For most business reels, 7 to 30 seconds. That's long enough to show one thing and short enough that most people finish it.
If you want Instagram to show the reel to people who don't follow you, keep it under three minutes. Instagram says that's the limit for recommendations, even though you can now record far longer.
The right length isn't a number, though. It's the shortest cut that still does the job. Below: the current limits, what length fits which goal, and how to tell if yours is too long.
The current limits (October 2026)
Instagram has raised reel length twice in two years. The recording limit and the recommendation limit are now very different numbers.
| What | Length | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Recommended to non-followers | Up to 3 minutes | Instagram creator guidance |
| Standard reel limit | 3 minutes (raised from 90 s in Jan 2025) | Mosseri, Jan 2025 |
| Recording in the Reels camera | Up to 20 minutes (rolled out from Nov 2025) | Instagram, via Social Media Today |
| Hook window | First 3 seconds | Instagram creator guidance |
So the answer to "how long can a reel be?" is 20 minutes, for accounts that have the update. The answer to "how long should a reel be on Instagram?" is a lot less.
When Instagram extended reels to three minutes, Mosseri said the platform was still focused on short-form video. When the 20-minute camera arrived, Instagram repeated that only reels under three minutes are recommended. Anything longer will mostly reach people who already follow you.
How long should a reel be for best engagement?
The largest public dataset we found comes from Socialinsider. It looked at about 9.8 million organic reels from roughly 295,000 profiles, posted between January and June 2026.
| Reel length | Engagement rate | Median views |
|---|---|---|
| 0–30 s | 0.28% | 4,700 |
| 30–45 s | 0.30% | 8,564 |
| 45–60 s | 0.35% | 10,374 |
| 60–90 s | 0.30% | 9,790 |
| 90–120 s | 0.30% | 8,000 |
| 120–180 s | 0.33% | 9,000 |
| 180 s + | 0.15% | 4,428 |
Two things stand out. Views peak around 45–60 seconds. And they halve once you pass three minutes, which fits Instagram's recommendation limit.
Read this carefully, though. It's a correlation across creators of every size and topic, not a rule. Accounts that make 50-second reels may simply be better at reels. A 15-second bakery clip that people watch three times can beat a 50-second one nobody finishes.
Why completion matters more than length
Mosseri said in January 2025 that the top three ranking signals are watch time, likes and sends. He pointed creators to average watch time as the number to watch.
Watch time is minutes multiplied by how many stay. A short reel that loops can collect more of it than a long reel people leave halfway.
That's why our own autumn-offer reel is 20 seconds, silent, and loops. The last frame cuts back to the first. There's no natural place to swipe away.
A useful rule: if your average watch time is under half the reel's length, the reel is too long for its idea. Cut it, don't pad it.
What length fits which goal
| Goal | Length | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Stop the scroll, product reveal | 6–10 s | One change, shown once, loops |
| Offer or promo | 15–20 s | Hook, show, proof, offer |
| How-to or quick tip | 20–45 s | One tip, start to finish |
| Before and after, process | 15–40 s | Long enough to see the change |
| Story, behind the scenes | 45–90 s | Needs a beginning and an end |
| Explainer for followers | 1–3 min | Depth for people already interested |
| Paid reels ad | 15 s or less | Cold audiences owe you nothing; land it fast |
These are our working ranges, based on the data above and what we cut in the lab. They're not Instagram rules.
The 15–20 second offer
This is the length most small businesses need most often. Our structure is:
- Hook (0–2 s). The product or the problem, already in frame.
- Show (2–8 s). The product doing its thing.
- Proof (8–11 s). A detail, a number, a before and after.
- Offer (11–15 s or to 20 s). One offer, one action.
Every reel in our three-reel pack is up to 15 seconds for exactly this reason. Our autumn-offer reel stretches it to 20.
How long should a marketing video be elsewhere?
Same logic, different shelves.
- Instagram Stories: each card is short; keep the message to one card or tell a three-card story.
- Feed ads (4:5, 1:1): 15 seconds or less is the safe default for cold audiences.
- YouTube ads: our sample ads for Pisipuu, a kids' furniture brand, are 8 seconds. The whole message lands before attention drifts.
- Website hero or product page: a 6–10 second silent loop. Nobody pressed play; don't make them wait.
- Launch film: 30–90 seconds, because people chose to watch it.
If you're budgeting for any of these, length is only one cost driver. See what a video ad costs to produce.
Signs your reel is the wrong length
Insights tell you more than any benchmark. Open a reel, look at average watch time and the retention graph, and check for these patterns.
Too long:
- Average watch time is under half the reel's length.
- The retention line drops steadily after the first point is made.
- People comment "what was the price?" because they never reached the end.
- You needed a second hook halfway through to keep people watching.
Too short:
- People rewatch, but nobody acts. The offer or the next step flashed past.
- Comments ask what the product was. The reveal didn't hold long enough to read.
- The words on screen change faster than anyone can read them. A rough check: people need about a second for every three or four words.
About right:
- Average watch time is close to, or more than, the full length. That means people are looping.
- Shares and saves come in alongside views.
If a reel is too long, cut from the middle, not the end. The offer is the part that earns money.
How to find your own right length
- Cut three versions of the same reel: 10, 20 and 40 seconds.
- Post them as trial reels to non-followers, a few days apart.
- After 24 hours compare views, shares and average watch time.
- Keep the winning length for that type of content. Re-test every few months.
If none of them get views, length isn't the problem. Check the first second and your eligibility in why your reels aren't getting views, and borrow an opener from our 30 reel hooks.
Our Reels & video ads service delivers each reel with three hook options, so you can test openings as well as lengths.
