The Ultimate Instagram Stories Templates Guide – Top Story Designs & Apps

Ever wondered what makes content creators and brands so successful on Instagram? There are newspaper magazines and culinary blogs that manage to stay relevant online with hundreds of thousands (and even millions) of active followers. The fact is: the vast majority of popular accounts owe their success to Instagram Stories templates.

Surprised?

This article is going to tell you everything about the importance of disappearing content in today’s media landscape. You’ll also get to know how top-quality Insta story design can help you stand out from the competition.

On top of that, I will introduce you to websites where you can easily get professional premium-grade Instagram Stories templates. To make your life easier, I’ve hand-picked a list of apps that you would definitely find useful for creating Story content.

And that’s not all! Keep reading until the end to discover the best free Instagram story templates. But first, let’s start with the basics.

What is Instagram Story Template?

Everyone who is slightly familiar with Instagram knows about Stories. Just for the sake of the article, let’s imagine that you don’t.

Stories is a feature that allows any user to post visual content (still images or videos) with additional text, emojis, or animation. The content can also have multiple interactive elements (like a pop-up screen, links, and voting polls). IG story is referred to as a “disappearing content.” What does that mean?

Unlike regular posts on Instagram, Stories are available only for the first 24 hours after being published. Afterward, they become archived and couldn’t be viewed by the general public. Unless, of course, the poster adds a Story to Highlights (I will touch on that later).

An Instagram story template is, in simple terms, a graphic or text form with blanks that users can fill with content. 

You might be wondering, are there viable reasons to use the IG story template instead of adding them manually? There are quite a lot, actually. Keep reading to find out more.

Why Use Instagram Stories Templates?

Stories are Instagram’s most integral, even iconic features. Let’s give you an idea of its popularity. Imagine that there are over half a billion people using IG Stories every day. That’s about half of daily Instagram viewers.

The high demand for disappearing content makes it an excellent marketing base for businesses and entrepreneurs. Especially so if you consider that about 200 million users check business profiles daily.

Since this type of content is available only for a limited time, businesses must create it regularly to stay relevant. Instagram Stories templates can streamline the content creating process.

In addition to that, some Stories can be a part of the user’s profile bio if added to “Highlights,” which is why you’d want them to look the part. With IG story templates, you can make content more pleasing to the eye without putting too much time and effort.

There are many reasons why Instagram story templates are so useful for content creators. Let’s take a closer look at each one.

Cost-effective Way to Post Content

As I mentioned numerous times already, users can access IG Stories only for the first 24 hours. That would make you think that it doesn’t make any sense to spend too many resources on Insta story design. And you’d be (mostly) right.

If you use an Instagram story template, you can significantly reduce the time spent on each new piece of content. You can also develop a “taste” for posting new Stories quickly, which will lead to creating more content on a regular basis.

In addition to time-saving, you’ll also save money. How? With Instagram Story templates, you don’t have to hire a professional designer every time you need to notify customers about a new offer.

Let’s take an Insta blogger, Lee Vosburgh, as an example. She made templates for various types of posts and uses them to deliver slick-looking fashion tutorials on a daily basis without spending much of her time.

Having a set of quality IG story templates is hugely beneficial because it allows you to upload new content on the go without extra effort. With that said, Instagram API is not up there with the times. It still doesn’t offer advanced functionality like posting schedule or automation.

But I have good news! As they say, there’s an app for that. Want to know about it? Don’t worry - I’ll get to later in the article!

Makes Stories Look Polished

At first, the majority of Stories of Instagram looked pretty simple. They gave off that “rough,” unprofessional feel.

However, the popularity of disappearing content keeps growing. As of now, over 62% of visitors express an interest in product or brand based on Insta story design. That is why users that desired to move with the tide realized that viewers expect a certain level of polish.

Goods news! You can post all sorts of content to attract a new audience (even unedited glimpses of your daily like or behind-the-scenes footage from your shoots) while remaining professional. 

Take a blogger Jillian Harris. Yes, she shares unedited content from personal life on a regular basis. If you take a look, you should notice that her posts are based on Instagram Stories templates.

These templates use styles and colors that are quite similar to her official website, which, obviously, gives her content a more polished look. But that’s not all.

When a user swipes up her story, he is taken to a site. And because the Insta story design is so similar to her website, it makes the navigation smoother and user experience - more consistent.

Helps Produce Eye-Catching Content

Instagram is an excellent platform for brands that can provide visually exciting content. Does that mean that mundane businesses, like news agencies, won’t get the upper hand? Wrong!

Anyone with a fitting Instagram story template can make their content eye-catching even without impressive light and shadow play (or flashy filters). Take a The Globe and Mail, for instance. It’s a Canadian newspaper article that makes people swipe on their Stories with intelligent, minimalistic Insta story design.

Don’t forget that many businesses don’t use pictures for Stories. Just look at Of a Kind – sometimes, a simplistic yet creative template does the trick.

It Helps You Stand Out

How to take your brand into the spotlight? Here’s a piece of advice. Make your disappearing content stand out from myriads of other brands with a distinguishable Insta story design.

An average brand post approximately 2.5 Stories per week, which makes the competition quite fierce. With that said, custom-tailored Instagram Stories templates can help you gain an edge over the rivals.

Use them to your advantage to showcase your brand’s unique “personality.” The readers will appreciate the brand even more if they think you are putting considerable effort and time into disappearing content.

Apartment Therapy is a home and décor design company that never shies away from innovative Instagram trends. This company was one of the first accounts that started using IG story templates for routine posts. That’s one of the main reasons it became so recognizable on media space (aside from their photogenic interior design). 

This design company uses a specific Instagram story template for each type of content. At the same time, all these templates share distinguishable themes that make Apartment Therapy so distinct.

Best Websites with IG Story Templates

Here’s a thing about Stories. You don’t necessarily need to create your templates, nor is it imperative to hire an expert marketer or graphic designer.

If you want to save resources and time, I recommend visiting online markets (shops) with digital assets for sale.

Two of the most popular websites for Instagram Story templates are Creative Market and Placeit.

Let’s take a closer look.

Creative Market

Creative Market is a buyer-friendly platform for small and medium-sized businesses, entrepreneurs, and freelancers.

What Is Creative Market?

It is an outstanding platform with an enormous digital asset selection. You can find various elements of a good IG story template (stock photos, logos, fonts, textures). And, of course, there’s a wide assortment of pre-made Instagram story templates.

Is It Expensive?

Over 30,000 shops are competing for sales in Creative Market. Thus, most of the assets and Instagram templates are available at a reasonable (or outright low) prices.

It’s important to note that there’s also a hefty fee for every purchase, though that concerns only sellers.

How to Buy with Creative Market?

Making a purchase on this portal is very easy. You can buy any of the available Insta story designs (or any other assets) in one of two ways:

1. Pay directly via Credit Card
2. Purchase with Credit Packages (buy a predefined amount of credits via the Credit Card or PayPay)

It’s worth mentioning that registration on Creative Market is free. However, nothing stops you if you want to buy products without signing up.

Placeit

Here is another service for content creators who are looking for affordable solutions for their Instagram profile.

What Is Placeit?

Placeit is a powerful mockup generator of logos, videos, and designs.

Unlike Creative Market, this portal doesn’t offer catalogs of premade templates. Instead, Placeit provides tools that can help you create unique and professional-looking designs with minimal effort.

Let’s see how it works for creating content for an Instagram story template.

Placeit Features

There are quite a few features that Instagram users will find worthwhile. They include:

• Template Creator. The Design section makes it easy to create templates for various products or services. You can construct an Instagram story template using one of the hundreds available tools (there are over 1800 of them to choose from as of now).
• Mockup Generator. Want to create a 100% unique template that people will associate with your brand? Try creating your own mockup and use it in your Insta story design.
• Logo Maker. Did you know that the right logo presentation can boost brand recognition by 80%? Goods news! Placeit has tools that allow you to customize various elements (text, font, frame, and color) to make a truly distinctive logo.
• Video Maker. The Video section is an excellent find for content creators and businesses. It allows users to create professional videos (or slides) for Instagram Stories without breaking a sweat.

Starting with Placeit

The registration process is completely free with Placeit. Head to the official site and click Sign Up at the top right corner of the page.

By the way, you don’t have to pick a payment plan from the get-go, nor do you have to apply for newsletters to create an account.

How Much Does Placeit Cost?

Placeit is not a free service. However, you can sign up for a trial to get a taste of the tools.

Let’s say you’ve found a template maker tool that suits you. You have two options:

1. Buy a single item. A viable option if you want to design a few mockups, videos, or Instagram story templates (the price ranges from $2 to $9 for each). Important note: it’s not a reasonable option for creating logos because a single one costs $39.
2. Get a subscription. Monthly access to all of Placeit tools costs only $14.95. The annual subscription stands at $99.95 (which translates to $8.33 each month). And I should note that there are no restrictions for both plans–you are free to create an unlimited number of assets for Instagram (or other social networks).

Envato Elements

Another platform from Envato, where you can download an unlimited amount of Instagram story templates for a monthly subscription.

Best Instagram Story Templates from Creative Market

Looking to streamline disappearing content creation with offerings from the Creative Market? Then, keep reading below.

Without further ado, here are great eye-catching IG story templates for content creators, entrepreneurs, and businesses.

Canva Social Media Pack

Features:

• Over 2100 social media templates
• Purchase once and receive new templates in future
• Customizable via Canva mobile and web app
• Comes with a free tutorial

Canva Social Media Pack has over 2100 templates for various social media, including Instagram. The designs themselves are so diverse and elegant that any user is guaranteed to find something suitable.

Want to change the color pallet or design to fit your profile? It’s easy! You can fully customize each IG story template in Photoshop. If you lack photo editing skills – you can avail of the Canva website and mobile apps (the bundle comes with a free tutorial).

Powered by Creative Market

Animated Instagram & Static Bundle

Features:

• Over 2188 animated and static templates
• Regularly updated
• For Instagram posts & Stories, Facebook, and Pinterest
• Fully editable
• Free tutorial

Liven up your Instagram with this a huge selection of fantastic static and animated templates. The bundle is full of high-resolution imagery that you can easily customize with using smart, well-ordered layers.

In addition to Instagram designs, the product includes Facebook and Pinterest templates. Each type of content comes in size that fits respective social media. For example, Instagram story and post designs are separate (which makes posting even easier).

Besides, the bundle comes with a free tutorial if you want to modify some of the templates.

Powered by Creative Market

Kyoto Instagram Stories Templates

Features:

• 20 templates
• Compatible with Photoshop
• High resolution and pixel-perfect shapes
• Comes with free fonts and a guide

Kyoto is an affordable pack of delightful IG story templates. These eye-pleasing designs can add a whiff of temperance and to the daily disappearing content, making it much more professional-looking.

Want to enhance these templates? Don’t worry – they are available in PDF and PSD files. This means that you are free to edit them in Photoshop (the product comes with a free guide on how to do it).

Powered by Creative Market

Calm Social Media Bundle

Features:

• 72 templates for Instagram Stories and posts
• Compatible with Illustrator and Photoshop
• Separate, customizable layers
• Available in various file types (PSD, AI, PDF, and JPG)

This template pack won’t disappoint you if you’re used to judging products by their names. Make use of these soothing, soft Insta story designs to give your daily content a better flow. In addition to Stories, some of these templates are optimized for IG posts.

All of the files and their elements (fonts, text, images, and backgrounds) are editable via Photoshop and Illustrator.

Powered by Creative Market

#InstaLove Instagram Posts & Stories

Features:

• 40 unique Instagram story & post templates
• More than 150 additional assets and textures for customization
• Photoshop CC and CS6 compatibility
• Comes with free instructions

#InstaLove is a Stories template aimed at influences and entrepreneurs.

With this bundle, you get over 40 designs, as well as myriads of assets (if you want to enhance them). What about customizability?

You are free to select from over 150 marble backgrounds, shadows, or other textures to make an Instagram story template that won’t fail to leave a positive impression. The possibilities are almost endless, provided you have sufficient knowledge of Photoshop.

Powered by Creative Market

Paper Animated Stories

Features:

• Over 120 hi-res animated templates
• Highly customizable
• Editable in Adobe Photoshop, Adobe XD, or Canva app
• Comes with links to free tutorials and fonts

Paper Animated Stories is a good bundle for promoting several social networks. It consists of 60 animates Instagram Posts and Stories, as well as 60 more designs.

All of the provided animations and images are available in high resolution. The fully layered design makes it easy to replace text, fonts, or background images. By the way, in addition to Photoshop compatibility, it’s possible to edit these Instagram Stories templates in the Canva app.

Powered by Creative Market

15 Instagram Stories (Canva)

Features:

• 15 story templates
• Free font and graphic elements
• Customizable via Canva mobile and web app

This cheap bundle consists of–you guessed it–15 Instagram story templates. The featured designs are simplistic and professional-looking, making them a fitting choice for photographers, graphic designers, and fashion bloggers.

As with other options in this top, these templates are fully customizable through photo editing software, as well as via the free Canva app.

Powered by Creative Market

Best IG Stories Templates from Placeit

Now, it’s time to see what Placeit has to offer for Instagram bloggers. Here’s the list of the tools I have hand-picked from myriads of available Instagram Stories generators.

Insta Story Maker for Quotes

Features:

• For inspiring quotes
• Up to 4 layers of text
• One customizable color layer

Have some inspiring thoughts to share with your followers? With Insta Story Maker, you can bombard them with uplifting quotes. Also, this tool is incredibly easy to master - you’ll be filling your account with top-notch disappearing content in no time.

Story Generator for a Makeup Giveaway

Features:

• For online shops, giveaways, or challenges.
• Five text layers (customizable text and background color)
• Five color layers

A great tool for generating slick templates to grab the reader’s attention. As the name suggests, this tool is perfect for giveaways, challenges, or product advertisements. Many creators would surely make use of the highly customizable graphic elements, as well as up to five text layers.

Story Template for a Fashion Brand Offering Sales

Features:

• For brand promotion
• Six text layers
• Four color layers
• Two graphic layers

Want a set of head-turning Instagram Stories templates to promote your brand or a new line of products? Tailor your designs with this versatile generator of fashion brand offerings. This tool should certainly help increase sales with trendy disappearing content.

Instagram Story Maker Featuring a Huge Sale Promo

Features:

• For product marketing and sale announcements
• Eight text layers
• Four color layers
• Two graphic layers

Want to announce hot sales in a way that is impossible to ignore? Then, you will love this story maker tool. It’s an excellent choice for entrepreneurs, startups, as well as small and medium-sized online shops.

I should state that this tool features the most customizable templates on this list, which supports an embarrassingly high number of text layers and color options.

Story Creator Featuring an Illustration of a Man Jogging

Features:

• For physical activities
• Four text layers
• Three color layers
• Two layers of graphics

Do you like morning jogs? Tend to partake in other physical activities? There are no reasons not to let every single one of your followers know about it!

Then, make use of this IG story design generator – it makes it extremely difficult not to brag about your healthy habits on a day-to-day basis.

Best Apps for Instagram Story Design

Do you find most of the Instagram Stories templates too plain? And, let’s also face it, photo & image editing software can be tough to master. What can you do to enhance the disappearing content without the help of Photoshop or other advanced apps?

There is a solution. Actually, there are many solutions.

I’d like to introduce you to the most useful apps for Insta story design and content enhancement.

Let’s dive right in!

Unfold – Create Unique Instagram Stories Templates

There are many ways to create excellent designs without advanced image editors – and this app is one of them. 

Unfold is one of the leading applications for creating unique Instagram Stories templates on the go. I won’t overexaggerate if I say that this app alone is a sufficient solution for bloggers, entrepreneurs, and businesses.

Want to streamline the creation of daily disappearing content? Then, do yourself a favor and try this app for yourself for free on an iOS or Android gadget.

Later – Planning & Automation

Delivering disappearing content every single day, week, or month can be tiring and overwhelming. What if I told you that there’s an app that could help you plan how to deliver all these Stories in advance?

Later’s Stories scheduler is a service just for that. Don’t worry – it’s as straightforward as it can get. Prepare all your Stories, drop them to the storyboard, customize the time and date of the posting. Done!

This tool is a Godsend for people looking to automate IG Stories uploading.

InShot (iOS & Android) – Add Video Backgrounds

InShot makes it easy to edit (resize, crop, change aspect ratio) videos on the go. One of the app’s advertised features is the ability to adjust content specifically for Instagram posts and Stories.

The best part: this application is free. It’s also available on both Android devices and iOS. Don’t hesitate to try it for yourself!

Canva – Customize Instagram Stories Templates

I’ve already touched on Canva-friendly templates and the Canva mobile app. So, what exactly is it?

It’s an amateur-friendly service for creating and fine-tuning Instagram Stories templates. Canva is incredibly easy to master. Not to mention, it’s way faster to master compared to Adobe Photoshop.

Over – Customizing IG Story Templates

Want to boost your social media presence? Over offers a wide variety of videos, images, and graphic designs for creating top-notch Instagram Stories templates.

Over has many stock photos or images you can customize. Alternatively, you can use your own files and add other elements, like stylish text graphics or logos.

Sounds interesting? Then, feel free to try this app for yourself to see how easy and accessible story template creation can be!

CutStory – Optimize Video for Instagram Stories

Have a bunch of videos to share with your followers? CutStory is an excellent solution for those who have a bunch of footage sitting on the iPhone (or iPad) but don’t want to spend too much time editing.

CutStory has a straightforward UI that allows modifying any footage quickly and effortlessly. With this app, you can divide lengthy videos into Instagram-friendly segments, add text, images, stickers, and attach music.

Overall, this app is a great addition to a library of any content creator.

Adobe Spark – Modify Content and Text Graphic

Not all of the Adobe products have a high entry barrier. Adobe Spark offers an easy way to improve your Insta story design with various practical tools.

Why should you try this app? First, it allows you to add custom graphic elements or make use of thousands of professional Instagram Stories templates. Secondly, this tool is absolutely free. All in all, nothing should be stopping you from trying Adobe Spark out!

11 Free Instagram Stories templates

Don’t want to pay for premium IG story templates or create your own? Don’t worry – the Web is full of excellent ones you can get at no charge.

Below, you’ll find our favorite free templates that can invigorate your profile.

Lifestyle

A collection of free Lifestyle templates (available in PSD format) is equally useful for bloggers and businesses. Capture the reader’s attention with a stylish design, then make them focus on the content itself.

Fashion

How about a free set of customizable templates for an online shop or local business? Showcase your deals and products with this slick selection of images. The PSD files come with UI with 4 customizable layers.

Simple

Sometimes, simple Insta story design is the best one. This collection of attractive Instagram photos never fails to leave a positive impression on the viewer. Plus, it doesn’t block the content itself (be it new products or news). Simple Instagram story templates are highly customizable – feel free to add text, change fonts, or replace images for any file.

Minimal

Though you can’t get any more minimalistic? Here’s the set that can prove you wrong. Capture your audience’s attention with vibrant and contrasting visuals that will surely make your Stories stand out from the competition.

Black & White

And here’s our last entry in the minimalism (or dare I say “noir”) genre. This set of Instagram Stories templates can make almost anything look stylish and professional. These 15 images are easily adjustable – use any fonts, styles, or graphics to achieve your goals.

Breakfast

Everyone loves a tasty breakfast. Don’t let your visitors forget about it! This selection of designs will make customers want to run to the other side of their city just to get a morning meal with a cup of a steaming hot coffee.

Modern Menu Restaurant

Why stop at breakfast when you could highlight the whole menu? If you share our opinion on that - this template is just what you need! Make your delicacies take the spotlight with an attractive Instagram story design featured in this bundle.

Adventure

Do you enjoy traveling, or do you run a travel agency? This pack of Instagram Stories templates is a great choice for both scenarios. Don’t hesitate to check it out if you’re looking to boost your reach with consistent disappearing content.

Hiking

Yet another pack for people who love to travel, as well as to share their experience on-the-go. Make use of these highly customizable designs if you want to treat your viewers with regular posts.

Summer

Lavish, beautiful, and vibrant – that’s what your readers would think when they see a story design like this. Try one of the provided images and see how your posts can shine with a new glow!

Beauty

Beauty salons and make-up stores shouldn’t miss this IG story template. These simple, yet elegant designs should help you attract the right audience to your profile. Feel free to try it for your daily content – you won’t be sorry after you hear the feedback.

Summary

To sum it up, Instagram Stories templates can help you establish a stable flow of quality disappearing content. This way, you can stand out from the ocean of content without spending too much time or resources.

Want to boost your Instagram presence at no cost? Then, you are welcome to take advantage of the freeware software and templates I listed above.

If, however, you want to up your game further – the best course of action would be to go to Placeit, Envato Elements, or Creative Market. The Creative Market gives you access to prestigious pre-made Insta story designs. At the same time, Placeit can help you create a distinct Instagram story template. In conjunction, these sites can help you outrun most of your competitors!