FollowMeter alternative (no password, no app)

How it works

1. 1

   Cut FollowMeter's access first

   In Instagram, change your password (Accounts Centre → Password and security → Change password), then open Where you're logged in and log out of any session you don't recognise. Remove FollowMeter under Settings and privacy → Website permissions → Apps and websites if it's listed. On iPhone, cancel FollowMeter Plus under Settings → your name → Subscriptions; on Android, Play Store → profile → Payments and subscriptions.

2. 2

   Request your export from Instagram

   In the Instagram app: profile → menu (☰) → Settings and privacy → Accounts Centre → Your information and permissions → Export your information → Create export → Download to device. Tick only Followers and following, set the date range to All time and the format to JSON, then start the export.

3. 3

   Wait for the email and download the ZIP

   A followers-only export is usually ready in 10–20 minutes. Instagram emails a download link (valid for four days) and also shows it under Export your information. Save the ZIP to the device you'll use for the check.

4. 4

   Open the ZIP on UnfollowChecker

   Upload the ZIP on this page. It's compared by JavaScript in your browser and never uploaded. You see the non-follower count straight away; the full list of usernames is a one-time $2.99, and your raw followers and following CSVs are free.

Why people leave FollowMeter

FollowMeter has been in the App Store since 2013 and is one of the better-known unfollower apps, which is exactly why so many people end up searching for a way out of it. It works by signing in to your Instagram account from inside the app and polling your lists, and it sells access in layers: FollowMeter Plus at $3.99 a week, $4.99 a month or $23.99 a year at the time of checking, a separate $8.99 PRO unlock, and $1.99 packs for Ghost Followers, Secret Admirers and Blockers.

The reasons people give for leaving cluster into three groups. Reviews mention Instagram logging them out repeatedly after using the app and showing warnings about having "authorized outside apps" to access the account, sometimes followed by a temporary block on following and unfollowing. Reviews mention paying for Plus or PRO and finding the app stuck on a loading screen or showing the same data as the free tier. And reviews mention being charged again on a new device, with support slow to reply. None of that is unusual for a login-based tracker; it is what login-based tracking costs. The FollowMeter vs UnfollowChecker page lays the two side by side feature by feature.

Before you leave: three things to do

Deleting the app from your home screen doesn't undo what you gave it. Do these in order, before you try anything new:

• Change your Instagram password. FollowMeter logged in with it, so treat it as shared. Accounts Centre → Password and security → Change password. If you used the same password anywhere else, change it there too.
• Revoke access and clear sessions. Instagram → Settings and privacy → Website permissions → Apps and websites, remove anything you don't recognise. Then Accounts Centre → Password and security → Where you're logged in, and log out of every device that isn't yours.
• Cancel the subscription where you bought it. App Store subscriptions don't stop when you delete the app. iPhone: Settings → your name → Subscriptions → FollowMeter → Cancel. Android: Play Store → profile → Payments and subscriptions → Subscriptions.

The three best FollowMeter alternatives

Which one fits depends on what you actually used FollowMeter for. Most people only ever opened the "not following back" tab, and for that the export method is the obvious replacement. If you relied on the daily unfollow alerts, be honest with yourself about whether a password-free tool can give you those — the second and third options below get closest.

How the export method replaces FollowMeter

FollowMeter fetched your lists by logging in as you. The export method gets the same two lists from Meta's own download-your-data feature, which exists because privacy law requires it. You sign in to Instagram where you always do, request the followers-and-following export in JSON, and Instagram emails you a ZIP containing followers_1.json and following.json. UnfollowChecker opens that ZIP in your browser tab and subtracts one list from the other. The numbered steps above show every tap; the safe way to check unfollowers explains why this route passes the tests a login app fails.

The practical difference you'll notice first is time. FollowMeter was instant because it was already inside your account. An export takes 10–20 minutes to generate, so it suits a weekly or monthly clean-up rather than a compulsive check after every post.

What you lose by switching

Be clear-eyed about this, because it's why some people go back. Without a login, no tool can push you a notification the moment someone unfollows — you'll learn who left by comparing a new export against an old one, which the free unfollowers tracker does, but on your schedule, not theirs. You also lose FollowMeter's history graph, its Secret Admirers and Blockers guesses (which the export doesn't contain and which reviews often describe as inaccurate anyway), and the in-app unfollow button. Unfollowing goes back to being a manual tap in Instagram, which is also the only way to stay inside the Instagram unfollow limit.

What this tool can't do

It can't check FollowMeter's other accounts feature — only an export you download from your own account, so a second Instagram needs its own export. It can't show live data; it shows your account at the moment Meta built the file. It can't unfollow for you. And it can't tell you who viewed your profile or who blocked you, because neither is in the export. The free unfollow checker page spells out exactly what's free and what the $2.99 buys.

Frequently asked questions