# Free Instagram Story templates > Animated 9:16 Story templates for polls, announcements, menus and sales. Edit the words, add your photos and export a Story-length MP4. - Page: https://cutluma.com/templates/for/instagram-stories - 417 templates; each opens in the editor with a free account and exports as MP4. A Story is 1080 × 1920, lasts up to 15 seconds per card and disappears after a day, so it should take minutes, not an hour, to make. The templates on this page are already vertical and short: this-or-that polls, ask-me-anything cards, flash-sale tickers, countdowns, “now open” posters, menu boards and photo frames. The top and bottom areas stay clear for the profile bar and reply box, so your text is never hidden behind Instagram’s own interface. Stories are where shops and creators talk daily, and a template keeps that daily post consistent without redesigning it. Change the question in a poll card, drop today’s photo into a frame, update a price on the specials board and export. Each is an MP4 you upload from the app, where you can still add Instagram’s native poll or link stickers on top. The same designs also fit TikTok Stories and Facebook Stories, which share the format. ## Templates (first 40 of 417; the full list is at https://cutluma.com/templates.md) - [Text conversation](https://cutluma.com/templates/text-convo) — 9:16, 12 s, Trending formats: A dark-mode chat that plays out message by message, with typing dots before each reply. Rewrite the messages — it is the story-time format everyone stops scrolling for. - [Notes app list](https://cutluma.com/templates/notes-list) — 9:16, 10 s, Trending formats: The “things I’m doing this year” notes-app screenshot, brought to life: the title writes itself, items tick in one by one and a highlighter marks the best one. - [Search bar hook](https://cutluma.com/templates/search-hook) — 9:16, 7 s, Trending formats: Open with the question your audience is typing. The query types itself into a search bar on cobalt graph paper, then your answer lands. - [Photo dump](https://cutluma.com/templates/photo-dump) — 9:16, 9 s, Trending formats: Polaroids drop onto warm paper with handwritten captions. Put your photos on a track under the frames — or keep the colour blocks for a moodboard. - [Receipt list](https://cutluma.com/templates/receipt) — 9:16, 9 s, Trending formats: Your month, week or launch as a till receipt sliding up on cherry red — line items, dotted leaders, a total and a barcode. Great for recaps and price lists. - [This or that](https://cutluma.com/templates/this-or-that) — 9:16, 8 s, Trending formats: Pink-and-red colour clash with a tilting split and a bouncing “or”. Ask your audience to pick a side — the comments do the rest. - [Top 5 ranking](https://cutluma.com/templates/top-5) — 9:16, 11 s, Trending formats: A countdown list on butter and espresso: big outlined numbers, items revealed from five to one, and number one in cherry red. - [Loading era](https://cutluma.com/templates/loading) — 9:16, 6 s, Trending formats: “Loading my 2026 era…” on a frosted-glass card over liquid lilac, with a lime progress bar that fills as the video plays. Short, loopable, made for Reels. - [Lock screen](https://cutluma.com/templates/lock-screen) — 9:16, 9 s, Trending formats: An iPhone-style lock screen on a warm aura: big 9:41 clock, then notifications stack in — 1M views, Mom, a payout, a brand call. Rewrite the alerts to tell your win in four pings. - [Tier list](https://cutluma.com/templates/tier-list) — 9:16, 10 s, Trending formats: The S-to-D tier list on a charcoal board: coloured tier labels slide in, then items drop into their rows one by one. Swap the emoji and captions to rank anything. - [Expectation vs reality](https://cutluma.com/templates/expect-reality) — 9:16, 9 s, Trending formats: Two taped panels: a calm matcha “expectation” with a tidy routine, then a tomato-red “reality” slams in with shaking, crooked stickers. Rewrite both halves for any plan-vs-truth joke. - [Incoming call](https://cutluma.com/templates/facetime) — 9:16, 10 s, Trending formats: An incoming video call from “Future You”: pulsing rings, decline and a pulsing accept — then it connects, a timer runs and captions deliver the message. Rename the caller for any reveal. - [POV caption](https://cutluma.com/templates/pov-caption) — 9:16, 8 s, Trending formats: The classic TikTok text look: white rounded boxes with bold black text, popping in line by line. Drop your clip underneath and rewrite the POV. - [Summer in letters](https://cutluma.com/templates/summer-letters) — 9:16, 8 s, Trending formats: A summer recap where your photo or video fills giant SUM/MER letters on warm paper, with a serif title and a date stamp. Drop your best beach clip onto the word. - [Wrapped story](https://cutluma.com/templates/tr-wrapped-story) — 9:16, 12 s, Trending formats: A three-scene wrapped-style year story: ON REPEAT on lime with an equaliser, then cobalt with your #1 song and its album art, then pink with minutes listened and a top-0.5% card. Story bars tick along the top; swap in your own stats. - [DM request](https://cutluma.com/templates/tr-dm-request) — 9:16, 10 s, Trending formats: A message request playing out like a screenshot: typing dots, the “were we on the same flight?” opener, a finger tapping Accept and your reply bubble. Rewrite the messages for any story-time video. - [Boarding pass recap](https://cutluma.com/templates/tr-ticket-recap) — 9:16, 10 s, Trending formats: A boarding pass that recaps a chapter instead of a flight: FROM burnout TO Lisbon, seat 14A window, baggage “emotional, 23 kg”, status HEALED, a barcode stub and a NO RETURN stamp. Drop a trip photo in the top frame. - [Swipe card](https://cutluma.com/templates/tr-swipe-card) — 9:16, 9 s, Trending formats: A dating-app card for whatever you’re selling: full-height photo frame, name and distance, a two-line bio, chips, then a LIKE stamp as the card swipes right and IT’S A MATCH bursts over the next card. Drop two photos. - [AI chat](https://cutluma.com/templates/tr-ai-chat) — 9:16, 11 s, Trending formats: A dark glass chat window where you prompt an AI and it types a too-honest answer: thinking state, a four-line bio, copy and regenerate buttons and your “funnier.” follow-up. Rewrite both sides for any “I asked AI to…” video. - [Mood chart](https://cutluma.com/templates/tr-mood-chart) — 9:16, 10 s, Trending formats: A trading-app screen for $MOOD: the price rolls up, a green line draws itself across the week with a “skipped gym” dip and a “payday” spike, range tabs and Sell / Buy more buttons. Rename the ticker and the annotations. - [Song identified](https://cutluma.com/templates/tr-song-found) — 9:16, 9 s, Trending formats: A song-identifying app mid-listen: pulsing white rings on blue, Listening… then Identifying… decode, and a result card slides up with album art, title and Open in Music. Name the song everyone asks you about. - [App Store me](https://cutluma.com/templates/tr-app-listing) — 9:16, 10 s, Trending formats: Yourself as an app-store listing: icon, GET button, 4.9-star ratings row, three screenshot frames and a “What’s New” changelog of your personal updates. Swap the name, the notes and the review from Mom. - [Screen time report](https://cutluma.com/templates/tr-screen-time) — 9:16, 10 s, Trending formats: A dark-mode weekly screen-time report: the daily average rolls up, stacked bars rise for every day and a Most Used list fills with app icons and usage bars. Confess your real numbers or fake better ones. - [On this day](https://cutluma.com/templates/tr-on-this-day) — 9:16, 10 s, Trending formats: A memories-app flashback on espresso: “1 year ago” in italic serif over a big cream-bordered photo, hearts floating in, then a small “now” polaroid tilting in over it. Drop the photo from a year ago and one from today. - [Thread](https://cutluma.com/templates/thread-post) — 9:16, 10 s, Social posts: A dark-mode social thread: three posts joined by a thread line, words appearing as if typed, like and repost counts rolling up and a reply being written. Put your hot take in it. - [Poll sticker](https://cutluma.com/templates/poll-sticker) — 9:16, 8 s, Social posts: A story poll sticker on a pink-and-orange checker: a finger taps, the bars fill and the percentages count up. Change the question and both answers. - [Ask me anything](https://cutluma.com/templates/ask-me) — 9:16, 9 s, Social posts: A question-box sticker on lilac — “ask me anything” header, the follower’s question — then your answer lands big underneath with a lime highlight. Perfect for Q&A replies. - [Red flag / green flag](https://cutluma.com/templates/red-flags) — 9:16, 9 s, Social posts: Cherry over sage: red flags and green flags pop in turn by turn, with swinging flags behind them. Edit the six chips for dating, hiring, brands or creators. - [We’re hiring](https://cutluma.com/templates/sp-hiring) — 9:16, 9 s, Social posts: A Swiss-style hiring post: giant cobalt WE’RE HIRING, a job card with role, location and salary, perk chips popping in and a spinning stamp. Edit the role and perks, link your application form in bio. - [Behind the scenes](https://cutluma.com/templates/sp-bts-film) — 9:16, 10 s, Social posts: A film strip creeping through the gate: serif “Behind the scenes” title, three photo frames with edge codes, sticky-note captions and a REC counter. Drop your set photos and candid clips. - [Follower milestone](https://cutluma.com/templates/sp-follower-count) — 9:16, 9 s, Social posts: A bubblegum thank-you post: your profile pic, 10,000 rolling up in chunky 3D type, a “we did it” seal and a card of new-follower notifications. Change the number for any milestone. - [Giveaway rules](https://cutluma.com/templates/sp-giveaway) — 9:16, 10 s, Social posts: Tomato-red giveaway post: GIVE / AWAY slams in, a big prize photo frame, a “worth $180” sticker and a sky-blue how-to-enter checklist that ticks itself off. Swap the prize and the rules. - [Link in bio](https://cutluma.com/templates/sp-link-in-bio) — 9:16, 8 s, Social posts: A story overlay that points everyone to your profile: hand-drawn and sticker arrows aim at your avatar, LINK IN BIO lands in big butter type and a link sticker pulses. Drop your video underneath. - [Reply to comment](https://cutluma.com/templates/so-reply-comment) — 9:16, 9 s, Social posts: The reply-to-comment video: a white comment card drops in with the follower’s question and a beating heart, then your answer slams in on lime and white boxes. Drop your reply clip underneath and paste in the real comment. - [New post on the grid](https://cutluma.com/templates/so-grid-tease) — 9:16, 9 s, Social posts: A profile page fills in — avatar, stats counting up, bio, Follow button — then the grid loads tile by tile and the newest post zooms in with a lime ring and a NEW seal. Drop your nine photos and the new post. - [Community poll](https://cutluma.com/templates/so-yt-poll) — 9:16, 9 s, Social posts: A dark-mode YouTube community poll: channel header, the question, four options whose bars fill and percentages count up, a check on the winner and the like / comment / share row. Change the options and the numbers. - [Pinterest pin](https://cutluma.com/templates/so-pin-save) — 9:16, 9 s, Social posts: A Pinterest-style pin: a tall photo frame with an italic title overlay, the creator row, a pulsing red Save pill that a finger taps, then “Saved to balcony ideas” slides up. Swap the photo, title and board name. - [BeReal moment](https://cutluma.com/templates/so-bereal) — 9:16, 9 s, Social posts: The dual-camera post: a “Time to BeReal” alert, the back-camera frame pops in, the selfie flips into the corner with a “late by 14 min” tag, then friends’ RealMojis pile up. Drop both shots. - [This week’s posts](https://cutluma.com/templates/so-week-schedule) — 9:16, 10 s, Social posts: A content calendar on a cream card: “this week on the account”, Mon–Sun rows with day tags, a lime highlight on the live Q&A, a check on what is already posted and a taped “subject to chaos” note. Rewrite your week. - [Caption this](https://cutluma.com/templates/so-caption-this) — 9:16, 9 s, Social posts: An engagement post on butter yellow: CAPTION THIS slams in, a tilted photo frame, then three white comment bubbles with funny captions pop over it and a “best one gets pinned” sticker. Drop the photo. ## Tips - **Leave room for Instagram’s stickers** — If you plan to add a native poll, question or link sticker, pick a template with an empty area in the middle third and resist filling it with extra text. - **Make a set, not a single card** — A three-card Story (hook, detail, call to action) holds attention better than one. Duplicate the project, change the headline on each and export three short clips. - **Keep each card under 15 seconds** — Instagram splits longer videos into several cards. Trim the template to the length of the animation so the cut lands where you want it rather than mid-sentence. ## FAQ **What size is an Instagram Story template?** Stories are 9:16, 1080 × 1920 pixels. Everything on this page is that size and exports as a 1080p MP4 the Instagram app accepts. **Are the Story templates free?** Yes. Edit any template free, with no credit card, and export in 1080p with a small watermark. Paid plans remove the watermark. **Can I add my own photos to a Story template?** Yes. Drag photos from your computer into the editor and place them in the photo frames or behind the text. Each photo is a clip you can trim and reposition.