how many can you use?Five per post or Reel, since December 18, 2025. The old limit was 30. Paste a caption below to check it; every hashtag past the fifth is struck through.
Checked on against 8 sources.
omnisocials
omnisocials Planning next week's posts in one sitting: Reels on Monday and Wednesday, a carousel on Tuesday, Stories every day. #socialmediatips #contentplanning #instagramtips #smallbusiness #reels #marketing #creator
On December 18, 2025, Instagram's @creators account announced: "Starting today, Instagram will allow up to 5 hashtags in a reel or post." The limit had been 30. Instagram's Help Center now says that with more than 5 tags on a photo or video, "your comment won't post".
Hashtags still tell Instagram what a post is about and help it show up in search. They do not add reach: Adam Mosseri says hashtags "don't increase your reach". Pick five specific ones and put your keywords in the caption.
Instagram began to cap posts and Reels at 5 hashtags, rolled out gradually. Instagram said fewer, targeted hashtags "can improve both your content's performance and people's experience". Source
Before the change, some accounts saw a limit of three hashtags in a test (reported by Social Media Today). Source
Instagram removed the option to follow a hashtag. You can still search one. Source
Some users saw a five-hashtag limit. Instagram called it a glitch at the time. Source
A common split: one or two niche tags, one or two broad topic tags and one branded tag. It is a tactic, not an Instagram rule.
Mosseri's search advice: keywords and hashtags belong in the caption, not the comments, for a post to be found in Search.
Instagram Search reads captions, bios and usernames. Name your topic in plain words in the first lines.
Mosseri says hashtags do not increase reach. They label a post; the content earns the reach.
Hashtags tied to rule-breaking content can be made unsearchable. Search a tag first and see if recent posts show.
Keep a few sets of five for your main topics so every post gets a fitting group without retyping.
The limit comes from Instagram's @creators announcement of December 18, 2025 and Instagram's Help Center, read on October 17, 2026. Where Instagram's own pages disagree (the comment page still says 30) or say nothing (Stories, the API), the page says so. Mosseri's quotes on reach come from his Instagram Advice channel as reported by the press.
