Instagram Scraper

Stop paying $2/1000 profiles. This free Instagram scraper extracts profile data and recent posts without per-use fees. Use your own compute credits instead of paying per-result.

BYOK (Bring Your Own Key) -- you provide your own API credentials.

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Before You Start

This actor requires your own API credentials to fetch real data.

Where to get your key: JSON array of cookies from Cookie-Editor browser extension. Required for reliable scraping — Instagram gates most content behind login. Install Cookie-Editor, log into Instagram, export cookies as JSON, paste here. Not needed if using Cookie Manager.

You can test with Demo Mode first (free, no key needed) to see the output format before committing.

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Quick Start

Test with Demo Mode (free, no API key needed)

{
  "demoMode": true,
  "usernames": [
    "instagram"
  ]
}

Run with real data

{
  "demoMode": false,
  "usernames": [
    "instagram"
  ],
  "maxPosts": 12,
  "includeReels": true,
  "includeComments": false,
  "maxCommentsPerPost": 20,
  "includeReactions": false,
  "sessionCookies": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE",
  "cookieKvStoreName": "cookie-sessions",
  "useFirecrawl": false,
  "firecrawlApiKey": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE",
  "enableSentimentAnalysis": false,
  "aiProvider": "none",
  "aiApiKey": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
}

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Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Required	Description
usernames	array	-	No	List of Instagram usernames to scrape (without @). Example: nike, adidas, puma
maxPosts	integer	12	No	Maximum number of posts to scrape per profile (includes reels if enabled)
includeReels	boolean	true	No	Include reels in the scraped posts
includeComments	boolean	false	No	Scrape comments on each post (increases run time)
maxCommentsPerPost	integer	20	No	Maximum number of comments to scrape per post
includeReactions	boolean	false	No	Include detailed engagement metrics (likes, shares, saves)
demoMode	boolean	true	No	Run with sample data for testing (no scraping, no charges). Set to FALSE for real scraping.
sessionCookies	string	-	Yes*	JSON array of cookies from Cookie-Editor browser extension. Required for reliable scraping — Instagram gates most content behind login. Install Cookie-Editor, log into Instagram, export cookies as JSON, paste here. Not needed if using Cookie Manager.
cookieStorageKey	string	-	No	Key to load cookies from the Cookie Manager KV store (e.g. 'instagram-myaccount'). Use this instead of pasting cookies manually. Requires a prior run of the Cookie Manager actor to capture and store your session.
cookieKvStoreName	string	"cookie-sessions"	No	Name of the Key-Value store where Cookie Manager saved the session. Defaults to 'cookie-sessions'.
useFirecrawl	boolean	false	No	Use Firecrawl API for enhanced scraping reliability (requires API key)
firecrawlApiKey	string	-	Yes*	Your Firecrawl API key from firecrawl.dev
proxy	object	-	No	Proxy settings for avoiding blocks
webhookUrl	string	-	No	URL to POST results when scraping completes (Zapier, Make, n8n)
enableSentimentAnalysis	boolean	false	No	Use AI to analyze sentiment of comments and captions
aiProvider	string	"none"	No	Which AI provider to use for sentiment analysis
aiApiKey	string	-	Yes*	API key for your chosen AI provider
aiModel	string	-	No	Custom model name (leave empty for default). Examples: gpt-4o, claude-3-5-sonnet-20241022, gemini-1.5-pro

*Required when Demo Mode is off.

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Pricing

This actor uses pay-per-event billing:

Event	Description	Price
Profile Scraped	Each Instagram profile scraped	$0.08

Demo mode is free -- no charges for sample data.

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Troubleshooting

"API key is required"

You have Demo Mode turned off but didn't provide an API key. Either:

• Turn Demo Mode on to test with sample data
• Add your API key in the input

"API error 403" or "Unauthorized"

Your API key is invalid, expired, or doesn't have access to this specific API endpoint. Double-check your key and account permissions.

"API error 429" or "Rate limit"

Too many requests. Wait a minute and try again, or reduce the number of items per run.

No results or empty dataset

Check the run log for error messages. Common causes:

• Invalid input format (check the examples above)
• API key without proper permissions
• The target data doesn't exist or is too small to track

How do I test without an API key?

Enable Demo Mode in the input. This returns realistic sample data so you can verify the output format works for your workflow.

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Built by John Rippy | Actor Arsenal