Instagram has become something many people use daily, or, as Google says, around 500 million people interact with the app very often. It is one of the top 3 most used social media platforms globally, tied with WhatsApp. As well as these impressive statistics, it also has around 2–3 billion monthly active users as of early 2026. However, as Instagram has always been a free and entertaining app on which you can watch videos, there are now plans to change it in 2026.
How is it changing?
As all social media platforms are changing, like Instagram, Meta has begun testing premium subscriptions called Instagram Plus. This is a subscription that subscribers can buy to access exclusive features that Instagram are offering. But why do this? Meta says it is going to allow them to generate more revenue, but many users will likely be deterred by subscription fatigue. However, this information hasn’t been released by Meta itself, but social media reports indicate that it has been tested by Mexico, Japan and the Philippines. Although there are rumours of Instagram Plus, Meta says that they are going to continue testing this idea before rolling it out further.
What is Instagram Plus going to hold?
Well, Meta does say that it will be worth the money, and there will be many things subscribers will be able to do that non-subscribers will not be able to. These are what Meta has said they will provide. Among all these premium features, one will be that subscribers will be able to see how many people rewatch their story and be able to have the opportunity to create an unlimited audience list for stories, beyond a close friend list.
This means users can customise who sees each story by grouping their followers into different lists instead of only having one option to share with everyone or just one limited group, which many people have said they would prefer to do. Another premium feature Instagram Plus subscribers would benefit from is that they would be given an animated ‘super’ like, and they would also be able to search their story viewers list to see a specific person who viewed their own story. There are plenty of other benefits to Instagram Plus as well!
What do you think?
With so many free apps moving to a paid subscription model, we are interested in learning what you have to say about it. Do you like the idea of a Premium Instagram Plus package or do you think you aren’t getting much for your money for something that you are using to pass the time? Let us know in the comments!