Shopify Instagram feed for free: apps, embeds or a hand-picked section

You can add an Instagram feed to Shopify for free with a feed app's free plan, single-post embeds or a hand-picked feed section. Section Store's Instafeed, Instafeed #2 and Instafeed #3 are free photo galleries styled like Instagram. They don't connect to Instagram. Section Store is a Shopify app with theme sections, bundles, a cart drawer and AI Pages. We make it, and we say when an app wins.

How do you add an Instagram feed to Shopify?

An Instagram feed on Shopify is a block of Instagram photos on your store, usually on the home page. You add one with a feed app, an embed of single posts, or a theme section you fill with your own photos. A feed app connects to your Instagram account and pulls new posts on its own. An embed shows one public post at a time. A hand-picked section shows the photos you choose, in your theme's layout.

The table sums up the three routes. The right one depends on whether your feed must update itself.

Shopify's own Facebook and Instagram by Meta channel is a different tool. It syncs your products to Instagram Shopping, so people can buy on Instagram. It doesn't put your Instagram posts on your store.

Can you add an Instagram feed to Shopify without an app?

Yes. You can add an Instagram feed to Shopify without a feed app by embedding single posts or by using a theme section you fill yourself. Neither route asks for your Instagram password or a connection to Meta.

The embed route works post by post. Instagram gives each public post an embed code. Shopify's free Dawn theme has a Custom Liquid section with a "Liquid code" box, where that code can go. Each embed shows one post with Instagram's own frame, so a grid of nine posts means nine embeds.

The section route looks like a feed and acts like part of your theme. Section Store adds the section's code to your theme. You then upload photos, set a link for each one and style it in the theme editor. Its own description is plain: "No integration with Instagram. It's a featured instafeed meaning you handpick the images."

What do Section Store's Instagram-style gallery sections look like?

Section Store's Instafeed sections are photo galleries with no Instagram connection. They come in three designs: a square grid, a photo slider and a slider of cards styled like Instagram posts. Each photo is a block with an image and a link. Merchants have added them to stores 49,095 times, by Section Store's own count on October 15, 2026.

• Instafeed, the grid. Four square tiles per row on desktop and two on phones. A heading, a hashtag line and a bordered Instagram button with your handle sit above the photos. The starter layout has 8 tiles. A setting hides up to 16 of the last tiles on phones. The grid runs without any JavaScript.
• Instafeed #2, the slider. Two to six photos per row on desktop and one to four on phones. It has optional autoplay with a speed of up to 10 seconds, arrow buttons you can hide per device, rounded corners and custom fonts for the three text lines. It starts with 6 slides.
• Instafeed #3, the post cards. Each card shows your logo, your handle, a location, the photo, the heart, comment, share and save icons, and a date. Phones show 1.3 cards so the next one peeks in. Photos can be portrait, square, landscape or their original shape. It starts with 3 cards.

The icons on the post cards are decoration. They don't count likes or open comments. The cards copy Instagram's look, not its data.

The two sliders load the Swiper slider library from jsDelivr. The grid adds no script at all. For crisp tiles, use square photos of the same size. Our Shopify image size guide lists the dimensions.

How do you set up a free Instagram feed section?

You set up a free Instagram-style gallery section in Section Store in seven steps, all inside Shopify. No code and no Instagram connection are needed.

1. Install Section Store from the Shopify App Store. The app is free to install.
2. Find the section. Search "Instafeed" in the app and open the design you want.
3. Click "Get free section". Then pick the theme. The app writes the section file into it.
4. Add it to a page. Open the theme editor, choose the home page or another page, and click Add section. Section Store's sections start with "SS".
5. Add your photos. Each photo is a block. Upload the image and paste a link, such as the Instagram post or the product in the photo.
6. Write the text. Set the heading, your handle and your hashtag. In the grid, paste your profile link into "Instagram box url".
7. Save and check phones. Preview on a phone and hide or reorder tiles so the best photos show first.

Use photos you took, or posts whose creators said yes. A repost on your store is still a use of their photo. Our older guide on adding an Instafeed gallery walks through the same steps.

How do you make an Instagram feed shoppable on Shopify?

You make an Instagram feed shoppable on Shopify by linking each post to the product it shows. Feed apps do this with product tags, mostly on paid plans. A hand-picked section does it with the link on each photo block.

The two work differently. An app tag can open a product popup or an add-to-cart button over the post. A section link takes the shopper to the product page, where your theme's own buy button does the rest. That is one more click, and no extra app.

For video, the same idea applies. Our guide to shoppable video on Shopify covers video sections that link each clip to a product. For photos with several products in one shot, a hotspot section puts a clickable dot on each item.

What does an Instagram feed app cost over three years?

A shoppable Instagram feed app costs $90 to $356 over three years at list prices, and Section Store's hand-picked sections cost nothing. The table prices the cheapest plan that links feed posts to products on each app, for 36 months. It is an example with list prices from each App Store listing on October 24, 2026.

The free plans are real, and some are generous. Instafeed by Mintt Studio syncs hourly on its free Starter plan with no branding, and tags products from $8 a month. GSC Instagram Feed tags up to 5 posts per widget for free, then charges $9 a month for 20. Socialwidget needs its $19.90 Professional plan for an add-to-cart button, which comes to $716.40 over three years.

The cheaper apps bill yearly. Instafeed: For Instagram Feed costs $5.99 a month or $29.99 a year. Flox costs $8 a month or $72 a year. RPTR starts at $3.99 a month without product tags.

When is an Instagram feed app the better choice?

An Instagram feed app is the better choice when you post often and want the store to show new posts without any work. These are the cases where we'd install one:

• A live feed. Apps pull new posts on a schedule, from hourly on Instafeed's free plan to every 24 hours on Socialwidget's.
• Reels and video. Section Store's Instafeed sections show photos only. Apps such as Instafeed and Socialwidget show Reels.
• Customer posts. Instafeed's $20 Plus plan pulls posts where customers tagged you. A section only shows what you upload.
• Analytics. Apps report clicks or sales from the feed. A section doesn't track anything.
• Add to cart on the post. An app tag can add a product to the cart in place. A section link opens the product page.

If you post a few times a month and want the feed to sell, the hand-picked route often fits better. You pick the six or eight photos that show products well, link each to its product, and change them when the season changes.

How we compared

We read the code of the three Instafeed sections on October 24, 2026, and quote their setting names. App ratings and plans come from each Shopify App Store listing that day. The 3-year figures are list prices for 36 months, or three yearly payments where an app sells a yearly plan. Shopify facts come from help.shopify.com and the Dawn theme's public code. We make Section Store, rated 4.9 from 2,900+ reviews.

More on homepage sections: custom Shopify hero sections, slider sections with no subscription and testimonial section designs. For a one-time section that sells bundles, see our bundle builder with no monthly fee.