Follower counts are easy to inflate; engagement is harder to fake. That is why engagement rate is the first number brands look at before paying for a sponsored post, and the metric most influencer tools lead with. Here is the formula, what counts as good, and how to compute it yourself.
The formula
The most common definition, and the one our free calculator uses:
engagement rate = (average likes + average comments per post) ÷ followers × 100
measured over recent posts, typically the last 12. Variations you will meet:
- Median instead of mean: ignores one viral post or one flop. Worth showing alongside the mean.
- Including reel views: some tools add views for reels; that inflates the rate for video-heavy accounts, so keep it separate.
- Per-post reach instead of followers: more accurate, but reach is private, so only the owner can compute it.
What is a good engagement rate on Instagram?
Rates fall as accounts grow, so always compare within a size band:
| Followers | Typical | Strong |
|---|---|---|
| Under 10K | ~4.5% | 9%+ |
| 10K–100K | ~2.4% | 5%+ |
| 100K–1M | ~1.4% | 3%+ |
| Over 1M | ~0.8% | 1.6%+ |
These are indicative industry figures; niches differ (finance and B2B run lower, beauty and gaming higher). An account far below its band, especially with a suspiciously round follower count, is a warning sign.
Calculating it with the API
One call per account. The Recent posts statistics endpoint samples the account's 12 most recent reels and returns the averages together with the follower count:
import requests
r = requests.get(
"https://socialgraph.dev/api/v1/instagram/posts-statistics",
params={"username": "nike"},
headers={"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"},
timeout=60,
)
s = r.json()
rate = (s["avg_likes"] + s["avg_comments"]) / s["followers"] * 100
print(f"{s['username']}: {rate:.2f}% over {s['reels_sampled']} reels, avg views {s['avg_views']:,}")
That is 2 credits per account (US$0.004), so a shortlist of 250 creators costs about US$1. For per-post numbers, the Post details and Reel details endpoints return likes, comments and views for any single post.
Reading the result
- Rate vs. benchmark: divide the account's rate by the typical rate for its size. Above 2× is excellent; below 0.3× is low.
- Likes vs. comments: comments are harder to fake than likes. A high like count with almost no comments is worth a look.
- Views: judge video performance by
avg_viewsseparately from the rate.
Try it
Run the Instagram engagement rate calculator on any account, free, then take the API for the rest of your list.