Can you trust the numbers in Instagram?
Instagram, for a business, offers business and creator accounts that come with professional tools. Its own help pages give 3 reasons its numbers can look different from what you expect. The first to rule out: Recent figures can look too low and then rise, as Instagram's developer docs explain.
Is it broken, or just counted differently?
A number can look wrong because the business changed, or because of how Instagram counts it. Below is what Instagram keeps, where its help pages say the numbers can differ, and how to check them yourself.
What does Instagram keep track of?
Instagram keeps follower trend figures for professional accounts that an owner can look at.
In Instagram's own words:
You can use Instagram insights to learn more about overall trends across your followers
About Instagram insights, read 2026-11-12.Instagram's developer docs describe interaction figures for a business or creator account as a whole.
In Instagram's own words:
Represents social interaction metrics on your app user's Instagram business or creator account.
Instagram Account Insights, read 2026-11-12.
What can make Instagram's numbers look wrong?
Recent figures can look too low and then rise, as Instagram's developer docs explain.
In Instagram's own words:
Data used to calculate metrics may be delayed up to 48 hours.
Instagram Account Insights, read 2026-11-12.Reach and view counts will not match, since, as Instagram's developer docs say, one person can view a reel many times.
In Instagram's own words:
Reach is different from impressions, which can include multiple views of a reel by the same account.
Instagram Media Insights, read 2026-11-12.A small account may be missing some figures, as Instagram's developer docs say.
In Instagram's own words:
Some metrics are not available on Instagram accounts with fewer than 100 followers.
Insights, read 2026-11-12.
How do I check Instagram's numbers myself?
When pulling figures, set the start and end dates yourself so two pulls cover the same days.
In Instagram's own words:
If you do not include these parameters, the API will look back 24 hours.
Instagram Account Insights, read 2026-11-12.Story figures should be saved within a day, because Instagram's developer docs say they are not available after that.
In Instagram's own words:
Story media metrics are only available for 24 hours.
Instagram Media Insights, read 2026-11-12.
How does Instagram work with Feder?
Connect Instagram to Feder and it joins your Reach apps. Feder only reads. It never changes anything in Instagram.
When you connect Instagram, Feder checks the connection straight away and shows Connected only when that check passes. If a reading cannot be taken later, Feder shows it as not read, never as zero.
Other apps that feed Reach
- Google Search Consoleclicks and impressions in Google Search
- YouTubechannel views
- Mailchimpcampaign emails sent
- ActiveCampaignactive contacts
- Brevocampaign emails sent
- Intercomcontacts
Where do these answers come from?
Everything this page says about Instagram comes from Instagram's own pages, quoted above with the date we read them. Last reviewed 2026-11-12. We read them again by 2027-11-12. If one changes, this page changes or comes down.
Know the day a number breaks, not the month after.
Some numbers are too quiet to judge daily, such as a form filled in a few times a week. Until there is enough of your own history to judge a change, Feder says it is still learning and scores nothing, rather than guessing.