How to Make Stunning Quotes for Instagram: 11 Apps to Try in 2024

Instagram has solidified its status as the platform for businesses and brands to build customer relationships and tell their stories visually. With over 1.4 billion active users (source: Statista 2023) spending an average of 30 minutes per day on the app, competition for attention in the Instagram feed is fierce.

One content format that consistently rises to the top is quote posts. In fact, posts with quotes average 60% more engagement than other types of Instagram content (source: Mention 2022 Instagram engagement report). When done right, quote posts stop the scroll, make an impact, and encourage people to interact with your brand.

Why are quote posts so effective? Simply put, people crave inspiration. In a world of negativity and information overload, coming across an uplifting or thought-provoking message provides a moment of positivity. Quotes resonate on an emotional level, humanizing your brand and forging a deeper connection with your audience.

Beyond the feel-good factor, quote posts align well with Instagram‘s informal, conversational vibe. They tap into the motivational (#MondayMotivation), reflective (#WednesdayWisdom), and trending (#QuoteOfTheDay) moods that people turn to social media for. Formatting quotes as visuals makes them even more impactful and shareable.

The power of quote posts is evident in the data:

  • Over 50% of businesses use quote posts as part of their Instagram marketing strategy (Source: Sprout Social 2023 Index)
  • Quote posts generate an average of 60% higher engagement than other Instagram content types (source: Mention 2022 report)
  • Visual quotes are 40 times more likely to be shared on social media than text-only posts (source: HubSpot visual content marketing statistics 2022)

Of course, slapping some text on a plain background likely won‘t send engagement soaring. You need to treat your quote posts with the same care and branding as any other visual content. This means getting creative with colors, fonts, backgrounds, and layouts to craft something that grabs attention and embodies your brand personality.

While graphic design skills certainly help, you don‘t need to be a Photoshop pro or have a huge budget to create captivating quote visuals. A growing crop of web and mobile apps have made sophisticated design accessible to everyone, with Instagram-ready templates and intuitive editing tools.

To help you become an Instagram quote master, we‘ve rounded up the 11 best quote maker apps to try in 2024. Whether you‘re just getting started or want to up your design game, these tools will have you cranking out #Instaquotes like a pro in no time.

1. Canva

Founded in 2013, Canva has skyrocketed to become the go-to graphic design platform for non-designers. Its powerful yet user-friendly web and mobile apps are loaded with templates, stock photos, fonts, graphics, and intuitive editing tools.

For Instagram quote posts, Canva offers a huge selection of customizable templates optimized for the Instagram feed (square) and Stories (vertical) formats. Simply browse the templates, click the one you like, and make it your own. Swap in a different background photo from Canva‘s library of free and premium stock images, or upload your own. Adjust the text, change colors and fonts, and add design elements like shapes, lines, or graphics.

A few Canva features that are especially handy for creating quotes include:

  • Text effects: Easily apply shadows, outlines, background colors and more to make your quote text pop
  • Font pairing: Shows you complementary font combinations so you don‘t have to guess what looks good together
  • Photo effects: Enhance your background photos with filters, adjustments, frames, and more
  • Brand kit: Upload your brand logos, colors and fonts to keep your quote designs consistent (paid plans only)
  • Animation: Turn your quote into an engaging animated post or Story
  • Resize: Instantly adapt your design for different Instagram formats and other social platforms

Canva offers a generous free plan that gives you access to 250,000+ templates, 100+ design types, and hundreds of thousands of free photos and graphics. If you want to tap into more premium templates, photos and design elements, plans start at $12.99/month for up to 5 users.

Pricing: Free plan available; paid plans start at $12.99/month
Platforms: Web, iOS, Android
Key features: 250,000+ templates, 100+ design types, extensive photo library, brand kit, animation, resize
Best for: Flexibility to create all kinds of Instagram visuals, not just quotes
User rating: 4.7/5 on the iOS App Store

2. Adobe Express

Launched in December 2021, Adobe Express (formerly Adobe Spark) is a suite of web and mobile apps for creating social media graphics, logos, flyers, banners and more. As part of the Adobe Creative Cloud, it integrates with other popular Adobe apps like Photoshop and Acrobat.

Adobe Express carries forward Adobe Spark‘s impressive library of 20,000+ customizable templates, including many designed specifically for Instagram quote posts. Templates are categorized by industry, theme, style, and format to help you find a great starting point. The intuitive drag-and-drop editor makes it easy to personalize any template with your own photos, text, colors, and branding.

Some notable Adobe Express features for creating quote graphics include:

  • Inspiration feed: Scroll through beautiful designs created by the Adobe Express community to spark ideas
  • Brandify: Instantly apply your brand‘s logo, colors and fonts to any template (paid plans only)
  • Single tap effects: Experiment with different looks for your background photo with one-tap overlays, filters and blend modes
  • Text cutouts: Play around with interesting text and image pairings by converting text into image cutouts
  • Animations & video: Add animation effects to your quote text or turn your design into a video clip
  • Background remover: Easily remove the background from any photo to create interesting layered designs

While Adobe Express has a free starter plan, the branding features, premium templates and photos are only available on the paid plans which start at $9.99/month. If you already subscribe to other Adobe apps, you may already have access to premium Adobe Express features.

Pricing: Free starter plan; paid plans start at $9.99/month
Platforms: Web, iOS, Android
Key features: 20,000+ templates, inspiration feed, brandify, background remover, animation
Best for: More advanced, on-brand quote designs with added effects and animations
User rating: 4.6/5 on the iOS App Store

3. Word Swag

For a text effects powerhouse in your pocket, look no further than Word Swag. This iOS-exclusive app makes it ridiculously easy to create stunning quote graphics on the go.

The magic of Word Swag is its "automagic" text layouts. Just select a background image (or solid color), type in your quote, and Word Swag will generate a dizzying array of stylized typography designs. Shuffle through the text styles and click to preview different options like outlines, shadows, spacing, and more. You can also layer in graphics like badges, seals and rotated text.

Some of Word Swag‘s coolest features are:

  • 1M+ background images: Search from a huge library of free background photos via Pixabay, or upload your own
  • Saved styles: Found a font, color scheme and effect combo you love? Save it as a custom style to reuse again
  • Share and schedule: Post your quotes directly to Instagram or other social platforms or use the Buffer integration to schedule for later
  • PNG text export: Turn your snazzy text and graphic combinations into a transparent PNG to layer onto other design projects

At just a $4.99 one-time purchase, Word Swag is one of the most affordable quote maker apps out there. The only downside is no Android version (yet).

Pricing: $4.99 one-time purchase
Platforms: iOS only
Key features: Auto text design engine, 1M+ background photos, custom styles
Best for: Typography nerds who want to experiment with lots of interesting text treatments
User rating: 4.7/5 on the iOS App Store

4. Quotes Creator

Quotes Creator is a freemium web and mobile app that does just what it says – helps you create quote images in a flash. It offers a solid set of fonts, backgrounds and templates that you can customize in the easy drag-and-drop editor.

One handy feature is the ability to pull in popular quotes across categories like motivation, humor, wisdom and entrepreneurship. This is a great option when you know you want to post a quote but don‘t have a specific one in mind. You can also add your own quotes, of course.

Some of Quotes Creator‘s most useful features include:

  • Quote collections: Browse a categorized database of famous and anonymous quotes or add your own
  • Upload backgrounds: Use your own photos for backgrounds to make your quote posts unique
  • Stickers & overlays: Jazz up your designs with decorative graphics and photo overlays
  • Square & Story formats: Optimize your quote image for the Instagram feed or Story sizes
  • Custom templates: Save your own designs as templates to edit and reuse later

Quotes Creator lets you create up to 15 images per month for free (with a small watermark). Or remove the watermark and unlock more features with the Pro version for $5-8/month.

Pricing: Free version; Pro plans start at $4.99/month
Platforms: Web, iOS, Android
Key features: Quote collections, stickers & overlays, custom templates
Best for: Quickly creating quote posts with a library of quotes to choose from
User ratings: 4.4/5 on iOS App Store, 4.6/5 on Google Play

5. Stencil

Stencil is a powerful browser-based graphic design and photo editing tool built especially for social media marketers and small businesses. One of its key value props is an ever-growing library of 140+ pre-made templates to act as a starting point.

For Instagram quote posts, Stencil shines with its robust typography options. It offers 1300+ Google Fonts and 50+ preset text design combinations to mix and match. You can easily add shapes, icons (3.1M+), and textures to give your quotes visual flair.

Some standout Stencil features for quote making are:

  • 5M+ royalty-free photos: Search and preview pics as backgrounds without leaving the app
  • Quotes database: Browse a collection of 100,000+ famous quotes and add to your image in one click
  • Background removal: Erase the background from any photo to create a transparent PNG for layering
  • Resize for social: Automatically convert your vertical, horizontal or square design to any social media size
  • Chrome extension: Quickly create quote images from any website without opening the app

Stencil offers a limited free plan (10 images/month), with paid plans starting at $9/month for more photos, templates, icons and uploads. It doesn‘t have mobile apps, but the responsive web interface works smoothly on mobile browsers.

Pricing: Free plan (10 images/mo.); Pro plans start at $9/mo
Platforms: Web, Chrome extension
Key features: 140+ templates, robust text tools, background removal, social sizing
Best for: Heavy-duty social media marketers who need a customizable, flexible design tool
User rating: 4.7/5 on G2Crowd

The Top Quote Maker Apps for Instagram Compared

App Starting Price Platforms Key Features Best For
Canva Free Web, iOS, Android 250K+ templates, photo library, brand kit, resize Versatile Insta content creation
Adobe Express Free Web, iOS, Android 20K+ templates, brandify, animations Advanced, on-brand designs
Word Swag $4.99 (one-time) iOS only Auto text engine, custom styles Stylish typography
Quotes Creator Free Web, iOS, Android Quote collections, custom templates Quick & easy quote posts
Stencil Free Web, Chrome 140+ templates, icons, background remover Social media marketers

Tips for Creating Engaging Instagram Quote Posts

Creating a beautiful image is just part of the equation for successful Instagram quotes. Here are some tips to make sure your quote posts hit the mark:

  1. Consider your audience: What kind of quotes will resonate with your specific followers? Inspiring? Humorous? Insightful? Tailor your tone and topics accordingly.

  2. Reinforce your brand: Your quote posts should align with and strengthen your overall brand identity and values. Use your brand colors, fonts and voice to make them recognizably yours.

  3. Get the right look: Aim for crisp, easy-to-read text on an uncluttered background. Light text on a dark background or dark text on a light background tends to work best. Avoid filling the whole frame with words.

  4. Create a variety: Mix up the types of quotes, visual styles and themes to keep your quote content fresh. You could even turn quotes into a weekly series (#MotivationMonday, #WiseWordWednesday, etc).

  5. Craft compelling captions: Use the caption to add context, attribution and your own perspective on the quote. End with a question to spark discussion in the comments.

  6. Maximize visibility with hashtags: Include a mix of popular and niche hashtags related to your quote to help new people discover your post. Put them in the first comment to keep your caption clean.

  7. Tag & engage: If you‘re quoting a well-known person or brand, tag their account handle in the post and comment. Respond to comments and continue the conversation with your audience.

  8. Share across platforms: Extend the life and reach of your quote by sharing to your other social channels, website and blog. Most quote maker apps make it easy to instantly resize and share your image elsewhere.

  9. Measure & iterate: Use Instagram Insights (or your preferred analytics tool) to track which quotes are sparking the most engagement. See what themes, visual styles, post times etc. perform best and optimize over time.

Take Your Instagram Presence to the Next Level

In a crowded Instagram feed, quote posts are a powerful way to inspire your audience, show your human side and invite interaction. With the design apps highlighted here, you have all the tools to create scroll-stopping quote posts at your fingertips. Remember, the key is to stay authentic and add value to your followers‘ days.

Building a strong Instagram presence takes consistent effort and experimentation. But apps are just one piece of the puzzle — you also need a solid strategy, quality visuals, compelling copy and ongoing measurement. For more Instagram marketing tips and best practices, check out our guides:

With a little creativity and the right tools, you‘ll be an Instagram quote master in no time!

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