Instagram Username Checker — Available or Taken

What does Instagram Username Checker do?

Instagram Username Checker tells you whether an Instagram handle is available or already taken. Paste a list of usernames (or profile URLs), run the Actor, and download clean JSON / CSV / Excel.

Built for bulk brand and handle research — up to 100,000 usernames per run. Large lists are handled automatically so you get one dataset without babysitting the job. Lightweight by default (256 MB).

This Actor is not affiliated with Meta or Instagram.

Why use it

• Protect your brand — see if your handle is free before you launch
• Screen shortlists fast — check hundreds or thousands of ideas in one run
• Clear yes / no — each row is available, taken, or inconclusive (with display name when taken)
• Pay for answers — only conclusive checks are billed
• Export anywhere — JSON, CSV, Excel, HTML from the Apify dataset

Use cases

• Brand protection on Instagram
• Product / campaign naming before launch
• Agency bulk checks for client proposals
• Multi-platform naming suites with other Clovys checkers

How to use

1. Open Instagram Username Checker in Apify Console
2. Paste usernames in Usernames
3. Keep defaults (256 MB, residential proxy)
4. Click Start
5. Download results from the Dataset tab

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
usernames	string[]	-	Usernames or profile URLs (required, up to 100,000)
maxConcurrency	integer	4	Parallelism (1–10). Lower if you see many inconclusive results
maxRetries	integer	1	Retries on temporary failures
requestDelayMs	integer	100	Pause between checks (0 = off)
proxyConfiguration	object	RESIDENTIAL	Recommended for reliable results on Apify

Output example

You can download the dataset in JSON, HTML, CSV, or Excel.

{
  "platform": "instagram",
  "username": "cristiano",
  "available": false,
  "displayName": "Cristiano Ronaldo",
  "profileUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/cristiano/",
  "title": "Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano) - Instagram photos and videos",
  "checkedAt": "2026-09-26T01:00:00.000Z",
  "error": null
}

Taken and available rows are successful results. Ambiguous / failed rows keep available: null and error set — they are not billed.

Data fields

Field	Description
platform	Always instagram
username	Normalized handle
available	true = free, false = taken, null = inconclusive
displayName	Public name when taken
profileUrl	Canonical profile URL
title	Page title when captured
checkedAt	ISO timestamp
error	Error message if the check failed

Pricing

Pay-per-event pricing (platform usage is billed separately by Apify):

Event	When charged	Price
result	Each conclusive check (available true or false)	$0.004 ($4 / 1,000)
Actor Start	Once when the run starts (scaled by memory GB)	$0.001

Example: 1,000 conclusive checks ≈ $4.00 in PPE result (+ Actor Start + Apify platform / proxy usage).

Only conclusive results are charged.

Recommended settings

Goal	Settings
Production	256 MB, concurrency 4, residential proxy
Gentler runs	concurrency 2, delay 200–300 ms
Huge lists	up to 100,000 usernames — leave defaults

FAQ

How many usernames per run? Up to 100,000. Invalid and duplicate inputs are filtered before work starts.

Is "taken" billed? Yes. Both taken and available are conclusive. Only inconclusive / error rows are free.

Do I need proxies? Yes on Apify — residential (default) gives reliable availability results.

What if a check fails? It is stored with error and available: null. Other usernames continue. Failed items are not billed.

Is this official Instagram data? No. This Actor is independent and unaffiliated.

Support

Questions, bugs, or feature requests: use the Actor Issues tab on Apify, or contact Clovys through the Store profile.