Free Instagram unfollow checker (what's free, what isn't)

How it works

1. 1

   Get your export from Instagram

   In the Instagram app or at accountscenter.instagram.com, go to Accounts Centre → Your information and permissions → Export your information → Create export. Choose Download to device, Followers and following, All time and JSON. It's free, and Meta emails the ZIP in 10–20 minutes with a link valid for four days.

2. 2

   Upload the ZIP here

   No sign-up, no email, no card. Drop the file on the page and the comparison runs in your browser without the file leaving your device.

3. 3

   Use the free results, then decide

   You'll see the number of accounts not following you back, a blurred preview and two CSV buttons. Download the CSVs, keep the ZIP for a future unfollowers comparison, and pay $2.99 only if you want the names listed for you.

Exactly what is free here

No account is needed for any of this, and none of it expires:

• The non-follower count — the exact number of accounts you follow that don't follow you back.
• A blurred preview of the list so you can see its shape and the follow dates.
• Your followers list as CSV, every username with the date they followed you.
• Your following list as CSV, every username with the date you followed them.
• The unfollowers comparison — upload two exports from different dates to the who unfollowed me tool and see who left, free, including the names.
• Threads and TikTok — the Threads and TikTok checkers follow the same free tier.

What $2.99 buys, and why it is not a subscription

Paying unlocks the full non-follower list, sorted by the date you followed each account and linked to each profile, plus the same list emailed to you as a CSV. At checkout there's a $3 add-on for the other two directions — accounts that follow you but you don't follow back and your mutual followers. Both are one-time charges. There is no account to create, no renewal date and nothing to cancel.

To be upfront about the one thing people ask: the purchase covers the export you've uploaded. If you request a new export in three months and want that list revealed too, that's another $2.99. We'd rather say that plainly than hide it inside a weekly plan. The about page explains why we charge for the names at all rather than running ads or selling data.

How "free" apps actually charge

The unfollowers apps at the top of the App Store and Play Store are free to download, and that's where "free" ends. The usual structure is a three-day trial that converts to an auto-renewing plan of $4.99 to $9.99 a week — the count shown free, the names behind the paywall, much like here, except the paywall renews fifty-two times a year unless you remember to cancel inside the trial. One month of a weekly plan costs more than this tool's one-time fee several times over.

They also charge in a currency that isn't money: your password. Every one of them logs in as you to read your lists, which is what gets accounts blocked. The free count here is free partly because the method is cheap — your browser does the work — and partly because we never needed your credentials to do it. Is it safe to use Instagram unfollow checkers goes through the reports.

Doing it free with just the CSVs

If you'd rather not pay and don't mind ten minutes in a spreadsheet, the free CSVs contain everything you need. Download both, open them in Google Sheets or Excel, and in a column next to each following username add =COUNTIF(followers_column, username). Every row that returns 0 is an account that doesn't follow you back. That's the entire calculation the tool performs; we charge for the convenience, not for a secret. The followers vs following page explains the two lists, and exporting your followers list covers the CSV columns in detail.

Free manual check for small accounts

For a few dozen follows there's an even simpler free route that needs no export. Open your Following list in Instagram, tap an account, open its Followers, and type your own username in the search box. If you appear, they follow you; if not, they don't. Under about fifty accounts it's a few minutes; past a couple of hundred it's an afternoon and the answers go stale as you go. How to see who doesn't follow you back on Instagram walks through both the manual and the export routes.

What this tool can't do

Free or paid, the tool only reads an export from your own account; "free" can't stretch to looking up someone else's non-followers, because that would need their login. It won't unfollow anyone — you do that in the app, at a pace that respects the Instagram unfollow limit. And it shows the state of your account when the export was generated, not right now. For an up-to-date count, request a fresh export; that's free too.

Frequently asked questions