Straight answer: Flick and RiteTag are the two hashtag generators worth paying for in 2026, All Hashtag is the best free option, and if you already pay for ChatGPT or Claude you can skip a dedicated hashtag tool entirely for most niches. None of the eight will fix a weak Reel, because hashtags now carry far less weight in Instagram's ranking than they did in 2019.
If you want to go deeper on this: how many followers instagram make money.
If you want to go deeper on this: how much data instagram reels use.
Why I tested these eight tools instead of just listing them
Most roundups of hashtag generators are written by someone who has never opened the tools, they have just copied the feature list off the pricing page. I run Instagram accounts for clients across the UK, US and Israel, so I put actual money into six of these eight over the past year and used the other two as a client asked me to compare them. What follows is what I found when I put them next to real posts, not what their sales pages promise.
A few months back I ran a small test for a candle brand I consult for. Two nearly identical Reels, same product, same day, same caption structure. One used #candles (94 million posts) and #handmade (68 million posts) plus two smaller tags. The other swapped those two giants for five tighter niche tags averaging under 40,000 posts each, things like #sojacandleuk and #candlemakersofinstagram. The niche-tag version reached roughly 1,900 more non-followers in the first 48 hours. Not because small hashtags have some special power, but because Instagram treats hashtags as a weak topic signal, and a tight signal on a small tag beats a diluted signal on a tag with 94 million competitors.
The 8 hashtag generator tools compared
1. Flick
Flick is the closest thing to an industry standard right now. It groups hashtags by size (small, medium, large, huge), scores them for competition, and lets you save sets by content type. Pricing runs from around 11 dollars a month for a solo plan up to about 46 dollars a month for agency use with multiple accounts. Best for creators who post three or more times a week and want to build reusable hashtag sets rather than starting from scratch every time.
2. RiteTag
RiteTag colour-codes hashtags green or red as you type, in real time, in a browser extension or its app. Green means good current reach, red means overused or dead. It costs somewhere between 10 and 50 dollars a month depending on the plan and how many social accounts you connect. It is the fastest of the eight to use because you never leave your caption box, but it gives you less context on why a tag scored the way it did.
3. Ingramer
Ingramer pairs an AI hashtag generator with Instagram scheduling and some automation features. Plans start around 15 dollars a month. Its hashtag suggestions lean heavily on keyword matching rather than live performance data, so it is fine for volume but weaker than Flick or RiteTag if you want proof a tag is currently working.
4. Later
Later is primarily a scheduler, but its caption composer includes hashtag suggestions built from your past posts and industry data. It only makes sense as a hashtag tool if you are already paying for Later to schedule content, with plans from about 18 dollars a month. On its own it is not worth buying just for the hashtag feature.
5. Metricool
Metricool has a free tier for one account and paid plans from around 18 dollars a month. Its hashtag tool sits inside a wider analytics dashboard, so you get to see which hashtags correlated with your best-performing posts historically, which is more useful than a generic suggestion list. Good pick if you also want reporting for a client or your own brand.
6. Tailwind
Tailwind built its name on Pinterest but its Hashtag Finder now works for Instagram too, priced from roughly 13 to 30 dollars a month. It is decent for finding related tags around a keyword but the data updates less frequently than Flick's, so trending or seasonal tags can lag by a few days.
7. All Hashtag
All Hashtag is free, no login required. Type in one keyword and it generates up to 30 hashtags split into Live, Random and Top categories. It is basic and a bit ad-heavy, but for someone posting occasionally who does not want a subscription, it does the job in under a minute.
8. Display Purposes
Display Purposes works the same way as All Hashtag, one keyword in, a set of hashtags out, completely free. It has been around a long time and the data behind it feels dated compared with the paid tools, so I would use it for evergreen niches (say, pottery or dog training) rather than anything tied to a current trend.
The ninth option nobody puts on these lists: ChatGPT or Claude
If you already pay for ChatGPT Plus or Claude Pro at around 20 dollars a month, you can get better long-tail hashtag ideas than most of the dedicated tools by asking it to generate niche, audience-specific tags around your exact topic and location. It has no live volume data, so pair it with a quick manual check in the Instagram search bar before you post. This is the same approach I cover in more detail in my guide to ChatGPT prompts for Instagram captions, since the same prompting skill that gets you a caption that gets read also gets you hashtags that are not generic.
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How many hashtags you should really be using in 2026
Instagram's own guidance has moved from "use up to 30" to "use 3 to 5 relevant ones," and the reason is not aesthetics. Instagram has said, repeatedly, over the past few years, that hashtags are one minor signal among many, sitting well below watch time, shares, saves and comments in how the algorithm decides what to push into Explore or Suggested Reels. Here is the bit most hashtag tool marketing pages will not tell you: if you spend two hours picking the perfect 30 hashtags and five minutes on your first three seconds of video, you have the order backwards. I have watched clients get five times the reach from fixing a weak hook than from any hashtag change, every single time.
That does not mean skip hashtags. It means treat them as a small, cheap boost, not the main lever. Three to five well-chosen tags, mixing one broad, two medium and one tightly niche, will outperform 30 scattergun tags almost every time I have tested it.
A hashtag research process you can run without paying for any tool
If you do not want another subscription, here is the manual process I use with clients who are not ready to spend on Flick or RiteTag:
- Type your main topic word into the Instagram search bar and tap the Tags tab, note the post count shown next to it.
- Do the same for two or three close variations (for example "candlemaking," "candlemaker," "handpouredcandles") and write down the counts.
- Pick one tag with over a million posts (broad reach), two with 50,000 to 500,000 (medium competition), and one under 40,000 (niche, low competition, easier to rank in).
- Check what is showing up in the Top posts for your niche tag, if it is full of accounts far bigger than yours, the tag is more crowded than the number suggests.
- Save your final set of five in your phone's Notes app so you are not starting from zero every time you post.
This takes about eight minutes per post once you have a saved list of variations to check. For deeper audience research beyond hashtags, my rundown of free tools for understanding your audience's interests is worth pairing with this process, since knowing what your audience searches for beats guessing at hashtags every time.
Which tool should you pick
For a solo creator posting a handful of times a week, All Hashtag costs nothing and covers most needs. For someone posting daily and running ads or client reporting, Flick is worth the roughly 15 to 20 dollars a month for the time it saves. For agencies managing several accounts, RiteTag's live colour-coding inside the caption box is the fastest workflow I have used. And if you are chasing a very specific niche, like posts for a particular occasion or relationship, a written guide beats any generator, which is exactly why my piece on best hashtags for best friend photos on Instagram outperforms most auto-generated lists for that exact search.
Whatever tool you pick, spend more time on your caption and your first line than on your tag list, that is where the reach really comes from now, alongside consistent posting and decent Reels retention. For a wider set of fixes across followers, monetisation and account issues, my Instagram help guide covers 81 of the problems creators ask me about most, hashtags being one small piece of a much bigger picture. And if you are building your visual identity alongside your captions, a matching bio done through an Instagram font generator is a five-minute polish that costs nothing and pairs nicely with a tighter hashtag set.
Related reading: instagram hashtag checker.
Frequently asked questions
Do hashtags still work on Instagram in 2026?
Yes, but as a small supporting signal rather than a main driver of reach. Three to five relevant hashtags, mixing broad, medium and niche size, still help Instagram categorise a post, but watch time, shares and saves matter far more to how widely a Reel gets pushed.
What is the best free hashtag generator for Instagram?
All Hashtag is the strongest free option, no login needed, generating up to 30 hashtags split by Live, Random and Top categories from a single keyword. Display Purposes works similarly but its data tends to lag behind current trends.
Is it worth paying for a hashtag tool like Flick or RiteTag?
It is worth it if you post daily or manage multiple accounts, since the time saved on research adds up fast. For occasional posters, the free tools plus a quick manual check in the Instagram search
Where to check the details
Prefer to hand this over? Start here: Facebook Reels hashtag generator.
