What makes a good design great is when it appears exactly as it should once published. The case is the same whether it be a billboard design or a digital website ad.
Years ago, it may have seemed impossible to check out what a design would look like, but now, with mockups, designers can show how a design would appear once it’s live even before publishing it. All the guesswork is taken away because of the design technology of mockups.
Mockups are a huge part of all sorts of design categories including products, packaging, print design, and website design. It is also a very big part of social media design especially Instagram, being the more visual-based app.
Instagram mockups not only help you look at your posts and Stories in their element before they’re uploaded but they are also a great design direction to head in when you need to showcase various screenshots on device screens.
So in this blog, we hope to take a look at some sources where you can get access to Instagram mockups for free.
Behance is a place where designers get to showcase their portfolios and work. Among these works, many users offer collections of great Instagram mockups for free.
Because it has a large base of users you have an endless supply of different kinds of Instagram mockups. From iPhone screens to Post previews and laptop Instagram mockups there are many options to choose from.
These mockups are provided in layered PSD files and most of them use the Smart-object feature that allows you to swap out images instantly with ease.
Additionally, there are Instagram mockups that you can pay and buy as well.
Mockup Hunt is a website dedicated to sourcing choice mockups from various places, making it easy for you to pick. They have a wide range of Instagram Mockups to choose from as well.
Each of these Instagram mockup templates includes the PSD file as well and most options are available for free.
Freepik is an excellent place to get stock images from. Along with stock images they have an excellent and usable collection of Instagram mockups that you can use for free.
You would see both free and paid templates in the mix but you can filter based on whether you need free or premium templates. There are also other filters that you can apply to configure the type of templates you’re looking for.
For example here are the results when we filter by asset type and search for photo-based mockups:
As you can see the results are different.
All the free templates here come in PSD format and can be used as long as they’re attributed.
Unblast is an excellent source for getting top-quality Instagram Mockups along with the PSD file.
There are some unique templates to choose from. But you do have to experiment with different keywords as the search engine is not very accurate. Sometimes you may get other mockup templates in the mix too.
But once you sift through those, you can find some useful Instagram mockups to use for free.
The Figma Community is an open community for users to share work that they create on Figma. It contains both free and paid templates of all kinds. And for those who are more comfortable using Figma instead of Photoshop, there are many useful Instagram mockups here.
You can filter free content and open them in Figma. But like we mentioned you will need a Figma account to be able to use these Instagram Mockups. Luckily you can get started with a free account.
The free plan gives you access to the editor, allows for 3 collaborative design files, and lets you access unlimited personal drafts as well as the basic file inspection feature.
Canva is also a top source for design templates. And among its extensive library of templates, you can expect to find many Instagram mockups too.
Just scroll through the templates once you see the search results for Instagram mockups. Don’t forget to note the crown icon that denotes when there are paid elements in the templates. You can avoid those and go through the free options available.
It’ll be even easier with Canva as you can customize Canva templates then and there using the free plan.
Good Mockups is a site dedicated to providing exclusively mockup templates for various needs. And among these, you can find a sufficient amount of Instagram mockups to use for free.
The amount of templates you find here is limited compared to some of the previous sources we looked at. Nevertheless, you will find some unique Instagram mockups here that come in PSD format.
Vecteezy is another popular marketplace for design templates and various other design elements. There too you can get your hands on some free Instagram mockup templates.
There are a lot of unique templates to use here. The only catch is that these free Instagram mockups require attribution.
Artboard is much different than the previous sources for Instagram mockups that we just looked at. With Artboard you can generate Instagram mockups as you see fit using their editor.
The only thing is that you would need to have some sort of design knowledge working with design software to be able to tackle Artboard’s editor as it is not very beginner-friendly.
While the templates can be downloaded for free once you’re done working on them it should be noted that you can only create up to 3 projects in the free version. But whatever files you download come without a watermark. And before exporting you can choose the resolution and format and download your visuals either as an image or even as a video.
They also have ready-made mockup templates for various use cases besides the generation features.
This next source is a bit different than what we looked into so far. This is an ideal tool for those who have zero design expertise and have no way to work with Photoshop, Figma, or even Canva.
Influencer Marketing Hub is a tool for social media marketing and it offers a template-creating option. Using this tool is very easy. All you have to do is add all the details of your Instagram page, and relevant post specifics including images, captions, hashtags, etc. These will be reflected in the preview mockup on the right side. Once you’re done you can preview the whole thing and download it as required.
You can also choose between image, video, and carousel preview options.
This particular source is great for when you simply want to personally take a look at how your Instagram content will look before posting.
Here’s the downloaded preview:
It really is a simple tool to try out if you’re a beginner at marketing and have no knowledge of graphic design.
And with that let’s wrap up with some FAQs.
No, they are not a dire necessity but they can be super helpful to envision how things will look like especially if you’re a marketer advertising your brand. 68% of marketers are reported to say that Instagram delivers positive ROIs. That means you have to be very particular about how your posts, Stories, and Reels look on the platform. And as such mockups are highly recommended though not a necessity.
Most Instagram mockups are available in PSD (Photoshop) or Figma format. Other tools that provide access to online editors let you download in any preferred format.
To use the PSD mockups, you’ll need Adobe Photoshop. For Figma mockups, you’ll need a Figma account. Canva templates can be edited directly on the Canva platform. Some platforms like Artboard and Influencer Marketing Hub offer built-in editors, so you can create mockups without any additional software.
Additionally, here’s a non-designer’s guide to design software.
Some sources may have limitations, such as requiring attribution for free templates (e.g., Freepik, Vecteezy), or restricting the number of projects you can create on a free plan (e.g., Artboard). Always check the specific terms and conditions of each platform.
Yes, most Instagram mockup templates are fully customizable. You can easily edit them to match your brand’s colors, fonts, and imagery using the respective design software like Photoshop, Figma, or Canva.
