What is a carousel post? (And how to make one on Instagram)

A carousel post is one post that contains several photos or videos. Viewers swipe sideways to move from one slide to the next. On Instagram, a carousel holds up to 20 photos and videos as of October 2026, and it gets one set of likes and comments.

Most social apps have some version of the carousel, under different names. This guide covers how carousels work on Instagram and where else you’ll find them. It also shows how to post one, step by step, and what independent data says about their reach.

What is a carousel on Instagram?

Instagram’s Help Center describes it as a post “with up to 20 photos and videos as a single post, also known as a carousel.” Here is how it looks and behaves:

• In the feed, people see the first slide with a row of dots below it. They swipe to see the rest.
• On your profile, the first slide fills the grid tile. An icon in the top right corner marks it as a multi-photo post.
• Likes and comments apply to the whole post, not to single slides.
• Captions can be one for the post, or one per slide with the Multiple captions option.
• Videos inside a carousel are not Reels. They don’t appear in the Reels tab.
• One frame applies to every slide. You pick square, portrait or landscape once for the whole post.

That last point trips people up. If your slides have different shapes, Instagram crops them all to match. The Instagram carousel size guide lists the exact dimensions, including the 3:4 option added in 2025.

Carousel vs single post vs Reel vs Story

Format	What it is	How long it stays	Good for
Carousel	2 to 20 photos or videos, swiped by hand	Stays on your profile	Lists, steps, stories, comparisons, before and after
Single photo post	One image	Stays on your profile	One strong visual or a short announcement
Reel	One vertical video that plays on its own	Stays on your profile and in the Reels tab	Motion, voiceover, trends, music
Story	Full-screen photo or video	Disappears after 24 hours unless added to Highlights	Quick updates, polls, behind the scenes

The key difference is control. A Reel plays at its own pace. A carousel waits for the viewer to swipe, so people can read at their speed and come back to a slide.

Where carousel posts exist

Carousels are not only an Instagram feature. Here is how the format works on each major platform, checked in October 2026:

Platform	What it’s called	Max slides	Notes
Instagram	Carousel	20 photos and videos in the app, 10 through Meta’s API	One ratio per post, from 1.91:1 to 3:4
TikTok	Photo mode, photo post, slideshow	35 images	Vertical images that people swipe through
LinkedIn	Document post, often called a LinkedIn carousel	300 pages, 100 MB	Upload PDF, PPT, PPTX, DOC or DOCX
Facebook	Carousel ad	10 images or videos	Each card can link somewhere different

Instagram

Instagram raised the limit from 10 to 20 slides in August 2024 (Social Media Today). Tools that post for you through Meta’s API are still capped at 10 items, according to Meta’s Content Publishing docs. Post in the app if you need more.

TikTok photo mode

TikTok calls its carousel a photo post. Creators call it a slideshow or a TikTok carousel. TikTok’s developer documentation allows up to 35 images per photo post. For the full walkthrough, see how to make a TikTok slideshow and the TikTok carousel guide.

LinkedIn document posts

On LinkedIn, the post people call a carousel is usually a document post. You upload a file and LinkedIn shows each page as a slide. LinkedIn’s Help Center caps files at 100 MB and 300 pages, recommends PDF, and lets viewers download the document as a PDF. Don’t put anything in it you wouldn’t hand out.

Facebook carousel ads

On Facebook, “carousel” mostly means the ad format. Meta’s carousel ads show up to 10 images or videos in one ad, each with its own link. They run on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Audience Network.

How to make a carousel on Instagram

These steps follow Instagram’s Help Center as of October 2026. Menu names can shift slightly between app versions.

On iPhone or Android

1. Tap Create (the plus icon) at the top of your feed, or swipe right anywhere in Feed.
2. Tap POST, then tap SELECT MULTIPLE.
3. Select up to 20 photos and videos. Tap one to adjust its crop. The orientation you choose applies to every slide. Tap Next.
4. Tap a filter to apply it to all slides, or tap a single slide to edit it alone.
5. To reorder, tap and hold a slide and drag it. To remove one, drag it to the delete icon. Tap Next.
6. Choose Single caption for one caption, or Multiple captions to write one per slide.
7. Add a location and tag people. Tagging works per slide, so swipe to the right photo first.
8. Tap Share.

On a computer

1. Go to instagram.com and click Create on the left.
2. Click Post, then Select from computer.
3. Use the multi-select option in the preview to add more photos or videos, up to 20.
4. Drag thumbnails to change the order, then click Next.
5. Apply filters or edits, add a caption, location and tags, then click Share.

How to edit a carousel after posting

Tap the three-dot menu on the post, then Edit. You can long-press to reorder slides, remove slides, and change captions, location and tags. Tap Done to save. You can’t add new photos or videos after sharing; the only way is to delete the post and share it again.

Why carousel posts perform well

Carousels are among the best-performing formats on Instagram in large independent studies. Here is what two recent data sets show:

• Engagement rate. Socialinsider analyzed 35 million Instagram posts from 447,613 brand pages in 2025. Carousels averaged a 0.55% engagement rate (likes plus comments, divided by followers). Reels averaged 0.52% and single images 0.37%. In Q2 2026, the order held at 0.50%, 0.48% and 0.33%.
• Views. In the same study, carousels had the highest average views in every account-size band. For brands with 10,000 to 50,000 followers, that was 4,275 views per carousel, against 2,460 per Reel and 2,340 per image.
• Saves. Metricool’s 2026 study of 24.4 million posts from more than 375,000 accounts found carousels get 9x more saves than single-image posts.

Reels still win on some metrics. In Socialinsider’s data, Reels drew more comments than carousels at every account size. For brands with 100,000 to 1 million followers, that was 60 vs 40 average comments.

Why do carousels do well? Swiping is an action, so every slide is a reason to stay on the post longer. Socialinsider’s analysts also say Instagram often resurfaces a carousel with a different slide when someone scrolled past without engaging. That gives the post a second chance in the feed.

One caution: each study measures engagement its own way. Compare formats within one study, not numbers across studies.

Carousel post best practices

1. Make slide 1 a hook. The cover has one job: earn the first swipe. Promise a specific payoff, like “5 mistakes that kill your sourdough.” The hook library has patterns to borrow.
2. Make slide 2 work on its own. If Instagram resurfaces your carousel on a later slide, that slide is the new first impression.
3. Put one idea on each slide. Short lines and big type. Every slide has to be readable on a phone screen in a few seconds.
4. Keep one size for every slide. Use 1080 × 1350 or 1080 × 1440 and export them all the same.
5. End with one clear ask. Save, share, comment or tap the link in bio. Pick one, not four.
6. Use the caption for context. Add what doesn’t fit on the slides. Use Multiple captions when each photo needs its own note.
7. Reuse structures that already work. Listicles, before and afters, and myth vs fact posts are proven shapes. Browse the carousel formats or the 44 carousel ideas for outlines.

Start from a carousel that already worked

The usual way to build a carousel is from a blank canvas. Another way is to start from a post in your niche that clearly performed and rebuild its structure with your own message.

That is what TokCloner does. You paste a link to a public Instagram carousel or TikTok photo post. It keeps the slide roles and hook pattern, then writes new text for your business and makes new images, or uses your own photos. Credit the creators whose work inspires you, and don’t repost their images or text as your own.

Know the limits before you sign up. TokCloner handles image posts only, exports 1080 × 1920 (9:16) slides, and doesn’t post for you. For the Instagram feed you’ll crop or pad the slides to 3:4 or 4:5. There is no free plan; plans start at $29 a month.