Find out how Instagram analytics tools help you track performance and pin down opportunities for improvement, and review the best options available.
Instagram analytics tools can help you turn a mediocre Instagram strategy into a winning one.
All good marketing decisions stem from good data — and there’s plenty of data available to tell you what’s working on Instagram (and what’s not) and inspire some ideas for new strategies you might want to try.
Instagram has 1.39 billion users who spend an average of 11.7 hours using the app per month. Nearly two-thirds (62.3%) of them use the app to follow or research brands and products. But there’s an awful lot of content competing for their attention during that time.
So, where do you find the key Instagram metrics you need to refine your strategy? We’ve picked the 10 best tools for effortless tracking in 2024.
Why you need Instagram analytics tools
Instagram analytics tools help you create performance reports to share with your team, stakeholders, and boss — to figure out what’s working and what’s not. They also provide the historical data you need to assess your Instagram marketing strategy on both macro and micro levels.
Tracking your Instagram analytics is the only way to build an effective Instagram strategy. If you’re not tracking data, you’re just guessing about what works. You might luck out and have some success just based on your intuition — but without the numbers to back your work, you’ll never be able to test, refine or grow.
Instagram analytics tools can help you answer questions like:
- Is it worth it for my business to keep posting Reels?
- What were our top Stories this year?
- Should we post to our Instagram feed more often next month?
- What kind of posts do my followers like to comment on?
… and many more.
10 best Instagram analytics tools for 2024
Analytics for Instagram go well beyond the data provided within the native Instagram analytics app. Here are our top picks for more robust Instagram analytics tools that provide the details and flexibility required for professional Instagram analysis.
1. Moyens I/O
Key benefits: Performance data from Instagram and all other major social networks in one place with easy-to-understand reports
Skill level: Beginner to intermediate
Best for: Business owners who run their own social media, solo social media managers at small-to-medium sized businesses, marketing teams at larger organizations
Social media post metrics:
- Clicks
- Comments
- Reach
- Engagement rate
- Impressions
- Shares
- Saves
- Video views
- Video reach
- And more
Profile metrics:
- Follower growth over time
- Negative feedback rate
- Profile visits
- Reactions
- Overall engagement rate
- And more
With this wide array of available metrics to track, you’ll be able to see how your Instagram posts, Stories, Reels — and even ads — are performing at a glance.
Best time to post recommendations
Ever spend a bunch of time writing and designing a social post only to have it fall completely flat? There could be a lot of reasons for that. But one of the most common reasons this happens is posting at the wrong time. A.k.a., posting when your target audiences are not online or not interested in engaging with you.
- Engagement
- Impressions
- Link clicks
Most social media analytics tools will only recommend posting times based on engagement metrics. Or they’ll use data from universal benchmarks, instead of your unique performance history.
- Customize report templates for only the data points and metrics you care about
- Track competitor performance and measure it against your own
- Compare your results to industry benchmarks
- Track the productivity of your social team (response times, and resolution time for assigned posts, mentions, and comments)
- Monitor mentions, comments, and tags related to your business to avoid PR disasters before they happen
2. Instagram Insights
Key benefits: Free for all Instagram business accounts, available directly in the Instagram mobile app
Skill level: Beginner
Best for: Grabbing high-level insights on the go
Creator and business accounts have access to native Instagram business tools like Insights. From the Insights tab, you can learn about who’s following you, when they’re most active, and what type of content is most popular. Some data disappears after 90 days, so consider the following Instagram analytics tools for more detailed reporting.
3. Later
Key benefits: Simple and user-friendly solutions for basic performance tracking
Skill level: Beginner to intermediate
Best for: Business owners who run their own social media, solo social media managers at small-to-medium-sized businesses
Source: Later
While Later can also help you measure the performance of your Instagram content and optimize posting times, the platform lacks some more advanced analytics features like competitive analysis and industry benchmarking.
4. Buffer
Key benefits: Simple solutions for basic Instagram performance tracking, free plan
Skill level: Beginner to intermediate
Best for: Business owners who run their own social media, solo social media managers at small-to-medium-sized businesses, agencies
Buffer is another social media scheduler that comes with tools to help you build your presence on social media. It allows you to schedule posts to Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Mastodon.
Source: Buffer
But when it comes to analytics, Buffer is relatively light on features. It doesn’t offer analytics for all platforms and doesn’t come with social listening features, paid content tracking, or competitive benchmarking. However, Buffer’s user-friendly dashboard is simple and straightforward, making it great for social media managers who just want to get in, schedule, and get out.
5. Sprout Social
Key benefits: In-depth reporting across social networks
Skill level: Beginner to intermediate
Best for: Marketing teams at larger organizations
Sprout Social is another top contender in the battle of social media management tools, and it may be worth your consideration. Offering scheduling and analytics for all the major social media platforms, Sprout can help you plan and execute your Instagram — and wider social media — strategy.
Source: Sprout Social
6. Moyens I/O Insights
Key benefits: Analyze brand sentiment and customer demographics in real time, alongside all your other social media performance data
Skill level: Intermediate to advanced
Best for: Social media professionals, PR and communications teams, small to large social media teams
It also analyzes audience insights and demographics like gender, location, and language. You can compare demographics across networks, or look at the aggregate picture of your audience for all networks combined.
This is a tool that really tells you a lot about your audience — and how they feel about you. It can tell you whether a spike in mentions is a victory or a disaster. And it can help you capitalize or avoid either one, respectively.
7. Panoramiq Insights
8. Panoramiq Multiview
9. Mentionlytics
10. Phlanx
If influencer marketing is part of your strategy you, want to analyze a specific competitor, or simply like to creep on celebrities, Phlanx’s Instagram engagement calculator gives you handy insights into total followers, engagement rates, and average likes and comments on posts.
You can’t choose a specific time period, but this is still a good basic tool to understand how other accounts are performing on Instagram. For example, it can tell you that Taylor Swift gets an impressive 2.23% engagement rate despite having comments turned off.
Source: Phlanx
Free Instagram analytics report template
Instagram analytics data is most useful when it’s compiled into a report that allows you to compare results and spot trends. We’ve created a free Instagram analytics report template you can use to fill in your data and share your findings.