Hashtags on Reels: Why 5 Is the New Limit (2026)

#Hashtags do not boost reach, says Mosseri

Mosseri has been consistent on this. In a 2025 AMA, reported by We Are Digital Diplomacy, he said:

"Contrary to popular belief, hashtags are not a way to get more reach."

"They're useful for things like search, but generally speaking, no, hashtags do not improve your reach."

So the official job of a hashtag on Instagram is helping people find and sort content by topic, not pushing a Reel to more people.

#What Facebook says about hashtags

Facebook sets no hard hashtag limit for Reels, but Meta's July 2025 creator guidance says "captions with no links, minimal use of capital letters and no more than five hashtags perform best." Meta has also warned about overdoing them.

In April 2025 Meta said some accounts "post content with long, distracting captions, often with an inordinate amount of hashtags", and that accounts using these tactics "will only have their content shown to their followers and will not be eligible for monetization."

Meta's spam policy also bans exchanging anything of value for engagement, and it lists "use of specific hashtags" among the kinds of engagement that cannot be bought or sold.

On a small Page, being shown only to followers can mean almost no views. If your Reels have stalled, the Facebook Reels zero views checklist covers this alongside the other causes.

#Snapchat Spotlight

Snap's Public Profile API documentation says a Spotlight description can be up to 160 characters and can include hashtags. It gives no recommended number. Hashtags eat into those 160 characters quickly. See Snapchat Spotlight requirements.

#Official rules side by side

For the full caption rules on each platform, see caption length limits. The caption counter checks characters and hashtags before you post.

#How we write hashtags for cross posted Reels

This part is our opinion, not platform guidance.

1. Pick three to five specific tags. Instagram's own advice is up to five, targeted rather than generic. That also matches Meta's Facebook guidance.
2. Describe the video, not the format. A tag for the topic or place in the video tells people what it is about. A tag that just says the video is a Reel tells them nothing.
3. Put the words first and the tags last. The sentence that tells people why to watch matters more than any tag.
4. Use one caption everywhere when you can. Five tags fit within the Spotlight's 160 characters if the rest of the text is short. Our guide to posting the same video on every platform covers what else to adjust.

You will see claims that a certain number of hashtags, three or twenty or thirty, gets more views. We have not found a published test from Instagram or Meta that supports any specific number beyond Instagram's "up to 5" and Meta's "no more than five", so we do not repeat them.

If one caption is going to several platforms, write the hashtags for the strictest one. The cross posting short videos guide covers the rest of the workflow.

#Questions people ask

#How many hashtags should I use on Instagram Reels?

Up to five. Instagram is capping Reel and post captions at five and says fewer, targeted hashtags can improve performance.

#Do hashtags help Reels get more views?

Not according to Mosseri, who said "hashtags do not improve your reach." They help people find content by topic.

#Should I put hashtags in the first comment instead?

Neither Instagram nor Meta has published guidance on hashtags in comments, so we have nothing official to report either way.

#Does Facebook limit hashtags on Reels?

There is no hard limit, but Meta's July 2025 guidance says captions with no more than five hashtags perform best. Meta has also said accounts using long captions with "an inordinate amount of hashtags" may have content shown only to followers.