Instagram Post vs Reel vs Story: Differences, Sizes and Lengths

Short answer: an Instagram post is a photo, video or carousel that stays on your profile grid and is shown mainly to your followers. A Reel is a vertical video of up to 3 minutes that Instagram also recommends to people who do not follow you, so it is the format for reach. A Story is a full-screen photo or video (up to 60 seconds per card) that disappears after 24 hours unless you save it to a Highlight, so it is the format for daily, informal updates to people who already follow you. Facebook works the same way: a Facebook Reel is public, recommended short video; a Facebook Story is a 24-hour update for your audience.

Instagram post vs Reel vs Story at a glance

	Feed post	Reel	Story
What it is	Photo or carousel	Vertical short video	Full-screen photo or video
Best size	1080 × 1350 px (4:5)	1080 × 1920 px (9:16)	1080 × 1920 px (9:16)
Length	Photos and carousels (new videos are shared as Reels)	Up to 3 minutes	Up to 60 seconds per card
How long it stays	Permanently on your grid	Permanently in the Reels tab (and grid if you choose)	24 hours, or forever in a Highlight
Who sees it	Mostly followers	Followers and non-followers	Followers
Best for	Product photos, launches, carousels that explain	Reach: demos, before/after, trends	Restocks, polls, behind the scenes, links

What is an Instagram feed post?

A feed post is the classic Instagram format: a single photo or a carousel of up to 20 photos and videos. (A single new video is now shared as a Reel.) It lives on your profile grid, which since January 2025 shows every post as a 3:4 tile. That is why a 1080 × 1350 (4:5) image is still the best upload size, but anything important should sit in the centre so the grid crop does not cut it. Our Instagram post size guide lists every dimension.

For a store, feed posts are where the product looks its best and stays findable: a launch announcement, a carousel that compares three variants, a price list. They are shown mostly to people who already follow you.

What is an Instagram Reel?

A Reel is a vertical video, 9:16 and up to 3 minutes long, with music, text and effects. The big difference from a post is distribution: Instagram shows Reels in the Reels tab and Explore to people who have never heard of you. If you want new customers, Reels are the format to invest in.

The Reels that work for products are short and practical: the product in use, a before and after, an unboxing, a customer clip. The first two seconds decide whether anyone keeps watching, so lead with the product, not the logo.

What is an Instagram Story?

A Story is a full-screen photo or video that disappears after 24 hours. Each video card can be up to 60 seconds. Stories appear at the top of your followers' app, which makes them the most direct line to people who already like you. Stickers (polls, questions, links, countdowns) make Stories interactive, and anything worth keeping can go into a Highlight on your profile.

Stories suit what is time-sensitive: a restock, a 24-hour discount, a behind-the-scenes look at packing orders, or a link to a new product page.

Post vs Reel: which one should you choose?

• Choose a Reel when the goal is reach, when the product needs to be seen moving, or when you have a clip that could interest people outside your follower base.
• Choose a feed post when the content must stay easy to find on your profile, or when a carousel of photos explains the product better than a video.
• Choose a Story for anything that only matters today, and for nudging existing followers to act.

Most stores get the best result from all three around the same moment: a Reel to reach new people, a feed post that stays on the grid, and a Story sequence that pushes followers to the product page.

Facebook Reel vs Story

Facebook copied the same split. A Facebook Reel is a public vertical video that Facebook recommends in the Reels feed, including to people who do not follow your Page. A Facebook Story is a 24-hour photo or video for your followers. Reels are for discovery; Stories are for keeping your audience up to date. Sizes match Instagram: 1080 × 1920 pixels at 9:16 for both.

You can share an Instagram Reel or Story to Facebook from the Instagram app when the two accounts are linked in Accounts Center, but scheduling each one separately lets you write a caption that fits each network.

How to plan posts, Reels and Stories without posting by hand

Posting every format by hand, every day, is what makes most store owners give up on Instagram. A scheduler fixes that. Byvano's Instagram scheduler publishes photos, videos, Reels and Stories to Instagram Business and Creator accounts automatically at the time you choose, and the Facebook scheduler does the same for Facebook Page posts and Reels. You can fill a month at once with bulk CSV scheduling, and every feature is free until 17 March 2027 with no credit card.

Because Byvano is built for online stores, the Reel that performs well on Instagram can also be shown on your product page as a shoppable video, with the product tagged in it.