There is no way to sort Instagram posts by likes inside Instagram — not in the app, not on the website, not even for your own account's public grid. The working method is a browser extension: install FeedRama (free) in desktop Chrome, open any public profile on instagram.com, and sort the grid by likes in one click. Most-liked posts jump to the top, numbers attached.
Here's the full picture: why Instagram never built this, the exact steps, all the other places sorting works (hashtags, Reels, explore), and when likes are the wrong metric to rank by.
The short answer
Install FeedRama, open the account on instagram.com, and pick "Likes" in the sort panel. Works on any public profile — yours, a competitor's, a creator's — with no login tricks and nothing to configure.
Add FeedRama to Chrome — freeWhy Instagram doesn't have a sort button
Instagram's grid has been reverse-chronological since 2010, and the company has spent recent years de-emphasizing like counts altogether — creators can hide them, and Instagram has experimented with hiding them by default. A "rank this account by likes" feature would cut against that direction, so it's unlikely to ever ship natively.
For marketers and researchers, though, the question "which of this account's posts got the most likes?" is basic due diligence. The data is public; Instagram just doesn't give you a lever for it. FeedRama's Instagram feed sorter is that lever — it reads the metrics already on the page and reorders the grid client-side.
Step by step: rank any account's posts by likes
- Add FeedRama to Chrome. One click from the Chrome Web Store. Free plan, no account needed to begin.
- Open the profile on instagram.com. This is a desktop workflow — the extension runs in Chrome on your computer, not in the mobile app.
- Select "Likes" and a time window. The FeedRama panel appears on the page; choose likes as the metric and how far back to look.
- Work the sorted grid. Top-liked posts now lead. Click through them, save them to a folder, or select several for download or export.
One habit worth building: after sorting, compare the top posts' formats rather than their subjects. If eight of an account's ten most-liked posts are carousels, that tells you more than what any single post was about. And when the winners are videos, you can go a layer deeper without leaving the page — run FeedRama's Instagram transcription on them to read exactly what was said in the posts the audience loved most.
It's not just profiles
The same sort control works anywhere Instagram renders a public feed, which quietly makes it a research tool for whole topics rather than single accounts:
- Reels tabs — rank a creator's Reels by likes or views; see How to Find a Creator's Best-Performing Instagram Reels.
- Hashtag pages — surface the most-liked posts under a tag, covered in How to Sort Instagram Hashtag Posts by Likes.
- Search and explore — reorder discovery feeds by engagement instead of Instagram's opaque ranking.
- Your saved posts — finally sort that pile of bookmarks by what actually performed.
Your realistic options, compared
| Option | Any public account | Setup | Sees exact like counts | Starting price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FeedRama extension | Yes | Install and go | Yes, where public | Free |
| Eyeballing the grid | Yes | None | Only post by post | Free |
| Instagram Insights | No — your own professional account only | Built in | Yes | Free |
| Social analytics suites | Usually accounts you add for tracking | Onboarding, dashboards | Varies | Typically paid |
Instagram Insights deserves credit where due: for your own professional account it's detailed and free. It just answers nothing about anyone else's account, which is usually the question.
A ten-minute teardown using like-sorting
To make this concrete, here's how a like-sort turns into usable strategy in a single short session. Say you manage a bakery's account and want to know what works in your city's food scene:
- Sort three local competitors by likes. A couple of minutes each. Screenshot or save the top five posts from every account into a FeedRama folder.
- Tally formats and subjects. Across fifteen top posts, count how many are process videos, staff moments, finished-product close-ups, or customer features. The distribution is rarely what you'd predict.
- Note the captions. Are the winners short and punchy or story-length? First-person or brand-voice? The most-liked posts already A/B tested this for you, on your exact audience.
- Pick one experiment. Whatever format dominates the tallies and is missing from your own grid — that's next week's post.
None of that required a dashboard, an export, or a budget. It required the grid to be in the right order.
When likes are the wrong metric
Likes measure affection, not reach or intent. Two cases where you should sort by something else: accounts that hide like counts (sort by comments or views instead — the data has to be public for any tool to read it), and research into what spreads, where shares and saves are stronger signals than likes. FeedRama sorts on all six — likes, views, comments, shares, saves, date — so switching lenses is one click, not a new tool. For a broader tour of metric-based filtering, see How to Filter an Instagram Feed by Views, Likes, and Comments.
On limits: free sorting covers the previous 25 posts or 1 week per account, with unlimited sorts. Pro opens any time range for $10/month ($5/month billed annually) — that's the difference between "their best post this month" and "their best post ever."
FAQ
How do I sort an Instagram account's posts by likes?
Instagram itself can't do it. Install the free FeedRama Chrome extension, open the profile on instagram.com, and choose likes as the sort metric — the grid reorders from most liked to least in one click.
Can I sort posts by likes on an account I don't own?
Yes — any public profile works, not just your own. That's the point for competitor research. Private accounts are off-limits; FeedRama only reads publicly visible content.
What if an account hides its like counts?
Some creators hide like counts on their posts. When that data isn't public, sort by comments, views, or another visible metric instead — FeedRama supports all of them.
Does sorting by likes work on hashtags and Reels too?
Yes. FeedRama sorts profiles, Reels, hashtag pages, search results, explore, and even your saved posts — anywhere a public Instagram feed renders.
Is there a limit on the free plan?
Sorting is unlimited, but the free range covers the previous 25 posts or 1 week. Pro ($10/month, or $5/month billed annually) sorts any time range across an entire account history.