Lurk Stat Drop · Private accounts · Updated July 3, 2026
What share of Instagram accounts are private?
9.3% of tracked Instagram accounts are private (11,511 of 123,876), and private accounts are quieter on both sides of the follow graph: a median private account follows 317 others versus 398 for public accounts, and holds a median of just 366 followers versus 653. Going private tends to come with a smaller, tighter world. Scope: this describes the accounts Lurk has observed — a set skewed toward searched, tracked and frequently-referenced accounts — not a random sample of all of Instagram.
By Lurk · Original research · CC BY 4.0 · Cite this
Private Instagram accounts often seem to be associated with a more curated following, as if users have taken a more thoughtful approach to the accounts they engage with. This can result in a more focused online presence for the account owner.
Private accounts live in a smaller world
11,511 of 123,876 tracked accounts (9.3%) are private. Among accounts with a known follower count, the 10,636 private ones follow a median of 317 accounts — fewer than the 398 median for the 106,083 public accounts — and hold a median of just 366 followers, roughly half the public median of 653. Privacy correlates with a smaller circle in both directions: fewer accounts followed, and a tighter, more familiar audience.
| Account type | Accounts | Median following | Median followers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private | 10,636 | 317 | 366 |
| Public | 106,083 | 398 | 653 |
Overall private share (9.3%) is of all 123,876 profiles; the medians compare profiles with a known follower count.
The dataset behind this number
This figure comes from Lurk's live follow-graph — the same anti-flap store that powers the public Follow Index — which currently spans 116,719 Instagram profiles, 2,021,740 mapped follow-relationships, and 1,505 accounts under active tracking. No competitor publishes a distribution like this because no competitor has the underlying dataset.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Instagram profiles in the network | 116,719 |
| Follow-relationships mapped | 2,021,740 |
| Accounts under active tracking | 1,505 |
| Follow-activity events observed | 406,123 |
Methodology & limitations
Data source. The private share is the count of profiles flagged private divided by all 123,876 profiles in Lurk's cached_profiles store. The following/follower medians split the profiles with a known, positive follower count by their private flag.
Sampling & scope. Not a random sample of all of Instagram. Private accounts are, by nature, harder to observe fully, so this describes the private accounts Lurk has been able to map at least partially. Data was captured July 3, 2026.
Every figure on this page is an exact aggregate derived from Lurk’s production follow-graph — the same data behind the public Follow Index — captured July 3, 2026 and frozen in source so it can never silently drift. The sample is 123,876 Instagram profiles in Lurk's cached_profiles store. No individual account is exposed; all figures are anonymized aggregates.
Frequently asked
What percentage of Instagram accounts are private?
In Lurk's data, 9.3% of 123,876 tracked accounts are private (11,511 accounts).
Do private Instagram accounts follow fewer people?
Yes, slightly. The median private account follows 317 accounts versus 398 for public accounts, and has about half as many followers (366 vs 653).
Are private accounts smaller than public ones?
On the follower side, yes — the median private account has 366 followers versus 653 for public accounts in Lurk's observed data.
Cite this
This statistic and its underlying dataset are released free under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Reuse the figure with attribution to Lurk and a link to the permalink:
https://getlurk.app/data-drop/stat/instagram-private-account-share
Lurk. “What share of Instagram accounts are private, and how do they follow differently?” July 3, 2026. https://getlurk.app/data-drop/stat/instagram-private-account-share
For the live time-series or a custom cut, see the Follow Index, the flagship State of Instagram Following 2026 report, or the recurring Monthly Data Drop.
Related Lurk research
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Lurk builds this dataset by tracking Instagram following activity for its users. See what Lurk tracks →