Use Instagram Insights for measuring how your own hashtag posts perform, and use Brand24 when you need a broader hashtag counter across public conversations. Instagram Insights is best for creators, social managers, and small teams checking reach, engagement, and follower actions on their own content. Brand24 is better when the question is, “How many people are using or talking about this hashtag outside my account?” The right choice depends on whether you care about post performance or hashtag activity across the market.
TLDR: Instagram Insights shows how your own Instagram posts, Reels, and Stories performed, while Brand24 tracks public mentions of a hashtag across Instagram and other sources. For example, a skincare brand running #GlowIn7Days might see 42,000 reach and 1,180 saves in Instagram Insights, but Brand24 may reveal 312 public hashtag mentions, 18 creator posts, and a 24% rise in weekly discussion. If you only need owned content reporting, Instagram Insights is enough. If you need campaign monitoring, competitor checks, or user generated content counts, Brand24 gives a wider view.
What a hashtag counter should actually count
A hashtag counter sounds simple. Count the hashtag. Report the total. Done.
Except that Instagram does not make hashtag measurement that clean. Some tools count only your posts. Some count public mentions. Some estimate reach. Some miss private accounts, deleted posts, Stories, or content blocked by API limits. That is where confusion starts.
A useful hashtag counter should help answer questions like:
- How many times was the hashtag used?
- Who used it?
- How much engagement did those posts get?
- Was the sentiment positive, negative, or mixed?
- Did the hashtag help with reach, clicks, signups, or sales?
Instagram Insights and Brand24 answer different parts of that list. Treating them as direct substitutes is where teams get bad reports.
Instagram Insights: strong for owned content
Instagram Insights is built into Instagram professional accounts. That alone makes it convenient. No extra login. No new data source. No setup beyond having a Business or Creator account.
For hashtag measurement, Instagram Insights helps you understand how your content performed when you used a hashtag. You can review metrics such as:
- Reach for posts, Reels, Stories, and account activity
- Impressions where available
- Likes, comments, shares, and saves
- Profile visits from content
- Follower growth over a selected period
- Interactions by content type
This is useful when you want to know whether your hashtagged post worked. Say you post a Reel with #EcoTravelTips. Instagram Insights can show that the Reel reached 16,400 accounts, gained 620 likes, 84 saves, and 37 profile visits. That is practical data. It tells you if the content landed.
The problem is that Instagram Insights is not a full public hashtag counter. It will not show every public post using #EcoTravelTips. It will not give you a complete list of creators who used your campaign tag. It also will not track the same hashtag across news sites, blogs, TikTok references, X posts, forums, or other online mentions.
Honestly, it feels like Instagram gives you just enough data to keep working, but not enough to build a clean campaign report without screenshots, exports, and manual notes.
Brand24: stronger for public hashtag monitoring
Brand24 is a media monitoring and social listening tool. It tracks mentions of selected keywords and hashtags across supported public sources. That can include Instagram public posts, depending on access and availability, along with other online channels.
For hashtag activity, Brand24 is useful because it focuses on conversation volume. You can set up a project for a campaign hashtag, branded hashtag, event hashtag, or competitor hashtag. Then you can watch mentions collect over time.
Key metrics usually include:
- Mention volume, showing how often the hashtag appears
- Estimated reach, based on available public data
- Engagement, such as likes, comments, and shares where available
- Sentiment analysis, split into positive, neutral, and negative mentions
- Influencer or author detection, helping spot useful accounts
- Trend charts, showing spikes by day or hour
- Alerts, useful when a campaign starts gaining traction or trouble
This makes Brand24 much better for campaign tracking. If you launch #RunForCleanWater, you can compare daily mention counts before, during, and after an event. You might find 94 mentions on launch day, 410 on race day, and 138 the day after. That pattern tells a clearer story than a single Instagram post report.
The catch is that Brand24 still depends on public data access. Private profiles are not visible. Some Instagram content may be restricted. Stories are especially tricky unless you are analyzing your own account through Instagram’s native tools. Expect a few blind spots. No tool gets a perfect count of everything on Instagram.
Side by side comparison
| Feature | Instagram Insights | Brand24 |
|---|---|---|
| Main purpose | Measure your own Instagram content | Monitor public mentions and hashtag activity |
| Best for | Post, Reel, Story, and account reporting | Campaign tracking, social listening, public hashtag counts |
| Hashtag count | Limited to your content context | Tracks public hashtag mentions where available |
| Competitor tracking | Very limited | Useful for public competitor hashtags and mentions |
| Sentiment | Not a core feature | Included for monitored mentions |
| Ease of use | Simple, built into Instagram | Requires setup, filters, and review |
| Cost | Free | Paid plans |
When Instagram Insights is the better choice
Choose Instagram Insights when your goal is simple performance review. If you are a solo creator, local brand, or small store, it may cover the basics well enough.
It works best when you need to know:
- Which hashtagged posts got the most reach
- Which Reels drove profile visits
- Which Stories led to sticker taps or replies
- Whether your account gained followers after a content push
- Which format performed better, such as carousel versus Reel
For example, a coffee shop using #BristolCoffeeWalk may only care whether its own weekend Reel brought people to the profile. If Insights shows 8,700 reach, 290 saves, and 53 direction taps, that is enough to judge the post.
When Brand24 is the better choice
Choose Brand24 when your hashtag has a life beyond your own account. This includes launches, events, influencer campaigns, PR pushes, contests, and community hashtags.
It is especially useful when you need to report:
- Total public hashtag mentions over time
- Top creators or accounts using the hashtag
- Positive versus negative discussion
- Campaign spikes by date
- Mentions outside Instagram
- Share of voice against another hashtag
Picture a sportswear brand running #MoveEveryMorning with 25 micro influencers. Instagram Insights can show the brand’s own posts. Brand24 can help catch public posts from influencers, fans, and media pages. If the brand sees 1,260 tracked mentions, 3.8 million estimated reach, and 64% positive sentiment, the campaign report gets much stronger.
The annoying part: numbers may not match
Do not expect Instagram Insights and Brand24 to show identical totals. They measure different things. Instagram may report reach from your post. Brand24 may report public mentions of the hashtag. One is content analytics. The other is monitoring.
It drives me crazy that teams often compare these numbers as if they came from the same source. They do not. A Reel with 50,000 reach is not the same as a hashtag with 50,000 estimated reach. A post impression is not a public mention. A saved post is not sentiment.
To avoid messy reporting, label each metric clearly:
- Owned reach: From Instagram Insights
- Owned engagement: From Instagram Insights
- Public hashtag mentions: From Brand24
- Estimated public reach: From Brand24
- Sentiment and top authors: From Brand24
Best workflow: use both for serious campaigns
For everyday posting, Instagram Insights is fine. For serious hashtag campaigns, use both tools together.
A clean workflow looks like this:
- Create one campaign hashtag that is short, distinct, and easy to spell.
- Post owned content and track it in Instagram Insights.
- Set up Brand24 monitoring before launch day, not after.
- Track mentions daily during the campaign window.
- Review top posts and creators for quality, not just volume.
- Combine results into one report with separate sections for owned performance and public activity.
This gives you a fuller view. Instagram tells you what happened on your account. Brand24 tells you what happened around the hashtag in public spaces.
Final recommendation
If you need a free, quick read on your own Instagram content, use Instagram Insights. It is simple and close to the source. If you need a real hashtag counter for public activity, campaign mentions, creators, sentiment, and trends, use Brand24.
The smartest setup is not usually one or the other. It is Instagram Insights for owned performance and Brand24 for public hashtag tracking. That split keeps reports honest, useful, and much easier to explain to clients or leadership.