How to Add an Instagram Feed to WordPress

WordPress doesn’t support Instagram feeds by default. There’s no official Meta integration or built-in block to connect your Instagram account directly.

As a result, many WordPress sites tend to look outdated, even when their owners post exciting business content on Instagram every day. The activity is happening, but just not on the website. 

Adding an Instagram feed to a WordPress site solves this problem, and there are two main ways to do it.

What You Are Actually Adding

An Instagram feed isn’t just a group of Instagram posts on a page. It’s a live, updating part of your site that shows the content of your Instagram account as it is right now. When you post on Instagram, it also appears on your website.

This automatic, ongoing content sync is what makes a feed valuable. Without it, you’re just adding static posts to a page, which becomes a maintenance chore rather than a real feature on your site.

Two Ways to Add an Instagram Feed

Instagram’s Built-In Embed

Instagram’s embed feature lets you add single posts to your WordPress site using HTML. 

To do this, on a desktop browser, open the post that you want to embed, click the three-dot icon, choose Embed, and paste the code into a Custom HTML block in the WordPress editor.

This puts an Instagram post on your page, but does not add a feed. Each embed is a static link to one post. 

To create an Instagram feed this way, you’d have to repeat the process for every post you want to show on your website, and do it again each time you add something new to your account. 

There’s no automation or layout control, and each post appears as its own Instagram card instead of being part of a styled feed that matches your website’s design.

For referencing specific posts in specific content on your site, individual embeds work fine. But if you want to add a real feed, they are not the right tool.

A Dedicated Instagram Feed Plugin

The best way to add an Instagram feed to your WordPress site is by using a plugin. It connects to your Instagram account via the API, imports your content into WordPress, and displays it in an automatically updating layout.

The Elevated Instagram Feed plugin handles this with a guided setup that walks you through authorizing your account and configuring your feed.

During setup, you have many options. You can:

• Choose from grid, slider, or mosaic layouts
• Add filters to customize which posts appear in your feed
• Control which feed elements are included
• Set display parameters such as column count and image sizing, and 
• Use a shortcode to place the feed anywhere you’d prefer on your site.

Once you’ve set it up, the feed updates automatically. Every new post that you add on Instagram shows up in the feed without you having to do anything. You can put it on your homepage, a social page, a sidebar, or anywhere else, and it will always stay up to date.

What a Working Feed Does for Your Site

A working Instagram feed does more than just keep your site looking fresh.

When visitors see a current, active feed, they get a different impression than if they see a static or outdated page. The Instagram feed shows that your business is active right now, not just at the last website update.

For businesses in visual fields such as restaurants, design studios, retail, real estate, or fitness, this impression can have a significant impact on your business. A current Instagram feed is an easy way to show social proof to everyone who visits your site.

Bringing It All Together

WordPress doesn’t have built-in tools for adding Instagram feeds, so you’ll need a plugin. The other option, building an Instagram feed from individual embeds, isn’t practical for anyone who posts to Instagram often.

Elevated Instagram Feed is a straightforward way to add an Instagram feed that works right away and stays up to date without any extra work.

For other plugins for adding an Instagram feed to your website, see Best Instagram Feed Plugins for WordPress.