Creators helping creators · free forever

Grow on Instagram and TikTok for free, with real engagement from creators your size.

PodSwap is a free engagement exchange for Instagram and TikTok where real creators engage with each other's posts by hand. 16 free Instagram tools and 2,550 niche guides come with it.

Help another creator, earn points and use them to receive engagement. Explore the free tools, prepare your next post or find someone to collaborate with. No card. No social password. You perform every engagement yourself.

Join free See everything we do How it works →

Here for TikTok? Go to the TikTok side →

Instagram — live TikTok — comment exchange open Username only, never your password No bots, no automation on your account AI-run platform 3,836 creators

What we do

Three things, and they feed each other

The exchange gives creators engagement. Running it produces data nobody else has. That data becomes the free tools and the monthly research — which is what brings the next creators in.

pod podswap · how it fits together

MB TH

The exchange gives creators engagement

Real comments, saves, shares, follows and story views — given by hand, matched by follower size first and niche second.

Running it produces data nobody else has

Hand-given engagement across every niche is a first-party record no outside tool can see.

FREE Shadowban scan FREE Podscore FREE Published algorithm report

That data becomes free tools and research

Free analytics, the monthly algorithm report and 2,550 niche guides — which bring the next creators in.

pod podswap The core of it 5 exchanges · by hand Engagement exchanges Give real engagement by hand, earn points, spend them to receive it back. Five separate exchanges, each with its own balance. View all 9 pages pod podswap No account needed for most Free analytics tools Shadowban scanning, caption scoring, posting heatmaps and content performance — the things other sites put behind a subscription. View all 7 pages pod podswap Published monthly 2,550 niche guides Research & guides What our corpus actually shows about the Instagram algorithm, plus a growth guide for every niche and a directory of creators to collaborate with. View all 4 pages

Where it runs

Two platforms, one honest scoreboard

Instagram is the full product. On TikTok you can connect an account and use the comment exchange today; the other exchanges are built, and members vote on which opens next.

Instagram The full product

TikTok Comment exchange open

Comments Open O P E N A written comment is the highest-intent action on the board, and the one a passing reader is most likely to notice.
Shares Open O P E N Sharing to a story puts your post in front of an audience that already chose to follow the sharer.
Saves Open O P E N A save is the strongest indication that a post was worth coming back to later.
Follows Open O P E N Deduped permanently — you can only follow an account once, so a pair is spent after a single exchange.
Stories Open O P E N Pairwise dedup per calendar month ensures active cohort engagement without burning future pairs.

5 exchanges open 16 free tools 2,550 niche guides

Watch Members are voting on which opens next V O T I N G One video, watched through.
Saves Members are voting on which opens next V O T I N G One tap, on a video you were already watching.
Comments Open O P E N Reading the video properly, then writing something true about it.
Deep Dive Members are voting on which opens next V O T I N G Three videos, watched end to end.

1 of 4 exchanges open 4 tools & guides 10 published safety rails

How the vote works → The safety rails →

How it works

The loop, end to end

Every action is performed by a person. There is no automation anywhere in that loop, which is the way you stay in control of your participation. Follow your social platform’s rules and account warnings.

Every mechanism →

@mira.builds MB @mira.builds 5,000+ Rising Voices · 12 posts read No password asked

Account verified

Your form cues are the clearest I've seen this month. Open in Instagram ↗ +1 point

1 5 engagements queued

TH QS CC Your bracket first, then your niche

What a point buys

Give 7, get 5

Actions you give 21

Points earned 3

Engagements on your posts 15 by real creators, by hand

On Free, 21 actions earn 3 points. Free: 7 actions = 1 point · Pro: 6 actions = 1 point · Max: 5 actions = 1 point · Every tier: 1 point = 5 engagements. Pro and Max are waitlist-only.

Behind the exchange

Who sees your post is decided by how closely you match

You are never handed a feed to scroll. When you open an exchange, PodSwap scores every post waiting for engagement against you and serves the closest match first. Audience size decides; niche breaks the tie. Here it is, running on a worked example.

@mira.builds

You, opening the comments exchange

5,000+ Rising Voices Fitness › Home Workouts

Audience match, by bracket

Highlighted: your bracket. Dots: the posts waiting.

<500 Newcomers 30%
500+ Community Builders 50%
1,000+ Nano-Influencers 70%
2,500+ Micro-Influencers 90%
5,000+ Rising Voices 100%
10k+ Mid-Tier 80%
25k+ Power Players 60%
50k+ Macro 40%
100k+ Verified Voices 20%
250k+ A-Listers 10%
500k+ Mega 10%
1m+ Millionaire Club 10%
5m+ Vanguard 10%
10m+ Titans 10%
25m+ Stratosphere 10%
50m+ Pantheon 10%
100m+ Centurions 10%

Your bracket is a 100% audience match. The nearest ones get 90%, then 80% and so on, never below 10%.

6 posts scored · 1 served

1 TH

@thehomereps

5,000+ Rising Voices · Home Workouts

Audience size match 100%, niche match 100%.

100% match Served first
2 QU

@quietstrength Pro

5,000+ Rising Voices · Yoga

Audience size match 100%, niche match 33%.

100% match Served first
3 CE

@ceramics.co

5,000+ Rising Voices · Pottery

Audience size match 100%, niche match 0%.

100% match Served first
4 MA

@macro.mondays

2,500+ Micro-Influencers · Meal Prep

Audience size match 90%, niche match 0%.

90% match Served first
5 DU

@dumbbelldiary

10k+ Mid-Tier · Home Workouts

Audience size match 80%, niche match 100%.

80% match Served first
6 PE

@peakform Max

50k+ Macro · Home Workouts

Audience size match 40%, niche match 100%.

40% match Served first

Served first: @thehomereps. 3 creators are your exact size, a 100% match each — so niche decided, and only @thehomereps shares yours.

Every weight, in full →

Audience size first

Creators in your follower bracket are a 100% audience match. A 400-follower account commenting on a 2m-follower post is not an exchange, it is a donation — so size is weighed first.

Niche breaks the tie

Same niche and category is a 100% niche match; same category alone, 33%. Audience size is worth over 600 times as much, so niche only ever decides between creators your size.

One post, never a feed

You are served the highest match. Ties go to whoever has waited longest, so waiting is never punished. On comments, even a Max boost is worth 0.02% of a match, so paying never jumps a closer bracket.

Live Rooms

Rooms open when enough people are in them

An exchange stays closed until enough creators are ready at the same time — ready meaning they asked for a room in the last 2 hours, not merely that they are logged in. When it opens, everyone in the room is granted free demand on their own post. Drag the room size, or watch it fill.

MB TH QS CC DD MM PF JR AK LN SO EV RT NB KW YU Granted to each 4 engagements

Creators ready 7 creators

Open — all five exchanges Opened at 7. Everyone here receives 4 engagements.

Comments
Shares
Saves
Follows
Stories

Creators you could reach: 6
Held back as margin: 25% · 2
You receive: 4

Add a creator and everyone already here is topped up — the grant grows with the room, it is not fixed at the moment it opens.

Holds open

2 hours minimum

and longer while engagement is still landing

Closes after

30 minutes of silence

not because the headcount dipped

Never stuck

A guaranteed opening time

when seats are held but never around together

After 7 days shut

Everyone waiting is nudged

7 is a floor, not a starting point

PowerSwap ALWAYS OPEN The exchange that is open when the rooms are shut It rotates through the launched exchanges, on Instagram and TikTok, so there is always somewhere to earn — and checks you into any room that opens mid-session. Free: 6 actions = 1 point Pro: 5 actions = 1 point Max: 4 actions = 1 point

Trust

Fair by design, not by promise

Three rules keep an exchange between strangers honest: your health score decides how fast your points land, nobody is served the same post twice, and every dispute gets a clock and a reply.

The trust centre →

Rule 1 · Health score

Your health score decides when your points land

100

Every account starts at 100

Points land instantly Points held 24 hours

At 95 or above, a point you earn — and the engagements it buys — land at once. Below 95, both wait 24 hours while the other side can report them. : . Back to 95, so everything held is released now. Under 95: new points wait 24 hours. Still 95 or above: points keep landing instantly.

Try it — what moves the score

A dispute filed costs 1 on comments and 2 on the other 4 exchanges. The score is keyed to the Instagram account, so deleting and re-adding it resets nothing. The health score in full →

The boundary Your account stays yours No password, ever No session, no official Instagram API Every engagement left by a real person, by hand How that is enforced → Rule 3 · Disputes A clock, a right of reply and a human 1 Report it An engagement that did not land. Filing it costs the other side health at once. 2 24 hours to reply The other side can answer with proof before anything is final. 3 A moderator decides On comments, a person reads both sides when you still disagree. Reporting, proof and moderation →

Rule 2 · Deduplication

You will never be served the same post twice in an exchange

Within one exchange: A post you have engaged with never comes back in that exchange, and neither does a queue you have already worked.
Follows: Deduped permanently. You can only follow an account once, so a pair is spent after a single exchange.
Stories: Deduped pairwise per calendar month, so an active cohort can keep exchanging without burning future pairs.
Between exchanges: Not deduplicated. The same post can reach you in comments and again in saves — each exchange keeps its own history.

The AI

An AI runs the system. People do the engaging

Every other AI growth tool automates your Instagram account, which is exactly the thing that gets accounts actioned. PodSwap puts the intelligence on the other side of the wall: the agent builds and runs the platform, and never holds a credential of yours.

The AI does

The PodSwap Operator

Designed the brand, the prototype and the site
Writes the niche corpus on demand
Grades the hook and keywords a rubric cannot
Writes and sends the outreach
Publishes the monthly algorithm report

It writes a niche guide when 5 creators ask for one, and grades the 30 Podscore points a rubric cannot reach.

The AI growth system → The full ledger →

People do

Every engagement, by hand

Every engagement Every comment, save, share, follow and story view on PodSwap is performed by a person, by hand, inside the Instagram app. The agent has no access to your account, no password and no session. There is no automation on your account to detect, because there is none.
Every dispute When delivery is contested, a human moderator reads the screenshot and decides. Penalties run both ways: a false report costs the person filing it exactly what an upheld report costs the person who did not deliver.
Every judgement about your account PodSwap does not predict your reach, does not promise you followers, and does not tell you your post will go viral. The tools grade what is measurable and stop where measurement stops.

No password, no session, no Instagram API. The AI never acts on a creator's account.

How that is enforced →

Free tools

Try two of them right here

No account, nothing uploaded. Edit the caption and Podscore regrades it in your browser; the shadowban scanner's seven signals are drawn to their real weights.

All 20 tools →

Podscore

FREE

A rubric, not a vibe

Structure a paragraph runs over 3 lines 20 / 25

Call to action weak ask 10 / 20

Length & depth under 1,200 characters caps this at 5 2 / 15

Hashtag hygiene 7 tags — over the limit of 5 0 / 10

32 of 70 gradeable

The full rubric →

Hook & Keywords — 30 points, withheld. Scoring a hook needs the language model, and that runs on your account, not in this browser. It is not a locked feature teasing you; it is the edge of what this page can honestly do.

Shadowban scanner

FREE

Seven weighted signals

Not a verdict pulled from the air. Each signal has a window, a threshold and a weight, and the scan tells you which one tripped.

Shadowban detection signals and their weights
Signal	Trips when	Weight
Engagement cliff The last three posts average more than 60% below the twenty before them, and that recent average is itself under 100 interactions.		30
Growth stagnation You posted through the week and net followers did not move.		15
Hashtag reach decay Hashtagged posts underperform your own overall average by more than 40%, with at least three posts on each side of the comparison.		15
Follow/unfollow anomaly Total following churn across the week exceeds 50 accounts.		10
Posting frequency spike Your last three days run at three times or more your thirty-day rate.		10
Content repetition More than 60% of the pairs among your last ten posts are more than 80% similar, measured on the accessibility caption.		10
Engagement velocity drop Seven-day average engagement sits more than 30% below the thirty-day average.		10

0–25 healthy 26–59 warning 60+ suppressed

Run a scan →

In the app · Account Report

An Instagram algorithm checker that scores your whole account

The Account Report is the Instagram algorithm checker inside PodSwap. It reads your recent posts against what the Instagram algorithm rewards right now — 17 levers in five pillars: content, captions, discovery, timing and consistency — and gives one algorithm-fit score out of 100, worked out as 80% habit fit and 20% consistency, with the fixes ranked by the engagement at stake.

Where you're losing engagement

Ranked by the engagement at stake.

1 Collaboration Lift Partly aligned
2 Location Advantage Partly aligned

Working

Opening Hook · Aligned
Content Format ROI · Aligned
Best Posting Hours · Aligned

Compared with

All creators Creators my size My niche

Over the last 30 days, last 90 days, last 6 months or last 12 months.

Engagement means likes and comments; saves, shares and reach are not public.
Posts that received PodSwap exchange engagement are left out, so the exchange cannot flatter your score.

Is there an Instagram algorithm checker for my own account?

Get your Account Report This month's Algorithm Report →

Five pillars, 17 levers

14 levers across content, captions, discovery and timing are scored one by one and make up habit fit. The 3 consistency levers are scored together, as one pillar.

Every lever, graded

Aligned 75% fit or better
Partly aligned 45% or better
Gap below that
Too few posts under 3 posts in it

Four verdicts

75+ Algorithm-ready
55–74 Solid foundations
40–54 Room to grow
0–39 Working against the algorithm

The research

2,550 niche guides across 23 categories

Sized by how many guides each category holds. Every rectangle is a link — and when five creators ask for a niche that is missing, the agent writes it.

Browse every niche →

Published monthly The Published algorithm report What our own corpus shows about the Instagram algorithm, from first-party data. Read the report → Collaborate The creator directory Find creators in your niche and bracket to collaborate with. Open the directory → Written on demand Ask for a missing niche When 5 creators ask for the same niche, the agent writes its guide. Find your niche →

Community

The people make the exchange

Rooms only open when enough of you show up, so everything here rewards showing up — and the members decide what gets built next.

The community →

Streaks Show up daily, keep the flame 7 engagements Target 2 per week Freezes 13 Badges Leaderboards Five boards, reset every month Comments Shares Saves Follows Stories The members' vote You decide what ships next Votes per memberOne StandingsPublic Launch dates publishedNone exist Referrals Bring a creator, earn points Points for every creator who joins and actually participates, redeemable in any exchange, tracked per link. Collaboration A marketplace for collabs, paid in points Orders, chat and reviews across 7 dimensions, with creators found through the creator directory.

Pricing

Free, and it stays free

PodSwap is free to join, with no card required. Core exchanges use earned points. Public tools and guides are free, member tools have usage allowances, and advanced-access differences are listed on the free plan page. Pro and Max cannot currently be purchased.

What it costs, in full →

What differs between the Free, Pro and Max tiers
Paid-tier gate	Free Today	Pro When it opens	Max When it opens
Actions per point	7	6	5
Per-post Podscore and content-performance scoring	Not scored	Will be scored	Will be scored
Creator directory Reach mode	One bracket either side	Three down, two up	Three down, two up
Saved comment groups	10	25	25
Collaboration requests a day	10	20	Unlimited

Pro and Max are not on sale yet. Their columns are what each tier will include when it opens; until then every account is on Free.

Go deeper

Every mechanism, written out

19 pages, each with the real constants: how the exchange runs, how it stays fair, the growth tools and the community around it.

Everything else

The rest of the shelf

Every tool and service →

Limits

What PodSwap does not do

Written down because a growth product that will not tell you its limits is not one to trust with your account.

It does not run everywhere. Instagram is the full product. On TikTok you can connect an account and use the comment exchange; the other three TikTok exchanges are built and have not shipped, and members vote on which opens next — see /tiktok for exactly what exists. YouTube and everywhere else: nothing.
It does not promise you reach, views or followers. It matches you with creators of a comparable size in a comparable subject, and what happens after that is between your content and the algorithm.
It does not automate anything on your account. The AI runs the platform — the research, the reports, the outreach — and never touches your Instagram. Every engagement is performed by a person, by hand, in the Instagram app.
It does not ask for your password and does not use the official Instagram API. It reads your public profile only.
It does not sell you a paid plan. Pro and Max cannot currently be purchased. Free membership has usage allowances, and advanced-access differences are listed on the free plan page.
How we measure, and what we exclude →

From the blog

Latest writing

All articles →

3 September 2026 How AI supports PodSwap and where creators stay in control 22 April 2026 Podswap Launches Instagram Shadowban Scanner to Secure Content Visibility in 2026 20 April 2026 Instagram Engagement Leaderboards to Solve the 2026 Algorithm Challenge

Free forever

Connect a handle. It is free.

No password, no card, no automation. Join 3,836 creators exchanging engagement by hand.

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