A 400-character caption on Instagram
Instagram shows about the first 125 characters before "…more", so 275 of the 400 are hidden until someone taps. Put the hook in those first 125.
Instagram giveaway winner picker
Paste the usernames or comments from your Instagram giveaway and draw a random winner, or several with no repeats. The draw uses your browser’s cryptographic random generator, and nothing is uploaded. Instagram’s rules still apply: every giveaway needs its own official rules and must say it is not sponsored, endorsed or administered by Instagram. Instagram posts take up to 2,200 characters, shows about 125 before "…more", and allows up to 30 hashtags.
Pick a random Instagram giveaway winner
Paste the entrants, one per line or separated by commas, choose how many winners, and draw. The list never leaves your browser.
What are Instagram’s rules for a giveaway?
Instagram’s Promotion Guidelines, read on 4 November 2026, put the whole giveaway on the host. If you run a contest or sweepstakes on Instagram, you are responsible for running it lawfully, and every promotion must include two statements:
- A complete release of Instagram by each entrant or participant.
- An acknowledgement that the promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Instagram.
- Your own official rules, offer terms and eligibility, such as age and where entrants must live.
- Compliance with the rules and registrations that apply to the promotion and its prizes where you run it.
- No inaccurate tagging: never ask people to tag themselves in a photo they are not in.
How do you turn your entry rules into a list of entrants?
Paste only the people who met your rules, and set duplicates to match how you count entries. The picker draws from exactly what you paste, so the rule is applied when you build the list:
| Entry rule | What to paste | Allow duplicates? |
|---|---|---|
| Comment to enter | Every commenter’s username | Off: one entry per person |
| Each comment is an entry | One line per comment, repeats kept | On: more comments, more chances |
| Tag a friend | Only usernames whose comment tags someone | Off, unless each tag is an extra entry |
| Follow, like and comment | Only commenters you have checked meet every step | Off |
| Share to a Story | Usernames from the Story mentions you received | Off |
How do you run an Instagram giveaway?
Write the rules
State how to enter, the closing date and time, who can enter, the prize and how the winner is chosen, plus the line that the giveaway is not sponsored, endorsed or administered by Instagram.
Post the giveaway
Put the short version in the caption and the full rules in the caption or the first comment, so every entrant can read them.
Collect the entries
When it closes, copy the usernames that met your rules into the picker, with duplicates set to match your entry rule.
Draw and record
Draw the winner, then screenshot or note the result and the time, so you can show the draw was fair.
Announce and contact
Name the winner in a Story or a comment, message them, and draw again if they do not reply by the deadline in your rules.
Is the giveaway picker really random?
Yes. Each draw uses your browser’s Web Crypto random generator, a cryptographically secure source every modern browser has, with rejection sampling so no part of the list is favoured. Asking for several winners draws distinct people with no repeats. The tool has no list of its own and keeps nothing after you close the page, so the only thing that decides the result is the list you paste and the random draw.
How do you use the Instagram giveaway picker?
- Collect your entrants from Instagram. Copy commenter usernames from the actual post, Reel or Story.
- Paste them in, one per line. A leading @ is optional — duplicates can be allowed (one entry per comment) or removed (one entry per unique person).
- Set how many winners to draw. Draws distinct winners with no repeats when you ask for more than one.
- Draw the winner. A cryptographically random pick from exactly your pasted list, computed in your browser.
- Follow Meta’s promotion rules. Instagram requires disclosing that a promotion isn’t sponsored, endorsed or administered by Instagram itself, among other rules — this tool doesn’t enforce or verify that for you.
What are the Instagram rules to know?
The limits SkedCast’s composer checks for Instagram before a post goes out, read from the same rules table the composer uses.
| Text limit | 2,200 characters |
|---|---|
| How length is counted | As you see it: one emoji or accented letter counts as one character |
| Hashtags | Up to 30 per post; extras are flagged before publishing |
| @-mentions | Up to 20 per caption; extras are dropped |
| Where the caption is cut off in the feed | About 125 characters before "…more", so lead with the point |
| Text-only posts | Not allowed: every post needs an image or video |
| Links in the text | No link-preview card |
| First comment | Supported: SkedCast can post a first comment right after publishing |
| Feed crop | 4:5 in the feed preview |
| Images | up to 10 per post · JPEG · max 8 MB each · aspect ratio 4:5 to 1.91:1 |
Good to know
- Instagram cannot post text without media — every post needs at least one image or video.
- Instagram Reels processing is asynchronous — a Reel may take a moment to finish encoding before it appears.
- Instagram does not support animated GIF posts via the publishing API.
- Instagram does not support clickable links in captions — a pasted URL is inert plain text.
- Instagram does not support link-preview cards, polls, or a separate title field.
What does it look like in practice?
35 hashtags on Instagram
That is 5 over the 30 SkedCast allows for Instagram, so the post is flagged before it publishes rather than going out with tags dropped.
Picking 1 winner requiring a tagged friend
Paste only the usernames that actually met your entry rule (e.g. tagged 1 friend) — this tool draws fairly from whatever list you give it, but doesn’t verify entries against Instagram’s real comment data itself.
Picking 5 winners from a large giveaway
Ask for 5 winners and the tool draws 5 distinct entrants with no repeats, in one pass.
How do you schedule an Instagram giveaway post?
In SkedCast, write the giveaway once, add the full rules as a first comment, and schedule it for the time your audience is most active. Comments on your Instagram posts then arrive in SkedCast’s Inbox, beside every other account, so you can read entries and answer questions in one place before you draw. To post the same giveaway on other networks, use the Facebook, TikTok and YouTube pickers, and write the caption with the Instagram caption generator.
Instagram giveaway picker FAQ
- Does this tool pull comments from my Instagram post automatically?
- No. It draws from exactly the list you paste, so it never needs access to your account. In SkedCast, the comments on your Instagram posts arrive in the Inbox, where you can read every entry in one place before you draw.
- What are Instagram’s rules for a giveaway?
- Instagram’s Promotion Guidelines make you responsible for the official rules, eligibility and the law, and every promotion must include a release of Instagram by each entrant and say it is not sponsored, endorsed or administered by Instagram. You must not encourage inaccurate tagging.
- Can it check whether an entrant actually followed my account or tagged a friend?
- No — it has no way to verify entry requirements against Instagram’s real data; you’re responsible for pasting in only the entrants who actually met your rules.
- Does this tool handle Instagram’s promotion rules for me?
- No — Meta’s own Instagram promotion guidelines still apply, and you’re responsible for following them.
- Does this work for a Reels comment giveaway as well as a feed post?
- Yes — it draws from whatever list of usernames you paste in, regardless of whether you collected them from a feed post, a Reel or a Story reply.
- Can I post text only on Instagram?
- No. Every Instagram post needs at least one image or video; the caption rides along with the media.
- Will Instagram cut off a long caption?
- In the feed, yes: Instagram shows roughly the first 125 characters and hides the rest behind "…more", so put the hook and any call to action first.
- How many hashtags can an Instagram post have?
- SkedCast flags anything over 30 hashtags on an Instagram post before it publishes, so a post never goes out with tags Instagram would drop.
- What happens to a link in an Instagram post?
- The link counts at its real length, and Instagram shows no link-preview card for it.
Sources
The rules on this page were checked against these pages on 4 November 2026:
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