After so much speculation, Meta has officially rolled out Instagram Plus in Australia. The paid subscription costs around $5.49 AUD per month and includes exclusive features for its subscribers.
The Instagram Plus will prioritise story content. Those who already use the platform know that stories are a short type of content that lasts 24h. However, whoever pays for the subscription will get an extension in visualisation, with stories lasting 48h, and the possibility of pinning one story per week to the front of their followers’ story feeds.
Perhaps that’s the main advantage of having Instagram Plus, but there is more. In this article, we’ll explain what an Instagram Plus subscription is, what exclusive features it includes, and who it may be best suited for.
What is Instagram Plus, and how much does it cost?
The Instagram Plus is a paid subscription from Meta that offers exclusive features for regular users, creators and businesses that want to connect with their audience and personalise their experiences on the app.
It’s just an add-on option, so it won’t affect the standard version of the app. If you prefer to keep using Instagram for free, you can.
However, if you choose the subscription, be aware that Instagram Plus costs around $5.49 AUD per month in Australia, with a free 1-month trial.
What are the Instagram Plus features?
Meta promises that Instagram Plus features can give you deeper insights and way more control. To do so, they’ve split the features into three main categories:
Audience control
- Story Spotlight – once a week, you can use the Story Spotlight feature to be in the first position of your followers’ story feeds. That is particularly helpful, considering stories can easily get buried depending on how the algorithm delivers them. The Instagram Story Spotlight feature can be used strategically to share important information that you want to make sure your audience sees.
- Stories Extend – stories are available for 48h instead of the traditional 24h. So, that means more visibility of your content.
- Multiple Story Audiences – Similar to close friends, paid subscribers of Instagram Plus can create multiple audience lists as they need. That way, they can share their content with a more targeted audience.
- Super Hearts – These are animated hearts that appear on story reactions. They are made to stand out and be more noticeable in someone’s inbox. That’s probably the least useful feature for brands, but it can be good for creators.
Story Insights
- Story Preview – The possibility of viewing someone’s story anonymously. This feature can actually be more beneficial for regular users than brands.
- Story Rewatch Insights – See how many times people watched your stories. At the moment, the Instagram Plus subscription only shows the number of stories rewatched and not who watched your content more than once.
- Search Viewer List – Subscribers can manually search for a specific user name in your story viewer list.
Profile Customisation
- Change Instagram Icon – You can select a custom app icon to substitute the current Instagram app appearance on your phone.
- Special Font Options for Bio: Instagram Plus offers different font types for your Instagram profile bio.
- Pin up to 6 posts – The free version of Instagram allows you to pin up to 3 posts, while the paid subscription lets you pin up to 6 posts.
- Post Directly to Your Profile – This feature allows you to post any photos, reels, or Instagram highlights without them appearing on your followers’ feeds and overwhelming them. It’s more of a purely aesthetic feature that gives you more control over how your profile looks. From a business perspective, it can be helpful to post evergreen content, like FAQs, for example.
Instagram Plus vs Meta Verified
Instagram Plus and Meta Verified are two different paid subscriptions from Meta.
Meta Verified was launched in 2023 in Australia with the main objective of enabling creators and businesses to obtain the blue verified badge, which demonstrates an account’s authenticity, priority in customer support, enhanced account security and the ability to add up to 6 links to Reels.
Meta Verified offers different plan options in the Facebook and Instagram apps, and it can cost between $22.99 and $979.99 AUD per month.
On the other hand, Instagram Plus is a new feature launched in June 2026. It is more affordable, and it has a completely different focus: strengthening community and visibility through Stories and gaining more detailed insights from them.
Who is Instagram Plus for?
The Instagram Plus subscription is designed for regular users, creators, and businesses that want more control over how they use the platform, especially when it comes to Stories, profile presentation and audience interaction.
To make the Instagram Plus subscription worthwhile, you must be an individual or a brand that already posts stories frequently. Instagram Plus is particularly good for creators, tourism accounts, coffee shops, and service-based businesses that rely on visual content and share their behind-the-scenes.
It’s important, though, to use Instagram Plus as part of your digital marketing strategy and not for the sake of using a new feature. Like any social media platform update, the value of Instagram Plus will depend on how well and how aligned it is with your marketing strategy.
At 42 Digital, we help businesses to understand how social media platforms can be integrated with their overall digital marketing strategy, but most importantly, which ones make sense for their industry and how to get the most out of them.
Are you ready to take the next step? Book a discovery call today!