The short version
To show your Instagram posts on a Shopify store, install a feed app from the Shopify App Store, or paste one public post's embed code into a Custom Liquid section without installing anything.
Five of the six feed-app listings we read on October 20, 2026 had a free plan, and their paid plans ran from $4.99 to $29 a month.
Horizon and Dawn, the two Shopify themes we checked, have no built-in Instagram feed section.
A feed app needs an Instagram Business or Creator account, because Meta's APIs for reading an account's posts require a professional account after its Basic Display API stopped on December 4, 2024.
The Quick Verdict
Find your situation in the left column; the rest of the guide shows how to set up each route.
| Your situation | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You want a grid of your latest posts that keeps itself up to date | A feed app from the Shopify App Store | Five of the six listings we read on October 20, 2026 had a free plan; the app needs a Business or Creator account |
| Your old feed stopped showing posts | Remove the old feed section, then reconnect in a current feed app | Older theme sections went blank in 2020 and Meta shut down the Basic Display API on December 4, 2024; reconnect with a Business or Creator account |
| You want products tagged in the feed on your store | A feed-app plan that lists product tagging | Tagging is each vendor's own claim; some listings include it on the free plan |
| You want to feature one or a few chosen posts | Instagram's embed code in a Custom Liquid section | No app involved, but each embed is one public post that never adds newer posts |
| You only want shoppers to find your Instagram profile | Your theme's social media links | Dawn takes your profile address in Theme settings, and the Horizon store we checked takes it in a footer block; either shows a link, not your posts |
| You want your posts in front of Shop app users | Shop channel Posts | On connecting it imports posts from the last 90 days, then syncs new ones, but they appear only in the Shop app |
| You want shoppers to buy from your posts on Instagram itself | The Facebook & Instagram sales channel | Selling on Instagram is a separate channel with its own account rules |
You want your latest Instagram posts on your homepage or product pages, so shoppers see the same products in real use that your followers do. Open the theme editor, though, and there is no obvious Instagram section to add.
Three routes put Instagram on your store: a feed app that keeps a grid up to date, an embed code for a single post pasted into your theme, and a plain link to your profile. A developer can also build a custom section. Shop channel Posts looks similar but reaches the Shop app only. Which route fits depends on what you want to show and on your Instagram account type.
Does Your Shopify Theme Have an Instagram Feed Section?
Key takeaway
Horizon is Shopify's current flagship theme. In Horizon and in Shopify's Dawn theme, the closest tools are a Custom Liquid section and your theme's social media links, which this guide covers below. In a Horizon store with no feed app installed, searching the Add section list for “instagram” returns no sections and no apps.
- Online Store
- Theme editor
Older themes did ship an Instagram feed section. When Instagram ended its legacy API in 2020, Shopify's changelog said that section no longer displays images, recommended removing it from the theme editor to prevent display issues, and pointed merchants to third-party apps. If your store still runs an older theme with that section, remove it before adding anything new.
Paid themes: check the documentation, not the search box
Key takeaway
If you are choosing a new theme partly for an Instagram feed, three checks keep you from paying for a feature that is not there:
- The Shopify Theme Store feature filter offers items such as mega menu, quick view and sticky header, but no Instagram or social media option as of October 20, 2026.
- Shopify's guide to choosing a theme lists “Instagram feed” among example Theme Store search terms. A search match is not proof that a theme has a feed section.
- Shopify points you to a theme's documentation to learn which sections and settings it includes. Read that before you buy.
Free Shopify themes and paid themes keep their documentation in different places; our FAQ on where to find a Shopify theme's documentation walks through both.
Five Instagram Options Compared
Key takeaway
The five options differ on three things that decide the choice: whether posts appear on your own store at all, whether they refresh without you, and which Instagram account the route accepts.
Five Instagram options for a Shopify store, compared
| Route | Shows posts on your online store | Updates by itself | What it costs | Instagram account needed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Social media links in your theme | No, a link to your profile | Not applicable | Nothing extra | None; any profile address you want to link |
| One-post embed in a Custom Liquid section | Yes, one post per embed | No, each embed is one chosen post and never adds newer ones | No app to pay for | Public account; the owner can turn embedding off |
| Feed app from the App Store | Yes, a grid or slider of posts | Yes, the app syncs new posts | Free plans on five of six listings; paid plans $4.99 to $29 a month (Oct 20, 2026) | Business or Creator (Meta's API rule) |
| Shop channel Posts | No, only in the Shop app | Yes, new posts sync | Part of the Shop channel | Creator or Business; personal accounts not supported |
| Custom-coded theme section | Yes, as built | As built | Developer time | Business or Creator (Meta's API rule) |
Shopify Help Center and Meta for Developers, read October 20, 2026; feed-app prices from six Shopify App Store listings read the same day.
No Shopify Help Center page we have found describes adding Instagram posts to your online store's pages without an app: as of October 20, 2026 we read its theme, social commerce, Shop channel and marketing sections, and the nearest feature, Shop channel Posts, is about the Shop app. That leaves a feed app as the ready-made way to get a self-updating grid onto a Horizon or Dawn store.
Which Instagram Account a Feed Needs, and Why Old Feeds Broke
Key takeaway
Two shutdowns broke older Instagram feeds, and both have already happened:
Meta now offers two Instagram APIs that a feed app can use. The Instagram API with Instagram Login lets an app work with Business or Creator accounts, and Meta states that this setup does not require a Facebook Page. The Instagram API with Facebook Login works with Business or Creator accounts that are linked to a Facebook Page. Both share one rule:
To use the APIs, your app users must have an Instagram professional account.
Meta defines a professional account as one that represents a business or a creator. Meta does not use the words “personal account” here, but after December 4, 2024 it said no set of Instagram APIs remains for consumer apps, so a personal account is the one type a feed app cannot connect. On a personal account, the two routes in this guide that still work are a one-post embed (if the account is public) and a plain link to your profile.
If your feed froze, start with the theme: remove a leftover Instagram feed section from an older theme, as Shopify advised in 2020. Then reconnect your account inside a current feed app, logged in with a Business or Creator account.
Add a Live Feed With an App
Key takeaway
Pick the app first from the shortlist below, then work through the checklist that follows it.
Where feed apps sit in the App Store, and what they charge
Key takeaway
Feed apps appear in Image gallery (Store design, then Images and media) and in Social proof (Marketing and conversion, then Social trust).
The six apps below come from those two category pages. Free plans differ in what they cap, which matters more than the paid price:
Six Instagram feed apps on the Shopify App Store
Shows your posts and Reels as a grid or slider on your store.
- Free plan
- Starter: grid or slider, Reels and photos, hourly auto-sync
- Product tagging (shoppable)
- From the Pro plan (vendor's claim)
Adds a feed of your posts, with shoppable posts claimed on the free plan.
- Free plan
- Up to 1,000 storefront visits, every layout
- Product tagging (shoppable)
- On the free plan (vendor's claim)
A live gallery of posts and Reels, with products tagged on posts.
- Free plan
- 5 tagged media per widget
- Product tagging (shoppable)
- Products and collections, from the free plan (vendor's claim)
A custom shoppable feed of your posts on your storefront.
- Free plan
- None
- Product tagging (shoppable)
- Included in the plan (vendor's claim)
A simple feed of your latest posts.
- Free plan
- Up to 1,000 monthly views
- Product tagging (shoppable)
- Not listed among its features
A feed of posts with shoppable videos and tagged posts claimed.
- Product tagging (shoppable)
- Claimed on the listing (vendor's claim)
Plans and prices read on each app's Shopify App Store listing on October 20, 2026, from the Image gallery and Social proof category pages. A snapshot, not a full list or a ranking; tagging and shoppable features are the vendors' own claims.
Several of these listings describe their feeds as “shoppable”, meaning products are tagged on posts. Shoppable video is a neighbouring topic, covered in our FAQ on adding shoppable video to a Shopify store.
Set up a feed app, step by step
Key takeaway
Step one happens on Instagram's side, and step three starts inside the app in your Shopify admin. Do step one before you install anything, because the connection in step three fails without the right account type.
Add an Instagram feed app, in this orderSix steps across Instagram, the App Store and your theme. Step one decides whether step three can work.
Add an Instagram feed app, in this order
Six steps across Instagram, the App Store and your theme. Step one decides whether step three can work.
Meta's Instagram APIs for reading your posts, with Instagram Login or with Facebook Login, require a professional account, which is a Business or Creator account, so check yours before you install anything.
Before you tick this off
- Your profile is a Business or Creator account, not a personal one
- You can log in to that Instagram account yourself
- If the app connects through Facebook Login, the account is linked to a Facebook Page
Pick an app from the Image gallery or Social proof categories and install it from its listing, after checking which plan includes what you need.
Before you tick this off
- You read the plan list on the listing, including any free-plan limit
- If you want products tagged in posts, the plan you chose lists tagging
- You noted the trial length before a paid plan starts
Start the connection from inside the app, using the Business or Creator account from step one.
Before you tick this off
- You logged in with the Business or Creator account from step one
- The app shows your recent posts after connecting
Follow the app's own step for placing the feed on a page, then preview the page before you publish.
Before you tick this off
- The feed appears where you placed it in the preview
- You checked the page on a phone-sized screen
Shopify lists social media feeds among the features that make up your online store, so compare the page's speed before and after the feed goes live.
Before you tick this off
- You noted the page's speed before installing
- You checked it again after the feed went live
- The feed earns its place against any slowdown you see
Uninstalling an app doesn't automatically remove its code from your theme, so check the theme after you uninstall a feed app.
Before you tick this off
- If you uninstall the app: the feed no longer shows on any page
- If you uninstall the app: no code from it remains in the theme, or a developer removed it
The screenshots below show steps 2 to 4 with one app from the list above, Instafeed ‑ Instagram Feed by Mintt Studio, in our Horizon test store.
- Apps
- Apps
- Instafeed
- Online Store
- Theme editor
Embed a Single Instagram Post Without an App
Key takeaway
Instagram gives a public photo, video, Reel or Guide post an embed code you can place on another website. This route suits a launch post, a customer photo you want on a product page, or a single Reel, where a live grid would be more than you need.
How to paste a post into a Custom Liquid section
Key takeaway
- On Instagram's website, open the public post you want and use its Embed option. That reveals the post's embed HTML code, which you copy.
- In the Shopify theme editor, open the page where the post should appear and add a Custom Liquid section.
- Paste the embed code into the section's Liquid code field, preview the page, then save.
- Online Store
- Theme editor
In our test on October 20, 2026, embed code in Instagram's format for one public Shopify post, pasted into a Custom Liquid section in Horizon, rendered the post in the theme editor's preview before saving.
Shopify's Help Center words its guidance more cautiously: if your theme offers a Custom Liquid section, you might be able to add app code to it instead of editing theme code directly. Horizon's own section settings, published in Shopify's Horizon repository, describe that field as a place to “add app snippets or other code”.
Our FAQ on using a Custom Liquid section or block covers when that section is the right place and when it is not.
What an embedded post won't do
Key takeaway
- One post, fixed. The code embeds the post you copied it from; new posts do not appear.
- Public posts only. Meta's oEmbed documentation says posts on private, inactive and age-restricted accounts are not supported.
- No Stories. The same oEmbed documentation says Stories are not supported.
- Embedding can be switched off. According to Instagram's Help Center, the owner of a public account can turn off the setting that lets websites embed their posts and profile.
An embed always credits the post's owner, which matters when you feature a customer's photo. Meta builds that into every embed:
People own their Instagram content, so each embedded post gives proper attribution by displaying the post owner's username and linking to the post owner's profile.
The Minimum: Link Your Instagram Profile
If you only want shoppers to find your profile, you need no app and no code. In Dawn, open Theme settings in the theme editor, then Social media, and enter your Instagram address in the Social accounts fields.
- Online Store
- Theme editor
In the Horizon store we checked on October 20, 2026, Theme settings had no Social media section. Its links live in a Social media links block, which there sits in the footer's Utilities section: select the block and enter your address in its Instagram field. Other themes may follow either pattern, so look in both places. The result is a link or icon, not a strip of posts.
- Online Store
- Theme editor
What a Feed Costs Your Page Speed
Key takeaway
Shopify describes an online store as a set of features, such as theme code, apps, images, videos, carousels, social media feeds and analytics. Among those, it names the theme, installed apps and third-party code as the biggest factors in performance, and warns that too many apps loading assets on your storefront can slow it. Its advice is to evaluate each app and its code against any performance loss.
One detail catches merchants who switch feed apps:
Uninstalling an app doesn't automatically remove its code from your theme.
Steps 5 and 6 of the setup checklist above cover the speed check and the cleanup.
Shopify says all Horizon family themes are optimized for web performance; that describes the theme, not what a feed adds on top. Finding and removing code that an uninstalled app left behind is covered in our speed guide's section on code that uninstalled apps leave behind.
Two Instagram Features That Don't Put a Feed on Your Store
Key takeaway
Both connect to Instagram, and both are easy to mistake for a feed. Here is what each one actually does.
Shop channel Posts: your Instagram in the Shop app
Key takeaway
In the Shop channel, connecting Instagram imports Reels, image posts and multimedia carousels you posted within the last 90 days, and new posts sync automatically as you publish them. Shopify requires a Creator or Business account and says personal Instagram accounts are not supported. Where those posts appear is the catch:
Posts display to customers only in the Shop app, and don't display on shop.com.
So Posts is worth connecting if you want reach inside the Shop app, alongside a storefront feed rather than instead of one. Our guide to the Shop channel covers how Posts work in the Shop app.
Selling on Instagram is a separate channel
Showing posts on your store and selling on Instagram are different jobs. Selling uses Instagram Shopping in the Facebook & Instagram channel, and for that Shopify says your account needs to be a professional account associated with your business's Facebook Page. The 2020 feed changes did not affect sales channels. Setting up that channel is its own process, covered in how to connect Shopify to Instagram and tag products.
The Bottom Line
Key takeaway
The choice comes down to what you want shoppers to see and how much upkeep you accept. A link costs nothing and shows nothing; an embed shows one post you choose; an app keeps a grid current for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Front-end developer specializing in Shopify since 2017. Experienced in building custom Liquid themes, optimizing storefront performance, and integrating third-party apps. Directs the editorial process behind Ecom Store Pro: sets its topics and the rules every AI-written page must pass before publication.
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