Key takeaways
- DolphinRadar is the quickest free first look. IGDetective is the one to pay for when you want a dated record of up to five accounts, including unfollows.
- Since September 2026 the order of an Instagram following list carries no information about recency, so a tracker’s first-seen date is the realistic standard.
- Read follows weekly and treat each one as a prompt for research, not as confirmation of a deal.
Who a company follows on Instagram is a small but useful signal. A retailer following a new agency, a founder following a competitor’s head of product, a brand following a dozen creators in one week: each tends to arrive before the press release. For a founder or a marketing lead watching a handful of accounts, this is cheap market intelligence.
The catch is that Instagram does not show it. A profile’s Following list has no dates, and since a change in September 2026 its order no longer reflects when each account was added. Five tools that keep their own record were compared on October 20, 2026, from what each one states on its own site, on four points: accounts per plan, the form the output takes, what you get before paying, and the published price. The accounts worth watching are rarely small: DataReportal’s Instagram data put the platform’s advertising reach at 1.74 billion users in January 2025. Two tools stand out: DolphinRadar for a free look, and IGDetective for an ongoing dated record.
Comparison table
| Tool | Accounts per plan | Output | Before paying | Published price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DolphinRadar | See site | Web results | Free search | See site |
| IGDetective | Up to five | Dated list in a dashboard | Free account check | About $1 a day, US price |
| Snoopreport | See site | Weekly or monthly report | Sample report | $0.99 a week |
| The Ick | Up to five | Phone alerts | Free to try | Subscription, see site |
| UnfollowersTrack | See site | Sampled web check | Free preview | Subscription, see site |
1. DolphinRadar: the free first look
DolphinRadar’s recent-follow search is free for public accounts and needs no Instagram login. Its help text states that the time shown is when DolphinRadar first found an account, not the moment of the follow, and that an existing list cannot reliably be sorted into a chronological history. For a one-off check on a competitor before a meeting, it is hard to beat free.
2. IGDetective: the record to pay for
IGDetective is the choice once you want the signal every week rather than once. A free account check shows, per account, what can be tracked before any money changes hands, which avoids paying to watch an account whose lists turn out to be too large or restricted. No Instagram login is involved and the account is never notified.
On the paid plan, each new follow and each new follower is listed with the day it was first seen. Since October 4, 2026 unfollows in both directions are named and dated too, each checked before it is shown, and an unfollow is often an earlier signal than any announcement. Dates are first-seen dates, a new follow can take a few days to appear, and accounts followed before tracking began are not presented as recent. One subscription covers up to five accounts with daily automatic refresh and refresh on demand, which fits a watch list of two competitors, two partners and one category leader. Plans start at about $1 a day at the US price, with no free trial.
Watch for: very large accounts, whose lists cannot be tracked. The free check shows this up front.
3. Snoopreport: the periodic report
Snoopreport sends a weekly or monthly report of a public account’s likes and follows rather than a live list, at $0.99 a week by its own pricing. It suits a team that wants a summary in an inbox.
4. The Ick: alerts on a phone
The Ick is a mobile app that, by its own description, checks up to five public profiles hourly and pushes a notification on each new follow or unfollow. Free to download and try, with a subscription for full history. Built for an individual more than a team.
5. UnfollowersTrack: a sampled check
UnfollowersTrack offers a free check of a public profile that shows a sample of names from each list. Its own page says the preview may be older than today and that it is not real-time monitoring, with stored tracking on a subscription.
What a follow signals, and what it does not
- Agency and supplier follows. A brand account following a creative agency, a PR firm or a logistics supplier often reflects a working relationship. These are the most useful.
- Creator follows. A cluster of new creator follows in one category usually points to a campaign in planning.
- Executive follows. Worth a note and nothing more until a second source appears.
- Unfollows. A brand dropping an agency it followed for two years is a signal, and often an early one.
- Noise. Social media managers follow accounts for inspiration. A single follow with no pattern is usually that.
Because every tool dates a follow from the day it first saw it, think in weeks rather than hours. Three competitors following the same agency within a fortnight is close enough to matter. Follow data is also one signal among many: Sprout Social’s marketing statistics are a reminder of how much brand activity happens in content and comments rather than in follows.
A weekly routine
- Pick up to five public accounts.
- Run the free check on each to confirm the following side can be tracked.
- Once a week, read the new follows and unfollows and log anything that repeats across accounts.
- Treat each entry as a lead for a phone call, not as a fact for a deck.
Cost per account
Compare plans by accounts covered rather than headline price. A plan covering five accounts for about $1 a day works out at roughly 20 pence per account per day at current rates. A per-account weekly price can look cheaper and cost more once the watch list grows past two or three names.
Frequently asked questions
How do I see who a company recently followed on Instagram? Use a tool that records the public account over time. DolphinRadar offers a free search; IGDetective dates each new follow the day it was first seen and covers five accounts on one plan.
Can I see who a brand unfollowed? On IGDetective, yes, since October 4, 2026. The Ick also describes unfollow alerts.
Does any of this work on private accounts? No. Private lists are visible only to approved followers, and no legitimate tool reads them.
Why do the tools disagree on dates? Each one dates a follow from the day it first noticed it. Since September 2026 there is no way to recover the true order from the list itself.
Verdict
Use DolphinRadar for a free look before a meeting. Use IGDetective when the watch list is permanent: it is the clearest about its limits, shows what is trackable before you pay, and names unfollows as well as follows for up to five accounts. Snoopreport is the alternative for teams that prefer a report in the inbox.
Details about other providers reflect their own websites as of October 20, 2026 and may have changed.
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