Free tool
Hashtag Generator
Pick your industry and get a hashtag set that is not 30 copies of the biggest tag in your niche. Ten tags free on the page, mixed across three size bands, and the full 30 tag pack sorted into broad, medium and niche by email.
Last updated: 2026-08-06
Most hashtag generators hand you the largest tags they can find, which is the one thing you do not want. A tag carrying tens of millions of posts adds a few hundred impressions and then buries you: by the time you have refreshed the page, forty newer posts sit above yours, and nobody scrolls that far into a tag they were only browsing anyway.
This generator sorts every tag into three size bands instead, because the bands do different jobs. Broad tags are the reach ceiling, the ones that decide how big the room could theoretically get. Medium tags, roughly 100K to 1M posts, are where realistic discovery actually happens, because they are searched often enough to matter and small enough that a normal account can hold a top spot for more than a few seconds. Niche tags, under 100K posts, are where the community and the conversions live: fewer people, but the people who are there went looking for exactly this.
How many you use depends on where you are posting. Instagram allows 30 and rewards none of them for being there, so 5 to 15 tags that genuinely describe the post beat a 30 tag block every time. TikTok is closer to a search engine, so 3 to 6 tags in the caption, matched to the words someone would actually type, do more than a wall of trending tags. Both cases have the same rule underneath: every tag has to describe what is in the post, or it costs you rather than helping.
Every tag and every band here is a hand-curated estimate drawn from public hashtag research and platform browsing, last reviewed on the date at the top of this page. Volumes move constantly, so treat the tier as a guide to competition rather than a live count, and drop any tag that does not match what you actually made.
Build your hashtag set
One choice decides the tags: the industry whose tag table the set is drawn from. The network only changes how many of them you should actually use.
The tags themselves are the same on both networks. Picking one only changes the advice on how many to use and where to put them.
Pick an industry, then generate your first 10 tags.
A worked example with real tags from all three size bands is printed further down this page, so you can read what the generator produces without generating anything at all.
How the three size tiers work
Every tag in this generator sits in one of three size bands, and the bands are the whole point. A set made only of the biggest tags in your niche reaches nobody, because your post drops out of a tag that busy before anyone opens it. A set made only of tiny tags reaches nobody either, because there is nobody there. Mixing the three is what makes a hashtag set worth pasting, and it is why the 30 tag pack takes 10 from each band rather than ranking all thirty by popularity.
Broad
Roughly 1M+ posts. Enormous reach, but your post drops out of the feed within minutes.Sets the ceiling and nothing else. These are the tags a stranger browses rather than searches, so they decide how large the room could theoretically be, and then bury you in it within minutes. Two or three per post is plenty.
#fitness #gym #workout #fitfam
Medium
Roughly 100K to 1M posts. Big enough to be searched, small enough that you can rank.Does the actual work. Big enough that people search and browse them, small enough that a normal account can hold a place in the results long enough to be seen. If a post brings you new followers from hashtags, this is almost always the band that did it.
#strengthtraining #homeworkout #mobility #progressiveoverload
Niche
Under 100K posts. Fewer people, but the ones who are there came looking for exactly this.Brings the community and the conversions. Far fewer people, but every one of them went looking for exactly this, which is why a niche tag converts far above its size and why a small account can stay near the top of one for days.
#beginnerstrengthtraining #mobilitydrills #gymanxiety #upperlowersplit
A worked example: the fitness pack
All 30 tags the generator holds for fitness, band by band. Nothing here is paraphrased for the page: these are the exact tags the tool copies to your clipboard and the exact tags the emailed pack is built from, and the other twelve industries follow the same shape.
| Band | Rough size | Tags |
|---|---|---|
| Broad10 tags | Roughly 1M+ posts. Enormous reach, but your post drops out of the feed within minutes. | #fitness #gym #workout #fitfam #fitnessmotivation #training #gymlife #bodybuilding #fitspo #healthylifestyle |
| Medium10 tags | Roughly 100K to 1M posts. Big enough to be searched, small enough that you can rank. | #strengthtraining #homeworkout #mobility #progressiveoverload #gymmotivation #fitnessjourney #liftheavy #workoutroutine #functionalfitness #recoveryday |
| Niche10 tags | Under 100K posts. Fewer people, but the ones who are there came looking for exactly this. | #beginnerstrengthtraining #mobilitydrills #gymanxiety #upperlowersplit #restdayvibes #runningform #proteinandrecovery #homegymsetup #fullbodysplit #deloadweek |
The free set the tool builds is a deterministic mix of those three rows rather than the top ten: four broad tags, three medium and three niche, which for fitness comes out as #fitness #gym #workout #fitfam #strengthtraining #homeworkout #mobility #beginnerstrengthtraining #mobilitydrills #gymanxiety. That is 10 tags you could paste into a caption as they stand, and it is deliberately usable on its own rather than a teaser made of tags nobody can rank in.
Tags and their size tiers are editorial estimates based on public hashtag research and platform browsing, last reviewed 2026-08-06. Post volumes move every week, so treat the tiers as a guide to competition rather than a live count, and drop any tag that does not match what you actually posted.
How many to use, and where they go
The number of tags a network allows and the number worth using are different figures everywhere, and the gap is widest on Instagram. Nothing below is a platform rule: it is the working range that comes out of what each network does with the text.
| Network | Allowed | Worth using | Where to put them |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | 5 to 15 | End of the caption or the first comment. Both are indexed the same way, so it is a formatting choice rather than a reach one. | |
| TikTok | Caption length | 3 to 6 | In the caption, with the rest of the caption spent on the words someone would type to find the video. The caption is search text here. |
| LinkedIn and X | Caption length | 1 to 3 | Inline or at the end. More than three reads as spam to a professional audience and neither network uses them for much distribution. |
Tag hygiene
Two habits do most of the damage. The first is the block: the same thirty tags pasted under every post, which stops describing anything the moment your content varies at all. The second is the restricted tag. Networks quietly unlist tags that attract policy-violating content, they do not publish the list, and the recurring clusters are weight loss claims, quick-money claims, follow-for-follow and like-for-like schemes, and generic engagement bait. One of those in a set is enough to hold back a post that was otherwise fine, and nobody tells you it happened, so the fix is to strip the tags first whenever reach collapses for no visible reason.
Getting more out of a hashtag set than a tag block
- Delete any tag that does not describe the post in front of you. A set is not a costume: if the photo is a squat rack and the tag says nutrition, the people it reaches bounce, and a tag that reliably produces bounces stops sending you anyone.
- Keep three or four sets and rotate them by post type, not one block you paste every time. Identical tag blocks on consecutive posts read as automation, and the rotation is free anyway once you have the pack.
- Open a tag before you commit to it. Look at the top posts: if they are all from accounts fifty times your size, you will never hold a spot there, and if they are all spam or unrelated, the tag has been abandoned by the people you wanted.
- Weight the set towards medium and niche. A workable split is two or three broad tags for the ceiling, four or five medium tags to do the work, and the rest niche, which is roughly how the free set on this page is mixed.
- Avoid the tags that get posts quietly limited. Anything adjacent to weight loss, money-making claims, follow-for-follow or the generic engagement bait tags has been restricted at some point on some network, and a single restricted tag can hold back the whole post.
- Check the reach figure in your insights a week later, not the likes on the day. Instagram and TikTok both report how much of a post was reached from hashtags or search, and that is the only number that tells you whether the set earned its place.
Frequently asked questions
How many hashtags should I actually use?
It depends on the network. On Instagram, 5 to 15 tags that genuinely describe the post outperform a 30 tag block: the limit is 30, but filling it is a signal of effort rather than relevance, and the extra 15 tags are almost always broad ones you cannot rank in. On TikTok, 3 to 6 is the working range, because the caption doubles as search text and every irrelevant tag dilutes what the post is about. On LinkedIn and X, three is plenty. The number matters far less than whether each tag matches the post.
What is the difference between broad, medium and niche tags?
Size, and therefore what each one is for. Broad tags carry roughly a million posts or more, so they set the reach ceiling but drop you out of the feed within minutes. Medium tags sit around 100K to 1M posts, big enough that people browse and search them and small enough that a normal account can rank in them, which makes them the tier that actually sends traffic. Niche tags are under 100K posts: the audience is small, but it is precisely the audience you wanted, which is why they convert well above their size. A 30 tag pack takes 10 from each band on purpose.
Do hashtags still work?
They work differently than they did. On Instagram they are now one relevance signal among several rather than the main distribution channel, and Instagram has said as much publicly, so a tag block will not rescue a post nobody watched. On TikTok they carry more weight because they feed search, and TikTok search is a genuine discovery surface. Everywhere, a small, accurate set helps the ranking system understand who a post is for, and a large, generic set mostly tells it nothing.
Where should I put my hashtags, in the caption or the first comment?
It makes no measurable difference to reach, so put them wherever the caption reads better. Tags in the first comment are indexed the same way as tags in the caption, which is why the first comment trick has survived: it keeps the caption clean rather than earning anything extra. On TikTok, put them in the caption, since the caption is also the text the search index reads.
Can a hashtag get my post hidden?
Yes, and it is the most common own goal in this whole area. Networks periodically restrict or unlist tags that attract policy-violating content, and the list is not published, so a tag that looked ordinary last year can be limited today. The pattern to watch is anything tied to weight loss claims, quick-money claims, follow-for-follow schemes or generic engagement bait. If reach on a post collapses for no visible reason, remove the tags one at a time before you rewrite anything else.
Do I get the full 30 tag pack?
Yes, by email. The 10 tag mixed set, the size band explanation and the worked example on this page are all free with no address at all. The full 30 tag pack, split into 10 broad, 10 medium and 10 niche for your industry, unlocks when you ask us to send it, and the emailed pack is built from exactly the same tag table you see here. There is no paid tier and no hidden data behind the form.
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