How to Tag More Than 20 on an Instagram Post

Trying to tag a big group on Instagram - for an event photo, a collaborative project, or a community shoutout - and running into that 20-person limit is incredibly frustrating. It feels arbitrary and limiting, especially when giving credit where it's due is so important. The good news is that you’re not stuck. This guide will walk you through clear, actionable methods to tag everyone you need to, moving past Instagram’s restrictions without looking spammy or breaking any rules.

First, Why Does Instagram Limit Tags to 20 People?

Before jumping into the workarounds, it’s helpful to understand why this limit exists. Instagram’s top priority is user experience, and a big part of that is fighting spam. In the early days, a common spam tactic was to tag hundreds of random, high-profile accounts on irrelevant posts just to gain visibility. This flooded people's "Tagged in" tabs with junk and created countless unwanted notifications.

By capping photo tags at 20, Instagram found a sweet spot. It’s generous enough for most personal photos (family gatherings, friends at dinner) but restrictive enough to curb the most egregious spam. It forces creators and brands to be deliberate about who they tag directly on the post, making the feature more about genuine connection and less about spammy growth hacks.

But for legitimate situations - like crediting a wedding party of 25, a workshop with 30 attendees, or a creative team of 22 - the limit gets in the way. That’s where these next strategies come in.

Method 1: Tagging Additional People in the Comments

This is the simplest and most common way to bypass the 20-person rule. Instagram doesn't limit the number of people you can @mention in the comment section, so you can use it to tag everyone who didn't make the first cut. It’s effective and only takes a few extra seconds.

How to Do It Step-by-Step

1. Publish Your Post with the First 20 Tags: Start by creating your Instagram post as you normally would. Before you hit "Share," tag the first 20 people directly in the photo or video. Prioritize the most important individuals for these initial tags - perhaps the main subjects of the photo or key business partners.
2. Immediately Go to Your Comment Section: As soon as your post is live, tap the comment icon to add the first comment. It's best to do this yourself right away so the comment appears at the top.
3. Start Tagging the Remaining People: In your comment, begin mentioning the additional people by typing the "@" symbol followed by their username. As you type, Instagram will suggest accounts to make it faster.
4. Keep it Clean: You can add all the tags in a single comment or break them up into a few comments if you have a lot. Sometimes, adding a little context makes it feel less like a list of names. For example, open your comment with something friendly like, "And a huge thank you to the rest of the amazing team!" or "Also featuring:"

Pros and Cons of Comment Tagging

While this method works well, it’s important to know the difference between being tagged in a photo and being mentioned in a comment.

• Notifications: (Pro) Anyone you @mention in the comments gets a notification that they were mentioned in a comment on your post. This works just like a tag notification, ensuring they see the post and get their credit.
• The "Tagged Photos" Tab: (Con) This is the biggest difference. When you tag someone in a photo, that post appears in the "Tagged Photos" section of their profile forever (unless they remove it). This is a great way for their followers to discover you. People mentioned in a comment do not have the post added to their "Tagged Photos" tab.

For this reason, always use the 20 primary photo tags for the people whose profiles you most want the post to live on - your core collaborators, clients, or partners.

Method 2: Use Instagram Stories for Endless Mentions

Instagram Stories offer a flexible and highly visible way to give shoutouts to a large group of people. While a single Story slide has a smaller tag limit (usually around 10 mentions), you’re not limited to a single slide. You can share your post to your Story multiple times in a row, tagging a new batch of 10 people on each one.

This approach works wonderfully for events, product launches attended by dozens of creators, or any situation where the shoutouts are timely and don't need to live permanently on a profile's tag tab.

How to Do It Step-by-Step

1. Publish Your Feed Post: First, get your main grid post live. This is the piece of content that will act as the anchor for all your story mentions.
2. Share Your Post to Your Story: Tap the paper airplane icon below your post and select "Add post to your story." This will create a new Story slide with a clickable link back to your original post.
3. Tag Your First Group: Use the "Text" tool or the "@Mention" sticker to tag up to 10 accounts. Arrange them creatively around the post so it doesn’t look too cluttered. Tapping the mention sticker can change its style from transparent to opaque, helping with readability.
4. Publish Your First Story: Once you’re happy with the first group of tags, publish it.
5. Rinse and Repeat: Immediately go back to your original feed post, tap the paper airplane again, and "Add post to your story." You can now tag the next batch of 10 people. Repeat this process as many times as you need to credit everyone. Most viewers won't even realize they're watching multiple, sequential stories - it will just feel like one long shoutout with changing text.

Why This Method Is So Effective

Tagging people in Stories is powerful because anyone you mention gets a notification and, more importantly, the option to instantly re-share that Story to their own audience with a single tap. This can dramatically increase the reach and visibility of your original post as dozens of people share it. For event marketers or community managers, this organic amplification is incredibly valuable.

Strategic Alternatives to Traditional Tagging

Sometimes, tagging isn't the only or even the best solution. Depending on your goals, a couple of other Instagram features can give credit in a clean and collaborative way.

Use Instagram's Collaboration Feature

If your primary goal is to share ownership of the post with one or two key partners, the "Invite Collaborator" feature is your best tool. Instead of just tagging someone, this makes them a co-author of the post. The post then appears on both of your profiles, shares the same like and comment counts, and reaches both of your audiences simultaneously.

• When to Use It: Perfect for brand partnerships, collaborations between two creators, or a photographer and a client.
• How to Use It: In the tagging screen before you publish, select "Invite Collaborator" and search for their username. They will get a request, and upon accepting, the post appears on their grid as well. Just remember, this feature is limited to one or a handful of official collaborators per post, so it’s for your primary partners, not for crediting a crowd.

Give Credit in the Caption

Never underestimate the simplest solution. If you've exhausted your 20 photo tags and added more in the comments but still want to list everyone in one place, you can simply type out their usernames in the caption itself without the "@" symbol. They won't receive a notification, but it serves as a public list of credits - like the credits at the end of a movie. This is a common practice in the professional photography community to list credits for the model, hair stylist, makeup artist, retoucher, location, and so on.

This keeps your caption clean, provides all the necessary credit in an organized way, and doesn't trigger a flood of notifications that might not be necessary.

Best Practices for Tagging Large Groups

No matter which method you choose, it’s vital to tag responsibly to stay in good standing with your audience and the Instagram algorithm.

• Tag Only Relevant People: Always stay on topic. Are you tagging people who are actually in the photo, were at the event, or were part of the creative team? Or are you just trying to get their attention? Tagging unrelated accounts is a surefire way to look desperate and spammy.
• Get Implicit or Explicit Permission: For an event or collaboration, everyone involved usually expects to be tagged. But for user-generated content or featuring community members, it’s a good practice to ask permission first. Being featured is usually welcome, but checking in shows respect for people’s online presence.
• Provide Context: Don’t just drop a list of 30 names in the comments. Frame it. A simple line like "A big shoutout to our ambassadors featured here:" can make a world of difference, turning a list of tags into a genuine expression of gratitude.

Final Thoughts

Instagram's 20-tag limit isn't a dead-end, it's just a constraint that encourages a little creativity. By combining strategic photo tagging with the flexibility of comment mentions and the wide reach of Instagram Stories, you can give credit to everyone who deserves it. The key is to be intentional, think about your audience's experience, and always tag with authentic and relevant purpose.

Planning posts for a big project, campaign, or event can involve a lot of moving parts, especially when you need to keep track of a long list of collaborators to tag and credit. When working on these kinds of posts, we built the visual calendar in Postbase to make that planning easier. Rather than scrambling to find usernames at the last minute, you can see these high-stake posts laid out ahead of time, with all the captions and tagging lists already prepared in your post drafts, so everyone gets the credit they deserve when it goes live.