Engagement rate = (average likes + average comments) ÷ followers × 100.
Take your last 10 posts, average the likes, average the comments, add those two numbers, divide by your follower count, multiply by 100. That's the formula brands, agencies, and every serious tool use for quick account vetting.
Worked example
An account with 128,000 followers, averaging 3,100 likes and 142 comments per post:
(3,100 + 142) ÷ 128,000 × 100 = 2.53%
Against our dataset of real creators (median: 1.87%), that account beats more than half of comparable profiles.
Why the last 10 posts?
Recent posts reflect what your account does now — old viral posts and dead phases stop distorting the picture. It's also why your rate moves week to week: it's supposed to.
Why views aren't in the formula
Reels views come heavily from non-followers, so adding them to a by-followers formula double-counts reach and makes accounts impossible to compare. Track average views as its own metric — our free checker reports both separately, plus your grade against real niche benchmarks.