Create reels
Instagram reels — cut automatically from your photos
What stands between you and your first reel isn’t a lack of material — it’s editing software. PostExpert turns three to six of your photos into a finished reel: cut to royalty-free music, slotted into the content plan, published at a fixed time. What it can’t do is stated openly further down.
- 30-day free trial
- Cancel monthly
- Approval before every post if you want
Media pool
Your product photos
The basics
Why reels stay undone — even though everyone knows they’re missing
That video belongs in the feed is consensus. Why it still doesn’t happen has three very practical reasons — and none of them is laziness.
The edit is the hurdle
Fifteen seconds of reel demand software, music choice, timing and export — easily an hour of work for a format that would be due again the next day. And that hour is exactly what daily business always cancels.
The material already exists
A reel doesn’t need a video: a sequence of three to six good photos, cut to the beat, is a reel. The photos are sitting in your gallery — all that’s missing is the assembly.
Music is a legal issue
Business accounts on Instagram can’t use just any music — the library for commercial use is restricted. Royalty-free tracks sidestep the problem entirely instead of risking it.
The three routes to a reel — automatic from photos, AI-generated, or cut by hand — are shown in the diagram below. Where reels fit into the weekly plan is on the content calendar page.
How it works
From photo folder to published reel
No editing software, no export, no upload ritual — the path from material to reel is four steps, and three of them run automatically.
Upload photos
Several images in one go, assigned straight to a topic. Good reel candidates: series from the same project, the same delivery, the same dish — images that together tell a small story.
Set the format mix
You decide how often reels should appear in the plan — alongside feed posts and stories. From then on they show up regularly, without you having to think about it.
PostExpert cuts
Three to six of your images are assembled to the beat of a royalty-free track; caption and hashtags are created from the image content. Retouching adjusts light and colour beforehand.
Approve and publish
The finished reel waits for your approval or goes out automatically — at your account’s fixed time, like every other post in the plan.
Reels aren’t a special case here — they’re a format in the plan, like image and story. All the building blocks in detail: Features.
Photo reels
Your photo stock is the raw material
The media library manages your images as a stock — and the reel cutter draws from it. Every image is used exactly once; a reel accordingly consumes several in one go.
- Photo reels from three to six of your own images
- Cut to royalty-free music — legally clean for business accounts
- Caption and hashtags created from the image content, editable before publishing
- Retouching adjusts light, colour and sharpness without changing the subjects
- Every image is used exactly once — nothing appears twice
Media pool
Your product photos
In the plan
Reels appear regularly — not when you happen to remember
The usual hand-made reel rhythm: two in the first week, then none for three months. In the content plan’s format mix, reels get a fixed share and appear reliably.
- Fixed reel share in the mix of feed posts, reels and stories
- Scheduled automatically and published at the fixed time
- Analytics show how reels perform against images — per post and format
- Topic assignment like any post: reels come from whichever pillar is due
- Approval mode applies to reels too, with an email reminder beforehand
Content mix
Your strategy
Line 65% · Variety 35%
AI videoUltra
For topics without own material: the generated video reel
Some pillars have no photo material — a concept, a seasonal mood, an abstract topic. For those, Seedance on Ultra generates a short video from your description. With one clear boundary: it never shows your real product.
- AI-generated video reel from a text description
- Monthly quota of 8 videos on Ultra
- Deliberately never shows your real product, dish or project — it invents a scene
- For anything real, the photo reel from your own images remains the right route
- Caption and hashtags are created along with it, like for every post
Create post
AI draft
AI image
Honestly speaking
What the reel automation is not
Reel promises run big in tool advertising. So here, small and honest, is what you don’t get — before you test for 30 days.
No editing software for your video footage
PostExpert cuts photos into reels — it doesn’t cut videos. A clip you filmed yourself is neither edited nor scored here; finished videos of your own you still publish in the Instagram app.
The AI video never shows your product
Seedance generates a plausible but invented scene from your description — never your real dish, your job site, your goods. For everything real, the photo reel from your own images is the only honest route.
AI video only on Ultra, with a quota
Generated video reels exist exclusively on the Ultra plan, 8 per month. Photo reels from your own images, by contrast, are available in every paid plan.
Royalty-free music only
No chart hits, no trending audio. That’s not stinginess but legal reality: business accounts may only use commercial music on Instagram in a limited way — royalty-free tracks are the route without legal risk.
A reel consumes several photos
Three to six images per reel, each used only once — with reels, the photo stock empties correspondingly faster. The format mix helps keep the ratio realistic.
Reels follow the plan, not the trend
The automation produces from your topics — it doesn’t jump on viral audio trends. If you want a trend reel, you make that one by hand in the app; the plan keeps running meanwhile.
Plans
Which plan includes reels?
Photo reels from your own images: in every paid plan. AI-generated video reels (Seedance): only on Ultra, 8 per month.
Basic
€19.95/month
- accounts included1
- each additional account€15
- Posts per month8
- Advanced AI + API—
- Competitor analysis—
Pro
€39.95/month
- accounts included3
- each additional account€10
- Posts per month72
- Advanced AI + API—
- Competitor analysis—
Ultra
€89.95/month
- accounts included8
- each additional account€5
- Unlimited posts
- Advanced AI + APIYes
- Competitor analysis10
All prices are net prices plus statutory VAT. This offer is aimed exclusively at entrepreneurs within the meaning of § 1 of the Austrian Consumer Protection Act (KSchG); contracts with consumers are excluded. A valid VAT identification number is required in order to conclude a contract.
All features in direct comparison are on the pricing page. For starting out, Pro is enough — photo reels are fully included there.
Frequently asked
Questions about automatic reels
What people ask most often before their first automatic reel.
Do I need editing software or video experience?
No — that’s the point of photo reels: you upload three to six images, PostExpert assembles them to the beat of a royalty-free track and writes caption and hashtags. Editing software, export and upload disappear entirely. What you need are good photos — and those happen in your business anyway.
How many photos make up a photo reel?
Three to six. Series with an inner thread work well: the same project from start to finish, the same delivery from box to shelf, the same dish from kitchen to table. Every image is used exactly once — so a reel consumes several images of your stock in one go.
What music is used — trending audio too?
Royalty-free tracks, cut to the beat. Chart music and trending audio are deliberately absent: business accounts may only use commercial music on Instagram in a limited way, and a reel with a music-rights problem costs more than any tool. If you want a trending audio, you make that one reel by hand in the app.
Can the AI generate a video of my product?
No, and we don’t claim it can. The Seedance video on Ultra is created from a text description and shows an invented scene — never your real product, dish or project. For everything that has to be real, the photo reel from your own images is the route. That’s why both exist.
Can I upload my own footage and have it edited?
No. PostExpert cuts photos into reels, not videos — your own clip is neither trimmed nor scored here. Videos you’ve filmed and edited yourself you publish directly in the Instagram app; the automatic plan simply keeps running alongside.
How often do reels appear in the plan?
As often as you set in the format mix — as a fixed share alongside feed posts and stories. That achieves what the manual rhythm fails at: reels appear regularly, not just in motivated weeks. Analytics then show whether your audience rewards reels or images more.
Do I see the reel before it’s published?
Yes, if you use approval mode — it applies to reels like any other post: the finished reel is presented to you before its date, with an email reminder about an hour before. You can adjust caption and hashtags right there.
What do reels achieve compared to regular images?
An honest answer: it depends on your audience. Reels are Instagram’s video format and get their own stage in the app — but whether your content performs better there than as an image is something only your own analytics reveal. That’s exactly why they report reach and saves per format: after a few weeks you know, instead of believing.
What does the reel feature cost?
Photo reels are included in every paid plan — on Pro (€39.95 per month) they run in the full format mix. The AI-generated Seedance videos exist only on Ultra (€89.95 per month), 8 per month. All plans in detail: [pricing page](preise).
Is automatically publishing reels allowed?
Yes — reels are published like every post via Meta’s official API, which is built for exactly this. What’s problematic are interaction bots, not automatically published content. In detail: [Automating Instagram: what’s allowed](blog/instagram-automatisieren-leitfaden).
Read on
Related to this topic
If you want to dig deeper before you decide.
Planning & creating
From the blog
Your first reel is already in your gallery
The most honest test: upload six photos from one project, set the format mix to reels and see what lands in your approval queue. If you don’t like the cut, you’ve lost nothing — no software bought, no hour spent editing.
30 days free · cancel monthly · approval before every post if you want