Free tool Engagement rate calculator with every common formula
Engagement rate is interactions divided by an audience number, and the audience number is where people disagree. Enter your likes, comments, shares and saves once, add the followers, reach, impressions or views you have, and see all four rates next to each other.
- By followers, reach, impressions, views
- Platform definitions cited
- Runs locally
Enter interactions and the audience numbers you have
Leave an interaction empty to leave it out. Fill in any of the four audience numbers; the ones you skip show a dash. For several posts, enter totals and the post count.
Which rate to show as the big number. All four are calculated below.
Interactions and reach / impressions / views are totals for these posts.
Reactions, hearts, thumbs up.
Comments and replies on the post.
Sends, shares and forwards.
Saves, bookmarks, favourites. Leave empty to exclude.
Reposts, link clicks, sticker taps: only if your formula counts them.
Follower count when the posts went out.
Unique accounts that saw the posts.
Times the posts were shown, repeats included.
Video views or plays, as your platform counts them.
Engagement rate
4.38%
The formula chosen above. The four rows below use the same interactions with different denominators.
Share these inputs: the values go after the # in the link, so they never reach a server.
https://tapcub.com/tools/engagement-rate-calculator
Version v1.0Updated Update history
Four rates, one post
The same 525 interactions give 3.5% or 6.25% depending on what you divide by. None is wrong; they answer different questions.
By followers
How much of your audience you activate per post. Public inputs, so you can compute it for any account; the standard formula in industry benchmark reports.
By reach
How many of the people who actually saw the post interacted. Better for judging the content itself, because it does not punish posts that reached few followers.
By impressions
Interactions per showing. Lower than by reach because one person can see a post several times. Mostly used for paid posts, where impressions are what you buy.
By views
Interactions per video view. The formula TikTok uses in TikTok One reports and the usual choice for YouTube and short video.
If you compare with a benchmark, use the same formula. The Rival IQ / Quid 2026 benchmark report divides interactions by followers and reports a median per post of 0.30% for Instagram and 2.01% for TikTok across 18 industries. Socialinsider’s TikTok study divides by views and reports a 2025 average of 4.20%. The two TikTok figures are not in conflict; they use different denominators.
From a post to a comparable number
Pull the numbers from the same report and the same date range.
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1
Copy the interactions
From the post’s insights: likes, comments, shares, saves. Leave out anything your benchmark does not count.
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2
Add the audience numbers
Followers on the day, plus reach, impressions or views if you have them. Skip what the platform no longer reports.
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3
Pick a headline formula
Followers to compare accounts; reach to compare posts; views for video. The other rates stay visible below.
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4
Average over posts
Enter totals and the number of posts. By followers is averaged per post; the others are total interactions over total audience.
Engagement rate = interactions ÷ audience × 100
Interactions are the actions you choose to count; the audience is followers, reach, impressions or views. Say which, every time you quote a rate.
- Instagram’s API counts
total_interactionsas likes + saves + comments + shares; reposts are a separate metric - TikTok One’s engagement rate counts likes + comments + shares and lists favourites separately
- YouTube Studio shows likes, comments and shares but no single engagement rate
- Clicks, profile visits and follows are sometimes added; only do so if your comparison does too
By followers
ER = (interactions ÷ posts) ÷ followers × 100
525 ÷ 1 ÷ 12,000 = 4.38%
By reach
ERR = interactions ÷ reach × 100
525 ÷ 8,400 = 6.25%
By impressions
ER = interactions ÷ impressions × 100
525 ÷ 10,500 = 5.00%
By views
ER = interactions ÷ views × 100
525 ÷ 15,000 = 3.50%
Interactions
likes + comments + shares + saves (+ other)
420 + 36 + 18 + 51 = 525
One post, six published formulas
A post with 420 likes, 36 comments, 18 shares and 51 saves; 12,000 followers, reach 8,400, impressions 10,500, views 15,000.
| Formula | Counts | Divided by | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| By followers | All 525 interactions | 12,000 followers | 4.38% |
| By reach (ERR) | All 525 interactions | 8,400 reach | 6.25% |
| By impressions | All 525 interactions | 10,500 impressions | 5.00% |
| By views | All 525 interactions | 15,000 views | 3.50% |
| TikTok One style | Likes + comments + shares = 474 | 15,000 views | 3.16% |
| Likes and comments only | Likes + comments = 456 | 12,000 followers | 3.80% |
The spread runs from 3.16% to 6.25% for one post. Sample figures; the formula names follow Hootsuite’s guide and TikTok One’s reporting help.
Where engagement rates stop being comparable
Most disagreements about engagement rate are about inputs, not arithmetic.
Mixing denominators
A rate by reach next to a benchmark by followers looks like a win and is not. Check the formula behind every number you compare.
Ignoring metric changes
Instagram replaced impressions with views (API cut-over 21 April 2025); YouTube counts a view when playback starts from 24 August 2026. Rates before and after are not like for like.
Counting giveaway posts
“Comment to win” posts multiply comments. Leave them out of an average or report them separately.
Using today’s follower count
For older posts, followers at the time of posting is the fair denominator. A fast-growing account understates old posts with today’s count.
Engagement on the platform, results on your site
TapCub does not read your social accounts. It picks up when someone clicks through: the social channel and campaign are kept on the visitor, and the visit is followed to sign-up, order or subscription.
Campaigns and UTM
Sessions, conversions and rate per campaign, source and medium, so a post’s link can be judged on what it brought in.
Learn moreFirst and last touch
See whether social introduced customers who bought later through another channel.
Learn moreOn-site engagement rate
The content template’s engagement rate: likes, comments, shares and favourites ÷ content views on your own pages.
Learn moreEngagement rate questions
Still have a question?
Chat with the team behind TapCub — we usually reply within a few hours on business days.
How do you calculate engagement rate?
Add up the interactions you count (usually likes, comments, shares and saves), divide by an audience number and multiply by 100. The audience is followers, reach, impressions or views. 525 interactions on a post seen by 8,400 accounts is 6.25% by reach.
Which interactions should I count?
Likes, comments and shares are in almost every formula. Saves are included by Instagram’s total_interactions and by many tools, but not in TikTok One’s engagement rate. Clicks, profile visits and follows are optional. Whatever you choose, use the same set for every post you compare.
Should I use followers or reach?
Followers when you compare accounts, including competitors, because follower counts are public. Reach when you judge your own content, because it counts only people who saw the post. For video, views is the usual choice.
What is a good engagement rate?
It depends on the platform, the formula and the account size, so check which formula a benchmark uses. The Rival IQ / Quid 2026 benchmark report (by followers, median per post) gives 0.30% for Instagram and 2.01% for TikTok. For TikTok by views, Socialinsider reports a 2025 average of 4.20%. Your own trend is usually the more useful comparison.
Why is my engagement rate over 100%?
By reach or views, one person can like, comment and share the same post, so interactions can exceed the audience. By followers, a post that spread far beyond your followers can pass 100% too. It is a valid result, not an error.
Do Instagram, TikTok or YouTube show engagement rate?
Mostly not in their own analytics. Instagram’s insights and API give reach, views and interactions but no rate. YouTube Studio’s Engagement tab focuses on watch time. TikTok One, TikTok’s creator marketing platform, does report one: likes + comments + shares ÷ video views.
How do I calculate the average over several posts?
Enter total interactions and the number of posts. By followers, the calculator divides by posts first to give the average per post. For reach, impressions and views, enter the totals for the same posts; the result is total interactions over total audience.
Update history
New features, fixes and data refreshes for this tool, newest first.
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· v1.0
LaunchedFirst release.
Missing something or found an error? Tell us — requests that come up often go into the next update. All tool updates
Find out what the engagement turned into
Tag the links in your posts and TapCub shows the visits, sign-ups and orders each one brought.