Instagram’s Follow Limit for 2025

If you’ve ever tried to grow your account by following people, liking posts, or dropping a few comments—and suddenly hit a brick wall—you’ve run into Instagram’s invisible limits.

And yeah, they’re confusing on purpose.

The rules you find online say things like “60 follows per hour” or “7,500 max total.” But then you follow 45 people, like a few posts, and boom—action blocked.

So what are the actual limits? And how do you stay under them without losing your momentum—or your mind?

In this article, you’ll learn:

• What Instagram’s limits are for follows, likes, and comments

• How these limits change based on account age and activity

• What happens when you hit a limit—and how long the block lasts

• Why following “too much too fast” gets flagged even when you’re under the cap

• How the 7,500 follow limit really works (and why it’s permanent)

• The safest way to grow without triggering spam filters

• Bonus: extra behaviors that might get you flagged even if you’re not breaking the numbers

What Are Instagram’s Actual Follow Limits?

Instagram doesn’t publish official numbers, but based on user experience, case studies, and tools that track action blocks, here’s what’s generally accepted:

• Hourly follow limit: ~20–60 follows per hour

• Daily follow limit: ~150–200 follows per 24 hours

• Total follow cap: 7,500 accounts per profile

Once you hit the 7,500 total, that’s it—you can’t follow anyone else unless you unfollow someone first.

But here’s the twist: even if you stay under 60 per hour and under 150 for the day, you can still get blocked. Why? Because the system doesn’t just look at how much—it looks at how fast.

If you go from 0 to 45 follows in 10 minutes, Instagram may still flag you as spammy. Same goes if your account is new, inactive, or has a history of automated behavior (even if it wasn’t you using a bot).

Why You Get Blocked Even If You’re “Following the Rules”

Let’s say you’ve been doing everything “right.” You’re following under 60 people per hour. You’re spacing it out. You’re not using bots. And yet—you get action blocked.

Here’s why that happens:

• Instagram flags patterns, not just numbers. Following 40 people every single hour on the hour still looks automated.

• Your account history matters. If you’ve ever tripped a spam filter or used third-party tools in the past, your limits may be lower.

• The limits vary per account. Older, trusted accounts have more leeway. Newer ones get throttled faster.

• Other red flags stack. Multiple actions in a short time (follows + likes + comments) increase your risk—even if each one is within “safe” range.

• Location or IP shifts can also trigger blocks. If someone’s trying to log into your account from another country, Instagram might start restricting you as a precaution.

It’s not just about the number of people you follow—it’s about how natural your behavior looks to Instagram’s spam detection system.

What Are the Limits for Likes and Comments?

Just like with follows, Instagram sets soft limits on how many likes and comments you can give in a short period. These aren’t officially published, but based on real-world usage:

Likes:

• Max per hour: ~100–150

• Max per day: ~1,000–1,200 (for older, established accounts)

If you rapid-fire like dozens of posts in seconds, that’s a red flag. Spread them out, scroll like a human, and don’t just blast likes to random accounts.

Comments:

• Max per hour: ~20–30

• Max per day: ~200–250

With comments, quality matters more than quantity. Repeating the same phrase over and over (“Nice feed!” “Great post!” “”) looks spammy. Instagram’s filters pick that up instantly—even if your intent is legit.

And if you’re copy-pasting or dropping a link in too many comments? You’ll get blocked faster than you can say “engagement strategy.”

How Long Do Action Blocks Last?

There’s no one-size-fits-all timer, but here’s what most creators experience:

These durations vary depending on how often you’ve been flagged in the past. If you’ve triggered blocks more than once, the system starts treating your account as “risky,” and every action after that gets monitored more closely.

Important: appealing a block doesn’t usually speed things up. In many cases, your best bet is to stop all follow/like/comment activity for a full 48 hours and let things cool off.

The 7,500 Total Follow Cap Isn’t Just a Number—It’s a Wall

Instagram sets a hard cap of 7,500 accounts that you can follow at any given time. Once you hit that, you’ll get an error every time you try to follow someone new—until you unfollow someone else.

And that’s not just a temporary block. That’s a forever rule.

The weird part? The platform still shows you tons of “People You May Know,” explore page profiles, and follow suggestions—many of which you literally can’t follow once you’re capped. It’s a strange mix of encouragement and restriction that makes growing past a certain point feel pointless.

But the issues don’t stop there.

Some creators report:

• Being unable to unfollow once they’re over 7,500 (the number doesn’t drop even when they try)

• Unfollow actions not registering right away, sometimes needing to drop below 6,500 before the counter updates

• Follow/unfollow loops causing temporary action blocks even when they’re trying to clean up old follows manually

If you’re near the 7,500 cap, it’s best to slow down your follow strategy completely, clean up inactive or irrelevant accounts, and avoid triggering more limits by mass unfollowing in short bursts.

I use Systeme IO to keep track of outreach, segment lists, and log which accounts are worth keeping around. It’s not just for email—it’s a great fallback when Instagram’s follow system starts acting up.

How to Grow Without Getting Flagged

If you’re trying to build your audience, you’ll need to engage—but the trick is to make it look human, not robotic.

Here’s how to stay on the right side of Instagram’s filters:

• Vary your activity—don’t follow, like, and comment all in the same 5-minute burst

• Avoid patterns like following exactly 60 people every hour or commenting the same thing across posts

• Use time gaps between actions (e.g., follow 10 people, wait 10–15 minutes, follow 10 more)

• Unfollow slowly—especially if you’re cleaning up old follows. 30–50 per day is safer than hundreds at once

• Interact with content you genuinely enjoy—random engagement is easier to flag

• Don’t copy-paste comments, emojis, or links—personalized engagement is much safer

• Keep your login activity clean—suspicious logins or frequent device changes will lower your trust score

The more organic you look, the less likely you are to get hit—even if you’re pushing the upper limit of what’s technically allowed.

I also use Flick to help pace my content and keep hashtags and engagement strategies organized. It makes it easier to grow without constantly tripping Instagram’s filters.

Other Hidden Triggers That Can Get You Blocked

Even if your numbers are safe, there are behaviors that still trip Instagram’s moderation system:

• Using third-party apps or bots (even ones that claim to be “safe”)

• Frequent logins from different IPs or locations

• Linking to flagged or low-quality websites in your bio

• Getting reported multiple times, even for petty things

• Editing your bio or username too often

• Sending too many DMs to people who don’t follow you back

• Logging in from banned VPN servers

• Copy-pasting identical captions, tags, or hashtags across posts

Instagram doesn’t just track what you do—it watches how you do it. Anything that looks automated, rushed, or unnatural can put a target on your back.

Instagram Limits Aren’t Set in Stone—but They Can Still Break Your Growth

If you’ve been following the “60 per hour” rule and still getting blocked, you’re not alone. Instagram’s filters are fuzzy, always shifting, and heavily influenced by how your account behaves—not just how much you do.

There are general limits: 60 follows an hour, 200 per day, 1,000 likes, 250 comments. But they’re guidelines, not guarantees.

To grow safely:

• Pace yourself

• Look human

• Avoid repetition

• And track how Instagram responds to your behavior over time

It’s annoying. It’s imperfect. But once you understand how the system reacts, you can still build—and stay visible—without getting shut down mid-growth.