Source
Launch2010-10-06
Instagram launches on iOS App Store
Source

Keep looking

Where to go from Instagram

Best Social Media software for

Compare Instagram with

Other Social Media software

Snapchat
The fastest way to share moments
Free, then $3.99/mo11 researched notes
Later
Visual social media scheduling and analytics
From $18.75/mo11 researched notes
Agorapulse
Social media management for scheduling, inbox and reporting
From $79/mo11 researched notes
Loomly
Brand success platform for social media collaboration
From $49/mo12 researched notes
SocialPilot
Social media scheduling and management for agencies and small teams
From $20/mo11 researched notes
Tumblr
Blogging and fandom platform owned by Automattic after being sold off by Verizon for a fraction of what Yahoo paid for it
Free plan10 researched notes
Sprinklr
Unified customer experience management platform
7 researched notes
Pinterest
Visual discovery and bookmarking platform monetised through advertising and shopping links, run as an independent public company
Free plan10 researched notes
X
The renamed and restructured Twitter, now merged into Elon Musks xAI, with paid verification and metered API access
Free plan10 researched notes
Runway
AI-powered creative tools for video and images
Free plan13 researched notes
Mention
Real-time media monitoring made simple
Free plan10 researched notes
Planoly
Visual social media planning, scheduling, and link-in-bio platform
From $14/mo11 researched notes
Brand24
Social listening and media monitoring with published prices and a hard cap on mentions per month
From $199/mo13 researched notes
Determ
Media monitoring and PR intelligence with published European pricing and unlimited users on every plan
From €99/mo12 researched notes
Khoros
Enterprise social media management and branded community platform, now owned by IgniteTech
Pricing on request13 researched notes
Opus Clip
AI tool cutting long videos into short vertical clips with captions for social
Free, then $15/mo11 researched notes
Rival IQ
Competitive social media analytics and benchmarking with published, self-service pricing
From $239/mo12 researched notes
S
Shapr
Networking made human
Free plan5 researched notes

Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Instagram, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.