To find Instagram influencers who fit your brand, you can search Instagram by hand or use a discovery tool that filters millions of profiles by audience, location and engagement. This guide shows how to find Instagram influencers both ways, how to vet what you find, and how the main discovery tools compared on the day we read their pages.
It replaces an older tips article and our 2019 list of search tools, which were written by former contributors and contained prices and database sizes that are now out of date. We do desk research only: we did not sign up for, pay for or run any tool here. Facts come from each provider’s public pages, read on 21 October 2026, and from the independent sources linked below.
Quick answer: start by writing down your goal, audience and budget. For a few creators, search Instagram yourself: your own followers, tagged posts, hashtags and mentions. For lists of dozens, a discovery tool saves time. Heepsy has a free plan, and Modash and MightyScout offer 14-day trials, per their own pages. Always check an audience before you pay.
Status of the old list: Heepsy and HypeAuditor are online. Socialbakers is now Emplifi. NinjaOutreach could not be confirmed (see below).
Safety: no discovery tool needs your Instagram password.
Start with your goals
Searching without a brief wastes time. Before you open Instagram or any tool, decide:
- Objective: awareness, traffic, sales or content for your own channels.
- Audience: the age, location, language and interests of the people you want to reach.
- Offer: a fee, free product or commission. Free product is also a paid relationship for disclosure purposes.
- Measure: a tracked link, code or report you will use to judge results.
The wider process, from budget to reporting, is in our guide to Instagram influencer marketing. If you are unsure what a “micro” or “mega” influencer is, read our guide to Instagram influencers.
Find influencers on Instagram itself
You do not need software to build a first shortlist.
- Your own followers and tagged posts. People who already like your brand tend to be more willing to work with you. Check who comments, tags you or posts about your product.
- Branded hashtags and mentions. See who uses the hashtags your community uses.
- Topic hashtags. Search the tags your niche uses. Instagram has shown curated “popular” posts instead of recent ones in hashtag search since 2023, according to Wikipedia, so results are a sample, not a full list. Our guide to finding trending hashtags helps.
- Competitors. Look at who is tagged by brands like yours.
- Explore and Reels. Content your target audience sees is a clue to who they follow. See how the Explore page works.
Write each candidate into a sheet: handle, niche, audience country, average views, contact route and notes. Many creators list a business email in their bio.
Discovery tools compared
A discovery tool adds filters you cannot get on Instagram, such as audience country, engagement rate, lookalikes and fake-follower checks. The table is what each provider’s own page said on 21 October 2026. Database sizes and detection claims are the vendors’ own and we could not verify them.
| Tool | Database claim | Platforms | Price (read 21 Oct 2026) | Free plan or trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heepsy | 20M+ creators | Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn | From $69 a month billed yearly; $89 billed monthly | Free plan, 500 results a month |
| Modash | 380M+ profiles over 1K followers | Instagram, TikTok, YouTube | $199 and $499 a month; Enterprise from $14,700 a year | 14-day trial, limited |
| HypeAuditor | 227M+ accounts | Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, X, Twitch | Not listed on the page we read | “Get started for free” with free media plans and demos |
| Influencity | 200M+ (homepage) or 350M (FAQ) | Instagram, TikTok, YouTube | Not listed on the page we read | 7-day trial |
| MightyScout | Not stated | TikTok, Instagram, YouTube | From $99 a month | 14-day trial, no card |
| Instagram Creator Marketplace | Not stated | Instagram and Facebook creators | Not stated on the page we read | Eligibility checked by Meta |
Campaign platforms such as GRIN, Upfluence, Aspire and CreatorIQ also include search, but their pitch is running the whole program. They are compared in our influencer marketing guide.
Notes on each tool
Heepsy
- Search: niche, location, audience size and engagement rate, plus AI search from a plain-language description and lookalike search
- Reports: advanced profiles show the share of genuine versus suspicious followers, unusual growth patterns and audience demographics
- Plans: Free ($0, 500 results and 10 advanced profiles a month); Starter $69 (5K results, 100 profiles); Plus $149; Advanced $229. No annual lock-in, per the pricing page
- Limit: the page does not explain how Instagram data is sourced
Modash
- Search: says it covers every public profile with over 1,000 followers on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, with filters for location, niche, audience demographics and engagement
- Plans: Essentials $199 a month (300 opened profiles); Performance $499 (800); Enterprise from $14,700 a year
- Trial: 14 days, limited to 20 profile views, 6 email unlocks and 10 tracked creators
- Note: the page’s yearly totals are exactly twelve times the monthly prices even though it advertises discounts. Confirm the real annual price with the vendor
HypeAuditor
- Search: AI, keyword and lookalike search with 35+ filters, per the homepage
- Audience checks: advertises fraud detection and authenticity checks, and claims 95.5% of known fraud detected. The page does not say how that was measured
- Price: not on the pages we read; sales or demo route
Influencity
- What it is: an influencer management platform for brands and agencies with discovery, outreach, campaigns, payments and reporting. It says it is not an agency or marketplace
- Trial: 7 days; demo by form
- Limit: the page gives two different database sizes and no prices
MightyScout
- What it adds: a shared inbox that syncs with Gmail, Outlook and Instagram, shortlists, and alerts for posts and Stories that mention your brand
- Price: from $99 a month, month to month, 14-day trial
Instagram Creator Marketplace
- What it is: according to Meta’s developer documentation, it is part of Creator Marketing Hub, where brands discover and evaluate Instagram and Facebook creators for partnership ads
- Filters: location, follower count, age, gender, interests, language and audience demographics, plus recommendations and lookalikes
- Limit: Meta checks brand eligibility during onboarding. The page does not list countries or a date
How to vet a shortlist
- Audience match. Ask for the creator’s own Instagram Insights screenshots, or use a tool’s audience report. Check country, age and gender against your target.
- Engagement against size. Compare likes, comments and views with follower count. Extremely low or oddly high numbers both deserve a question.
- Growth curve. A steady climb is normal. Sudden spikes may come from a viral post or giveaway, or from bought followers. Ask.
- Past sponsored posts. See how the creator labels ads. FTC guidance says disclosures must be hard to miss and near the endorsement.
- Content fit. Read recent posts and comments. Brand fit matters more than reach.
On fake followers: in August 2024 the FTC announced a rule banning the sale and purchase of fake social media indicators such as bot followers or views, where the buyer knew or should have known they were fake. Our growth services category explains how bought followers work.
Tools no longer listed
- Socialbakers: the old address redirects (HTTP 301) to Emplifi. Wikipedia says Socialbakers was acquired by Astute in 2020 and the combined company rebranded as Emplifi in June 2021. We could not confirm that the free influencer search tool from our 2019 list still exists, so it is not listed.
- NinjaOutreach: on 21 October 2026 both its main address and its pricing page returned a server error (HTTP 522) in our checks, and we could not confirm its status or prices. A web search found a company page for a successor called NinjaInfluence, but that site also errored, so we do not recommend it. Treat the 2019 figures (60 million profiles, plan prices) as unverified.
- Moonio: redirects to Heepsy’s homepage; see our status check.
Safety and risks
- Passwords. A discovery tool searches data. It should not need your Instagram login. Services that ask for your password or automate likes, follows and comments break Instagram’s rules and can lead to blocks or bans. See our automation and bots category.
- Scraped data. Vendors do not explain in detail where profile data comes from, so numbers can lag behind what the creator sees.
- Cold outreach. Mass emails from tools can look like spam. Personalise the message.
- Contracts. Some plans are annual. Read the terms before paying.
FAQ
Can I find Instagram influencers for free?
Yes. Use your followers, tags, hashtags and competitors’ tags. Heepsy’s pricing page also describes a free plan with 500 results a month.
How many followers should an influencer have?
There is no rule. Smaller creators often have a closer audience. Fit and engagement matter more than size. See our guide to influencer types.
How do I contact an influencer?
Many list a business email in their bio. Direct messages work too but can go unread. Some tools provide emails on higher plans.
How do I know if followers are fake?
No method is perfect. Compare engagement with size, look at the growth curve, and ask for Insights. Tools give a score, but it is the vendor’s model.
Do I need a tool for a one-off campaign?
Probably not. A free plan or manual search is enough for a handful of creators.