10 Best Apps for Creating Amazing Instagram Stories

If Instagram Stories still isn’t a part of your social media marketing strategy, it’s about time to level up! Approximately 70% of users on the platform watch and post Stories, making it a worthwhile undertaking. But if you don’t have a lot of inspiration to create Stories, or are lacking an artistic eye, it may seem like a tremendous task. 

That’s why we’ve come up with some of the best Instagram Story apps for marketers today. These apps enable you to create attractive and effective content to keep your followers in the loop. So without further ado…

10 Instagram Story Apps We Love

1. Canva

Compatibility: iOS and Android

Canva is a photo editor that allows you to make social media graphics and other visual content. If your Instagram Stories need some pizazz, with Canva you can add some text overlay, stickers, badges, icons, textures, frames, and filters to make your photos pop. 

If you are design-impaired or just don’t have the time, you can choose from Canva’s collection of 250,000+ free Instagram Story templates to quickly create something eye-catching. Use tools like design grids, photo enhancers, photo blur, or photo vignettes. You can also choose from over a million stock images to capture just the right vibe for your Story. 

Canva also offers a free video editing tool that allows you to trim, split, and resize clips. Then add text, transitions, graphic elements, music tracks, sound effects, and narration. Download Canva for free, but there are paid versions that add a few more features. Canva Pro is $12.99 a month for up to 5 people on your team.

It includes even more stock photos, videos, and templates, plus you can schedule your social media posts for up to 8 platforms. Canva Enterprise is $30 a month per person if you have a minimum of 25 people. Great for communication and collaboration with your team! 

Of course, you can use the created images on many different platforms, not just IG.

2. Mojo

Compatibility: iOS and Android

Mojo is an Instagram Story editor that keeps it fresh by constantly adding new templates and text styles every month. They are the masters of animation for Stories (which is trending right now BTW). Animated Stories from Mojo emit energy, are engaging and are sure to stop scrollers in their tracks.

Choose from hundreds of animated templates, which are even customizable. Change speeds, trim, crop, add effects, and change colors to your heart’s content! If there is a certain custom font you like, you can easily add it to Mojo to align with your other content (just make sure it is in a “ttf” or “otf” format). 

Mojo is free, but there are some paid premium features. Mojo Pro is $39.99 a year and includes more templates, text effects, animated stickers, and video effects. You can also export for all formats such as post, square, landscape, store, Reel, etc. Mojo also offers a Teams plan, which is $10 a month per user. 

3. InShot

Compatibility: iOS and Android

If you are a newbie to the video and photo editing game, InShot has a very easy interface to get used to. Not to mention it is one of the highest-rated video editing apps for IG Stories! The video editor can trim, cut, merge, blur, split, or crop your videos. With speed control, you can speed your videos up or slow them down to add some interest.

Then just choose your favorite background, effects, and filters to spruce it up. InShot offers free music and sound effects you can implement into your Story, or you can add your music. Fade the music in and out, or if you want to, record a voiceover to grab users’ attention. 

With InShot’s collage maker, you can display up to nine photos out of your camera roll into one single photo collage. Place the pictures, then add filters and adjust the light levels. You can also fuse together your favorite videos with a video collage! And finally, you can add filters, stickers, text, icons, emojis, and other fun effects to both your photo and video content. 

InShot is a free app, but if you plan to use it a lot, you may want to upgrade. The Pro plan has three-tier pricing: $3.99/mo, $14.99/year, or a one-time charge of $34.99 for life. But if you just want to get rid of ads and watermarks, you can do that for just $3.99. Easily adapt the aspect ratio on InShot to fit various platforms. 

4. Storyluxe

Compatibility: iOS

If you admire high-quality and sleek aesthetics for your Stories, Storyluxe may be the one. Many style-conscious celebrities and influencers turn to Storyluxe for beautifully designed templates. They’ve got some of the trendiest and most creative templates out there! Some popular template styles include polaroid, instant film, neon, floral, paper, love, and collage.

Choose from over 700 photo and video IG story templates. Then check out Storyluxe’s filters, background textures, and colors and choose what most captures your tastes. There are 16 curated designer fonts to choose from. Choose the color and text size you want, and dazzle your followers with your words or phrases. If you can’t think of the right words to say, look at the branding “hot list” for inspiration. 

There are no sticker packs with Storyluxe. FYI, it only offers basic photo editing and abysmal video editing. So if that is a selling point for you, you may want to choose another app. Monthly access is $3.99 while yearly adds up to $26.99. These plans allow unlimited access to premium templates, backdrops, fonts, and filters.

And they keep it fresh, modern, and trendy by constantly adding new choices to keep you coming back. If you’ve got an iPhone, you’re in luck! Storyluxe is only available in the App Store. 

5. Adobe Express

Compatibility: iOS and Android

Adobe Express, formerly Adobe Spark Post, is also known for its high-quality templates. There are thousands to choose from, plus the right tools to make them shine. If you aren’t the most artistic, Adobe Express offers custom-generated color palettes based on your design.

It will also accept Hex and RGB values or you can save your brand colors to the library to easily access it for your next Stories. Add custom text for an added pop. The photo editor allows you to remove the photo’s background as well as sprinkle in some fun animated effects. And with the video editor, you can add video clips, pictures, text effects, sounds, or voiceovers.

Trim, resize, and even animate your videos. The free version offers thousands of templates, design assets, and fonts. It allows you to access basic editing and photo effects. The Premium plan is $9.99 a month and offers over 20,000 fonts, 160 million royalty-free stock photos, and you can quickly add your branding, logo, colors, and fonts. 

Change the layout for any platform you are creating for, from Snapchat to Facebook. 

6. Unfold

Compatibility: iOS and Android

Unfold is a video and photo editor with hundreds of templates for your Instagram Story, Instagram posts, Reels, TikTok, Snapchat, and any other platforms you use. The templates are sleek, modern, and minimalistic; great for influencers building their brands.

There are also animated templates if you prefer something a little more eye-catching. Take your pick of filters, special effects, GIFs, text, stickers, textures, and backgrounds. The textures and backgrounds in the Reel maker include the finest color presets and texture patterns.

You can then use the color picker or eyedrop tool to find the right hue or tone for your content. Or you can use hex codes to match up your brand’s already existing colors. An added benefit of Unfold is that you can plan and organize your posts with the feed planner tool. Schedule your posts to save you time and target the times IG gets the most engagement. 

Unfold also allows you to create a Bio Site for a place to store all your links after being directed from the link in your bio. Add your social media and professional links then add “Support me” buttons to make it easy to receive payments. You will get your URL as well as your profile picture included. 

The basic version has a limited offering; about 25 free templates, whereas 60+ are available with Unfold Pro. Go for either the yearly membership priced at $99.99 a year or the monthly membership at $12.99 a month. You can also buy template backgrounds individually. 

7. GoDaddy Studio aka Over

Compatibility: iOS and Android

If you’re all about quotes, written announcements, and any IG story with something to read, Over may be the creator app for you. Over has tons of fonts to choose from, to express what you want to say. Edit photos, add graphics, and choose from stock videos or add your own for your video Stories.

Unfortunately, you can’t share the content you make on Over directly to your Stories, but if you upgrade to the Pro plan ($69.99 a year) you can schedule your posts. The plan also allows you to put in a logo or font that goes with your brand and find many more layouts, graphics, and fonts to choose from. 

8. Seen: Stories Maker

Compatibility: iOS

Check out Seen’s many templates (over 1000!), stickers, GIFs, filters, and animated text. These designs are especially appealing to content creators in lifestyle and beauty niches. Seen is best known for its smooth video transitions. The app comes from the makers of Facetune, which is all about perfection.

Perfect your Stories with these slick and dramatic transitions. You can make images dissolve into each other or slide away smoothly, and set the text to fade in and out. The photo editor is basic and unfortunately, there is no video editor. You can, however, mix video and photo in the same layout. 

If you’d like access to Seen’s exclusive stickers, filters, stock photos, popular layouts, and exclusive transitions, try out a paid plan. Prices range from $7.99 to $99.99 for StoryBoost unlimited access. 

9. VSCO

Compatibility: iOS and Android

VSCO is known for its filters and edits for beautiful Instagram Stories. If you are looking for a professional photo editor, VSCO is it. Presets and tools are available to find just the right light, color, texture, or perspective for your selfie masterpiece. Even if you aren’t a pro photographer, VSCO can make you feel like one! 

But VSCO isn’t all about pictures. There is also a video editor with features like color control and filters. Adjust the contrast, brightness, temperature, and more. Be aware, however, that video editing is only available for paid users. The free version comes with 10 presets, but the paid plan ($19.99 a year) offers over 200. 

10. Lift: Story Maker

Compatibility: iOS

Lift is an Instagram Story app that has been around for years. Over its long lifespan, it has developed hundreds of templates to choose from. This includes templates for e-commerce, fashion, travel, news, business, and more. And they are editable; just pick out the fonts, animations, and stickers to create Stories.  

The free version comes with 10 royalty-free music tracks. You can choose from popular songs or generate license-free tracks powered by AI. If you’d rather add your music, you can pick out music from your files or iTunes. Or forego the tunes altogether, and pick out some quirky sound effects or add a voiceover to catch scrollers’ attention.  

There is both a photo and a video editor, but the features are pretty simplistic. Paid membership for Lift Pro is $9.99 a month. 

Level Up Your IG Stories

Are you ready to take your Instagram to the next level? Try out any of these Instagram Story Apps to create beautiful content for your followers. Not sure what to create in your Story? Try introducing your brand, your team, and your product/service to the world! With Stories, you can create polls, add FAQs, do shoutouts, and promote events or your latest blog. The possibilities are endless!

After creating amazing Instagram Stories, monetize with Tappie!