MELLOW HUB · FREE TOOL

Instagram grid planner: see your next posts on your profile before you post

Lay your next posts out as Instagram’s 3:4 profile grid will show them, reorder them and get the order to post. Free; nothing is uploaded.

By Mellow · Updated October 12, 2026

See your next posts on your grid

Choose your next postsPhotos or covers, up to 18. They stay in this page: nothing is uploaded.

Free account
Your first 3 posts are free
No card to start

How do I plan my Instagram grid?

Lay the next posts out the way the profile will show them, then post them in reverse. Since January 2025 the grid shows every post as a 3:4 rectangle cut from its middle, three across, with the newest at the top left. This planner draws your pictures that way, lets you move them until the rows read well together, and numbers them in the order to post: the bottom right one first.

What the grid hides of each shape

Shape	What it usually is	Hidden on the grid
3:4	A photo post from the Instagram app	Nothing: it is the grid’s own shape
4:5	A photo post, the tallest a scheduler can send	3.1% on each side
1:1	A square post	12.5% on each side
9:16	A reel’s cover	12.5% on the top and on the bottom
16:9	A wide photo or a wide video’s cover	28.9% on each side

The last column is arithmetic: the middle 3:4 of each shape. Instagram’s shapes are from Instagram Help Center: Image resolution of photos you share on Instagram and Meta for Developers: Instagram Graph API, IG User media (updated 28 September 2026), read on 1 October 2026.

Keeping a planned grid in line

Post the set without anything in between. Every other post moves the whole grid along by one.
Count the pinned posts. They stay at the start of the grid, so a planned row begins after them.
Keep what matters in the middle. Words at the edge of a 4:5 post or at the top of a reel’s cover are what the grid hides.

Questions

How do I see what my Instagram grid will look like before I post?

Choose the pictures you plan to post. The planner lays them out three across, each cut to the 3:4 rectangle the profile grid shows, with the newest at the top left. Move them until the grid looks right; the numbers say in which order to post.

In what order do I post them?

The one that should end up last on the grid goes first. Instagram puts each new post at the top left and pushes the others along, so the planner numbers the posts from the bottom right: post number 1 first, and the top left one last.

Why does the grid cut my photo?

Since January 2025 the profile grid shows every post as a 3:4 rectangle. A 3:4 post shows whole; a 4:5 or square one loses a strip on each side, and a reel’s 9:16 cover loses its top and bottom. The whole picture is still there when the post is opened.

Can the planner show the posts already on my profile?

No. It does not connect to Instagram and cannot see anybody’s profile. The empty cells under your pictures stand for the posts already there. A pinned post stays at the start of the real grid, ahead of everything new.

Does the planner change my pictures?

No. The files it hands back are your own pictures, unchanged, named in the order to post them. To cut a picture to a post’s shape, use the image cropper or the image resizer.

Are my pictures uploaded?

No. The pictures stay in this page and the grid is drawn in your browser; the files are put together on your own device.

Let Mellow Hub post them in the order you planned

Hub publishes to Instagram through its official API: add the pictures in the numbered order and give each a time, and they go out one by one on their own. Instagram’s API takes photos up to 4:5, so a taller picture is posted from the app. One picture meant to span several posts? The grid maker cuts it so the pieces join up.

Post to Instagram and TikTok at once

How to see your scheduled Instagram posts

This tool is free and needs no account. Mellow Hub publishes your first 3 posts free, with no card; after that it is paid, with a 7-day free trial. It publishes only what you, or an assistant you have authorised, send or schedule.

Choosing a scheduler? Mellow Hub next to Buffer, Metricool and Postiz, from each one’s own pricing page, including where another is cheaper.

Answers that go with this tool

More free tools

LinkedIn text formatter: Bold, italic, underlined text and bullet lists for LinkedIn posts, with a preview of where the post folds.
YouTube thumbnail maker: Make a thumbnail from your photo and a bold headline in four layouts, check it at Up next size and export 1280×720 or 4K.
Carousel maker: Type one idea per slide and get designed carousel slides: PNGs for Instagram or a PDF LinkedIn shows as a document.
YouTube thumbnail tester: See a thumbnail in YouTube’s home feed, search and sidebar at their real sizes, then export it at 1280×720 under 2 MB.
Instagram grid maker: Split one image into 3, 6, 9 or 12 posts that line up on your profile, numbered in the order to post them.
Instagram carousel splitter: Cut a wide image into seamless carousel slides at 4:5, 3:4 or 1:1, ready to swipe.
Social media character counter: Count one post against every network’s limit at once, with X’s weighted count and Bluesky’s graphemes.
Social media post checker: Check caption, title and media count against Mellow Hub’s input rules for each destination.
Reels and Shorts safe zone checker: See where Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts cover a vertical video with their buttons and captions, from the figures Meta and Google publish, and download the template.
Video checker for Reels, TikTok and Shorts: Check a video’s length, shape, resolution and file size against each network’s limits before you post it.
Reels and Shorts cover maker: Pick a frame from your video, add a title, see how the cover sits in the profile grid and export it at 1080 × 1920.
Social media image resizer: Crop one picture to every network’s post, story and cover sizes at once and download them together.
Hashtag counter: Count the hashtags and mentions in a caption against each network’s limit, drop duplicates and copy a clean set.
Instagram font generator: Turn words into bold, italic, script and other Unicode letter styles for an Instagram bio or caption, and see what styled letters cost screen readers, search and hashtags.
Hashtag generator: Describe a post and get hashtag sets for Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, X and more, counted against each network’s limit.
Caption generator: Describe a post, pick a network and a tone, and get captions counted against that network’s limit.
Tweet generator: Describe what you want to say and get posts for X, each counted the way X counts, so none is over the limit.
YouTube title generator: Describe a video and get title options counted against YouTube’s title limit.
YouTube description generator: Describe a video and get description drafts counted against YouTube’s description limit.
LinkedIn post generator: Describe what you want to share and get LinkedIn post drafts counted against LinkedIn’s limit.
TikTok photo carousel splitter: Cut a wide image into seamless slides for a TikTok photo post at 9:16, 4:5 or 1:1, ready to swipe.
Threads carousel splitter: Cut a wide image into seamless slides for a Threads carousel, up to the twenty its API takes.
Long image splitter: Cut a long screenshot, infographic or tall pin into carousel slides, top to bottom, with nothing lost at the sides.
Image splitter: Split any picture into equal pieces, from two halves to a 10 × 10 grid, at its own pixels, as JPG or PNG.
Instagram no-crop resizer: Put a whole photo into an Instagram post or Story with nothing cut off, on a blurred, white, black or coloured ground.
Carousel photo resizer: Make photos of different shapes into carousel slides of one shape, fitted whole or cropped, in posting order.
Image compressor: Bring pictures under the file limit a network publishes, or any size you set, losing as little as the limit allows.
Profile picture cropper: Crop a square profile picture, see it in a circle at the sizes networks show it, and save it at the size they ask for.
Images to PDF carousel maker: Turn slides, screenshots or photos into one PDF, a page a picture, which LinkedIn shows as a document to swipe.
Video frame grabber: Save any moment of a video as a JPG or PNG at the video’s own size, for a cover or a thumbnail.
Photo watermark tool: Put your handle or name on up to twenty photos at once, in the same place and size on each.
Before and after photo maker: Put two photos into one picture, side by side or one above the other, with a label on each.
Image cropper: Crop a picture to 1:1, 4:5, 9:16, 16:9 or a shape you set, at the picture’s own pixels.
Image converter: Save a WebP or PNG as a JPG, or a JPG as a PNG, up to twenty pictures at once.
Photo collage maker: Put two to six photos into one picture in a layout you choose, at a post’s size.
Screenshot post maker: Set a screenshot whole on a coloured or blurred background at a post’s size, with rounded corners.
Photo blur tool: Pixelate, blur or cover a face, a name or a number in a picture before you post it.
YouTube banner maker: Cut a picture to a 2560 × 1440 channel banner with YouTube’s safe area for text and logos drawn over it.
X header maker: Cut a picture to a 1500 × 500 X header and see the strips at the top and bottom that X says could be cropped.

All free tools · Answers about posting and scheduling