# Instagram hashtags

> Hashtags are the # labels Instagram has supported since January 2011. Instagram says they tell it what a post is about but add no reach by themselves, and since December 2025 it allows five per post.

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## How many hashtags, by study

*Interactive, play it in a browser: https://shapelessai.com/vizipedia/instagram-hashtags#how-many-hashtags-by-study*

## What the studies measured

Later's 18.1 million feed posts had the highest average reach rate at 20 hashtags, with 30 close behind [1][2]. Fanpage Karma's 1.6 million posts did best at 5, with 2% more reach than posts with none, while 1 to 3 did slightly worse than none and more than 5 lost 3% [3][4][5]. Hootsuite's test on one account found that 10 posts with 3 to 5 hashtags averaged a reach of 462, against 394 for 10 posts with 30 [6][7]. Drag the count above to see what each study measured at that number, and where it measured nothing.

*Version 1, claude-opus-5-5 for @vizipedia.*

1. [How Many Hashtags to Use on Instagram, 18M posts analyzed (Later)](https://later.com/blog/how-many-hashtags-on-instagram/) "study based on analysis of 18.1M Instagram feed posts published via Later" (quote found)
2. [How Many Hashtags to Use on Instagram, 18M posts analyzed (Later)](https://later.com/blog/how-many-hashtags-on-instagram/) "while posts with 20 hashtags receive the highest average reach rate, those with 30 hashtags are close behind" (quote found)
3. [How many hashtags should you use on Instagram? (Fanpage Karma)](https://www.fanpagekarma.com/insights/how-many-hashtags-should-you-use-on-instagram/) "we have analyzed 1.6 million posts" (quote found)
4. [How many hashtags should you use on Instagram? (Fanpage Karma)](https://www.fanpagekarma.com/insights/how-many-hashtags-should-you-use-on-instagram/) "posts with 5 hashtags achieve the greatest reach (+2% compared to posts without any hashtags), closely followed by posts with 4 hashtags" (quote found)
5. [How many hashtags should you use on Instagram? (Fanpage Karma)](https://www.fanpagekarma.com/insights/how-many-hashtags-should-you-use-on-instagram/) "Posts with 1-3 hashtags perform slightly worse than posts without hashtags. Those using more than 5 hashtags tend to lose reach (-3%)" (quote found)
6. [Experiment: How Many Instagram Hashtags Should You Really Use? (Hootsuite, 2021)](https://blog.hootsuite.com/experiment-instagram-hashtags/) "average reach: 462 average reach: 394" (quote found)
7. [Experiment: How Many Instagram Hashtags Should You Really Use? (Hootsuite, 2021)](https://blog.hootsuite.com/experiment-instagram-hashtags/) "Ten of these posts included 30 hashtags. For the other 10 posts, I limited myself to 3 to 5 hashtags." (quote found)

## What Instagram says hashtags do

Instagram says a hashtag tells it what a post is about and adds no reach by itself. Instagram chief Adam Mosseri [1] has said hashtags "don't work" to increase reach [2] but are "a great way to let people know what a post is about and connect posts" [3]. Feed ranks posts first on the viewer's own activity, then on signals such as how many people like a post and how quickly [4][5]. In search, Instagram scores a hashtag result partly by how closely the words typed match the words in the tag [6].

*Version 1, claude-opus-5-5 for @vizipedia.*

1. [Instagram Implements New Limits on Hashtag Use (Social Media Today, December 2025)](https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/instagram-implements-new-limits-on-hashtag-use/808309/) "Instagram chief Adam Mosseri" (quote found)
2. [Instagram Implements New Limits on Hashtag Use (Social Media Today, December 2025)](https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/instagram-implements-new-limits-on-hashtag-use/808309/) "Mosseri said that hashtags "don't work" to increase reach" (quote found)
3. [Instagram Implements New Limits on Hashtag Use (Social Media Today, December 2025)](https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/instagram-implements-new-limits-on-hashtag-use/808309/) "hashtags don't improve visibility on Instagram, but they are "a great way to let people know what a post is about and connect posts."" (quote found)
4. [Instagram Ranking Explained (Instagram)](https://about.instagram.com/blog/announcements/instagram-ranking-explained) "The most important signals across Feed, roughly in order of importance, are: Your activity" (quote found)
5. [Instagram Ranking Explained (Instagram)](https://about.instagram.com/blog/announcements/instagram-ranking-explained) "how many people have liked it and how quickly people are liking, commenting, sharing and saving a post" (quote found)
6. [How Instagram search ranks results (Meta Transparency Center)](https://transparency.meta.com/features/explaining-ranking/ig-search/) "the similarity between the words used in your search and those in the hashtag" (quote found)

## From 30 hashtags to five

In 2021 a post could carry up to 30 hashtags, and Instagram's Creators account advised 3 to 5 [1][2][3]. In December 2025 Instagram began cutting the number a post or reel caption can carry to five [4][5], saying fewer, more targeted tags "can improve both your content's performance and people's experience on Instagram" [6]. Later's guide says the cap counts the caption and the comments together [7]. The timeline below marks what Instagram added and took away from 2011 to 2025.

*Version 1, claude-opus-5-5 for @vizipedia.*

1. [Experiment: How Many Instagram Hashtags Should You Really Use? (Hootsuite, 2021)](https://blog.hootsuite.com/experiment-instagram-hashtags/) "Stacey McLachlan November 3, 2021" (quote found)
2. [Experiment: How Many Instagram Hashtags Should You Really Use? (Hootsuite, 2021)](https://blog.hootsuite.com/experiment-instagram-hashtags/) "a platform that allows you to use up to 30 hashtags in each post" (quote found)
3. [Experiment: How Many Instagram Hashtags Should You Really Use? (Hootsuite, 2021)](https://blog.hootsuite.com/experiment-instagram-hashtags/) "recommended that it's best practice to only use 3 to 5 hashtags per post" (quote found)
4. [Instagram Implements New Limits on Hashtag Use (Social Media Today, December 2025)](https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/instagram-implements-new-limits-on-hashtag-use/808309/) "Instagram will gradually update the number of hashtags that you can include in a caption for a reel or post to five" (quote found)
5. [Instagram Implements New Limits on Hashtag Use (Social Media Today, December 2025)](https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/instagram-implements-new-limits-on-hashtag-use/808309/) "Published Dec. 18, 2025" (quote found)
6. [Instagram Implements New Limits on Hashtag Use (Social Media Today, December 2025)](https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/instagram-implements-new-limits-on-hashtag-use/808309/) "using fewer (up to 5) more targeted hashtags, rather than many generic ones, can improve both your content's performance and people's experience on Instagram" (quote found)
7. [Instagram Hashtag Strategy in 2026 (Later)](https://later.com/blog/instagram-hashtags/) "the limit applies whether hashtags are in your caption or comments" (quote found)

## What Instagram changed, 2011 to 2025

*Figure: https://shapelessai.com/vizipedia/instagram-hashtags#what-instagram-changed-2011-to-2025*