Instagram carousel size in 2026: every size and safe zone

The sizes at a glance

These are the sizes Instagram shows at, so a slide made at exactly these sizes is never scaled up or blurred. Figcel makes every carousel at 1080 × 1350, 1080 × 1080 and 1080 × 1920, so one pack covers the feed, the grid and stories.

Why 4:5 is the size to use

A 4:5 portrait is the tallest shape the feed shows without cropping. Taller means more of the screen while someone scrolls, and more room for a headline that stops them. Square is fine for products that sit well in a square frame, like a bottle or a box, but if you only make one size, make it 4:5.

Here is a carousel made at 4:5 by Figcel for Dewlight, an invented skincare brand. The headline sits in the upper half and nothing important touches the edges:

Safe zones: where to keep your text

• The sides. The profile grid crops a 4:5 slide to 3:4, which takes about 34 pixels off each side. Keep words, prices and faces at least 60 pixels in from the left and right.
• The bottom of stories. In a 9:16 story, the reply bar and buttons sit over the bottom and the top. Keep text inside the middle 1080 × 1610 pixels.
• The first slide. It is the only slide most people see. Put the reason to swipe there, large, in the upper two thirds.

How many slides

Instagram has allowed up to 20 slides since August 2024. You rarely need that many. A good rule:

1. Five to eight slides for a product, an offer or a gift guide.
2. Eight to ten slides for a how-to or a list people will save.
3. Ten or more only for a guide worth keeping, with a reason on every slide to carry on.

End on a slide that asks for one thing: save it, comment, or tap the link in your bio.

Carousels for ads

Carousel ads follow the same rule: make every card the same shape, and use a square or a 4:5 portrait. In an ad, each card can carry its own product and link, and the text above the carousel is shared by every card, so keep it short and let the cards do the selling.

Nerava, an invented lip and cheek tint brand, shows one shade per card, which works as a post and as an ad:

Common mistakes

• Text too small. A slide is seen at the width of a phone, not a laptop. If a headline needs zooming to read, it is too small; aim for headlines of at least 60 pixels tall on a 1080 slide.
• Faces and prices at the edge. The profile grid trims the sides, and stories cover the top and bottom. Anything important goes in the middle.
• Mixed sizes in one carousel. One square slide in a run of portraits is cropped or padded, and looks like a mistake.
• Screenshots instead of exports. A screenshot of a design tool is smaller than the slide and loses sharpness. Export at the exact size.
• A first slide that only says hello. "New post" or a logo alone gives no reason to swipe. Lead with the promise, the number or the question.

A checklist before you post

• Every slide is 1080 × 1350 (or every slide is 1080 × 1080).
• Text is at least 60 pixels from the left and right edges.
• The first slide says why to swipe, in one line.
• The last slide asks for one action.
• The caption repeats the main point for people who do not swipe.

Making carousels at the right size

Figcel reads your website and makes carousels at every size from the start, in your colours, fonts and photos, so you never resize by hand. See what that looks like for one category in our skincare carousel templates, or plan your next campaign with our Black Friday ideas.