The old rule was up to 30 hashtags per post. In December 2025 Instagram announced it would gradually bring that down to five, and its help article on hashtags now states that limit for photos, videos and Reels alike.
If you have a saved block of thirty hashtags you paste under every post, it is time to retire it. Below is what the rule says exactly, what still counts as good practice, and a simple way to pick your five.
The short version
- Five hashtags per post or Reel is the maximum.
- With more than five, the help center says your text won't post.
- Instagram itself recommends a few targeted hashtags over many generic ones.
How many hashtags can you use on Instagram?
The help center is brief about it: you can use up to five hashtags on a post, and if a photo or video carries more than five, your text won't post.
Instagram announced the change on December 18, 2025 through its @creators account on Threads, as Social Media Today reported. The stated reason: a few targeted hashtags do more for a post's performance and for people's experience on Instagram than a long list of generic ones.
| Topic | What Instagram's help says |
|---|---|
| Number | Up to five per post |
| Placement | In the caption or in a comment on your post |
| Hashtag pages | Posts from public accounts appear there, private profiles don't appear publicly |
| Characters | Numbers work, spaces and special characters like $ or % don't |
| Other people's posts | You can only add hashtags to your own posts |
Every platform gets its own caption
Instagram wants five hashtags, other platforms work differently. BestPost keeps a separate text for each one.
- Its own text per platform, the same video file
- Handles several brands with their own channels
- Shows views, likes and comments per video and channel
Do hashtags in the first comment count?
Hashtags are allowed in captions and in comments. The help center does not spell out whether hashtags in your first comment count toward the five for the post. The safe approach is to keep caption and first comment at five combined.
Moving thirty hashtags into the first comment was a common habit. Drop it: with more than five, you risk the comment not appearing at all. Five hashtags fit neatly at the end of the caption anyway, where people actually see them.
How do you pick the right five hashtags?
Five slots force a choice. Generic tags like #reels or #love describe almost every video and therefore none. A mix of terms your audience actually searches for works better than five variations of the same word.
Here is one way to fill the slots for a Reel in which an online store shows a new coffee grinder:
| Slot | Example |
|---|---|
| What the video is about | #coffeegrinder |
| Niche or audience | #homebarista |
| Use case or problem | #coffeeathome |
| Your brand | #yourstorename |
| Series or format | #grindermonday |
Treat the slots as a starting point. If location matters for your business, swap one slot for your city. For working out hashtags from what actually happens in a video, read how to choose hashtags from the content of your video.
Do hashtags still help reach on Instagram?
Hashtags tell Instagram what a post is about, and on a public account they place it on the matching hashtag page. Instagram's own explanation for the limit is that fewer, targeted hashtags work better than many generic ones. It has not published more detail on how much weight hashtags carry.
So don't count on hashtags to carry a post. They are one small input, and whether a Reel finds viewers depends mostly on the video. Five clean hashtags take a minute to choose, while thirty pasted ones now just get your text rejected.
Hashtags that match the video
BestPost watches and listens to your video and suggests hashtags based on what is in it. You decide how many.
- Writes the description, YouTube title, hashtags and first comment from your video
- Every text stays editable until you post
- Takes 100 videos and more in one go
How does BestPost stay within the limit?
In your brand profile you choose whether BestPost writes no hashtags, one, two, three or five. There is no option above five. Fixed hashtags, such as your brand name, are entered once. They count toward the total, and BestPost only adds as many of its own as there is room for.
Words you add to your profile's list of words to avoid stay out of hashtags too. And because every text stays editable until you post, you can swap any hashtag you don't like before it goes out.