Instagram data export analyzer

How it works

1. 1

   Request the export from Accounts Centre

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

2. 2

   Download the ZIP within 4 days

   A followers-only export usually takes 10–20 minutes to prepare. Instagram emails you a download link that expires after 4 days; save the ZIP to your phone or computer.

3. 3

   Upload the ZIP or the JSON files

   Drop the whole ZIP on this page, or drag in followers_1.json and following.json on their own if you have already unzipped it. Everything is read in your browser. The results step includes free CSV buttons for your followers and following lists.

What's inside the export ZIP

Request only Followers and following and the ZIP is small: a folder of JSON files covering your followers, the accounts you follow, pending follow requests, blocked accounts, close friends, hashtags you follow and a few similar lists. Request everything and it's a different animal — hundreds of megabytes of messages, media, ad interests and activity logs, with the follower files tucked under connections/followers_and_following/. The full tour of the export lists every file; the download guide covers the request steps screen by screen.

The two files this analyzer reads

Only two things matter for a follower analysis: followers_1.json — continued into followers_2.json and onward for larger accounts — and following.json. The first is an array of entries, one per follower, each holding a profile link, a username and a timestamp for when they followed. The second has the same entry shape under a relationships_following key and records when you followed each account. The analyzer finds these wherever they sit in the ZIP, merges the followers parts and ignores every other file. Format details are on the followers_1.json and following.json pages.

Older or HTML-format exports are parsed too, from the equivalent HTML pages, though JSON is recommended because its timestamps are exact.

What you see after upload

Drop the ZIP on the page. Within a second or two you get your followers count, your following count and the number of accounts you follow that don't follow you back, with a preview of the first few. Two free buttons appear: Your followers list (N) — CSV and Your following list (N) — CSV, each with Username, Profile URL and a date column. The full non-followers list is the one paid item — $2.99 one-time, with an optional $3 add-on for the fans and mutuals lists. The who doesn't follow me back page explains that comparison in detail.

Full-account export vs followers-only

If you already have a full-account export from a previous request, use it; the analyzer finds the follower files inside and ignores the rest. The only drawback is size — a ZIP of several hundred megabytes takes a while to read, because the browser has to decompress all of it to reach the two files it wants. For a fresh request, select only Followers and following and you'll get a tiny ZIP in 10–20 minutes instead of a huge one hours later. If a request is dragging, the export delay guide explains what's normal.

Reading it in your browser

The analysis runs entirely in the page. The ZIP is unpacked by JavaScript on your device, the JSON is parsed in memory, and the CSV files are built locally. Your export never leaves your computer, and there is no account, no password and no upload. That's also why there's no history: the tool retains nothing between visits, so if you want to compare this export against a future one, keep the ZIP — the two-export comparison uses exactly these files.

What this analyzer can't do

It doesn't read your messages, posts, stories, comments, likes, search history or anything else in a full export — those files are skipped unread. It can't analyze someone else's export unless they hand you the file. It can't show engagement, ghost followers or who viewed your profile, none of which are in the export. And it can't refresh: the numbers are as of the moment Instagram generated the file, so a new question means a new export. Related tools for other questions are on the tools page.

Frequently asked questions