Instagram exports · Checked 2026-10-10
Compare Instagram Followers and Following from Your Export
Compare your Instagram followers and following to find accounts you follow that are missing from your followers export, and see your mutual follows in those files. Put Following in List A and all related Followers files in List B. You use your own downloaded files; this tool does not connect to your Instagram account.
Compare your Instagram exports → Opens the importer for Following in List A.
- Only in A: accounts in your Following export but absent from your Followers export.
- Only in B: accounts in your Followers export but absent from your Following export.
- In both: accounts present in both inputs.
These groups describe the files you supply. They do not establish when someone unfollowed you, why a name is absent, or what Instagram shows now.
Have HTML files ready? Import Following, then select all Followers files together for B. Prefer to check the workflow first? Try the made-up example files below. You can also paste usernames or profile links.
Already comparing lists? Return to your original tool tab to keep your inputs.
On this page
1. Prepare the files inside your export
Start with Instagram’s official information export help for your own account. Meta describes information downloads through Accounts Center. We could not verify the current signed-in export menus on 10 October 2026, so this guide does not promise a particular sequence of menu labels or an HTML option in every account.
If your export offers HTML, that is the file type supported by this importer. Unzip the downloaded package on your device first. Select the actual Following and Followers HTML files inside it, such as following.html and followers_1.html. A ZIP package, a JSON export and an archive’s index page are not interchangeable with those files.
Include every related numbered Followers file, such as followers_2.html. Choose files from the same account and export period where possible. Keep the original download so you can check the source if the results look unexpected. The supported layouts are described below; other layouts may not parse.
2. Import Following, then all Followers files
- On the homepage, choose Instagram lists. Set Target to List A and Description to Following. Use Or select Instagram HTML files to select your Following file.
- Check the recognized count and username preview, scrolling within the dialog if needed. Profile URLs become usernames. The preview shows the first ten recognized entries, so check the total too. Choose Apply usernames.
- Open Instagram lists again. Set Target to List B and Description to Followers. Select all related Followers files together in one selection. Importing again replaces B; it does not append files to the earlier selection.
- Review the selected files, preview and recognized count, then choose Apply usernames. Keep Trim outer whitespace on and Ignore case off to repeat our example. Choose Compare lists and keep Original order.
For pasted usernames or profile links, use one per line in Paste usernames / profile URLs. Review any unresolved entries before deciding to exclude them. A parsing error is not a successful import of an empty list.
3. Read the groups, not just the counts
Our small, made-up Following list is alpha, beta, gamma. The two Followers files contain beta and delta, beta. In the actual import preview, Followers had 3 recognized entries across 2 files. After comparison, that became 2 distinct usernames and 1 extra duplicate row.
On a narrow screen, scroll the table horizontally to read all three columns.
| Result group | Usernames | Distinct count |
|---|---|---|
| Only in A | alpha, gamma | 2 |
| Only in B | delta | 1 |
| In both | beta | 1 |
beta is one shared username, even though it appears twice in the Followers files. Expanding beta under In both showed three source entries: one from Following and two from Followers. The source display identifies HTML/input fragments and record positions, with the original profile links. These are locations in the supplied input, not evidence of three accounts or relationship dates.
A missing Followers file changes the answer
For a second example, replace the second Followers file with gamma, delta. With both files, B contains beta, gamma and delta; only alpha is absent. Import only the first file and gamma appears absent too.
Scroll horizontally on a phone to read all four columns.
| Followers selection | Only in A | Only in B | In both |
|---|---|---|---|
| Both Followers files | alpha | delta | beta, gamma |
| First Followers file only | alpha, gamma | None | beta |
The extra gamma result comes from an omitted file. It does not prove an unfollow event. In the incomplete case, an empty Only in B group means every imported follower is also in A; it does not mean the account has no followers.
4. Save a result and check the saved file
Select the result group you need, then choose Copy values or Download TXT. In our main run, we selected Only in A and downloaded it. Independently reopening the saved text produced exactly 2 lines: alpha, gamma. The file is 11 bytes.
Download the actual saved result. Compare the number of nonempty lines and the usernames with the chosen group. For the example, there must be no beta or delta. Copy/download applies to the complete group across result pages; a browser download still needs to be checked in your Downloads or Files app. If clipboard access fails, use Download TXT.
After changing files or matching rules, compare again before exporting. For a larger repeatable example of complete exports, see the WorkToolMap list comparison guide. That guide covers choosing a comparison method; this page covers the Instagram import.
If a result is empty or looks wrong
- ZIP or JSON: the Instagram importer does not open these formats. Unzip externally and find supported HTML. If you only have JSON, use the official export options to obtain HTML if available, or paste a username list that you have checked against your own source. Renaming a JSON file to .html does not convert it.
- “Unknown, empty or damaged Instagram HTML structure”: confirm that you selected the actual Following/Followers files. Our unrelated-HTML test was rejected, Apply usernames stayed disabled and the previous lists/results stayed in place. Do not interpret a failed import as zero followers. Use a verified plain username/profile-link list if the HTML layout is unsupported.
- Unexpected missing accounts: check all numbered Followers files, selected account and export period. Reimport the complete selection, check the preview and compare again.
- Direction reversed: check that A is Following and B is Followers. Swapping them reverses the meanings of Only in A and Only in B.
- No items in a group: first check that both imports succeeded and their counts look right. An empty difference can be a valid result for those inputs.
- Different times: two exports from different times can differ for several reasons. Use an explicit export-generation timestamp only if your source actually supplies it. A date beside a relationship entry is not automatically the export date or an unfollow timestamp. Unknown dates remain unknown.
What format was actually checked?
A recorded test on 30 September 2026 used two user-provided HTML files: Following with profile URLs in both the link and its label, including the /_u/username form, and Followers with a profile link and username label inside account record blocks. Imports and complete comparison results passed in Chromium and WebKit against an independent reading of those files.
On 10 October 2026, we checked that the successful parsing logic still matched that tested version and ran the synthetic examples on this page through the current product. The historical real-file results were reused, not rerun on new private exports. The original export-generation time is unknown; 30 September is the verification date. We do not claim support for every past or current Instagram export layout.
The four public HTML files below are entirely synthetic. Their illustrative date text is not evidence of any relationship event. Official export help explains how to obtain information; it does not by itself prove that a parser supports a particular file layout.
Try the synthetic files
Save the HTML files with their .html extensions, then import them through Instagram lists. Keep the variant’s second file separate from the main example. No real usernames, relationship lists or private export packages are included.
- Following — alpha, beta, gamma
- Followers part 1 — beta
- Followers part 2 — delta, beta
- Missing-file variant: part 2 — gamma, delta
- Independent expected results
- Actual previews, results and checks
- Actual Only in A download — TXT
- Repeat the examples
- Format source and compatibility scope
- File sizes and SHA-256 checksums
Continue with Instagram lists on the homepage or the supported-input help.