Want to know which are the BEST FREE Instagram analytics apps?

Everyone knows that the secret to growing on Instagram is having high-quality content that your audience likes and engages with.

So how do you achieve that?

Want to grow on Instagram? Start tracking your Instagram insights regularly to find out what’s working in your content strategy and what isn’t. 

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In this post, I’ll review some of the best free Instagram analytics apps so you can decide which one to use to create better content.

You do want better content, right?

Okay, let’s dive right into the review.

The Best FREE Instagram Analytics Apps for Marketers

Watch this video to see a live review and demo of the best free Instagram analytics apps.

1. Iconosquare (14-day Free Trial)

Iconosquare is probably the most popular analytics app for Instagram at this moment.

And after trying it myself – I have fallen in love with it.

But do I recommend it to everyone?

Hmm… it’s a hard decision to make.

If you’re a PRO and comfortable with tracking detailed analytics or you specialise in Instagram marketing, I think you’ll find Iconosquare very useful.

But if you’re just looking for a beginner-friendly tool, I think you can find more simplied tools out there that don’t feel so overwhelming.

I guess you have to try it and use it consistently to recognize its worth.

PROs:

• Lifetime insights for up to 3 profiles
• complete set of Instagram insights (including followers, engagement, reach, profile activity & content)
• additional features: custom dashboard, 3 competitors, scheduling tools, Facebook & Twitter insights. industry benchmark (coolest feature)
• comes with minimum 3 profiles, so it’s great for social media managers & agencies
• you can generate auto-email reports

CONs:

• Price after trial starts at $29/mo. and goes up to $200++ (depending on the no. of accounts)
• PDF reports are only available on the $59/mo. plan
• too expensive for new social media managers/freelancers
• each additional Intsgram profile costs $14.25/mo.

Score: 9/10

2. Popsters (7-day Free Trial)

Popsters is a more simple analytics tool than Iconosquare.

It doesn’t provide audience and followers growth stats, but all their plans are unlimited and you can analyze any pages you want even up to 100 a day – if you need to.

Bonus: It supports 10+ social networks for analysis

How can it be useful for you?

Popsters would be great for everyday analysis to get some fast statistics, or to conduct a more complex industry and competitors analytics report.

PROs:

• Lifetime insights for any count of profiles
• 20+ statistic charts like Most active time for posts, hashtag statistics, best length of posts, etc.
• Engagement Rate and average metrics
• Exporting to XLSX, PDF and PPTX
• Fast analysis (up to 20 seconds depending on the volume of posts)
• Advanced posts filtering: filter or exclude posts by type, filter by any point on the charts, text filtering
• Unlimited paid plans start at $9.99

CONs:

• No follower or audience stats
• No stories insights
• The tool doesn’t store any statistics results, it will disappear after refreshing the page

Score: 7/10 (just for the absence of followers stats)

3. NotJustAnalytics (14-day Free Trial)

I’ve used Notjustanalytics for almost 2 years – since it was called #Ninjalitics!

I’ve grown to like it because it’s a compact and minimal version of what you get on Iconosquare.

The charts are less beautiful than Iconosquare (in my opinion), but still provide very valuable information.

The only downside (for me) is that the charts come with watermarks and cannot be used in professional reports unless you choose to pay a fee to have them removed.

(Update: As of April 2021, you can customize reports with your logo and remove the watermark with a PRO plan)

PROs:

• Insights up to 6 mo. for up to 100 profiles (*paid plan)
• A good selection of insights including profile traffic, engagement, followers and content
• Additional features include: follow/unfollow rate and detailed post analytics (with visibility and attraction capability for each post)
• Comes with free email reports
• Competitor insights (separate tool)

CONs:

• Price after the FREE trial starts from 7 Euro/month (1 account) and goes up to 49 Euro/month for 50 accounts
• The charts come with big watermark and are not the best looking in a professional report (unless you pay for the PRO account)
• If you manage multiple clients, this can turn up as a lot of work to redesign the charts to look more appealing
• The FREE account only shows insights up to 7 days (which is less detailed than the Instagram app itself)

Score: 7/10

• Previously known as Ninjalitics

4. Pallyy (14-Day Free Trial for Pro plan)

I started using their Pro plan in December 2019 and so far I’ve enjoyed it.

Pally started as a simple tool for tracking Instagram insights on your desktop and it has since become so much more!

As of June 2021, they’ve added an Instagram scheduler, integration with Canva.com and a feature that allows you to directly engage with your comments, suggestively named “Replies”.

Plus they’ve expanded to offer cross-posting to a number of social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

But we’re here to talk about their analytics, aren’t we?

The analytics feature comes with a separate tab called “Analytics”.

As with most analytics tools, you can check the main metrics for growth, followers, post statistics and you can create your own dashboard and generate custom reports for each of your clients.

PS: The only thing missing is a “send email to client button” and my life would be so much easier!

PROs:

• Lifetime insights for as many profiles as you need
• A good range of insights including overview, audience insights, business insights & detailed post insights
• Unique features include: best and worst hashtags, export hashtags list as CSV, create custom dashboard, and followers geographical locations tracker
• Comes with a free bio linking tool Smily.bio
• Email reports (available on the paid plan)
• Paid plans start at $9/mo. (cheapest)
• Other features: scheduling, photo library, integration with Canva, comments manager

CONs:

• No PDF reports so you need to import the charts & data into your own format

Score: 8/10

*Previously known as Sharemyinsights

5. Instagram Insights (FREE)

Let’s talk about Instagram’s native insights tool. This is still one of the best analytics tools for Instagram simply because it’s available on your Instagram mobile app.

It doesn’t get any more convenient than this.

But at the same time, the analytics are very limited.

And that’s why my score is … 6/10 (good, but you can get better!)

PROs:

• You don’t have to download a 3rd party app
• Access to your insights quickly, as soon as you log in
• You get a good set of analytics that cover: Followers, Content, Profile Activity and Reach
• It allows you to track your growth over the last 7 days
• A good app for personal users/influencers

CONs:

• Not available on desktop
• You can’t export the stats (instead you need to screenshot the charts)
• You can’t get insights up to 30 days – so it’s not ideal for monthly reports
• No insights into competitors, hashtags or engagement
• If you’re a social media manager you’ll need to suppliment the insights with a 3rd party app

If you want to learn more about tracking your Instagram insights with the app itself, check out this video tutorial:

6. Facebook Creator Studio (FREE Instagram analytics app)

Rating: 2/10 (This one is a disappointment – I don’t recommend)

While I love Facebook Creator Studio (and I use it) to schedule content for Instagram, I have to say their analytics are the WORST I’ve come across.

My advice: Don’t waste your time trying to check your Instagram analytics on Creator Studio.

I think you’re much better off checking your insights on your mobile Instagram app instead.

PROs:

• The only available insights are: audience & activity
• FREE for all with no accounts limit

CONs:

• You get less analytics than on the Instagram app
• Insights shown are up to 7 days only
• No ability to generate reports
• No stories insights

Conclusion:

If you’re struggling with growing on Instagram, you may find it useful to start tracking your Instagram insights and dive into analytics.

I hope my review of the best Instagram analytics apps has helped you decide which tools are worth your time – and which aren’t.

Let me know if you need more help with Instagram analytics!

Good luck and happy analyzing.