Compare two Instagram follower lists

How it works

1. 1

   Request an export today

   Open Instagram → your profile → menu (☰) → Settings and privacy → Accounts Centre → Your information and permissions → Export your information → Create export. Tick only Followers and following, set the date range to All time, pick JSON, and choose Download to device.

2. 2

   Download and keep the ZIP

   Instagram emails a link when the file is ready, usually within 10–20 minutes for a followers-only export. The link works for 4 days, so download the ZIP promptly and keep it — renaming it with the date (for example instagram-2026-10-12.zip) makes later comparisons easier.

3. 3

   Request a second export later

   Come back in a week or a month and repeat step 1. If an older ZIP from a previous export is already sitting in your downloads, you can skip the wait and use that as the older file.

4. 4

   Upload both exports

   Drop the earlier ZIP into Older export and the later one into Newer export, then press Compare the two exports. Both resulting lists — who unfollowed you and who newly followed you — are shown in full, free, with CSV downloads. Nothing is uploaded; the comparison runs in your browser.

The copy-paste diff problem

The DIY approach is to open both followers_1.json files, copy the usernames into two spreadsheet columns and run a lookup — or drop the text into an online diff tool. It works for a couple of hundred followers and goes wrong beyond that. Larger accounts have their followers split across several files, so one column is missing a chunk. A username capitalised in one export and lower-case in the other counts as two different people. Deleted accounts leave placeholder entries that match nothing. And text diff tools compare line positions, so one insertion near the top marks every line below it as changed.

This page reads the export files themselves. Everything that trips up the spreadsheet method is handled before the comparison starts.

What gets compared

The comparison is between the two followers lists — the accounts following you at each export date. Drop the earlier ZIP into Older export, the later one into Newer export, and press Compare the two exports. Your following list isn't part of the diff; it's read from the newer export separately so the tool can mention how many non-followers you have, which is the one paid list on the site. The follower comparison itself is free with no size limit.

Both files must come from the same account and the same platform. A Threads export can't be compared with an Instagram one — the tool rejects the pair — but two Threads exports or two TikTok exports compare exactly as Instagram ones do.

Both directions of the difference

A one-way diff only tells you who's missing. This runs both ways. Accounts in the older list and not the newer are shown under unfollowed you; accounts in the newer list and not the older are under new followers. The heading gives the unfollowed count and the subline gives your total at each date, so you can check the arithmetic: old total, minus unfollowed, plus new, equals new total. Each tab sorts by name or by follow date. The pages for who unfollowed me and new followers go into what each list means.

Handling split files, renames and deleted placeholders

Inside the ZIP, Instagram writes followers_1.json and, for accounts past a few thousand followers, continues into followers_2.json, followers_3.json and so on. All parts are read and merged, so the comparison covers your whole list. Usernames are lower-cased before matching, because Instagram handles are case-insensitive and the export isn't always consistent. Entries for deleted accounts appear as placeholders rather than usernames; those are skipped and counted rather than reported as unfollowers. The followers_1.json page describes the file format in full.

One thing can't be reconciled: a user who changed their username between exports appears as an unfollow under the old name and a new follower under the new one. The files carry no stable account ID to link the two.

Exporting the difference as CSV

Each tab has an Export CSV button. The files are unfollowed_you.csv and new_followers.csv, with columns Username, Profile URL and Date They Followed You. Dates are yyyy-mm-dd. Any cell that begins with a character a spreadsheet would read as a formula gets a leading apostrophe so it opens safely. If what you actually want is one of the raw lists rather than the difference, the followers list CSV is free from any single export, and the export analyzer walks through everything in the ZIP.

What this comparison can't do

It can't compare lists you typed or copied — it needs the export files, because that's where the dates and the de-duplication come from. It can't compare your followers with someone else's. It can't match an account across a username change. And it can't compare followers against following; that's a different question, answered by followers vs following from a single export. Whatever else is inside the ZIP is ignored — the export contents guide lists the rest.

Frequently asked questions