Instagram engagement rate calculator

The calculator starts with 3 rows and takes up to 10 posts.

1. 01

   Note the follower count

   It's required, and it's at the top of the profile. Rounded counts are close enough.

2. 02

   Skip pinned posts and anything under 3 days old

   Creators can pin posts to the top of their grid, often older favourites. Newer posts are still collecting likes.

3. 03

   Take the next posts in order

   Use 3 to 10 consecutive posts, not the best-looking ones, in the format you'd pay for.

4. 04

   Copy likes and comments

   Both are under each post. If the like count is hidden, leave Likes blank: a post without likes is left out of the rate rather than counted as zero.

5. 05

   Add views where a Reel shows them

   Instagram doesn't show other accounts' views on most posts. Where a Reel shows a view count, usually on its thumbnail in the Reels tab, add it.

Everything runs in your browser and nothing you type is sent anywhere.

Median engagement rate

(Likes + comments) ÷ followers for each post, shown beside its row, and the median across the posts with likes.

Views per follower

The median views of the posts that have a view count, ÷ followers. It appears only when at least 3 posts have views, because fewer say little.

Nakodo engagement points

Out of 100: the rate's points, averaged with the views per follower points when there are enough views. Nakodo's fit score uses the same thresholds.

Straight lines join the points, starting from 0 at zero. Per follower has its own scale, so never compare an Instagram rate with a per-view rate from TikTok or YouTube.

On TikTok and YouTube every video shows its views, so engagement can be divided by the people who watched. Instagram doesn't show other accounts' views on most posts, so the only audience figure visible from outside is followers.

Nakodo has the same limit: Meta's official Business Discovery API, which it reads, doesn't share other accounts' view counts. Remember what the rate measures: response for the account's size, not per person who saw the post. Followers include people who've stopped looking and accounts that were bought.

Engagement per account reached exists only in the creator's insights. Professional accounts can see accounts reached and interactions for each post and Reel. Before a paid deal, ask for screenshots of:

• A run of recent posts, not the best one.
• Stories, if you're paying for them, since their reach is never public.
• The audience: top countries and age ranges, to check they match your customers.

Engagement by reach is interactions ÷ accounts reached; compare it only with other reach-based figures. Reach is also the base for pricing Stories and carousels.

Creators can hide like and view counts on their posts. Leave those likes blank so they don't pull the rate down. If most posts hide likes, rely on insights screenshots instead.

A Reel can be recommended to people who don't follow the account, so one that travels can earn likes from well beyond the following and push its per-follower rate up. A median across Reels, carousels and single images describes none of them well, so measure the format you're paying for.

Say an account has 20,000 followers and its last five posts got 300, 350, 380, 420 and 2,900 likes and comments. Per follower that's 1.5%, 1.75%, 1.9%, 2.1% and 14.5%. The average is 4.35%, which no ordinary post comes near. The median, 1.9%, is what a typical post gets.

On Nakodo's scale, 1.9% per follower earns 58 points. If 3 Reels have a median of 3,000 views, that's 15% views per follower, worth about 74 points, and the engagement points are their average, 66.

There's no universal number. Rates vary with account size, niche and format mix, and figures quoted elsewhere may divide by reach instead. Compare an account with its own history and with similar accounts measured the same way. Nakodo's thresholds are its own, not a benchmark. A high rate can be bought too, so read the comments and see spotting fake followers.

Nakodo reads public professional accounts through the Business Discovery API: followers, bio, website and the latest 12 posts, with likes (unless hidden), comment counts and dates. Personal accounts are never read. Medians use posts at least 3 days old when there are at least 3, scored on these thresholds. The Free plan searches Instagram and TikTok; see how it works, or how to find Instagram creators by hand.