Instagram is a great social network for businesses. It has the potential of reaching millions of users per day. But, off course, to get there, you need to work hard and smart. That’s why you need the best free tools for Instagram.
Several tools for Instagram can help you work faster and smarter. With those apps, you will be able to increase your reach and attract more customers to your business.
Gleam
Gleam takes a slightly different approach to social media contests. It has an Instagram widget which you can add to your website and drive visitors to your Instagram account.
For example, you could require people to follow you on Instagram or view a particular Instagram post to participate in your contest.
On the free plan, you can host an unlimited number of contests, accept an unlimited number of entries, and select up to 10 winners. If you would like to get more features such as adding a feature image and customizing your widget, Gleam has two paid plans: Pro ($39 per month) and Business ($149 per month).
Feed Them Social
Feed Them Social is a WordPress plugin for displaying your social media feeds on your website. By having your Instagram feed on your website, you could encourage your visitors to check out and follow your Instagram account.
According to reviews of the plugin, it takes only a few clicks to set up the feed and the team provides excellent, timely support.
You can see a demo of our Instagram feed here.
Buffer
Scheduling Instagram posts in advance can help you save time and ensure that your profile is well-curated and consistent. You can now schedule both single-image or single-video posts with Buffer!
On the free plan, you can plan your Instagram marketing for up to three accounts. If you would like to connect more Instagram accounts or get analytics, you could give Buffer for Business a go.
(If you are reading this on mobile, feel free to download Buffer for Android or Buffer for iOS for a smooth mobile experience.)
Photo Editor by Aviary
Photo Editor by Aviary is one of the most comprehensive and highly recommended photo editing apps. With the app, you can enhance a photo with a single tap, add effects and stickers, draw, add text, and more.
There are over one-thousand free photo effects, stickers, and frames in the app but more are available for purchase if you’d like to expand your library.
Photo Editor by Aviary is available on Android, iOS, and Windows, which means you can most likely use it regardless of which smartphone you’re using.
PicFlow
With PicFlow, you can easily create 15-second video slideshows for Instagram in three quick steps:
- Select your photos
- Select a music
- Set the timing of each photo by tapping
If you would like to make longer videos, remove the (tiny) watermark, or unlock more transitions between photos, you can purchase them from within the app for less than $3.
Pic Flow is available on Android and iOS.
Canva
Canva is one of our favorite free design tools for creating images for social media, blog posts, and more.
The team at Canva has created many amazing Instagram stories templates that you can customize. The templates come in the ideal dimensions so you can focus on the design and not worry about getting the aspect ratio and size right.
Just pick a template and change the text, images, and background to your liking.
(Canva has an iOS app for those who like to design on the go. Or you can use it to download your designs to your mobile phone directly.)
Adobe Spark
Adobe Spark is another free design tool that we love at Buffer.
Here’s a unique feature of Adobe Spark that I like: just by turning a dial in the editor, I can get different design recommendations for my caption.
You can learn more about how to create Instagram stories with Adobe Spark and get 10 free Instagram stories templates here.
StoriesAds
StoriesAds is an online tool for creating Instagram Stories ads (and good-looking vertical videos).
It provides several templates you can work with so that you don’t have to create a video from scratch. The intuitive video editor also prompts you about the things you have to change to customize the video.
As it is stated on the site that it is “Free for a limited time”, you might have to pay to use the tool in the future.
ShortStack
We have found that hosting giveaway contests on Instagram is a great way to ShortStack has a tool for organizing user-generated content (UGC) contests, where participants enter by posting a photo with your hashtag on Instagram. ShortStack will then collect and display the UGC, which can help you increase your brand.
On the free plan, you can host an unlimited number of contests and collect up to 100 entries. ShortStack also has paid plans if you want to collect more entries and get more advanced features.
Feed Them Social
Feed Them Social is a WordPress plugin for displaying your social media feeds on your website. By having your Instagram feed on your website, you could encourage your visitors to check out and follow your Instagram account.
According to reviews of the plugin, it takes only a few clicks to set up the feed and the team provides excellent, timely support.
You can see a demo of our Instagram feed here.
Repost for Instagram
Repost for Instagram lets you repost an Instagram post on your Instagram account with just a few taps while also giving credit to the post owner. It is available on Android and iOS.
Before you repost any photos or videos, remember to get permission from the post owner and give her or him credit in your caption. This is required by Instagram’s Term of Use and is doing right by the amazing creators and businesses on Instagram.
To get permission for reposting the post, you can use any one of the following ways:
- Send the post owner a direct message
- Comment on the post
- Connect via email
Some people do ask for a fee for using their photos since it’s part of their livelihood. Be sure to iron out such details before reposting any Instagram post.
If you are using the Buffer mobile app — Android or iOS, you can also easily add a repost into your Buffer queue after you have gotten the permission to repost it.
Caption Writer for Instagram
Type: Application
Available on GooglePlay and APP Store
Price: Free. Offers In-App Purchases
If you want your Instagram captions to stand out, you will need to use a tool like Caption Writer for Instagram.
Features:
Create beautiful Instagram captions
- with line breaks
- character count
- hashtag groups
Think of an outstanding caption for Instagram and once you’re done, copy it straight to Instagram.
This is one of the best free Instagram tools that will help you grab your followers’ attention.
Later
Type: Application
Available on Play Store and App Store, Web App.
Price: Free for Individuals
Once you created a great caption and chose the best hashtags, it’s time to schedule your posts. Here’s where Later comes to help.
Features:
With the free plan, you can plan your Instagram content in a visual way:
- One profile per platform (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest)
- One Instagram profile, 30 posts
- Upload and schedule posts both on the web and on the mobile app
- Plan and save captions, hashtags, and other texts
- Upload and store an unlimited number of photos and videos in your Media Library
If you don’t want to use a separate tool for finding hashtags, Later has this feature, too.
Earlier, you could find scheduler tools with a free plan. But the most famous ones changed their plans to paid only. On the contrary, Later has a free forever plan for individuals
4. YellowDuck
Type: Web Application
Available on: Windows, Mac (download from the YellowDuck Homepage)
Price: Free
With the help of YellowDuck, another Instagram tool that you can use for free, you can go live to Instagram from your computer. The main benefit for you is a more professional live stream with a steady camera. Especially if you need to have your laptop tabs open during the live stream, you’ll need to use YellowDuck.
Features:
- Go live to Instagram from your laptop
- Disable commenting while streaming
- Save the video to your Story once it’s finished
This is one of the best free Instagram tools that will be handy in 2021. More and more users are getting engaged in live videos. This is your chance to get your audience’s attention.
After you download YellowDuck, make sure to read their Help Center articles relevant to your needs. They will walk you through the installation process and will help you go live easily.
5. HypeAuditor
Type: Web Application
Price: Free + paid plans
Whether you are a business owner, an influencer, or an individual, this free Instagram tool will help you analyze your account and a lot more.
Features:
- Track your account performance
- Discover Instagram influencers with over 20 search filters (plus YouTube, TikTok, and Twitch influencer search)
- Create a list of influencers for your campaign
- Get a report of your recent searches, add your comments
- Track any Instagram account: follower growth, quality audience size change, Engagement rate, etc.
HypeAuditor also enables you to compare up to five accounts and download the report as a PDF file. You can also see the list of top 1000 Instagram influencers according to the number of quality followers and their engagement.
You can get limited access to its data and analytical reports with a free plan or use a range of free Instagram tools, like Engagement Calculator or quick Audit and Fake Follower Check.
This is one of the best Instagram tools that will help you analyze how engaged your followers are, how many of them are quality followers.
Conclusion
Our free Instagram tools help businesses with their engagement and community management. They will also give you the insight into your followers and what they like.