Buy enough likes to keep each post inside 1 to 6 percent of your follower count, and never more than about double what your posts already get. With 1,000 followers that is 10 to 60 likes per post. A 100 pack split across two posts fits. Put the same 100 on one post at 200 followers and it is half the account.
Updated October 2026. The rest is the working, written from the seller side at ExpressFollowers, so the sizes below map to packages we sell and to the way we deliver them.
What counts as a normal number of likes per post?
A normal post earns between 1 and 6 percent of the account's followers in likes. Two free calculators put the band there. HypeAuditor calls 1 to 3 percent good, so 10 to 30 likes on 1,000 followers. CreatorFlow grades 1 to 3 as average and 3 to 6 as good, with anything over 6 excellent. That is the band I size orders with. A sponsored piece on pajaronian.com, contributed by a likes seller, stretches it to 3 to 8 percent, which suits a seller better than a buyer. The scales disagree for two reasons. Like counts have been shrinking across the app, and the Daily Dot reported in January 2026 that one social media manager now calls 100 likes the new 1,000. And small accounts score higher, because friends like everything.
How to work out your own average
Divide your average likes by your followers and multiply by 100. Average your last 10 posts. The Social Cat's glossary says at least 10, CreatorFlow's calculator says 5 to 10, so 10 satisfies both. Use the figure you get, flat days included. Leave Reels out of the average, since Reels reach people who do not follow you and push the figure up. HypeAuditor's own worked example gets this sum wrong on its page, showing 100 likes on 1,000 followers as 50 percent when the answer is 10 percent, so check the arithmetic yourself. Write the average down, because the table below and the 2x rule both start from it.
How many likes should you buy for your follower count?
Order an amount that lands inside your band and stays under about twice your own average. The table gives a sensible first order for six account sizes using ExpressFollowers packages and the prices on our likes page in September 2026. Where an order is bigger than one post can carry, split it. One ExpressFollowers package can be spread across several posts.
| Followers | 1 to 6% band per post | Sensible order | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 250 | 3 to 15 likes | 10 likes on one post | $1.05 |
| 500 | 5 to 30 likes | 25 likes on one post | $1.29 |
| 1,000 | 10 to 60 likes | 100 split across two posts | $1.45 |
| 5,000 | 50 to 300 likes | 100 on one post, or 1,000 split five ways | $1.45 or $6.99 |
| 10,000 | 100 to 600 likes | 1,000 split across three posts | $6.99 |
| 50,000 | 500 to 3,000 likes | 1,000 on one post, or 5,000 split five ways | $6.99 or $33.99 |
What the table shows
Under about 420 followers the band is so narrow that the 10 pack is the only size that fits, and below about 170 followers even that breaks the 6 percent line, so post and grow before you order anything. The 1,000 pack becomes the workhorse from 10,000 followers. Split over three to five posts, each one gets 200 to 333 likes, which is 2 to 3.3 percent of the account, and the pack works out at $1.40 to $2.33 a post. At 5,000 followers the same pack only fits split four or five ways, which is why the table offers 100 on one post as the alternative there. The 5,000 pack fits from about 17,000 followers, and then only split five ways, so it sits in the 50,000 row. The table assumes your posts already sit near the middle of the band. If your average is nearer 1 percent, halve the order or split it over more posts.
Is there a number of likes you should never go over?
Yes: about double your normal like count on any single post, and never a figure that dwarfs your follower count. Blastup's quantity guide, on its own likes sales page, concedes that 10,000 hearts on an account with 500 followers looks suspicious, then recommends 50 to 500 likes for social proof and 1,000 to 5,000 for reach without tying either range to account size. Buycheapestfollowers, on its Reels slow likes page, tells accounts under 2,000 followers to order 50 to 100 likes. Run that through the band. On 300 followers, 100 likes is a 33 percent ratio, more than five times the top of the range.
Should you buy the same number of likes on every post?
No. Vary the amount and leave some posts alone. Real audiences are uneven. A strong photo pulls twice what a throwaway carousel does, and no real account sits at exactly 120 likes on every post. This is the practical use of the split feature at ExpressFollowers: one package spread over two or three posts, with the posts between them left alone. Order for the posts you care about, a launch or a collab, and let the rest find their own level. The 10 pack works as a small top up between bigger orders. If you do use the same size each time, at least leave uneven gaps between orders.
What about the likes to comments ratio?
The other number people check is comments. A thousand likes sitting over one comment is the post that gets called out in forum threads about fake engagement. Keep the order modest and the comment count stays believable. A 1,000 follower account with 40 likes and three comments on a post is ordinary. The same three comments under 600 likes is the post people screenshot. When comments on your posts are rare, size toward the bottom of your band. A steady trickle lets you sit higher, and a post you expect replies on, a question or a giveaway, can carry a larger order than a plain photo.
How many likes should you buy for a Reel?
Size a Reel order against its views, not your followers, because Reels reach people outside your followers. No seller page I read in September 2026 gives a solid number for this. The one that tries, buycheapestfollowers on its Reels slow likes page, puts Reel likes at half a percent of views, about 50 per 10,000, and names no source. I treat that as a floor and read Insights instead. If your Reels pull 2,000 views and 20 likes, that is 1 percent, and adding 10 to 20 likes keeps the Reel under double what it earned on its own. The pajaronian.com sponsored piece suggests 300 to 500 likes in the first 30 minutes of a Reel; on a Reel reaching 3,000 people that is a 10 to 17 percent like rate.
Where should you start if you have never bought likes?
Start with 10 likes for $1.05 on one post, then scale. The 10 pack exists so you can watch delivery behave on your own account before you spend more. Likes begin arriving within minutes and come in gradually. We never ask for a password; the order form takes the post link or your username, and the profile must be public for the likes to land. Once you have seen that, move to the size the table gives you. For an account around 1,000 followers that means 100 likes for $1.45 split across two posts. From about 5,000 followers it means 1,000 likes for $6.99 spread over four or five posts. Every package carries a 30 day refill. If the count on a post drops inside that window, send the post link and order number to support, and the replacements are delivered gradually within the 30 day window. All the sizes sit side by side on our Instagram likes page.
What if you already ordered too many likes?
Leave the post alone and write to support with the order number. Do not delete the post or flip the account to private to hide it. A deleted post takes its likes with it, and likes, replacements included, only land while the profile is public. Post normally over the next week or two so the oversized post stops being your most recent, and size your next few orders at the low end of your band so the average drifts back into range.
Yesterday's post, Does Buying Instagram Likes Work? What It Does and Doesn't Do, covered what a purchase can and cannot do. This one is about the number.
For an account around 5,000 followers, 100 likes on a post is 2 percent and 400 is 8. Start at 100 and move up a size once the follower count has grown into it.
Frequently Asked Questions
In-house social media specialist focused on how platform algorithms on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and X respond to engagement. Joined ExpressFollowers at launch in 2016 and has run thousands of controlled growth tests across every major platform.
