Instagram captions for every kind of post

We’ve scoured the internet and social media to compile 100s of Instagram captions at your fingertips

You’ve snapped the perfect photo, applied filters like a pro, and done the relevant hashtag research. But, whether you’re a marketer or an influencer, a killer caption is called for before you post on Instagram. 

Can’t find the words? Don’t panic, because we’ve put together a foolproof guide along with searching the web to provide a selection of ready-to-use Instagram hashtags for all occasions. 

How to write Instagram captions  

An Instagram caption is not just a means of filling empty space; it’s hugely important when it comes to attracting and engaging followers, plus it can prompt them to take action, such as visiting your bio link.

The words you use should explain or describe your picture and can include emojis, hashtags, and tags. They should also reflect the personality of your brand.

You get 2,200 characters in which to do this, but that doesn’t mean you need to use them all. Be on brand, clear, and choose hashtags wisely – you can have up to 30. If you do want to go crazy with the hashtags, try putting them in a separate paragraph on their own, so that they don’t distract from your perfectly crafted caption.  

Once you’ve got the hang of captions, check out our insights on how to go viral on Instagram. 

How to get captions on Instagram stories 

Adding captions to your Instagram stories is a doddle, thanks to the platform’s accessibility feature, which enables you to add them along with subtitles to Instagram Stories and Reels. 

• Go to Instagram’s Stories or Reels and either record or upload a video
• Once you’ve selected your video, tap the sticker icon
• Selection the sticker labelled ‘captions’
• Choose a text style and Instagram will convert the speech in your video to words on the screen. You can move the text around the screen and change the colour
• To write a caption that’s not a repetition of words in your video, simply tap the text button and type onto the screen

Captions aren’t the only way to boost your performance. Want to know more about how to boost Instagram Reels as ads?

Captions for Instagram

According to Hubspot, a good Instagram caption will tick the following boxes:

• On brand
• Simple
• Memorable

It’s a bonus if you also:

• Ask your followers a question
• Include a call to action
• Capture a feeling in your caption

Short Instagram captions

Often, you only need a word or two in order to create the perfect Instagram post – sometimes tagging people can be enough. Here’s Hubspot’s suggestions for short Instagram captions. You can edit them to suit your needs:

• @ [add account details]
• This week’s photo dump
• Scroll →
• More info in bio
• Link in bio
• Sneak Peek →
• [product] in production at our factories
• Loading…
• In [name of location of photo]
• Thinking about [relevant word]
• An ode to [whatever the image is]
• Time passing
• From the archives
• That’s all for now
• Once upon a time…
• Call it what you want
• Say more
• Say less
• Mood
• My go-to
• Taking it slow
• And the boredom award goes to…

One word Instagram captions 

Sometimes, all it takes is a word. Hootsuite suggests the following one-word captions:

• Amazing
• Attitude
• Awesome
• Awkward
• Balance
• Blessed
• Blessing
• Bliss
• Boom
• Bravo
• Brilliant
• Classic
• Crescendo
• Cutest
• Dreamer
• Epic
• Escape
• Explore
• Extra
• Fabulous
• Fearless
• Flawless
• Friyay
• Grateful
• Hangry
• Honestly
• Inspiration
• Jealous?
• Legendary
• LOL
• Magic
• Natural
• No
• Obsessed
• Original
• Perfect
• Progress
• Random
• Respect
• Speechless
• Surprise
• Throwback
• TGIF
• Unforgettable
• Vibes
• Whatever
• XOXO

Two-word captions for Instagram

If one word won’t do, then how about two? Some more great examples from Hootsuite:

• Bucket list
• Coming soon
• Dream big
• Launch day
• Limited edition
• Nailed it
• New look
• Opening soon
• Weekend vibes
• Small pleasures

Quotes for Instagram captions 

There’s no need to fry your brain trying to come up with great Instagram quotes, because others have already done it for you. Take your pick of Oberlo’s Instagram quotes: 

• Whatever is good for your soul, do that
• Even the stars were jealous of the sparkle in her eyes
• Stress less and enjoy the best
• Get out there and live a little
• I’m not high maintenance, you’re just low effort
• I’m not gonna sugar coat the truth, I’m not Willy Wonka
• Life is better when you’re laughing
• Look for the magic in every moment
• Vodka may not be the answer, but it’s worth a shot
• A sass a day keeps the basics away

Love captions for Instagram 

If you’re after some mushy love captions, these gems from Parade will get hearts aflutter:

• You had me at hello 
• Where there is love, there is life – Gandhi
• So many of my smiles begin with you
• I carry your heart with me  – EE Cummings
• Together we are awesome
• You warm my heart, even on the coldest nights
• Loving you is all I want to do
• Let’s be lovestruck together
• Love made me do it
• Keep calm and get your Cupid on 

Smile captions for Instagram 

Smiles are infectious, so spread some on your account with these smile-inspiring captions from iWanderlista.com:

• Smile, it’s free therapy
• Nothing you wear is more important than your smile
• If you are too busy to smile, you are too busy
• A smile is the best makeup you can wear
• Smiling resets your mood
• Smile! It increases your face value
• Smiles are always in fashion
• Never regret anything that made you smile
• All people smile in the same language
• She wrote love with her smile and magic with her eyes

Cool captions for Instagram 

The caption geniuses at Hubspot penned these cool examples:

• Be a little more you and a lot less them
• Be sunshine mixed with a little hurricane
• You did not wake up today to be mediocre
• Above – a photo of me pretending to be listening
• See that? It’s my patience leaving
• Underestimate me. That’ll be fun
• Please don’t call me, I’m out of your range

Cute captions for Instagram 

If it’s cute you’re after, Seventeen magazine has come up with some winners:

• The best of me is yet to come
• Sunday Funday
• Never let anyone treat you like you’re ordinary
• Be yourself, there’s no one better
• She acts like summer and walks like rain
• Life is better when you’re laughing
• Be more of you and less of them
• Maybe she’s born with it..
• It’s not a phase mom, it’s who I am
• Self love is the best love
• As beautiful on the inside as I am on the outside
• Be a stiletto in a room full of flats
• Smile big, laugh often

Happy captions for Instagram 

Everyone loves a happy Instagram post. Take your pick of some heartwarming happy captions courtesy of Yahoo!:

• I don’t believe in a happy ending. I believe in happy now.
• Be happy for this moment. This moment is life
• The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by surprise. It is not that we seize them, but that they seize us
• Success is getting what you want, happiness is wanting what you get
• If you want to be happy, do not dwell in the past, do not worry about the future, focus on living fully in the present
• It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living
• The grass is always greener where you water it
• Don’t wait for the perfect moment, take the moment and make it perfect
• Happiness is a warm puppy
• Happiness is being married to your best friend

Self-love captions for Instagram 

Feel inspired with self-love captions from OnYourJourney.co.uk:

• Be yourself, there’s no one better
• Life is better when you’re laughing
• Confidence level = selfie with no filter
• Be you, do you, for you
• The entire universe deserves your love. You also deserve to experience it back
• I am unapologetically myself
• Take me as I am or watch me as I leave
• I just levelled up
• I’m an original and that’s perfection in itself
• You can’t dull my sparkle 
• A better version of me
• This ain’t a race, but I still take first place
• Savage, not average
• I am my own best friend
• Get out of your own way
• Self love is the key to life

Funny captions for Instagram 

Fancy a giggle? Take your pick of these funny captions from Influencer Marketing Hub: 

• My hairstyle is called ‘I tried’
• Brains are awesome. I wish everybody had one
• Old enough to need a filter on this photo
• I used to think I was indecisive, but now I’m not so sure
• More issues than Vogue
• Only dead fish go with the flow
• I like hashtags because they look like waffles
• I think my soulmate might be carbs
• Wine + dinner = winner

Sunset captions for Instagram 

Has a beautiful sunset left you lost for words? Not to worry because the muse has spoken to The Wanderlust Within:

• Mother nature doesn’t need a filter
• Sunset state of mind
• Fifty shades of pink
• The only sunsets I don’t like are those I’ve missed
• Serenity while the sky is on fire
• Pink haze, perfect days

Best friend captions for Instagram 

Some of Today’s awesome bestie captions: 

• Best friends are the family you choose.
• If I could only pick one person, it would be you.
• Your friendship makes me a better person.
• A best friend isn’t who has known you the longest. It’s the one who’s never left.
• If I had to do it all over again, you’d still be my best friend.
• It’s not the journey, but the friends we make along the way.
• Best friends are the people who pick you up when no one else realises you’ve fallen.
• There’s good friends. There’s better friends. Then there’s you.
• You make everyone else wish they had a friend like you.
• Friendship isn’t a big thing. It’s everything.

Peace captions for Instagram

Here’s a fab helping of Peace captions from Republic Quote: 

• We all have the power to make the world a better place; let us begin with peace
• The only way out is through peace
• Peace begins with a smile
• Let us choose peace over war
• You cannot find peace by avoiding life – Michael Cunningham
• Let us all do our part to make the world a more peaceful place
• Peace is more than the absence of war. Peace is accord. Harmony – Laini Taylor
• An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind – Mahatma Gandhi
• Love is the purest form of a soul at peace – Matthew Donnelly
• Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without – Siddhārtha Gautama
• You’ll never find peace of mind until you listen to your heart – George Michael
• Do not let the behaviour of others destroy your inner peace – Dalai Lama
• Peace plays an important role in the growth of a person

Music captions for Instagram by SoSocial.com:

• The right song can make everything better
• Turning up the heat this summer
• Let the music take you away and set you free
• The rhythm of your life is the music you choose
• Staring into the sun, getting lost in every note
• We all need a little bit of music every now and then
• Music is the breath of life
• The right song at the right moment makes an incredible difference
• Life is better when you dance to the beat of your own drum

Suit captions for Instagram from Pebble Quotes:

• A suit is the uniform of success. And elegance
• SUIT: the epitome of luxury
• Fashion should be a form of escapism and not a form of imprisonment
• The suit makes you look serious. Seriously successful
• Fashion is not necessarily about labels. It’s about brands
• Like every good man, I strive for perfection, and, like every ordinary man, I have found that perfection is out of reach — but not the perfect suit
• It always feels like you are born again when you wear a new suit
• Some days cannot be perfect but your clothing style can be
• Making people jealous – one suit at a time
• Remind yourself. Nobody’s built like you, you design yourself

Dance captions for Instagram by SoSocial:

• Keep dancing and let the world watch
• I don’t need a reason to dance
• The happiest people are those who are dancing
• Life is a dance floor, rock it
• Dancing through life is the best way to go!
• Life is too short to not dance around!
• Dance is the gateway to paradise
• Dancing makes all the difference
• Dance to the music of your dreams!
• If it involves dancing, I am in!

Selfie captions for Instagram 

You can’t beat these Instagram captions for selfies from Hootsuite:

• A selfie a day keeps the doctor away
• Beast mode
• But first, selfie
• Confidence level: No filter
• First I drink the coffee, then I do the things
• Just me
• I’m kind of a big deal
• I speak fluent sarcasm
• Life is too short to be boring
• Living my best life
• Me, myself, and I
• Messy hair don’t care
• Personality cannot be added with a filter
• Ready for my close-up
• Some days are better than others
• Swiped right
• There’s always a wild side to an innocent face
• Why hello there
• Woke up like this
• Work it
• Worth it!

Memories captions for Instagram

Looking for the right words when sharing memories? HITC have penned the following captions:

• These are the memories I never want to forget
• Enjoy the little things in life
• A reminder that life can be so lovely
• Everything I need is in this photo dump
• A sweet glimpse into my life
• Good people, good vibes, good life

Art captions for Instagram 

Are you arty but struggling for the right words? Starter Story suggests these Instagram art captions:

• Every man’s work, whether it be literature, or music or pictures or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself
• The chief enemy of creativity is ‘good’ sense
• The world revolves because of creative people
• Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it – Salvador Dalí
• Filling a space in a beautiful way
• Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable
• Painting is the silence of thought and the music of sight
• The moment you think you understand a great work of art, it’s dead for you
• You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop  – Rumi
• Never graduate from drawing

New year captions for Instagram from Parade

• Page one of 365!
• I’m still the same person I was last year, just hungover
• Ringing in the New Year with 20 – – vision
• New Year’s Eve is the only time I have a bubbly personality
• New Year, new eats
• Time to put your party pants on
• I’m ready for you 20 – –
• Just so you know, that’s totally sooo last year

Weather captions for Instagram 

Want the best weather captions? Here are some fabulous ones from Hootsuite: 

• Keep calm and winter on
• Let it snow
• November rain
• After the rain
• The weather outside is frightful
• Soak up the sun
• Dog days of summer
• Girls just wanna have sun
• Nothing but blue skies
• Sweater weather
• Leaf peeping
• Raindrops on roses
• April showers bring May flowers

Trending captions for Instagram 

Trending US has done some research and come up with some trending captions for Instagram: 

• Why is today boring and amazing at the same time?
• Perfect selfies can be hard. Still trying to get one
• I am happy today for simple things
• Good experience and lots of memories
• You can escape into this reality
• This is not just a tourist attraction. It’s a feeling
• I’m full of mystery
• Still [insert your age]
• Wanna sound smart? Don’t speak
• True friends
• Happy moments 

Now that you have a wealth of Instagram captions at your fingertips, it’s time to get started on your influencer campaign with Vamp. Thousands of brands have found social media success with our platform. Start by choosing the right support for your budget. Read our tips on boosting your Instagram. Still not sure? Take a look at the reasons for running an influencer campaign.