# Instagram Profile & Posts Scraper — No Login Required (`axery/instagram-profile-posts-scraper`) Actor

Scrape public Instagram profiles - follower count, post count, verification - plus recent posts with like and comment counts. No login, no API key.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/axery/instagram-profile-posts-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Axery](https://apify.com/axery) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, News, Videos
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $4.38 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Instagram Profile & Recent Posts Scraper

Scrapes public Instagram profiles — follower count, post count, verification — plus recent posts with like and comment counts. No login, no session cookie, no API key.

Useful for influencer vetting, competitor tracking, audience-size research, and building a creator database.

### Two modes

- **Profile stats** — one row per account: followers, total posts, verification, profile picture.
- **Recent posts** — one row per recent post: caption, likes, comments, media type, dimensions, timestamp.

### What makes this different

**Works logged out, because it reads the surface Instagram built for logged-out viewers.** Instagram's ordinary profile page returns a login-gated shell with no data embedded, and the old `?__a=1` JSON endpoint now answers with a zero-byte body — both re-verified directly rather than assumed. This Actor reads Instagram's own profile *embed* widget instead, the one any website uses to display a profile to visitors who aren't signed in.

**`like_and_view_counts_disabled` is reported, not silently flattened.** When a creator hides their like counts, Instagram returns no number. Emitting `0` there would read as "this post got no likes" — a claim the data doesn't support. This Actor keeps the flag so a hidden count is distinguishable from a genuine zero.

**`commenter_count` alongside `comment_count`.** These differ when people comment more than once, which is exactly the gap between "how much conversation" and "how many people" — useful for spotting a thread driven by a handful of repeat commenters.

**Sponsored posts are flagged.** `is_paid_partnership` travels with every post row, so filtering organic from paid content is a column, not a manual review pass.

**Profile mode tells you the posts-mode window in advance.** `recent_posts_returned` reports how many posts the embed actually served, so you know what a posts-mode run will yield before spending on it.

### What's honestly out of scope

**No comment text.** `comment_count` and `commenter_count` are real numbers, but the comment bodies are not part of this surface — Instagram's embed returns the counts only.

**Recent posts, not full history.** The embed serves a fixed window of the newest posts (typically 6) with no pagination parameter. `maxItems` can narrow that window; nothing can extend it from this surface. To build history, run on a schedule and let the dataset accumulate.

**Public accounts only.** A private or nonexistent account returns no embeddable data and is reported as a clear failure rather than an empty row.

### Input

| Field | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| `mode` | enum | `profile` or `posts`. |
| `accounts` | array | Usernames, @handles, or full profile URLs. |
| `maxItems` | integer | Posts per account. `0` returns the full window. |
| `proxyConfiguration` | object | Defaults to Residential. |

### Output

```json
{
  "username": "nasa",
  "full_name": "NASA",
  "is_verified": true,
  "follower_count": 104427137,
  "post_count": 4889,
  "recent_posts_returned": 6
}
```

```json
{
  "shortcode": "Dcbo8HCGWep",
  "caption": "Watch us work 🧑‍🚀 ...",
  "like_count": 64712,
  "comment_count": 272,
  "commenter_count": 229,
  "posted_at": "2026-08-22T20:31:06Z",
  "is_paid_partnership": false
}
```

Each run also writes a `RUN_COVERAGE` record to the key-value store with what was requested, what came back, and any per-account failures.

### Local development

```bash
pip install -r requirements.txt
python test_local.py --mode profile nasa natgeo instagram
python test_local.py --mode posts nasa --out sample_output.json
```

`sample_output.json` is real output from a live posts-mode run.

# Actor input Schema

## `mode` (type: `string`):

`Profile stats` returns one row per account. `Recent posts` returns one row per recent post from that account.

## `accounts` (type: `array`):

Instagram usernames, @handles, or full profile URLs. Each is fetched independently into the same dataset.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Posts mode only. `0` returns every post the embed serves. See the note on window size below - this can narrow that window but cannot extend it.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Apify Proxy settings. Defaults to Residential - Instagram's ordinary logged-out pages are gated, and while this embed surface is not, Apify's own container IP range is a plausible target for the same defense.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "profile",
  "accounts": [
    "nasa"
  ],
  "maxItems": 0,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": [
      "RESIDENTIAL"
    ]
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

Profile stats rows or recent-post rows, depending on the selected mode.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "accounts": [
        "nasa"
    ],
    "maxItems": 0
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("axery/instagram-profile-posts-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "accounts": ["nasa"],
    "maxItems": 0,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("axery/instagram-profile-posts-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "accounts": [
    "nasa"
  ],
  "maxItems": 0
}' |
apify call axery/instagram-profile-posts-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,axery/instagram-profile-posts-scraper"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/ampjRn3RfpMc5ajOu/builds/mfqv9JQVFRJM2YpKo/openapi.json