I have 932 followers on Instagram, and only 115 on Pixelfed. I know many folks from over the years on Instagram that I've met in real life, while on Pixelfed it's mostly strangers that are interested in my Photography. Yet I reliably get more engagement from Pixelfed than Instagram. Sometimes FAR more than Instagram. It reminds me in ways of Flickr when it was good. Having that one photo you uploaded just hitting the right spot at the right time and being "Explored". Nothing like this exists with Instagram any longer. It's just too hard to get any engagement even with the crowd that you "know" for whatever reason.
Gratuitous link to my Pixelfed portfolio, https://pixelfed.au/i/portfolio/adamhsparks