Are you looking to grow your following on Instagram? One strategy is to follow like-minded accounts and make connections. But you may be surprised to learn that Instagram puts a limit on how many people you can follow.
There’s even a limit to how many people you can follow per day.
How Many People Can You Follow on Instagram?
Instagram puts a limit on how many accounts you can follow to help combat spam. Currently, that limit is 7,500 people. If you attempt to follow more than 7,500 people, you’ll get an error message.
This rule applies to everyone – regardless of how many followers you have. Even celebrities with millions of followers can only follow 7,500 accounts.
If you see accounts that are following more than 7,500, this means that they followed all of these accounts before Instagram changed their policies.
Is There a Daily Limit To Following People on Instagram?
Yes. Instagram also puts a daily limit on the number of people you can follow. As of 2023, you can only follow up to 200 people per day.
If you don’t want to raise any flags or put your account’s standing in jeopardy, it may be best to follow no more than 150-180 people per day.
Following too many people too quickly may be seen as a red flag, and Instagram may suspend your account temporarily due to spam.
Why Instagram Has a Follow Limit?
Instagram puts a limit on how many accounts you can follow because they want to prevent spam and stop users from breaking community guidelines.
Bots and spammers create negative experiences for users on Instagram and can artificially inflate follower counts. The social media platform does its best to ensure that users have a genuine experience and interact with real users.
What Happens If You Try to Follow More People?
If you attempt to follow more than 7,500 people on Instagram, you’ll get an error message. If you already reached your limit, you’ll need to unfollow someone first before you can follow someone new.
If you try to follow more than 200 people per day, there’s a chance that your account will be blocked by Instagram. Following an excessive number of accounts in a short period of time could be perceived as spam.
Is There a Limit To How Many People Can Follow You on Instagram?
Instagram does not, to the best of anyone’s knowledge, have a limit to how many people can choose to follow you. Some of the biggest names in the world have hundreds of millions of followers, including:
- Cristiano Ronaldo – 602 million
- Lionel Messi – 485 million
- Selena Gomez – 428 million
- Kylie Jenner – 399 million
However, you want these followers to be natural and organic. Instagram does have a strong bot system in place and will do its best to spot any fake accounts following you. If you have a massive number of fake followers that rose drastically overnight, it may get your account flagged.
Does Unfollowing People on Instagram Have a Limit?
Mass unfollowing people on Instagram also has a limit.
Why?
No one knows for sure. Many people believe that the platform wants to stop potential hackers from unfollowing everyone on a compromised account before the owner has time to reclaim their profile.
You Can Unfollow:
- 100 – 200 people per day
- 60 or so people an hour
Instagram seems to put stricter limits on new accounts, so you may be limited to 100 unfollows a day before your account is flagged. If you want to unfollow a large number of people, start with 50 – 100 per day and gradually increase this figure.
You can also download apps (at your own risk) that can help you unfollow accounts that have been inactive for a while.
Instagram has strict limits in place for following and unfollowing accounts. If you exceed the limits, you’ll receive an error message. You may also be prevented from adding a person if you reach the 7,500 following threshold.