Since December 2025 you can use at most five hashtags per post or Reel on Instagram. Choose a few that describe exactly what your post is about, rather than popular generic tags. Hashtags help people find your post through search, but according to Instagram itself they are not a way to get more reach.
The short answer
- How many: at most five per post or Reel. More isn’t possible.
- Which ones: specific hashtags about your topic, your niche or your location. No generic tags like #reels, #explore or #viral.
- Where: in your caption, together with plain words that say what your post is about.
- What they do: they help with search and show what your post is about. Your reach depends mostly on how people respond to your post.
How many hashtags can you use on Instagram?
Since 18 December 2025 you can use at most five hashtags in a post or Reel on Instagram. Before that it was thirty. Instagram announced it through its official @creators account. The reason: according to Instagram, a few targeted hashtags work better than many generic ones, for your post and for the people searching, and it counters spam.
If you add more than five, you can’t publish the post or comment. So the old trick of putting hashtags in a comment under your own post to keep the caption tidy no longer makes much sense.
Do hashtags still help your reach?
Less than many people think. Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, said in a Q&A in 2025 that hashtags are not a way to get more reach. They do help Instagram understand what your post is about, and they help people who search for a topic. For what Instagram shows your followers and others, it says watch time, likes and how often your post is sent to others count most.
Research doesn’t give a clear picture. Metricool looked at more than 24 million posts in 2026 and found that posts with hashtags got fewer views on average than posts without. Fanpage Karma, looking at 1.6 million posts, found the best results with five hashtags. These are correlations, not proof. The lesson: hashtags are a small factor. A good post without hashtags does better than a mediocre post with the perfect five.
Which hashtags should you use?
- Specific over popular. #vegetarianrecipes says more than #food. Under a hugely popular hashtag your post disappears among millions of others.
- Your topic and your niche. What is the post about, and who is it for?
- Your location. For a local business or event, a place name works, such as #manchester or #brightonfood.
- Your own hashtag for your brand, campaign or series, so people can find all your posts about it.
- No generic tags such as #reels, #explore, #viral or #fyp. Instagram itself advises against generic hashtags, and they say nothing about your topic.
How to find good hashtags for Instagram
- Search Instagram for your topic and see which hashtags keep coming up in the results.
- Tap a hashtag to open its page. Does what you see there fit your post, and are the posts from accounts like yours?
- Look at which hashtags accounts in your niche use, especially accounts of about your size.
- Make a few fixed sets of five for each type of post, and rotate them.
- After a few weeks, check which posts got the most reach, and whether the topic or the hashtags made the difference.
The easiest way to judge how a post did is to compare it with what is normal for an account of your size. Our engagement rate calculator shows you.
Hashtags in your caption or in a comment?
In your caption. Instagram itself says you should put keywords and hashtags in the caption, not in the comments, if you want a post to be found through search. Also write plain words in your caption: Instagram searches text in captions, usernames and bios too.
Public posts from professional accounts of adults can also appear in Google. There too, a caption that says in plain words what the post is about helps. If you don’t want that, you can switch it off in your privacy settings.
Banned hashtags: what to watch out for
Instagram sometimes makes a hashtag unsearchable when posts under it keep breaking the rules. So look up a hashtag before you use it: if you get no results or a notice, don’t use it. With a professional account, Account Status shows whether your posts can be recommended to people who don’t follow you.
Can you still follow hashtags?
No. Since December 2024 you can no longer follow hashtags on Instagram. Hashtag pages still exist: you reach them through search or by tapping a hashtag. Posts from private accounts don’t appear there, and the order depends on how recent a post is and how people respond to it.
And hashtags on TikTok?
On TikTok, hashtags also show what your video is about: TikTok names the caption, the sound and the hashtags as information it uses when recommending videos. Since 2025 the app warns that five is the maximum when you add more. Hashtags like #fyp say nothing about your topic. When to post your videos is covered in the best time to post on TikTok.
What about buying likes or views for a new post?
Hashtags are a small factor, and buying likes doesn’t change that. Bought Instagram likes or Instagram views only raise the number under your post: a new post then looks less empty. Our standard likes come from real-looking, high-quality profiles, not active people, and nobody can promise more reach.
Instagram doesn’t allow buying in its terms and can remove part of it. It isn’t illegal for your own account; if you use Instagram for a business or as an influencer, read whether buying likes is legal first.
Questions about Instagram hashtags
How many hashtags can you use on Instagram?
Since 18 December 2025, at most five per post or Reel. Before that it was thirty. With more than five you can’t publish the post or comment.
What are good hashtags for Instagram?
Hashtags that describe exactly what your post is about: your topic, your niche, your location or your own brand. A specific hashtag like #vegetarianrecipes works better than a generic one like #food.
Do hashtags still work on Instagram?
They help people find your post through search and show Instagram what your post is about. According to Instagram they don’t bring more reach: that depends mostly on watch time, likes and how often your post is sent to others.
What are the most popular hashtags on Instagram?
Lists of the most popular hashtags often name generic tags like #love or #instagood. Under hashtags like that your post disappears among a huge number of others, and Instagram itself advises against generic hashtags. Choose specific hashtags about your topic instead.
Can you put hashtags in a comment?
You can, but Instagram advises putting them in the caption if you want to be found through search. The limit of five applies in a comment too.
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