# How to Calculate Engagement Rate (Free Calculator) Source: https://www.seedinfluencers.com/blog/how-to-calculate-engagement-rate Published: 2026-10-25 The engagement rate formula for Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, by followers and by views, with worked examples for each platform. Free calculator included. Engagement rate is a post's interactions (likes plus comments, and shares and saves if you have them) divided by a bigger number, either the creator's followers or the post's views, multiplied by 100. A post with 400 likes and 20 comments on a 10,000-follower account is (400 + 20) ÷ 10,000 × 100 = 4.20%. That is the whole formula. The rest of this is which denominator to use, how to handle more than one post, and worked examples for Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Our [free engagement rate calculator](https://www.seedinfluencers.com/free-engagement-rate-calculator) does the arithmetic for you, both ways, averaged across up to 12 posts. ## The two formulas There are two versions of engagement rate, and they answer different questions. by followers = (likes + comments [+ shares + saves]) ÷ followers × 100 by views = (likes + comments [+ shares + saves]) ÷ views × 100 **By followers** asks: of the people who follow this creator, how many reacted to this post? It is the version you can always calculate from public numbers, since not every post shows a view count. **By views** asks: of the people who actually watched or saw this post, how many reacted? On TikTok and YouTube especially, a video often reaches far more people than the creator's follower count, so views is usually the fairer read on whether the content worked. ## Worked example: Instagram A creator has 10,000 followers. Their latest Reel has 400 likes and 20 comments, and no visible share or save count. Interactions: 400 + 20 = 420. By followers: 420 ÷ 10,000 × 100 = **4.20%**. Instagram doesn't show view counts on every post type, so by-followers is usually the number you'll end up using for Instagram unless the creator shares a views screenshot from their own insights. ## Worked example: TikTok A creator has 50,000 followers. Their video has 40,000 views, 2,000 likes, 100 comments, 50 shares and 150 saves. Interactions: 2,000 + 100 + 50 + 150 = 2,300. By followers: 2,300 ÷ 50,000 × 100 = **4.60%**. By views: 2,300 ÷ 40,000 × 100 = **5.75%**. Notice the two numbers disagree, because this video reached fewer people than the creator's follower count (40,000 views against 50,000 followers). On TikTok, that gap can run the other way too: a video that goes past a creator's own audience can rack up views well above their follower count, which pulls the by-views rate down relative to by-followers, not up. ## Worked example: YouTube A creator has 20,000 subscribers. Their video has 10,000 views, 500 likes and 100 comments. Interactions: 500 + 100 = 600. By subscribers: 600 ÷ 20,000 × 100 = **3.00%**. By views: 600 ÷ 10,000 × 100 = **6.00%**. YouTube's like and comment counts are both public on every video, so the by-views version is usually reliable to calculate here without needing anything from the creator. ## Averaging more than one post One post rarely tells you much. A single Reel can go unusually wide or unusually flat for reasons that have nothing to do with the creator's normal reach. Pull 5 to 12 recent posts, calculate each one's rate on its own, then take the plain average. Do this the wrong way and the numbers lie to you: adding up every post's interactions and every post's followers (or views) and dividing once gives extra weight to whichever post had the biggest denominator. Calculate each post, then average the rates, not the raw counts. Our [engagement rate calculator](https://www.seedinfluencers.com/free-engagement-rate-calculator) does exactly this across up to 12 posts, and also shows you the best and the lowest post in the set, so a single outlier doesn't quietly set your impression of a creator's normal engagement. ## What this doesn't tell you A calculated engagement rate is math on the numbers you type in. It is not a fraud check. A low or odd rate is a reason to look closer, read the comments, compare the creator's newest posts to their own history, maybe ask for an insights screenshot, not proof of anything on its own. For the fuller picture on vetting a creator before you ship product, see [how to select influencers](https://www.seedinfluencers.com/blog/how-to-select-influencers) and [avoiding influencer gifting fraud](https://www.seedinfluencers.com/blog/avoiding-influencer-gifting-fraud). And once you have a rate, the next question is usually whether it is any good, which is a separate question with a messier answer: see [what is a good engagement rate](https://www.seedinfluencers.com/blog/what-is-a-good-engagement-rate). Run the numbers yourself with the [free engagement rate calculator](https://www.seedinfluencers.com/free-engagement-rate-calculator). It runs in your browser, shows both formulas as you type, and needs no email or signup. The calculator is also available in [Deutsch](https://www.seedinfluencers.com/de/engagement-rate-rechner), [Español](https://www.seedinfluencers.com/es/calculadora-de-engagement) and [Français](https://www.seedinfluencers.com/fr/calculateur-taux-engagement). ## FAQ **What is the formula for engagement rate?** Add up a post's interactions (likes plus comments, and shares and saves if you have them). Divide by the creator's followers, then multiply by 100. That is engagement rate by followers. Divide by the post's views instead of followers to get engagement rate by views. **Do I divide by followers or by views?** By followers tells you how active a creator's own audience is. By views tells you how the content itself performed, which matters more on TikTok and YouTube, where a lot of views come from people who don't follow the creator yet. **Should shares and saves count as interactions?** Count them if you can see them, and count them the same way for every creator you compare. On Instagram, shares and saves are usually private, so you need a screenshot of the creator's own insights to include them. **How do I work out engagement rate across several posts?** Calculate each post's rate on its own, then take the plain average of those rates. Do not add up all the interactions and all the followers and divide once, since that lets one post with unusually high reach skew the whole number. **Why did I get a different engagement rate than another tool?** Most disagreements come from the denominator. One tool divides by followers, another by views or by reach, and some also throw in video completions or profile visits as interactions. Check what a tool is dividing by before comparing its number to yours.