Instagram automation tools appeared not long after the creation of Instagram in 2011. 4gram had the luck to be amongst the pioneers, but their story doesn’t end as happily as you might expect (spoiler alert).
If you know a thing or two about Instagram growth services, you’ve probably heard of 4gram – I’ve known about it for a while, and recently I thought I’d make a detailed review, but I had such a hard time finding it.
Reviews – there were many, but not a sign of the service or their website.
Something smelled fishy so I decided to sit down and find out all I can to make this 4gram review. I explored the Internet for 4gram reviews so I can make a detailed evaluation, and here it is.
Like you, I do not want to waste time. If you want to know my best pick on where to buy followers, go and check out Upleap. I’ve reviewed them in detail here – check it out and see for yourself.
Are you now wondering what happened to 4gram? Did they go willingly or did someone shut them down?
And if that’s the case, what could they have possibly done?
I’ll answer all of your questions below, so let’s get into it!
What is 4gram
4gram is (or was) a classic Instagram growth service that helps you gain followers and likes.
According to their now non-existing website, they are an IG auto liker, auto follower, auto commenter tool made to help you boost your Instagram engagement and statistics.
They also said all of their services are completely free.
While they had a working website, all you had to do was provide them with your Instagram username. They didn’t ask for a registration, your password, or to download any kind of software.
My guess is that people generally liked and were willing to try 4gram mostly due to its simplicity.
Top 4gram Alternatives
| Service | Rating | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Flock Social | 4.8 | Check Price |
| Upleap.com | 4.6 | Check Price |
| Nitreo.com | 4.3 | Check Price |
| SocialFollow | 4.2 | Check Price |
| KENJI.AI | 4 | Check Price |
| Stim Social | 3.9 | Check Price |
How Does 4gram Work?
From most of the reviews, I got the sense that 4gram wasn’t well thought out. Their goal, as they claimed, was to help you gain likes and followers, but I think they could have had a much better business plan and features.
Yes, they were free, so not a lot is expected, but nevertheless, they had an advantage that most similar tools today don’t have. They were among the first, the trailblazers if you will, which is a benefit newer tools don’t have. Nowadays, it’s a dog eat dog world.
4gram didn’t explicitly state anywhere how they operate, but a fair assumption would be that they were an auto-exchange system.
Popular reviews you should also read:
- Nitreo Review: Is It Really One Of The Best Instagram Growth Services?
- Upleap Review: Is It Safe To Grow Your Instagram Faster?
- Kenji Instagram Review – Is It Legit? All You Need to Know
It’s a very simple process.
They use their members’ accounts to follow other members’ accounts. What they don’t specify is the algorithm they use to choose which accounts to follow. Are they only using accounts from their members or is there a random choice at work?
Beats me.
4gram Features
As I mentioned before, 4gram currently doesn’t have a website where I could find out all about their features, but I managed to get a pretty good overview from other reviews and old 4gram users.
Two main things 4gram offered were auto likes and auto follows. Besides Instagram, 4gram also had an auto liker option for Facebook.
You could choose which photo you want to gain likes for, but you could only choose among your latest eight photos. What’s the deal with that?
You could also get likes for someone else’s photos by providing 4gram with the URL of the photo.
To be honest, I don’t quite understand the strategy of 4gram. Why would you want to give someone else the likes if everyone can do it for themselves, and for free?
When you provide 4gram with your Instagram handle and you log into your account, there’s only a certain number of likes and follows you can receive. After that, 4gram goes into a mandatory waiting period, which I’m not sure how long it lasts.
Their approach to the whole auto followers features made me doubtful. All they do is get you followers, with absolutely no word about their authenticity. You could easily end up with a follower list full of bots.
And this is something you can never fail to remember – Instagram hates bots.
So, is it worth risking your account for a few (suspicious) followers, even if they’re free?
Most certainly not.
One more thing.
4gram clearly stated they offered an auto commenter feature, but I couldn’t find a single word referencing it. Absolutely no one had tried, used, or even seen this feature.
When I think about it, it shouldn’t have surprised me so much. Auto commenting is not as simple as auto likes, and it’s a feature we usually find in high-quality tools. It’s a part of more complicated software, and 4gram was a simple like-follow Desktop app (that was also free of charge).
What Happened to 4gram?
By doing extensive research and speaking to people who actually tried 4gram, I discovered 4gram had numerous little flaws that made it a low-grade tool overall.
I can’t say I was too surprised, given that they were eventually shut down, and they were a free service, to begin with.
A lot of free Instagram automation tools only disappointed me in the end, so I didn’t get into this with huge expectations.
All this aside, 4gram actually did something to deserve getting shut down, and by Facebook nonetheless.
As you know, Facebook purchased Instagram back in 2012 for $1 billion.
4gram violated Facebook’s terms and conditions, and consequentially, they got closed down. I didn’t manage to find out what it is exactly that they did, but one thing is clear – it must have been pretty serious for Facebook to stop their operation completely.
Pricing of 4gram
While it was working, 4gram was completely free. They didn’t have any kind of pricing, packages, or upgrade plans listed on their site.
According to many Trustpilot reviews, people were okay with 4gram, in the beginning at least.
The fact that it was free and easy to use made it quite appealing. Don’t forget that in the olden days of Instagram, there weren’t that many automation tools, so people were excited to try out something like 4gram.
Unfortunately, 4gram’s disregard for rules made the company flatline, perhaps even too abruptly, and I think they could have gotten huge if they started doing legitimate business.
Not only did 4gram break Facebook’s terms of use, but I’m also almost positive it messed around with Instagram’s rules as well, maybe even before it became Facebook’s ownership.
I’m sure you know it can be dangerous for your Instagram presence to gain a large number of followers instantly. It will likely put you on Instagram’s radar.
To make matters worse, many of the followers gained by 4gram were bots and not real accounts.
This is why it’s always better to grow your account organically.
If you don’t know how to do that, you can refer to the table I listed out below. It’s full of legit growth services that will do wonders for your account in the most natural-seeming way.
Is 4gram Legit?
Obviously, no.
4gram started off as a legitimate automation tool, but somewhere along the road, they got lost. By violating Facebook’s terms and conditions, 4gram became known as a scam.
I guess that’s what you get from messing with a conglomerate such as Facebook.
However, 4gram always got you what they promised. You got your likes and follows just like they said you would.
But the problem wasn’t would they deliver – it was how they delivered.
So I have to say no – it’s not legit, and by extension, of course, it’s not safe either.
4gram: Pros and Cons
Coming up with a list of pros and cons for a service like 4gram can be a bit challenging. I guess the cons are obvious, but I have to admit, 4gram had its moments.
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| It was very simple to use. | 4gram no longer exists. |
| Their service was completely free. | They violated Facebook’s terms and conditions. |
| It was very simple to use. | You could only get a limited amount of likes and followers before it went into mandatory breaks. |
| It wasn’t safe to use it. | |
| No customer support available. | |
| Many of the followers were bots. |
Final Verdict
So, what really happened to 4gram?
In short, they got shut down. 4gram violated Facebook’s terms and conditions, and it was their end.
Was it fair or was it too harsh? Who can tell?
I’m still not entirely sure what they did, but I don’t think Facebook would react so harshly for petty reasons, so it must have been serious.
If there’s one thing we can all learn from 4gram’s story, it’s that you have to play by the rules. Do your business honestly, grow your account organically with the help of trustworthy services (feel free to browse the one I listed below), and success will follow.
Top 10 Instagram Growth Tools
4gram might be gone now, but in it’s place are many other tools that can grow your Instagram account.
As always, we recommend growing your account organically, rather than relying on bots or buying followers or likes. Doing the latter can result in gaining irrelevant followers or worse – getting your account banned or blocked.
Check out the table below for other alternatives to 4gram that we’ve tried out!
| Service | Rating | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Flock Social | 4.8 | Check Price |
| Upleap.com | 4.6 | Check Price |
| Nitreo.com | 4.3 | Check Price |
| SocialFollow | 4.2 | Check Price |
| KENJI.AI | 4 | Check Price |
| Stim Social | 3.9 | Check Price |