Check Your Instagram Followers: Who Follows, Who Left, Who's Mutual

How it works

1. 1

   Request a Followers and following export

   In the Instagram app go to Settings and privacy → Accounts Centre → Your information and permissions → Export your information → Create export. Pick your Instagram profile, tick only Followers and following, set the date range to All time, the format to JSON, and choose Download to device.

2. 2

   Collect the ZIP when Instagram emails you

   A followers-only export is normally ready in 10–20 minutes. Instagram sends an email with a download link that stays valid for four days; the same file is also listed on the Export your information screen.

3. 3

   Upload the ZIP on this page

   Pick the ZIP in the uploader above. Your browser reads the followers and following files locally, compares them, and shows the result straight away. Nothing is sent to a server, and you can close the tab whenever you like.

One export, every list

Instagram's profile screen gives you two totals and two scrollable lists, and that is where its follower analytics end for a personal account. The data export contains the same two lists as files, and once they are files a browser can do what the app won't. Upload the ZIP and UnfollowChecker produces all of the following in one pass:

• Followers CSV — every account that follows you, with the date they followed, downloadable free. See the followers export page.
• Following CSV — every account you follow, with the date you followed them, also free. See the following export page.
• Not following you back — accounts in following but not in followers. Count free, full list $2.99.
• Fans — accounts in followers but not in following. Count free, list in the $3 add-on.
• Mutuals — accounts in both. Count free, list in the same add-on.
• Deleted — placeholder entries for accounts that no longer exist, counted and set aside so the other figures add up.

What is free and what costs $2.99

The free tier is deliberately generous because the raw data is yours. Both CSVs, all three counts, the deleted count and a blurred preview of the non-followers list cost nothing and need no account. The $2.99 unlock reveals the full non-followers list on screen and emails it to you as a CSV. If you want the fans and mutuals lists written out as well, that's a $3 add-on at checkout. Everything is one-time; there is no subscription and no stored copy of your export.

Why charge at all? Because the site has no login to sell and no ad network to feed, and a small one-off price keeps it that way. Why free CSVs? Because exporting your own lists shouldn't cost money, and the data export guide shows how little is actually inside the ZIP once you know where to look.

Checking who left: the two-export method

A single export can tell you who doesn't follow you back, but it can't tell you who used to. An account that unfollowed you last month looks identical, today, to an account that never followed you. The answer is to keep your ZIPs. Upload an older export and a newer one to the who unfollowed me tool and it compares the two followers files: anyone in the old file and not the new one has unfollowed; anyone new is a gain. That diff is free, including the full lists.

If you'd like to make it a habit, the unfollowers tracker page describes a monthly routine: one export on the first of the month, filed with the date in the name, and a two-minute comparison with the previous one. It replaces the login-based "tracker" apps that poll your account from their servers and get it blocked.

Opening the CSV in Sheets or Excel

Each CSV has three columns: Username, Profile URL and the follow date. Open it in Google Sheets, Excel or Numbers and sort by the date column to see your oldest follows first — these are the accounts you probably forgot you followed. Paste the followers CSV from one month next to the one from the next, and a simple COUNTIF finds who left, which is the same arithmetic the diff tool does for you. The profile URL column is clickable in most spreadsheet apps, so working through a list of accounts to review doesn't mean retyping usernames.

Dates are what make the CSV more useful than a screenshot of your followers list. Instagram's own list shows no dates at all; the export records a timestamp for every follow in both directions.

How current is the check?

Exactly as current as the export. Instagram generates the file when you request it, usually within 10–20 minutes for a followers-only export, and the lists inside reflect your account at that moment. Follows and unfollows that happen while you wait are not included, and nothing updates afterwards. For most people a check once a month is plenty; follower churn is slow, and the point of the follower audit is to understand the shape of your account rather than watch it tick.

One accuracy note: pick All time as the date range. A shorter window silently drops older follows from both files, which makes the non-follower count too low and the CSV incomplete.

What this tool can't do

It checks your followers, not anyone else's — the export is only available for an account you're logged into. It can't tell you which followers are bots, inactive or fake, because the export has no engagement data; follow dates are the only signal it holds. It can't remove or unfollow accounts for you. And it can't watch your account live: each check is a snapshot, and tracking changes means keeping exports and comparing them.

Frequently asked questions