Instagram Reels Comments Scraper API

Overview

Instagram Reels Comments Scraper API is a lightweight Apify Actor for collecting structured data from Instagram reels, posts, and public profiles. Provide one or more Instagram usernames or reel/post URLs and get JSON records with captions, media URLs, engagement counts, share counts when available, and visible comments.

This Actor is a hosted API wrapper. It sends your input to a maintained backend endpoint and saves the returned items into your Apify dataset.

Features

• Scrape direct Instagram reel/post URLs
• Scrape recent reels/posts from one or more public profile usernames
• Collect captions, hashtags, mentions, owner details, timestamps, dimensions, thumbnails, and video URLs
• Collect likes, comments count, play/view count, and share count when visible
• Collect visible comments with a configurable per-post limit
• Supports multiple usernames or URLs in one run
• Outputs clean structured JSON ready for analytics, automation, n8n, Make, Airtable, Google Sheets, or AI workflows

For Apify Users

Run this Actor with your normal Apify account or Apify API token. You do not need to provide the backend API key. The Actor owner configures private backend environment variables. Users do not need to provide them.

Actor Owner Configuration

Before publishing or running this Actor as the owner, set these environment variables in the Apify Actor settings:

ZEABUR_URL=your_private_backend_endpoint
API_KEY=your_private_backend_api_key
# Optional internal troubleshooting only:
INCLUDE_DEBUG=false

API_KEY is not an Apify user token. It is the private key used by this Actor to call your private backend API. Apify users run the Actor with their normal Apify API token and never see this value.

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
username	Array	Instagram usernames, profile URLs, or direct reel/post URLs. You can mix accounts and URLs.
reelCount	Integer	Number of recent reels/posts to fetch per profile. Direct URLs return one item.
commentsLimit	Integer	Maximum visible comments to collect per reel/post. Use lower values for faster runs.
onlyPostsNewerThan	String	Optional date filter. Supports YYYY-MM-DD, ISO timestamps, or relative values like 7 days, 2 weeks, 3 months.
skipPinnedPosts	Boolean	Skip pinned posts when profile discovery can identify them.
maxConcurrency	Integer	Maximum number of items processed in parallel by the backend API.

Example Input

Scrape two recent reels from multiple profiles:

{
  "username": ["cla.x.fitness", "aiflowtime"],
  "reelCount": 2,
  "commentsLimit": 50,
  "skipPinnedPosts": true
}

Scrape direct reel URLs:

{
  "username": [
    "https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWltAaSAAYL/",
    "https://www.instagram.com/p/DX0zV3lAQWM/"
  ],
  "commentsLimit": 100
}

Mix profiles and direct URLs:

{
  "username": [
    "cla.x.fitness",
    "https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWltAaSAAYL/",
    "humansofny"
  ],
  "reelCount": 1,
  "commentsLimit": 50
}

Output Data

Each dataset item represents one Instagram reel/post.

Field	Description
id	Instagram media ID when available
type	Media type, usually Video
shortCode	Instagram shortcode
caption	Post caption text
hashtags	Hashtags extracted from the caption
mentions	Mentioned usernames extracted from the caption
url	Canonical Instagram post/reel URL
commentsCount	Public comments count when available
dimensionsHeight / dimensionsWidth	Media dimensions
images	Thumbnail/preview image URLs
videoUrl	Direct video media URL when accessible
likesCount	Public like count when available
sharesCount	Share count when visible to the backend session
timestamp	Post timestamp
ownerFullName	Creator display name
ownerUsername	Creator username
ownerId	Instagram owner ID
productType	Instagram product type, for example clips
videoDuration	Video duration in seconds
inputUrl	Original input URL used for this item
firstComment	First collected comment text when available
latestComments	Array of collected visible comments
latestCommentsFetchedCount	Number of comments returned
commentsLimit	Requested per-post comments limit
displayUrl	Main display image URL
videoViewCount	View count when available
videoPlayCount	Play count when available
childPosts	Child posts for carousel-like data when available
status	Processing status
processedAt	Backend processing timestamp

Example Output

{
  "id": "3887958181485282700",
  "type": "Video",
  "shortCode": "DX0zV3lAQWM",
  "caption": "Post caption text...",
  "hashtags": [],
  "mentions": [],
  "url": "https://www.instagram.com/p/DX0zV3lAQWM/",
  "commentsCount": 40,
  "images": ["https://...jpg"],
  "videoUrl": "https://...mp4",
  "likesCount": 1157,
  "sharesCount": 11,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-02T05:55:03.000Z",
  "ownerFullName": "Creator name",
  "ownerUsername": "creator_username",
  "ownerId": "123456789",
  "productType": "clips",
  "videoDuration": 104,
  "inputUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/p/DX0zV3lAQWM/",
  "firstComment": "Nice post",
  "latestComments": [
    {
      "id": "18000000000000000",
      "text": "Nice post",
      "ownerUsername": "commenter",
      "owner": {
        "is_verified": false,
        "username": "commenter"
      }
    }
  ],
  "latestCommentsFetchedCount": 1,
  "commentsLimit": 50,
  "displayUrl": "https://...jpg",
  "videoViewCount": 10000,
  "videoPlayCount": 10000,
  "childPosts": [],
  "status": "success",
  "processedAt": "2026-05-03T12:00:00.000000+00:00"
}

How It Works

1. Add Instagram usernames, profile URLs, or direct reel/post URLs.
2. The Actor forwards the request to the hosted Instagram scraping API.
3. The backend resolves recent posts, loads visible comments, and enriches each record.
4. The Actor stores each returned item in the Apify dataset.

Performance Tips

For many accounts, avoid very large runs in one request. Start with:

{
  "username": ["account1", "account2", "account3"],
  "reelCount": 1,
  "commentsLimit": 20
}

Increase reelCount and commentsLimit gradually. Comments collection is the slowest part because Instagram often requires browser-like scrolling to load more comments.

Notes & Limitations

• Works best with public Instagram profiles and public reels/posts.
• Private, restricted, removed, or region-limited content may not be accessible.
• Engagement numbers can change over time and may differ from what you see in the Instagram app.
• Share counts are returned only when visible to the backend session and may be unavailable for some posts.
• Comments are visible comments loaded by the backend session, not guaranteed to be every comment on very large posts.
• Direct media URLs may expire because Instagram CDN URLs are time-limited.

Use Cases

• Influencer and creator research
• Reels engagement monitoring
• Comment mining and keyword research
• Social media analytics dashboards
• Competitor content tracking
• Lead generation and community analysis
• Feeding Instagram post data into AI workflows

SEO Keywords

Instagram Reels Scraper, Instagram Comments Scraper, Instagram Post Scraper, Instagram Profile Reels API, Instagram Engagement Data, Instagram Shares Count Scraper, Instagram JSON API Alternative, Instagram Social Media Analytics

Disclaimer

Use this Actor responsibly and only for lawful purposes. Instagram may restrict automated collection of data in its terms of service. This Actor is intended for collecting accessible Instagram post/profile data for analytics, research, and automation workflows. The developer is not responsible for misuse.