Comparison

Instagram vs InShot

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Instagram

Connect with friends and discover new content through photos, videos, and short-form entertainment. Share your daily moments and life's highlights, or dive into personalized feeds based on your interests.

Highlights
  • Short-form video creation and discovery (Reels)
  • Ephemeral content sharing (Stories & Notes)
  • Private group chats (Close Friends)
  • Personalized content feeds (Explore)
  • Customizable posts with templates and filters
  • Discover brands and shop products
Features
Read full description

Little moments lead to big friendships. Share yours on Instagram. — From Meta Connect with friends, find other fans, and see what people around you are up to and into. Explore your interests and post what's going on, from your daily moments to life's highlights. Share what you’re up to and into: - Turn your life into a movie and discover short, entertaining videos on Instagram with Reels. - Keep up with friends on the fly with Stories and Notes that disappear after 24 hours. - Start group chats and share unfiltered moments with your Close Friends. - Share memories from recent events or trips in Feed. - Customize your posts with exclusive templates, music, stickers and filters. Dive into your interests. - Watch videos from your favorite creators and discover new content that’s personalized to your interests. - Get inspired by photos and videos from new accounts in Explore. - Discover brands and small businesses, and shop products that are relevant to your personal style. Some Instagram features may not be available in your country or region. Terms and Policies: https://help.instagram.com/581066165581870 Consumer Health Privacy Policy: https://privacycenter.instagram.com/policies/health Learn how we're working to help keep our communities safe across Meta technologies at the Instagram Safety Center: https://about.instagram.com/safety

About

InShot

Effortlessly edit videos and photos with AI-powered tools. Create stunning collages, add text, music, and effects. Share your creations in high resolution to social media.

Highlights
  • AI Effects & Auto Captions
  • Background Removal
  • Smart Tracking & Smooth Slow-mo
  • Video Trimming & Merging
  • Filters, Effects & Transitions
  • Photo Collage Maker
  • High-Resolution Sharing
Features
Read full description

InShot: Empowering Creators with Advanced Video and Photo Editing. Unlock effortless editing with easy-to-use features and powerful AI tools, elevating your video and photo editing experience to new heights. [AI Tool] - AI Effects. Experience the magic of AI with instant presets that elevate your images and videos in just one tap. - Auto Captions. AI-powered speech-to-text tool helps you say goodbye to manual text typing and makes video editing effortless. - Auto Remove Background. Remove background of videos/photos at the touch of a button. - Smart tracking. Make stickers/text move seamlessly in sync with your tracking object motion, adding dynamic flair to your videos. - Smooth slow-mo. Experience seamless slow-motion effects for buttery smooth videos. - Auto Adjust. Instantly enhance your images and videos with one-tap. - Smart collage. Make photo collages with AI Blend effects and Screenshot Stitch with effortless caption recognition. [Video editing] - Trim/Merge clips. - Reverse videos. - Add text, emoji and InShot exclusive stickers. - Add music, sound effects & voice-overs. - Add various-styles voice effects. - Speed control. Speed up/slow down video. Add speed ramping. - Keyframe editing. Add custome keyframe animations. - Chromakey. Easily edit green screen video. - Picture-in-Picture. Create multi-layered videos. [Filters, Effects & Transitions] - Lots of cinematic filters. - Unique effects such as Glitch, Fade, Noise, Beats, Weather, Retro DV, celebrate, etc. - AI effects. Clone, stroke, auto-blur, etc. - Combine clips with super transitions. [Photo Editing] - Add text and stickers to photos, make fun story. - Add filters and adjust brightness, contrast, curves, etc. [Photo Collage] - Easy-to-use photo grid collage maker. - Create seamless collages with AI Blend. - AI subtitle detection in Captions stitch mode. - High-quality pic stitch in horizontal/vertical way. [Share] - High video output resolution. Now InShot support save in 4K, 60fps. - Share to social apps, like YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, etc. [InShot Pro Unlimited Subscription] - With an InShot Pro Unlimited subscription, you have access to all features and paid editing materials including stickers, filter packages, etc. Watermark and advertisements will be removed automatically. - InShot Pro Unlimited subscription is billed monthly or annually at the rate corresponding to the selected plan. - Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase. - Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. - Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, and identify the cost of the renewal. - Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase. - Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication, where applicable. [Terms of Use] https://inshot.cc/terms/terms.html [Privacy Policy] https://inshot.cc/terms/privacy.html Feel free to contact us: inshot.ios@inshot.com, your feedback and suggestions are important to us! For more InShot news and tutorials, follow us on YouTube @InShot Video Editor. [Disclaimer]: InShot is not affiliated, associated, sponsored, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected with YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter. Acknowledgements: FUGUE Music https://icons8.com/music/

Screenshots

Instagram4 screens
InShot4 screens

Verdict

The call

Instagram and InShot both sit at 4.7 stars, but that hides the real split: 86% of InShot's written reviews are positive against 31% of Instagram's. Instagram's advantage is ratings volume (30M vs 2.5M) and chart position (#3 vs #27). On price, rating, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Instagram sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per month and InShot sells 11 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Instagram against 4.8 for InShot. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Instagram has 30M ratings behind it against 2.5M, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 31% of Instagram's written reviews are positive against 86% of InShot's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Instagram ships an update weekly, InShot fortnightly. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 8 level
Instagram versus InShot: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterInstagramInShot
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (30M ratings)4.8 (2.5M ratings) — better
Positive reviews31.2% of reviews86.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings30M — better2.5M
Update frequencyWeekly — betterFortnightly
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#3 — better#27
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.315.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size583 MB252 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperInstagram, Inc.SHANTANU PTE. LTD.

Customer experience

Instagram

All ratings29,507,938 ratings
Positive92.5%
Neutral2.4%
Negative5.1%
Written reviews20,079 reviews
Positive31.2%
Neutral7.0%
Negative61.7%

InShot

All ratings2,495,847 ratings
Positive96.8%
Neutral1.9%
Negative1.2%
Written reviews7,031 reviews
Positive86.0%
Neutral4.7%
Negative9.3%

User reviews

Instagram

From 30M App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💕 Excellent way to connect with friends and family
  • 🌍 Ability to discover new content and accounts
  • 🎨 Great platform for artists and creators to showcase their work
  • 🤝 Helps small businesses promote their products

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent bugs and glitches
  • 🤖 Overly aggressive AI moderation leading to unfair account suspensions
  • 🔒 Poor customer support and lack of transparency around account issues
  • 📊 Declining organic reach and push towards paid advertising
  • 🔀 Confusing layout changes that make the app less user-friendly

InShot

From 2.5M App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💎 Excellent editing features
  • 👍 User-friendly interface
  • 🚀 Fast and efficient
  • 💎 Comprehensive video editing capabilities
  • 🤩 Impressive effects and transitions

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Saving and conversion issues
  • 🐛 Glitchy performance and crashes
  • 🔒 Limited cloud/cross-device sync
  • 🔒 Restricted access to local media files
  • 🔒 Aggressive monetization tactics

Bugs and requests

Instagram

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Unable to post or view videos due to app crashing
  • Saved posts and drafts randomly disappearing
  • Notifications not working or showing outdated information
  • Inability to log in or switch between multiple accounts

Requested features

4 requests
  • Ability to edit/delete individual photos from a multi-photo post
  • Option to view posts in chronological order instead of algorithmic feed
  • Better tools for small businesses to manage and grow their presence
  • Improved accessibility features for users with disabilities

InShot

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Saved drafts randomly disappearing
  • Video/audio desynchronization issues
  • Crashes when editing long videos
  • Difficulty accessing local media files

Requested features

5 requests
  • Green screen/chroma key support
  • More advanced text animation options
  • Improved audio editing tools
  • Ability to save multiple projects/drafts
  • Smoother integration with other apps/devices

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Instagram

Subscriptions1
  • Meta Verified Standard9 variants$14.991 Month
One-time2
  • Instagram Badge$0.99
  • Instagram Badge$4.99
11 purchases

InShot

Subscriptions3
  • InShot Pro - Monthly$4.991 Month
  • InShot Pro - Yearly3 Days trial$19.991 Year
  • InShot Pro - Yearly$19.991 Year
One-time8
  • Filter pack - CREATE$1.99
  • Filter pack - CINEMA$1.99
  • Filter pack - SKIN$1.99
Show 5 more
  • Video Effect - FORM Pack$1.99
  • Remove ads$3.99
  • Transition pack - Power$3.99
  • Transition pack - Glitch$3.99
  • InShot Pro - Lifetime$49.99

Questions

Is Instagram free?
Instagram is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is InShot free?
InShot is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Instagram or InShot?
InShot is rated higher. Instagram averages 4.7 out of 5 from 30M ratings, while InShot averages 4.8 from 2.5M ratings.
Do Instagram or InShot have ads?
Both Instagram and InShot show ads.
Which is updated more often, Instagram or InShot?
Instagram ships an update weekly, and InShot fortnightly. Most recently, Instagram was updated on September 24, 2026 and InShot on September 24, 2026.
Which is more popular, Instagram or InShot?
Instagram currently peaks at #3 in the App Store charts, and InShot at #27. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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