How to find who unfollowed you on Instagram with Excel
Instagram will not tell you who left. It will, however, hand you the raw lists. Export your followers today and compare them against an older export, and the names that vanished are your answer.
The formula
=IF(COUNTIF(B:B,A2)=0,A2,"") in column C
=TEXTJOIN(", ",TRUE,C2:C6) in column D
What each part does
COUNTIF(B:B,A2)- Counts how many times this old follower appears in today's list.
=0- Not there at all, which means they left.
A2- Writes the name itself rather than a word like gone.
TEXTJOIN- Gathers the whole column into one cell, so you get the names as a list instead of hunting for marks.
TRUE- Skips the empty rows, which is what keeps the list clean.
How it works, and what to watch for
Get the lists from Instagram itself: Settings, then Accounts Center, then Your information and permissions, then Download your information. Ask for Followers and following. Nothing here needs your password, and no third-party app ever sees your account.
The general idea: this compares two lists and pulls out everything that is in the first one and not in the second. COUNTIF looks for each old follower in today’s list, and a count of zero means that name is gone.
Column C does the finding. Rather than writing a word like "gone" beside the row, it writes the name itself, leaving gaps where people stayed.
TEXTJOIN then gathers that column into a single cell, skipping the gaps. On a list of a thousand followers this is the part that matters: you read the answer in one place instead of scrolling for marks. Widen the row or turn on wrapping if the list is long.
If you have Microsoft 365 you can shorten the whole thing to =FILTER(A2:A1000,COUNTIF(B:B,A2:A1000)=0), which returns the names down a column already packed together. The two-column version shown here works in every version of Excel, and in Google Sheets.
The same sheet answers the other question people ask, who does not follow me back. Put your following list in the first column and your followers list in the second, and the marked rows are everyone you follow who does not follow you.
Usernames are case-insensitive to Excel but stray spaces are not. If someone you know left does not appear, wrap both sides in TRIM.
Questions
Do I need an app to see who unfollowed me?
No, and it is worth avoiding them. The apps that promise this want your Instagram login, which puts the account at risk. Instagram’s own data export gives you the same lists, and a formula does the comparing.
Why does my first export not show any unfollowers?
Because there is nothing to compare it against yet. The first export is the baseline. Take another one in a week or a month and compare the two.
My Excel is old. Will this still work?
Yes. COUNTIF and IF have been in Excel for decades, so the formula shown here runs on any version, and on Google Sheets without changes.
Can I do the same on Google Sheets?
Yes. COUNTIF and IF work identically in Google Sheets, so the formula can be pasted straight across.
The example sheet
| Before |
Now |
Gone |
The list |
| anne.l |
anne.l |
|
|
| lukas_m |
sofia.r |
|
|
| sofia.r |
martin88 |
|
|
| nina_v |
|
|
|
| martin88 |
|
|
|
If this helped, these are close by
More on COUNTIF, and every walkthrough that uses it.
