How to Calculate Instagram Engagement Rate

Instagram engagement rate by followers is a post’s likes plus comments, divided by the account’s followers, times 100; for your own account you can divide by reach instead, using the interactions in your Insights. A post with 450 likes and 50 comments on an account with 20,000 followers has a 2.5% rate. Socialinsider’s benchmarks put the brand average around 0.45% in Q3 2026, so creators and brands land very differently.

Instagram doesn’t show an engagement rate anywhere in the app, so you calculate it. This guide gives the formulas, a worked example, benchmarks, and the mistakes that skew it. Where your own numbers live is covered in how to see Instagram Insights. Two related numbers are who shared or reposted your post and the best time to post on Instagram.

What Is the Instagram Engagement Rate Formula?

There are two standard formulas: by followers, which works for any public account, and by reach, which only works for your own account.

Formula	Calculation	Use it for
By followers	(likes + comments) ÷ followers × 100	Comparing any public accounts
By reach	interactions ÷ accounts reached × 100	Your own posts, from Insights

The by-followers version uses only public numbers, which is why benchmark reports and influencer research rely on it. Saves and shares are only visible to the account owner.

How Do You Calculate It for One Post?

Add the likes and comments, divide by the follower count, and multiply by 100. Listed below are the 4 steps.

1. Read the counts: 450 likes, 50 comments.
2. Add them: 500 interactions.
3. Divide by followers: 500 ÷ 20,000 = 0.025.
4. Multiply by 100: a 2.5% engagement rate.

How Do You Calculate It for a Whole Account?

Calculate the rate for each of the last 10 to 20 posts and take the median. A single viral post can push an average far above what the account normally gets. Leave out posts from the last day or two, whose numbers are still growing.

What Is a Good Engagement Rate on Instagram?

For brand accounts, Socialinsider reports an average engagement rate of 0.45% in Q3 2026, with carousels at 0.50%, reels at 0.48% and images at 0.35% (Socialinsider). The same source reports a year-on-year fall of about 24% across 2025. Smaller creators often score well above brand averages, so compare like with like: similar size, similar niche.

Format (Q3 2026, brands)	Average engagement rate
Carousels	0.50%
Reels	0.48%
Images	0.35%
All posts	0.45%

What Mistakes Skew Engagement Rate?

The most common mistakes are averaging instead of using the median, mixing formulas, and counting posts with hidden likes. Listed below are the 4 to avoid.

• Averages that let one viral post dominate.
• Mixing by-followers and by-reach rates in one comparison.
• Hidden like counts, where the owner has turned off like and view counts; leave those posts out.
• Bought followers, which make the rate look low; generic comments are another warning sign, covered in how to vet Instagram influencers with data.

How Do You Calculate Engagement Rate for Any Public Account?

For accounts you don’t own, use public counts across their recent posts. apidojo’s Instagram Scraper on Apify returns each post’s likeCount, commentCount, the owner’s followerCount, and an isLikeAndViewCountsDisabled flag for posts with hidden counts (Apify).

from statistics import median
from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("apidojo/instagram-scraper").call(run_input={
    "startUrls": ["https://www.instagram.com/creator/"],
    "maxItems": 20,
})

rates = []
for p in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    if p.get("isLikeAndViewCountsDisabled"):
        continue
    followers = p["owner"].get("followerCount") or 0
    if followers:
        rates.append(((p.get("likeCount") or 0) + (p.get("commentCount") or 0)) / followers * 100)

print(f"Median engagement rate: {median(rates):.2f}%")

It costs $0.50 per 1,000 posts, and each profile should return at least 10 posts. Turning one account’s rate into a benchmark is covered in how to track competitors on Instagram. The TikTok formula and benchmarks are in how to calculate TikTok engagement rate.