Instagram Analytics Software: What It Cannot Tell You
What Instagram analytics tools actually report, what the free built-in Insights already gives you, and the question none of them answer. Prices read from their own pages on 4 September 2026.
The honest version first
Start with the obvious. If you want your own numbers, Scrptly is the wrong tool and this page will not pretend otherwise. It does not connect to your Instagram account, so it cannot tell you your reach, your follower growth or your best hour to post. Instagram gives you most of that free inside the app, and a tool like Metricool gives you the history and the competitor tracking that Instagram will not. What none of them do is read a Reel and tell you why it held people, which is the only thing Scrptly is for. Get your numbers from the tools below. Come back when the numbers say a Reel failed and you want to know what the first line should have been.
What each one actually reports
Prices in US dollars, monthly rates unless stated. Metricool bills VAT separately in Europe.
| Tool | What it reports | What it cannot | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instagram Insights, built in and free | Views, Viewers, Interactions, Accounts engaged, follower growth, top locations, age range and the times your followers are most active, for your own account, inside the app | Look at an account you do not own, or go back further than the past 90 days, which is the longest timeframe it offers | Free with a public account. Boosting needs a professional account |
| Metricool, free tier | One brand, 30 days of analytics, Reels and Stories analytics, and 5 competitor profiles | Keep history beyond 30 days, or explain what any competitor is doing inside a Reel | $0 |
| Metricool, Starter | Up to 10 brands, unlimited analytics history, up to 100 competitor profiles, PDF and PPT reports | Tell you why one of those 100 competitors' Reels outperformed yours | From $25 a month, or from $20 billed annually |
| Metricool, Advanced | Up to 50 brands, team and client management, custom report templates, Looker Studio connector and API | The same. More reporting is still reporting | From $67 a month, or from $53 billed annually |
| Scrptly | Nothing about your account. It breaks down Reels that already performed: the verbatim hook, how long it ran, the structure and the pacing | Your reach, your followers, your posting times, or any metric from your own account | 2 analyses free for the lifetime of the account, then $19 a month or $15 billed annually |
What the search data says
72 keywords about Instagram analytics, priced against Google Ads on 4 September 2026, carry 21,800 searches a month between them. Six of the seven largest name a tool or software explicitly rather than asking a question about their own numbers.
People arriving here are shopping for software, not reading a guide. That is why this page is a table of what each one reports and what it does not, and why the honest answer for most readers is the free option they already have.
Sample of 72 keywords, measured on 2026-09-04. Google Ads Keyword Planner volumes via DataForSEO, United States, held in our own keyword database.
Which one to open first
- Open Instagram Insights. It is free, it is already on your account, and it answers the question most people are really asking, including the hours your followers are active.
- If you need history past 90 days, several accounts, or to track competitors, add a tool like Metricool. The free tier covers one brand and five competitor profiles.
- When the numbers tell you a Reel underperformed and you want to know why, that is the question none of the above answer. Scrptly breaks the Reel down line by line.