Instagram grid maker: split one photo into a 3x3 grid that lines up

To make an Instagram grid, cut one photo into tiles three wide and post each tile as its own photo, last tile first. This tool does the cutting: pick 1 to 5 rows and you get 3, 6, 9, 12 or 15 tiles at 1080×1440 pixels, the 3:4 shape Instagram’s profile grid shows. The files are numbered in posting order. Post 01 first, because it is the bottom-right tile, and Instagram puts each new post top-left. When the last tile goes up, the full picture shows on your profile.

How to make an Instagram grid, step by step

1. Pick the photo. A 3×3 grid is 3:4 overall, the same shape as a phone photo held upright, so most portrait shots fit with little trimmed. Keep faces and text away from the two vertical seams, where a thin gap runs through them on the profile.
2. Choose the rows. One row is 3 posts and is the easiest grid to keep intact. Three rows is 9 posts, the classic puzzle grid. Four rows is exactly 9:16, so a full-screen phone image or a story frame fits a 3×4 grid with nothing cut off.
3. Drop the photo in the box above and frame it. The preview shows each tile with its post number. Drag the picture to move it, use the zoom slider to crop tighter, and switch to Profile view to see it the way your profile will show it.
4. Download the ZIP. The tiles are 1080×1440 each and named in the order you post them.
5. Post them in filename order, 01 first. Upload each tile as its own single-photo post. On Instagram’s crop screen, keep the full 3:4 frame: if the app zooms the photo to a square, tap the expand arrows in the corner so the whole tile shows.
6. Check your pins. Pinned posts sit in the first cells of your profile and push everything after them along. Unpin them before you start, or pin exactly three so your grid starts cleanly on the second row.

How to post an Instagram grid in the right order

Post the tiles in filename order: 01, then 02, up to the last number. Instagram’s profile grid puts your newest post top-left and fills to the right, so the tile that ends up in the bottom-right corner of the finished picture has to go up first, and the top-left tile, the one that reads as the beginning, goes up last.

Post them in reading order instead and the picture comes out scrambled. This tool numbers every tile in upload order, on the preview and in the filename, and the archive carries a POSTING-ORDER.txt that says the same, because the numbers are the one thing you should not re-sort by eye.

If a tile does land in the wrong place, you no longer have to delete and repost. Since June 2026 the Instagram app has a Reorder grid option: long-press a post on your profile, choose Reorder grid and drag the posts into place. Pinned posts stay fixed at the start. Instagram’s Help Center does not document the feature yet (checked October 2026), so go by what your app shows.

Instagram grid size: 1080×1440 per tile

Each tile should be 1080×1440 pixels, a 3:4 rectangle. Instagram’s Help Center says it keeps a photo at full resolution when it is up to 1080 pixels wide with an aspect ratio between 1.91:1 and 3:4, so 1080×1440 is the tallest photo it keeps uncropped. The grid is always three tiles wide, so the full picture you start from is 3,240 pixels wide and 1,440 pixels tall per row:

If your photo is a different shape, the tool crops it to the shape in the last column, centred until you drag it somewhere else. Starting from an image already at that shape means nothing is trimmed. Square tiles are 1080×1080, which makes a 3×3 square grid 3240×3240.

Why your Instagram grid doesn’t line up

A grid that looks sliced or shuffled almost always comes down to one of five things:

• The tiles were cut square. In January 2025 Instagram changed the profile grid from squares to 3:4 rectangles. A square tile is shown with a strip trimmed off its left and right edges, so every vertical seam has a gap about a quarter of a tile wide. The rows meet, the columns do not. Cut 3:4 tiles instead.
• They went up in reading order. The first post you make ends up last on the grid. Post 01 first. Fix a mix-up with Reorder grid.
• Something else went up in between. Any other post or reel pushes every tile one place along and shears the picture.
• A pinned post sits in front. Pins take the first cells of the grid. Unpin, or pin three so the grid starts on row two.
• Instagram cropped a tile on upload. If the crop screen was left zoomed to a square, the tile lost its top and bottom. Tap the expand arrows to keep the full 3:4 frame.

A 3:4 tile is already the shape of a profile cell, so the profile shows all of it and the seams meet. It also takes up more of the screen in your followers’ feeds than a square does.

3x3 vs 3x4: which grid to make

Make a 3×3 grid for a single statement picture and a 3×4 for a full-screen phone image. A 3×3 is 9 posts and 3:4 overall, so an upright photo fits it almost untouched. A 3×4 is 12 posts and exactly 9:16, so a story frame or a phone wallpaper fits it with nothing cut, at the cost of three more posts. A 3×1 banner is the low-commitment option: three posts, and when you later post three more at once it moves down a row intact. The 3×2 and 3×5 are there for wide and very tall artwork.

How to make an Instagram grid on your phone

This page works in your phone’s browser, so there is no app to install. Open it on the phone, tap the box above to pick a photo, drag to frame it, and download the ZIP. Then unpack it:

• iPhone: open the Files app, find the ZIP (usually in Downloads) and tap it. Files creates a folder with the tiles in it, as Apple’s guide to ZIP files describes. Select the tiles, tap Share and choose Save Images to put them in Photos, where Instagram can see them.
• Android: in Files by Google, tap the ZIP and then Extract, as Google’s help page explains. The tiles land in the same folder as the ZIP.

If you only need one or two tiles, tap a tile’s Save button instead of downloading the whole set.

Can you still make a square grid?

Yes: switch Tile shape to 1:1 square and you get 1080×1080 tiles. Be aware of what happens next. The profile grid has been 3:4 since January 2025, so Instagram shows each square tile with its sides trimmed, and the picture breaks at every vertical seam. Profile view in the preview shows exactly that. Square tiles still make sense if you want each post to look square in the feed, or if the image will also be used somewhere that is square, but for a grid that joins up on your profile, 3:4 is the shape that works.

Instagram photo grid, grid post or carousel?

People use these words loosely, so it helps to know which one you are after.

A profile grid (sometimes called a puzzle grid) is what this tool makes: one image across several separate posts, seen whole only on your profile.

A grid post is one tile of that grid. Each one appears in the feed on its own, so it is worth checking that every tile still makes some sense by itself.

A photo grid in the collage sense is several photos arranged inside one image, posted once. That is a different job, and this tool does not do it.

A carousel is several images inside one swipeable post. If you want a wide picture people swipe through, use the carousel splitter. Its order is the plain left-to-right one, the opposite of a grid.

What it actually outputs

Three columns, always. The Instagram profile grid is three tiles wide and there is no setting anywhere that changes it, so a two- or four-wide grid would not survive contact with the app. Rows are yours: 1 to 5, which is 3 to 15 posts.

1080×1440 per tile, or 1080×1080 if you pick square. That is the 1080-pixel width Instagram keeps for feed photos. The tool builds one full-resolution working canvas, 3,240 pixels wide, then cuts it, so the seams are exact with no rounding drift across the grid.

Your framing, no distortion. The photo is fitted to the grid’s overall shape like a cover crop, centred at first. Drag to move it and zoom up to 3× to crop tighter; what the preview shows is what you download. It is never stretched. Zooming in on a small photo makes soft tiles, so start from the largest version you have.

JPG or PNG. JPG at high quality is the default because Instagram re-compresses everything you upload anyway. PNG is there for flat colour, type and screenshots, where JPG artefacts show.

One archive. Tiles download as a single ZIP, because a browser asked for nine files in a row shows a permission prompt and then nine save dialogs. Each tile also has its own Save button.

What a grid does to your feed, before you commit

Worth knowing in advance, because a grid is harder to undo than to make.

Every tile is also a post. A 3×3 grid is nine posts in your followers’ feeds, and each one is seen full-size and alone, out of context, by almost everyone. A slice that means nothing on its own is a weak post nine times over in exchange for a picture only profile visitors ever see whole.

The next post moves it. Publishing anything else pushes every tile one place along, and the picture shears. Reorder grid can now move a newer post out of the way, but that is a manual fix each time. Grids suit a launch, a pinned statement or a profile that posts rarely. A one-row grid is the exception worth knowing: post three new things at once and it just moves down a row, still whole.

Nine posts in a row is a lot of posting. Uploading all of them at once puts nine items into the feed in minutes. Most people space them, which means the grid is visibly half-built for as long as that takes.

None of that is a reason not to do it. It is a reason to decide before you have nine posts live.

What this tool does not do

It does not post to Instagram, and there is nothing to connect. It does not add gaps or borders between tiles, rotate the photo or split video. It does not generate the image: you bring the photo. And it keeps nothing. Reload the page and it has forgotten your file, because there was never a copy anywhere but in the tab.

For the rules of Instagram posting itself, see the Instagram scheduler page and the Instagram channel page.

Schedule the tiles in order with Hermoso

Posting nine tiles by hand, in the right order, without anything else slipping in between, is the fiddly part. Hermoso can schedule each tile as its own Instagram post, 01 first, at the times you choose. Connect your Instagram account, add the tiles in filename order and set the times. Scheduling and publishing are free on every plan, including the free one, and every Instagram rule is checked when you schedule, not when the post goes out. See the free social media scheduler for how the queue works.

Hermoso runs the rest of your marketing on autopilot too: it researches what is working in your market, makes the creative, posts it, runs your ads and reports back, from the web app or from Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor. If you need the picture itself, the AI product photo generator is where a grid’s source image usually comes from.

Free tools: Carousel splitter · Social media size guide · TikTok safe zone checker

Frequently asked questions

Is this Instagram grid maker free?

Yes. It is free with no sign-up, no watermark and no limit on how many grids you make. It runs entirely in your browser, so there is nothing to pay for and nothing is uploaded.

Do I need an app to make an Instagram grid?

No. This Instagram grid maker runs in the browser on a phone or a computer, so there is nothing to install and no account to create. Pick the photo, download the tiles as a ZIP, then post them from the Instagram app in filename order.

Can I schedule my grid posts instead of posting them by hand?

Yes, with Hermoso. Connect your Instagram account and schedule each tile as its own post in upload order, 01 first. Scheduling is free on every plan, including the free plan. The grid maker itself does not post anything.

How do I make an Instagram grid?

Load one photo into the grid maker, choose how many rows you want, drag the picture to frame it and download the ZIP. You get 1080×1440 tiles numbered in posting order. Post them as separate single-photo posts in filename order, 01 first, keeping the full 3:4 frame on Instagram’s crop screen. Unpin any pinned posts first, because they sit at the start of your grid and push the tiles out of line.

What size should Instagram grid posts be?

1080×1440 pixels, which is 3:4. Instagram’s profile grid has shown 3:4 rectangles since January 2025, and its Help Center says photos up to 1080 pixels wide between 1.91:1 and 3:4 keep their full resolution. A 3×3 grid is therefore 3240×4320 pixels overall.

What order do I post the tiles in?

Filename order: 01 first, then 02, and so on. Instagram puts your newest post top-left and fills to the right, so the tile that ends up bottom-right in the finished picture has to be uploaded first. This tool already numbers tiles in upload order, and the ZIP contains a POSTING-ORDER.txt saying the same thing. If one lands in the wrong place, the app’s Reorder grid option (long-press a post on your profile) can move it.

Why doesn’t my Instagram grid line up?

Usually one of five things. The tiles were cut square, so the 3:4 profile crops the sides off each one and leaves a gap at every vertical seam. They were posted in reading order instead of reverse order. Something else was posted in between. A pinned post sits in front of them. Or Instagram cropped a tile on upload because the crop screen was left on square.

Should I make a 3x3 or a 3x4 grid?

A 3×3 grid is 9 posts and 3:4 overall, so an upright phone photo fits it almost untouched. A 3×4 grid is 12 posts and exactly 9:16, so a full-screen phone image or story frame fits it with nothing cut off. If you want to keep the grid intact for longer, a 3×1 row of three is the easiest to maintain.

Can I still make a square Instagram grid?

Yes. Set Tile shape to 1:1 square for 1080×1080 tiles. Because the profile grid is now 3:4, Instagram will trim the sides of each square tile on your profile and the seams will not meet. The tool’s Profile view shows exactly how it will look before you post.