how do i see if someone is online on ig without a big budget?

Only through DMs. If someone has activity status switched on, you'll see "Active now" or "active 5m ago" under their name in your chat with them. A couple of catches: - it only shows if you follow each other or have messaged before - if YOU turn your own activity status off, you stop seeing everyone else's too There's no way to see it for a random account, whatever the apps claim.