If you’re new to Instagram and IG tools, it may seem like you need to pay for everything in order to make them worthwhile. That is most definitely not the case though. There is a wide variety of useful tools that will make your life easier, your feed better, and your Instagram awesome for free. In this article, I will share with you what I believe are the best free Instagram resources and tools.
Free resources, and especially services or tools, can often seem like there’s a catch, usually with a pesky watermark, or trying to hook you into expensive subscription services. They are businesses, after all, and need to be financed somehow.
These resources, I feel, don’t fit into that category, though; they’re transparent about what you can and cannot do for free, and most of their useful features are completely free.
Free Instagram Tools
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The following free resources will cover everything from your Instagram analytics, editing photos, creating engaging content, scheduling for free, making the most of what Instagram gives you, hashtags and so much more. So, let’s get started.
Canva
Regarding free online graphics editing software, there is not much out there that can compete with Canva.
Canva allows you to create beautiful images for your posts and stories in a matter of seconds. With a large database of templates, you’ll always be able to tap into some inspiration.
With a great mobile app version, if you’re a smartphone hero, you won’t be left hanging.
Why it’s useful:
- Post & Story templates.
- Mobile app.
- Powerful graphics editor.
- Create Instagram highlight covers easily.
My Free 7-day Instagram Course
Not to toot my own horn or anything, but this course will take you through everything you need to know about setting up the perfect Instagram account and on the road to creating engaging and captivating content.
Regardless of whether or not you’re an experienced Instagrammer or just getting started, this course will help you create the account that your (would-be) followers are looking for.
Who’s it for:
- Users who are new to Instagram.
- Businesses looking to market on Instagram.
- Brands growing their online presence.
- Personal accounts looking to increase their reach.
- Anyone that wants to harness the full power of Instagram.
Join my free 7-day Instagram course here.
Snapseed
My go-to mobile photo editing app. Snapseed is an incredible photo editing tool for your smartphone. As Instagram is still mostly a mobile application, having an editing tool that you can carry around in your pocket makes a lot of sense.
Whilst Lightroom is great, it’s not cheap… Let alone free.
This is where Snapseed comes in. Offering a wide variety of useful features that you would only expect to find in software like Lightroom, it came as a real surprise when I realized that it was free.
On one end you have the powerful tools to remove blemishes, adjust highlights, shadows, etc. and on the other end you can simply add a beautiful filter, or a look as Snapseed call it, to make your pictures pop.
Why it’s useful:
- Complete mobile photo editor.
- Easy to use.
- Familiar interface for more advanced editing.
- No Ads.
Instasize
Instasize is a great mix between mobile photo editor and graphic design app.
You’ll find a variety of different features present in Snapseed, but also some tools that you would only be able to accomplish using Canva.
Why it’s useful:
- Great for collages
- Easy to add borders and text
Unfold
Simply a great way to tell a story. An Instagram Story that is.
Unfold is a minimalist mobile app that allows you to create beautiful Stories, all within a chosen style, no matter how long your story may be.
Choose a template and get creating.
There are templates you would need to pay for, but the Clasico Series 1 provides some great designs to get you started. (Other templates are under €3.)
Why it’s useful:
- Create professional looking Stories easily.
- Create multiple stories in one design.
- Easy to use.
Unsplash
Unsplash is a copyright-free resource for high-quality images. These images can be used without giving attribution and you can use them however you would like.
The entire library is copyright free no attribution, meaning you won’t have to double-check on usage rights whenever you download an image.
Now, this is Instagram, a visual platform, so don’t go and just share other people’s images and claim them as your own. Where Unsplash really becomes useful for Instagram is as a tool for finding high-quality background images for quotes, sales, specials, etc.
Why it’s useful:
- High-quality royalty free images.
- Updated daily.
- Great for quote backgrounds.
Pixabay and Pexels
These two image-sharing platforms are great for not only background images but also have royalty-free vector art and even video. If you’re looking for a piece of video to help take your content to the next level, you may find it on Pixabay or Pexels.
Why it’s useful:
- Royalty free images, vectors, and videos.
- Community-based, meaning new files regularly.
FreePD
FreePD is the music equivalent to Unsplash, Pixabay, and Pexels. Sometimes your video, slideshow, or message just needs the right tone, but you can’t always find the right sound without violating someone’s copyright.
FreePD allows you to search for just the right music for your posts and IG stories without having to fear copyright.
Why it’s useful:
- Large database of music
- Easily search via genre, mood, etc.
Tailwind
Now, this is just a free trial, you will have to pay if you want to continue using Tailwind after you’ve posted 30 images or videos to Instagram using Tailwind.
Why did I include it you ask? Well, it’s just that good that even the free trial is a great resource to have (and an even greater resource if you join the paid plan).
If you didn’t already guess, Tailwind is an automatic scheduling tool for Instagram. I found Tailwind when they were still only scheduling for Pinterest (the best Pinterest tool, hands down), they’ve recently taken to Instagram and oh boy have they raised the bar for other schedulers.
Not only can you schedule automatically both images AND videos, but you can also preview your posts in grids, upload in bulk, save hashtag lists, make your hashtags post as the first comment (whilst scheduling) and you can find the perfect hashtags using Tailwinds hashtag finder.
There are not many tools I recommend paying for, Tailwind happens to be one of them. The free trial is great though and even without paying for Tailwind, you’re able to utilize all of these features until you’ve posted 30 times through the application.
Why it’s useful:
- I’ve listed it all above already. ?
- Free trial for 30 posts only though.
Hootsuite
Another scheduling tool, Hootsuite is pretty great if you can’t afford the paid plan of Tailwind ($10/month).
The free plan on Hootsuite not only allows you to schedule 30 posts at a time, but you can do it for multiple accounts if you happen to have more than one Instagram profile. With the free plan, you’ll be able to schedule 3 different social profiles and up to 30 posts at a time.
If you want to schedule more, simply wait for one or more of the 30 posts to go live and then you can continue scheduling again.
Why it’s useful:
- Schedule up to 30 images or videos at a time.
- Multiple social profiles (up to 3 for free).
- Built-in image editing tool.
- Free training on how to use Hootsuite included.
Linktree
One of the biggest gripes users tend to have with Instagram is the number of links you can use, or lack thereof to be more specific.
This is where Linktree comes in to save the day. This tool allows you to use your Instagram bio link to send your followers to multiple destinations. Latest products, your YouTube channel, newest blog post, etc.
You can simply paste in any new links and rearrange them as you please and your followers will be able to visit more than just your bio link.
Why it’s useful:
- Easily send users to your latest posts, shop, YouTube channel, email list, etc.
- Simple set up and familiar amongst Instagram users.
Instagram Analytics
Last of the Instagram made resources is Instagram’s built-in analytics. These are only available for business profiles, so I highly recommend converting to one, even for your personal account (you will have to create or link a Facebook page to your account though).
Analytics lets you know how good or bad your posts are doing, where your views, saves and followers are coming from, and who exactly your audience is.
If you want to create great content for your audience, your analytics is the first place you need to visit.
Why it’s useful:
- Wide variety of very useful information.
- Find out which hashtags are working the best for you.
- Discover who your active audience is and what content they’re interested in.
Feed Them Social Plugin
Next up is the Feed Them Social Plugin for WordPress. This one is for those of you with a WP blog/website or those of you that are looking to start a blog.
With this free plugin, you can display your feed on your website or blog in several different styles to fit your brand or website aesthetic.
Why it’s useful:
- Shows off your Instagram feed visually where your target audience already is.
- Turn your Instagram feed into a gallery on your site.
Display Purposes
If you often find yourself in a rush or just can’t seem to think of some great hashtags, then Display Purposes will come in pretty darn useful. ?
Simply type in a topic, and Display Purposes will provide you with relevant hashtags you can use in your posts.
Why it’s useful:
- Copy and paste it onto your Instagram.
- Find geological tags via the map feature.
- Find related tags and how they relate in the graph section.
- Time Saver.
- All banned and spammy hashtags have been removed.
Gleam
The best way to run competitions is through Gleam.
Gleam allows you to send your audience to specific pages, posts, etc., in return for entries into competitions you are holding.
Whilst Gleam does offer a free plan, the whole purpose of Gleam is to manage and run competitions and get your audience to the places your business wants them to be. For this reason, Gleam is more appropriate for businesses or brands that have products and services they can leverage in these competitions.
Please don’t buy a bunch of smartphones for giveaways (unless that’s your thing, of course).
Why it’s useful:
- Drive traffic to your website.
- Increase follower count.
- Increase your number of shares.
- Boost your content easily.
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These have been the best free Instagram resources and tools that I recommend and use myself.
If you’ve found yourself searching for tools and resources for Instagram that are actually free, I hope I’ve provided what you were looking for.
Did I miss anything? Do you know of any other incredible free tools that I should add? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.