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Best hashtags for Instagram: what 360 businesses used on 10,697 Reels

The best hashtags for Instagram, from real business accounts: Postdom read the captions of 10,697 Instagram Reels from 360 small-business accounts in 12 business types, counted every hashtag, and compared the views of tagged posts with each account's typical post.

The best hashtags for Instagram here means the tags small businesses actually use, with the views that went with them, not a list of the biggest tags on the app.

Postdom is an AI social media tool that turns your website into short videos, slideshows and posts, then publishes them.

In a Postdom study of 10,697 Instagram Reels from 360 small-business accounts (collected 11 October 2026), #fyp was the most used hashtag, on posts from 32 accounts, and those posts drew 1.00x the views of each account's typical post.

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Definition. Views against the account's typical post: a tagged post's views divided by the median views of its own account's posts that were at least 7 days old, with the median taken per account and then across accounts, so 1.00x means the tag went with typical views.

Last updated . First published, with 10,697 Instagram Reels from 360 business accounts collected 11 October 2026.

Next review: 5 January 2027, with the next Short-Form Benchmarks sample. Data lead: Ana Ibáñez Lario. Data licensed CC BY 4.0.

Sample: 10,697 Instagram Reels from 360 business accountsCharts to embedDownload the dataHow to cite

Key findings: best hashtags for Instagram

  • 65.7% of Instagram Reels carried at least one hashtag. The median post carried 4, and 5 when it had any.
  • #fyp was the most used hashtag: 32 of 360 accounts used it, on 139 posts. Those posts drew 1.00x the views of each account's typical post.
  • Broad reach tags used by 10 or more accounts sat between 1.00x and 2.62x: #fyp 1.00x (32 accounts), #explorepage 1.53x (21 accounts), #trending 1.63x (16 accounts), #viral 2.28x (16 accounts), #explore 1.13x (13 accounts) and #reels 2.62x (12 accounts).
  • The number of hashtags made little difference. Against each account's typical post, Reels with no hashtags drew 1.00x, 3 to 5 hashtags 1.00x and 6 to 10 1.04x.
  • Among hashtags used by 10 or more accounts, the highest were #reels 2.62x (12 accounts), #viral 2.28x (16 accounts) and #ad 2.19x (15 accounts). Each rests on fewer than 30 accounts, so treat them as directional.

The 30 most used Instagram hashtags

Sorted by how many accounts used each tag; select a column heading to sort by it. Rows used by fewer than 30 accounts are directional. Every published tag is in the CSV below.

#fyp321391.3%2,0551.00x
#explorepage21390.36%3,5021.53xdirectional
#ai191251.17%2,3841.01xdirectional
#businessgrowth17810.76%4070.99xdirectional
#behindthescenes17200.19%1,5091.09xdirectional
#trending16520.49%1,8511.63xdirectional
#smallbusiness16510.48%8,0271.06xdirectional
#viral16400.37%5,0412.28xdirectional
#dentist15990.93%1,7251.09xdirectional
#coffee15640.6%3,4040.99xdirectional
#ad15220.21%15,8112.19xdirectional
#realestate14560.52%1,4861.02xdirectional
#community14440.41%2,3821.10xdirectional
#invisalign14370.35%2,6991.06xdirectional
#foodie14250.23%7,6081.21xdirectional
#explore13720.67%4,2621.13xdirectional
#fitness13660.62%1,9601.02xdirectional
#hiring13410.38%3931.02xdirectional
#funny13400.37%4,0951.37xdirectional
#entrepreneurship13390.36%8150.87xdirectional
#oralhealth12880.82%1,6651.02xdirectional
#smiletransformation12700.65%2,6670.92xdirectional
#reels12270.25%2,7092.62xdirectional
#giveaway12210.2%9,8471.13xdirectional
#selfcare12140.13%2,5920.90xdirectional
#accounting11920.86%5,6601.25xdirectional
#cosmeticdentistry11690.65%8,1460.92xdirectional
#cpa11680.64%9631.05xdirectional
#food11660.62%10,2331.07xdirectional
#dentistry11450.42%1,0650.96xdirectional

Most used hashtags by business type

The five tags used by the most accounts in each business type, counting tags used by at least 3 accounts in that type. Each business type has 30 accounts or fewer, so read these as directional.

Bakeries and cafes (30 accounts)
#coffee (10), #matcha (7), #cafe (6), #coffeeshop (5), #fyp (5)
Restaurants (30 accounts)
#italianfood (10), #food (9), #italianrestaurant (8), #restaurant (7), #foodie (6)
Law firms (30 accounts)
#lawyer (8), #familylaw (8), #lawfirm (8), #personalinjury (8), #attorney (6)
Accountants (30 accounts)
#accounting (11), #cpa (11), #taxplanning (7), #taxtips (7), #bookkeeping (6)
Dentists (30 accounts)
#dentist (15), #invisalign (13), #oralhealth (12), #cosmeticdentistry (11), #smiletransformation (11)
Clinics and med spas (30 accounts)
#skincare (8), #physiotherapy (7), #painrelief (7), #neckpain (7), #wellness (7)
Gyms and fitness studios (30 accounts)
#fitness (10), #boxing (7), #crossfit (6), #boxinggym (5), #community (5)
Salons and beauty (30 accounts)
#hairtransformation (7), #nailart (6), #nails (5), #hairsalon (5), #haircut (5)
Plumbers and trades (30 accounts)
#homeimprovement (9), #plumbing (8), #plumber (8), #hvac (7), #bluecollar (7)
Real estate (30 accounts)
#realestate (12), #realestateagent (9), #realtorlife (9), #realtor (8), #realestateagents (5)
Retail and online stores (30 accounts)
#ootd (7), #smallbusiness (6), #shopsmall (6), #shoplocal (6), #boutique (4)
Software and apps (30 accounts)
#ai (14), #aiagents (9), #tech (8), #artificialintelligence (8), #saas (7)

Let Postdom write and post it

Postdom turns your website into short videos, slideshows and posts, writes a caption for each platform, and posts the ones you approve. The Hashtags section of your Rules says which tags to use, avoid or rotate.

Start on Starter, $39 a month

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Free tools and more data: Hashtag generator, Character and hashtag limits, TikTok trends this week.

Charts to embed

Every chart is free to use with a link back to this page. The embed code includes the link.

32 of 360 businesses used #fyp on Instagram, the most used hashtag, and those posts drew 1.00x the views of each account's typical post
32 of 360 businesses used #fyp on Instagram, the most used hashtag, and those posts drew 1.00x the views of each account's typical post
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On Instagram, the number of hashtags in a caption made little difference against each account's typical post
On Instagram, the number of hashtags in a caption made little difference against each account's typical post
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Download the data

  • Every hashtag used by 5 or more accounts (CSV) best-hashtags-for-instagram-2026-10.csv. One row per hashtag: posts and accounts using it, share of all Instagram Reels, median views, views against each account's typical post, sample sizes and a directional flag. No account names.

Aggregate figures only. The files name no accounts. Licensed under CC BY 4.0: free to reuse, including commercially, with credit to Postdom and a link to this page. Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. Every file is listed in the research data library.

Method and full data tables

How many hashtags

03,6672962,8901.00xno
1 to 26101703,6541.05xno
3 to 55,3593232,9391.00xno
6 to 106811049671.04xno
11 or more380661,1001.09xno

Method

  • Sample. The October 2026 Postdom business sample: 360 public Instagram business accounts in 12 business types, found through Instagram's Reels search for 6 keywords per business type, screened as small businesses (under 1,000,000 followers, no creators or media pages, a business signal in the profile) and drawn at random with a fixed seed. Each business type has 30 accounts.
  • Posts. The newest 30 posts per account that were not pinned, collected 11 October 2026: 10,697 Instagram Reels.
  • Hashtags. Every "#" followed by letters or numbers in the caption, lower-cased and counted once per post. A "#" followed only by digits is a number, not a hashtag. 12,258 different hashtags appeared.
  • Median views. Per hashtag, the median views of its Reels that were at least 7 days old with views above zero. 9,491 of 10,697 Reels met that test. A median pooled across accounts leans toward the accounts that post most, so compare tags and counts by the next measure.
  • Views against the account's typical post. Each tagged post's views divided by the median views of its own account's posts that were at least 7 days old; the median of that per account, then the median across accounts. 1.00x is a typical post. Accounts count equally, so one big account cannot carry a tag.
  • Directional. A hashtag used by fewer than 30 accounts is marked directional. #fyp is the only tag above that line.
  • Privacy. Hashtags used by fewer than 5 accounts (3 within one business type) are left out, so no business's own name tag is published. No account is named.
  • Reproduce. The CSV in the data section has every published hashtag with its sample sizes.

The methods every Postdom study shares are on the research methodology page.

Read this before you cite it

  • Search favours accounts that already perform, and English keywords favour English-language accounts. The draw is random within those search results, not across every business on the app.
  • This compares tagged posts with the same account's other posts. It shows what went together, not what caused it: a business may save a tag for its best ideas.
  • Only 1 hashtag was used by 30 or more accounts. Read every other row as directional.
  • Instagram figures are for Reels only, read from each account's Reels feed. Photo posts and carousels are not included. Only captions were read; hashtags posted in a comment are not counted.
  • 90% of the posts were published after 22 January 2026, but a slow-posting account's newest 30 posts can go back years.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best hashtags for Instagram?

In this sample the most used were #fyp, #explorepage, #ai, #businessgrowth and #behindthescenes. Some broad reach tags went with more views than the account's typical post, but on small groups. Tags that name the business's own field, such as #ad (2.19x, 15 accounts) and #accounting (1.25x, 11 accounts), are worth testing; their figures are directional.

How many hashtags should I use on Instagram?

Most of these businesses used 3 to 5 (5,359 Reels). Against each account's typical post, the count made little difference: 1.00x with none, 1.00x with 3 to 5 and 1.04x with 6 to 10.

Does #fyp help on Instagram?

Posts with #fyp drew 1.00x the views of the same account's typical post, across 30 accounts. In this data it went with typical views, no more.

How to cite

Postdom. (2026, October 11). Best hashtags for Instagram: what 360 businesses used on 10,697 Reels. https://postdom.com/research/best-hashtags-for-instagram

This page is updated in place as new data arrives, and the link stays the same. Cite the date of the version you used.

Data lead and press contact: Ana Ibáñez Lario, at dean@postdom.com. See the press page for custom cuts and embargoes.

Changelog

  • : First published, with 10,697 Instagram Reels from 360 business accounts collected 11 October 2026.

Every change across Postdom research is in the research changelog.

Related research

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Best hashtags for TikTok: what 331 businesses used on 9,492 posts

#fyp was the most used TikTok hashtag (120 of 331 businesses), and posts carrying it drew 1.00x the views of each account's typical post.

Sample: 9,492 TikTok posts from 331 business accounts. Next review: 5 January 2027, with the next Short-Form Benchmarks sample.

Updated

What makes a video go viral? Data from 1,272 TikToks and Reels

Short videos that ended with "let me know below" drew 39% fewer views than the same account's typical video.

Sample: 1,272 videos from 160 accounts. Re-test due: 7 November 2026, a random-sample re-test of the "let me know below" finding.

Updated

TikTok niches: what works in each industry

Faceless TikToks drew less than half the views for small product brands (0.42x their usual).

Sample: 2,138 TikTok posts from 267 accounts. Next review: 5 January 2027.

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