Snapchat Stories vs. Instagram Stories: How similar are they?

Instagram caught many by surprise this week when it revealed it was launching a new feature called Instagram Stories, which looked almost exactly like the Snapchat feature of the same name.

While close observers likely weren't surprised that Instagram was putting its own spin on the feature (Facebook has been trying to clone Snapchat for years), many were shocked at just how blatant the move seemed to be. More shocking still, Instagram didn't even try to hide where its "inspiration" came from.

Now that some of the dust has settled and we've had some time to really try out Instagram Stories for ourselves, we thought we'd put the two side by side to see how they stack up.

Shooting a Story

Snapchat's app launches on the camera screen so shooting a new photo or video for your story is as simple as pushing one button.

On Instagram, you can access the camera for Stories by swiping from the left from your main feed or by tapping the plus sign in the top left corner of the app. Both apps also allow you to add videos up to 10 seconds long.

Browsing Stories

Interestingly (and perhaps wisely), Instagram chose to put its Stories front and center. All Stories appear at the top of your main feed in order of which friends are closest to you, as determined by an algorithm.

Snapchat's Stories, on the other hand, are ranked chronologically, with the most recently updated at the top.

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One difference between the two is how you navigate between stories. On Snapchat, tapping on the screen advances you to the next snap in a Story and the next Story will automatically play after you view the last snap. On Instagram though, you tap right or left to either advance to the next image or go back to the previous one and wiping left takes you to the next Story in the lineup.

Doodles and emoji

Instagram's drawing tools are more advanced than Snapchat's. While Snapchat uses a slider tool to pick colors, Instagram lays out all the colors side by side. There's also a handy tool for changing the pen size on the far left.

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Instagram also offers three different pen tools. There's a pen, marker and one called neon (far right).

As far as emoji, Snapchat's offerings are a little more flexible. Instagram right now only allows you to add emoji via the text bar while Snapchat lets you add emoji anywhere on your image (you can even attach emoji to specific parts of your videos).

Sending old photos

Both Snapchat and Instagram allow you share old photos to your story but do so in different ways. Instagram only allows you to share photos taken within the last 24 hours while Snapchat allows you to share anything saved to Memories.

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The key difference: Instagram only lets you share Camera Roll photos from the last 24 hours.

Chatting

Both apps also allow you to start a conversation from a friend's story. On Snapchat, tap "chat" or swipe up on a story to start a conversation, while on Instagram you tap "send a message" or ... swipe up.

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Who can see them?

Snapchat and Instagram have pretty similar privacy settings available for Stories. On Snapchat, you choices are everyone or just your friends, while on Instagram, Stories maintain the same privacy settings as your main feed (if your feed is public than anyone can watch; if it's private, only your followers can).

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In both cases, though, you can hide your story from specific contacts.

The verdict

When you line the two up side by side, it's even more obvious that Instagram Stories is pretty dang similar to Snapchat Stories. With one or two exceptions (like navigation and the drawing tools), most differences are fairly minor.

That said, Instagram's implementation has a much cleaner design that will feel more familiar to a lot of people (I'm looking at you, olds.)