TikTok vs. Instagram: Comparing Average Engagement Rates in 2025

In today’s fiercely competitive social media landscape, understanding platform performance metrics is crucial for marketers developing effective strategies. This comprehensive analysis examines the current state of TikTok and Instagram engagement rates in 2025, offering valuable insights for brands looking to maximize their social media ROI.

What is Engagement Rate?

Engagement rate measures audience interaction with your content relative to your follower count or reach. It typically includes:

• Likes
• Comments
• Shares
• Saves

For both TikTok and Instagram, the engagement rate is a vital indicator of content performance and audience connection.

Key Findings: TikTok vs Instagram Engagement in 2025

Engagement Rates by Follower Range

TikTok vs Instagram Engagement Rates by Follower Range in 2025 by The Influencer Marketing Factory

TikTok Engagement Rates in 2025

Current Average Engagement Rate

According to the latest data from The Influencer Marketing Factory, TikTok shows impressive engagement rates ranging from 2.88% to 7.50% depending on follower count. With Sprout Social reporting an average engagement rate of 2.5% and Metricool noting a 4.64% rate (down from 5.77% in the previous year), TikTok firmly maintains its position as the most engaging major social media platform in 2025.

Factors Affecting TikTok Engagement

The most significant factor influencing TikTok engagement rates in 2025 is account size:

1. Account Size: The Influencer Marketing Factory’s data clearly shows a correlation between follower count and engagement:
   • Accounts below 100k followers: 7.50% (highest engagement)
   • Accounts with 100k-500k followers: 5.10%
   • Accounts with 500k-1M followers: 4.48%
   • Accounts with 1M-5M followers: 3.76%
   • Accounts with 5M-10M followers: 4.22% (slight increase)
   • Accounts with 10M+ followers: 2.88% (lowest engagement)

   This data confirms the general trend that smaller accounts typically achieve higher engagement rates, with a notable exception in the 5M-10M range that shows slightly improved performance over the 1M-5M category.

2. Industry/Niche: Educational accounts currently lead with 9.5% average engagement, while food and drink content achieves 6-8% engagement rates. Most accounts should aim for 2-5% as a solid benchmark.
3. Content Type: Video formats that drive conversations and shares receive algorithm prioritization

Why TikTok Leads in Engagement

TikTok’s algorithm continues to prioritize highly engaging content, rewarding posts that drive conversations and shares. The platform’s comment-based trends, creator responses, and interactive culture foster genuine conversations, making it the most conversational social platform in 2025.

Instagram Engagement Rates in 2025

Current Average Engagement Rate

According to The Influencer Marketing Factory’s 2025 data, Instagram engagement rates range from 1.77% to 3.65% depending on follower count. This is significantly higher than the 0.50% average reported by some industry sources, which noted a 28% year-over-year decline. Despite varying reports, Instagram consistently remains the second most engaging major platform, ahead of Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), which both hover around 0.15% engagement.

Instagram’s Evolving Strategy

Instagram’s algorithm is prioritizing reach over deep engagement. While more people are seeing content, fewer are interacting with it. This shift has transformed Instagram from an engagement-focused platform to one that emphasizes content discovery and distribution.

Instagram’s Strengths in 2025

Despite lower overall engagement rates, Instagram maintains several advantages:

1. Strong Visual Appeal: The platform’s visual nature continues to attract brands
2. Better Organic Reach: Instagram performs well with organic reach, even slightly outpacing TikTok in some cases.
3. Cross-Platform Integration: A large percentage of Instagram users also use other social platforms like Facebook (80.3%), YouTube (76.9%), and TikTok (54.3%).

How to Calculate Engagement Rate

TikTok Engagement Rate Formula

Where Total Engagement includes likes, comments, shares, and saves.

For example, if you have 3,000 followers and your video receives:

• 300 likes
• 45 comments
• 20 shares
• 15 saves

Your engagement rate would be:

Instagram Engagement Rate Formula

Some marketers also use reach instead of followers for a more accurate representation:

Platform Comparison: TikTok vs Instagram in 2025

Engagement by Follower Range

The data from The Influencer Marketing Factory reveals several important patterns:

1. Consistent Gap: Across all follower ranges, TikTok consistently outperforms Instagram, with the gap ranging from approximately 1.2% to 3.9%.
2. Highest Engagement Tier: For both platforms, accounts with fewer than 100k followers achieve the highest engagement rates (TikTok: 7.50%, Instagram: 3.65%).
3. Megainfluencer Performance: Accounts with over 10M followers show the lowest engagement on both platforms (TikTok: 2.88%, Instagram: 1.77%), though these rates remain significant given their massive reach.
4. Mid-tier Anomaly: While engagement generally decreases as follower count increases, TikTok accounts in the 5M-10M range (4.22%) perform better than those in the 1M-5M range (3.76%), breaking the otherwise consistent downward trend.
5. Proportional Difference: The performance gap between platforms remains relatively proportional across follower ranges, with TikTok consistently maintaining approximately twice the engagement rate of Instagram.

Engagement Leaders by Industry

An influencer showing a product in front of a light ring

Each platform shows different strengths across industries:

TikTok Top-Performing Industries:

• Educational content (9.5%) – According to Brandwatch, educational accounts currently top the TikTok engagement charts at 9.5% A good rate of engagement will vary depending on your niche. Educational accounts currently top the average engagement charts at 9.5%, with the food and drink industry seeing an engagement rate of between 6-8%.
• Food and Drink (6-8%) – As Brandwatch reports, this industry consistently achieves strong engagement on TikTok A good rate of engagement will vary depending on your niche. Educational accounts currently top the average engagement charts at 9.5%, with the food and drink industry seeing an engagement rate of between 6-8%.
• Sports Teams (4.2%) – Rival IQ data shows sports content performs well on the platform It’s no surprise that schools and Sports Teams stand out the most on the platform, with a median engagement rate of 9.5% and 4.2%, respectively.

Instagram Top-Performing Industries:

• Higher Education (2.43%) – According to Sprout Social, this sector leads Instagram engagement Industries like higher education and sports teams see a higher average engagement at 2.43% and 1.57% respectively.
• Sports Teams (1.57%) – Consistently strong performers across social platforms Industries like higher education and sports teams see a higher average engagement at 2.43% and 1.57% respectively.
• Construction and Nonprofit sectors (particularly with Reels, achieving 2.6% engagement) – Hootsuite’s January 2025 data shows these sectors lead in Reels engagement In January, the construction sector and nonprofit sector led on Instagram Reels, with an impressive average engagement rate of 2.6%.

Content Type Effectiveness

TikTok:

• Short-form video remains supreme
• Educational and tutorial content performs exceptionally well
• User participation trends drive engagement

Instagram:

• Reels continue to gain traction
• Carousel posts maintain strong engagement
• Interactive Stories with polls, questions, and sliders

User Behavior Differences

TikTok users spend significantly more time on the platform, with US users watching 4.8 billion minutes of TikTok videos daily, compared to Instagram’s 4.127 billion minutes. The average US TikTok user spends over 24 hours monthly on the app—more than an entire day—which represents a substantial increase from 19.6 hours in 2021.

Strategic Recommendations for Marketers in 2025

When to Prioritize TikTok

1. When engagement is your primary goal: The numbers make it clear: TikTok is the best platform for organic engagement, while Instagram is becoming more of a reach-focused platform.
2. For younger demographic targeting: TikTok continues to dominate with younger audiences
3. When building community through conversation: TikTok’s comment-driven engagement creates stronger community bonds
4. For viral potential: The algorithm still offers greater potential for exponential reach

When to Prioritize Instagram

1. When reach matters more than deep engagement: Instagram’s algorithm prioritizes distribution
2. For visual product showcasing: Instagram’s polished aesthetic suits certain brands better
3. For cross-platform integration: Especially important for brands heavily invested in the Meta ecosystem
4. When targeting diverse age demographics: Instagram maintains strong popularity among Gen X and Millennials, who are almost twice as likely as Boomers to engage with influencers on the platform.

Integrated Strategy Recommendations

If engagement is your goal, Instagram alone won’t be enough—you need to integrate TikTok into your strategy. The most effective social media strategies in 2025 leverage both platforms complementarily:

1. Content Cross-Utilization: Adapt content across platforms with platform-specific optimizations
2. Audience Segmentation: Tailor messaging to each platform’s demographic strengths
3. Platform-Specific Goals: Use TikTok for engagement and community building; Instagram for reach and visual brand development
4. Consistent Tracking: Regularly measure performance against platform benchmarks to refine strategy

Conclusion

The engagement landscape in 2025 shows a clear distinction between TikTok and Instagram. While TikTok maintains its position as the engagement powerhouse with rates between 2.88-7.50% (depending on follower count), Instagram follows with engagement rates between 1.77-3.65%. Even at its highest engagement levels with smaller accounts, Instagram still cannot match TikTok’s performance.

Successful brands recognize these differences and develop platform-specific strategies that leverage each network’s unique strengths. As TikTok continues to be the engagement powerhouse and Instagram remains a staple platform, marketers must adapt their content approaches to maximize performance across both platforms.

By understanding these engagement benchmarks and platform dynamics, brands can make informed decisions about resource allocation and content development, ultimately achieving greater social media marketing success in 2025.