DolphinRadar Alternatives for Recent Follows
DolphinRadar alternatives for seeing who a public Instagram account recently followed: SpyFollr, Recent Follow and Snoopreport compared: dates, alerts, price.
SpyFollr team6 min read
DolphinRadar alternatives come up for three reasons: you want an app instead of a website, you want alerts for more than one account, or you want to see how other tools date a "recent follow". DolphinRadar is one of the best known tools for watching a public Instagram account's Following list, and its brand is searched about as often as "recent follow" itself on Google Trends. Below is what DolphinRadar does, how SpyFollr compares on the same job, and two other options, all checked on 30 October 2026.
We make SpyFollr, so read our comparison with that in mind. Every line about another product comes from that product's own page on the check date, and we say where a page did not answer a question.
What DolphinRadar does
From its recent follow tracker page and plans page on 30 October 2026:
- Recent follows, free. The tracker page calls itself "Absolutely Free" and needs no Instagram login. It requires a public account.
- How "recent" is worked out. DolphinRadar saves the account's current Following list as a baseline. Accounts that appear after that are shown as new, with the time DolphinRadar first saw them, not the exact Instagram follow time. Its page also says Instagram does not show another profile's Following list in chronological order. We agree with both points: this is the honest way to do it.
- Email alerts for new accounts in the Following updates.
- Paid plans: Monthly, Quarterly and Annual tabs. The plans page showed no prices to us, and it says every plan tracks one Instagram account, so tracking more means subscribing more than once.
- Extras on longer plans: stories and highlights on Quarterly and Annual, plus "AI Insights" modules such as MBTI, persona, lifestyle and location.
The alternatives at a glance
| DolphinRadar | SpyFollr | Recent Follow (iOS) | Snoopreport | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Where | Website | iPhone app and web app | iPhone app | Website |
| Shows who a public account follows | Yes | Yes | Yes | Weekly or monthly reports |
| How new follows are dated | First seen after a baseline | First seen by SpyFollr | Dated log, newest first | In reports |
| Alerts | Push (Pro) | Not stated | Reports | |
| Accounts per plan | One per subscription | A watch list | Not stated | Not stated |
| Public stories | Quarterly and Annual plans | Yes | Not stated | Not stated |
| Likes | Not on the pages we checked | No | Not stated | Yes, in reports |
| Instagram login | No | No | Listing says no | Says your profile is not connected |
| Price seen | No prices shown | A few free checks a day, Pro paid | Pro $6.99 or $29.99 in-app | "$0.99 a week" headline |
"Not stated" means the product's own page did not say on our check date.
SpyFollr
SpyFollr does the same core job as DolphinRadar's tracker, in an app.
- Look up any public username in the iPhone app or the web app and see who it follows and who follows it. There is no Instagram login, SpyFollr never asks for your password, and the account you look up is not notified.
- First-seen dates. SpyFollr keeps a record of every account it has seen on each list. When a new one appears it is marked "New" and dated the day SpyFollr first saw it. Like DolphinRadar, we do not pretend to know the moment of the follow: nobody outside Instagram does, and since 9 September 2026 the order of a follow list says nothing about time (what changed).
- A watch list with push alerts. With Pro, SpyFollr re-checks the accounts on your watch list every few hours and sends a push alert when new names appear. On very large lists, where no tool can read every name each time, it tells you the count moved instead of guessing names. There is also a one-time alert if a watched account goes private.
- Public stories. The app and the web app play the active stories of public accounts; your account never appears in their viewer list.
What SpyFollr does not do: likes, comments, unfollows of other accounts, private accounts, or any personality or location profiling. We think those last ones are not something a tool should infer about a person who never signed up.
How it works in more detail is on the recent follow tracker page; plans are on pricing.
Recent Follow (iPhone app)
Recent Follow - Follow Tracker by Bob Wei had a 4.0 rating from 286 ratings on our check. Its listing says "no Instagram sign-in, no password", works on any public account, and keeps a dated log of the following list and followers with the newest entry first. In-app purchases listed: Pro at $6.99 and Pro at $29.99. One review says the app asked to sign in to a personal account, which contradicts the listing; we could not verify either way.
Snoopreport
Snoopreport takes a different approach: weekly or monthly reports on a public account, covering likes, follows, unfollows, active hours and an AI summary. Its home page shows "Just $0.99 a week" and says it uses public data and that your own profile is not connected. If likes are what you want, this is the kind of tool that offers them; SpyFollr does not.
Which one should you pick?
- You want a free web check now and email alerts for one account: DolphinRadar.
- You want an iPhone app, a watch list and push alerts: SpyFollr or Recent Follow.
- You want stories in the same app as the follow tracker: SpyFollr.
- You want likes and activity reports: Snoopreport.
Whatever you choose, check three things first: it never asks for your Instagram password, it says plainly that private accounts are out of reach, and it explains how it dates a "new" follow. A tool that claims exact follow times or private accounts is promising something it cannot know.
Using follow trackers fairly
A public Following list is public by the owner's choice; reading it is ordinary. Still, a follow is not evidence of anything, and watching one person closely can feel very different from their side. If the person is someone close to you, talking to them will tell you more than any list. Anyone looked up on SpyFollr can ask not to be listed (section 10 of our privacy policy).
FAQ
Is DolphinRadar free?
Its recent follow tracker page calls itself "Absolutely Free". Its paid plans (Monthly, Quarterly, Annual) showed no prices to us on 30 October 2026 and cover one tracked account each.
Does DolphinRadar show when someone followed someone?
It shows when DolphinRadar first saw the follow, after it saved a baseline. Its own page says it is not the exact Instagram follow time. SpyFollr works the same way.
What is the best DolphinRadar alternative?
For an iPhone app with a watch list and push alerts, SpyFollr. For a simple iOS log, Recent Follow. For likes and weekly reports, Snoopreport.
Do these trackers need my Instagram login?
DolphinRadar and SpyFollr say no login is needed, and SpyFollr never asks for your password. Never give any tracker your Instagram password.
Can any of them track private accounts?
No. A private account's lists are shown only to approved followers, and none of these tools claims otherwise.