Instagram comment picker: draw a random giveaway winner

This Instagram comment picker draws a random giveaway winner from comments you paste. Instagram does not let outside sites read comments without the account owner's login, so the steps are: copy the comments from your post, paste them into the box, check what was read, and press Pick winners. The page reads each commenter's username and comment from the pasted text, shows you the list so you can fix anything it misread, and applies the usual giveaway rules: one entry per person (on from the start), a required word or hashtag, a minimum number of @mentions for "tag two friends" giveaways, and your own account left out. The draw uses your browser's cryptographic random generator, and the result gives you a record to post with the winner. No login, no app, and nothing you paste is uploaded.

How to copy Instagram comments

On a computer

1. Open the post on instagram.com in your browser. Sign in if you can: signed out, Instagram may show only some of the comments.
2. Scroll the comment list until every comment you need has loaded.
3. Click just before the first commenter's name, scroll to the last comment and Shift-click after it (or drag across the list), then press Ctrl+C (Cmd+C on a Mac).
4. Paste here with Ctrl+V (Cmd+V). The "Like" and "Reply" labels and the times that come along are ignored.

On a phone

The Instagram app is made for reading, not for selecting a whole list of comments. Open the post in your phone's browser instead: in the app tap Share, then Copy link, and paste the link into Safari or Chrome. Press and hold the first commenter's name, drag the selection handles down to the last comment, tap Copy, and paste here. For a long list a computer is easier.

How to pick a winner from Instagram comments

1. Paste the comments into the box. The count of comments and people appears as you paste.
2. Check what was read under Show what was read. Edit the text or change the layout if something looks wrong.
3. Set the rules under More options: a required word, the number of @mentions, your own account to leave out, alternates.
4. Press Pick winners and copy the result to post with your announcement.

Why do I have to paste the comments?

Instagram does not let outside websites read a post's comments on their own. Meta's Instagram API only returns the comments of a post with an access token from the account that posted it, which means signing in to that account and granting permissions. This picker asks for no login, so you copy the comments and paste them instead. The upside: nothing about your account is shared, and nothing you paste leaves your browser.

How the picker reads pasted comments

Text copied from a comment list comes as blocks: the username, the time ("3w"), the comment, then "Like" and "Reply". The picker splits the text at each "Reply", drops the labels, times and like counts, and keeps the first line as the username and the rest as the comment. You can also type or paste one comment per line as username: comment or @username comment; the layout is detected, or you can choose it. Anything it cannot read is listed under the parsed comments so nothing disappears quietly.

Worked example: a real comment list

On 26 October 2026 we copied the comments that instagram.com showed, signed out, under a post from Instagram's own account. The picker read 12 comments from 11 people: one person had commented twice. With one entry per person, 11 entries go into the draw, so each person has a 1 in 11 chance, about 9.1%, for a single winner. Without it, the person who commented twice would have had 2 chances in 12.

"Tag a friend" giveaways: the @mention filter

Set At least this many @mentions to 2 for a "tag two friends" giveaway: comments with fewer than two @usernames are left out. The picker counts @mentions in the comment text; it cannot check that the tagged accounts are real people or that they follow you.

Instagram giveaway rules

Instagram's Promotion Guidelines say you are responsible for running the promotion lawfully, including its official rules, eligibility such as age and residency, and any legal requirements. Each entrant must fully release Instagram, and the promotion must say it is not sponsored, endorsed or run by Instagram. You must not tag content inaccurately or encourage people to tag themselves in photos they are not in.

Can it check that winners follow me or liked the post?

No. Those lists are not part of the copied comments, and Instagram does not give them to outside sites. Check the winner by hand before announcing, and draw alternates in case they do not qualify.

How accurate is the Instagram comment picker?

• Only what you paste: comments that had not loaded when you copied are not in the draw. Compare the count with the post.
• Names as copied: one entry per person compares usernames as text, ignoring capitals and a leading @.
• Odd comments: a comment made only of a number, a time-like word or "Reply" can be read as a label. Check the list; switch the layout to one per line if needed.
• Random: crypto.getRandomValues with an unbiased shuffle, the same engine as our YouTube pickers.

Sources

• Meta for Developers, IG Media Comments: reading comments needs an access token from the user who created the media.
• Instagram Help Center, Promotion Guidelines.
• MDN, Crypto: getRandomValues().

Why we built this Instagram comment picker

Most Instagram pickers ask you to log in with your Instagram account first, which hands a website access to your account for a job that only needs a list of names. Nitin Raja, who builds PlaylistTime, tested a lot of these pages before building this one: after testing out a lot of websites, he found what people need and what they do not, and built around that. So this picker works from text you paste, shows you exactly what it read, and draws in your browser, with the same filters and draw record as our YouTube pickers.

What this picker does, and what it does not

• Reads: usernames and comment text from what you paste, in three layouts, with a list you can check and a list of anything it could not read.
• Filters and draws in your browser: one entry per person, a required word or hashtag, a minimum number of @mentions, accounts to leave out, winners and alternates.
• Does not: log in to Instagram, fetch anything from Instagram, check follows or likes, or upload what you paste. The share link keeps your settings, never the comments.

Why it is different

Related tools

• TikTok comment picker: paste your video's comments and draw a winner.
• YouTube comment picker: random winners from one video, several videos or a channel's latest uploads.
• YouTube live chat picker: a random winner from a live stream's chat, with a keyword like !enter.
• All YouTube creator tools: every free tool for channels and videos on one page.

Built by Nitin Raja. Last updated 26 October 2026.

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