TikTok vs Instagram for UK Small Businesses: 2026 Data

Quick answer

Both cost £0 to post on. Instagram reaches more UK adults: Ofcom found 78% of online adults used it in May 2025, against 56% for TikTok. But TikTok visitors spend longer each day, 28 minutes against 20. For most local small businesses, Instagram is the safer first choice; TikTok suits businesses that can film short videos every week.

This guide compares the two on the numbers that matter to a UK small business, using Ofcom’s latest audience data, then sets out which suits which kind of business, what each asks of you, and how paid ads differ.

The UK audience numbers

The most reliable UK figures come from Ofcom’s Online Nation 2025 report, published in December 2025, which uses Ipsos audience measurement of UK internet users aged 18 and over in May 2025.

Two things stand out. Instagram is bigger, in both monthly and daily reach. TikTok is growing faster and holds attention for longer: Ofcom notes that its daily audience rose 37% year on year, and that 18 to 34-year-old users spend 49 minutes a day on it.

Who you reach on each

Both platforms lean younger than Facebook. Ofcom reports a strong skew towards 18 to 34-year-olds on Instagram, and that 39% of TikTok’s visitors fall within the 18 to 34 age group. On smartphones, TikTok reached 46% of UK adult smartphone users overall but 65% of those aged 18 to 34.

For a business whose customers are mostly over 45, such as a stairlift installer or a will writer, neither platform is likely to be the main channel; Facebook and Google usually matter more. For businesses selling to people in their twenties and thirties, such as a barber, a nail technician, a café or a gym, both are worth considering, and TikTok’s younger, highly engaged audience is a real draw.

What each platform asks of you

The audience numbers matter less than whether you can keep up with the platform. They reward different habits.

• Instagram works with a mix of photos, carousels, Stories and short Reels. A tradesperson can do well with before-and-after photos and the occasional short clip. Your grid also acts as a portfolio that people check before booking.
• TikTok is almost entirely short vertical video. It favours personality, process and storytelling: the satisfying clean, the transformation, the honest answer to a common question. Posting often matters more than polish.

The honest question is not which platform is better, but which one you will still be posting on in six months. A dormant TikTok account does nothing for you; a steady Instagram account with two good posts a week does.

Discovery: followers or strangers

TikTok is built around a feed that shows videos from accounts people do not follow, which means a new business with no followers can still reach people with one good video. Instagram’s Reels work in a similar way, but much of Instagram is still driven by the accounts people already follow.

For a local business, this cuts both ways. TikTok can put your video in front of thousands of people, but many may live nowhere near you. Instagram’s audience tends to be closer to your existing customers and their friends. Location tags, local hashtags and mentioning your town in captions help on both.

It also changes what a good post looks like. On TikTok, the first second has to earn the next ten, so open with the result or the problem rather than a logo or an introduction. On Instagram, the first image in a carousel and the cover frame of a Reel do the same job in the grid. In both cases, show the work, keep it short, and finish with one clear next step, such as “message us for a quote”.

Paid ads: entry points compared

Both platforms let you pay to reach more people, and the starting points differ.

• Instagram ads run through Meta. Meta’s Instagram advertising page says you can boost any post to turn it into an ad, and choose a budget you can change at any time. Meta’s pricing guidance suggests running a budget over at least seven days so the system can learn.
• TikTok ads run through TikTok Ads Manager. TikTok’s business page gives a recommended daily ad group budget of 30 US dollars for campaigns in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Those are figures stated by the platforms at the time of writing, October 2026, and they change. In practice, Instagram is the easier place to start small, especially if you already have posts that performed well and can be boosted. Our Meta, Facebook and Instagram ads service runs paid campaigns on Instagram.

Which suits your business, by situation

A 30-day test before you commit

If you cannot decide, run a short, fair test rather than guessing. Pick one platform for 30 days and treat it like a job:

1. Plan twelve posts before you start, three a week, drawn from real work: a finished job, a common question answered, a short tour of how you do something.
2. Post on fixed days, so it becomes a habit rather than something you do when you remember.
3. Reply to every comment and message within a day. A quick, friendly reply is often what turns a curious viewer into an enquiry.
4. Count enquiries, not likes. Ask every new customer that month how they found you.
5. Review on day 30. If the platform produced enquiries or the posting felt sustainable, keep going for another quarter. If neither, try the other platform for the next 30 days.

Thirty days will not make an account successful, but it will tell you whether you can keep it going, which is the question that decides everything else.

Running both without doubling the work

If you choose both, film once and post twice. A 20-second vertical video works as a TikTok and an Instagram Reel. Write a slightly different caption for each, post the Reel to your grid, and use still frames or photos from the same job for an Instagram carousel. A consistent look across both, with the same colours, fonts and style of cover image, makes your business recognisable whichever app someone sees it on. Our social media design service produces branded templates for exactly this, and our guide to a brand that looks inconsistent everywhere explains why it matters.

The rules for paid partnerships and ads

If you pay a local influencer, give free products in exchange for posts, or partner with another business, the content may count as advertising. The Advertising Standards Authority’s guidance on recognising ads on social media says it is likely to expect a prominent “ad” label upfront, and that vague terms such as “sponsored”, “gifted” or “affiliate” are not considered clear enough on their own.

Do not build the business on either alone

Both are rented ground: an account can be restricted, an algorithm can change, and followers are not customers until they book. Use social media to send people somewhere you own, with a simple way to get in touch. A one-page website with your services, area, photos and contact details is often enough; our one-page website is £299. Branding that works on a phone screen, a van and a price list is covered in our guide to branding for trades businesses.

When to hand it over

The common failure on both platforms is not choosing the wrong one; it is stopping after a month. If posting every week is the bit that never happens, our social media marketing management service is built for exactly that situation; the service page sets out what is included. Every fixed price we offer is on our pricing page.