Instagram Hashtag Scraper

Pull structured post data from any Instagram hashtag — no account, no login, no friction.

Point it at a hashtag. Get back clean JSON with every post, reel, and carousel that lives under it — engagement numbers, author profiles, audio metadata, location pins, and more. Built for analysts, marketers, and developers who need Instagram data that's actually usable.

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What It Does

Instagram hashtag feeds are a goldmine of public content intelligence — trending sounds, emerging creators, geo-tagged posts, sponsored content signals. This scraper surfaces all of it in a consistent, queryable structure.

Hand it a hashtag and it returns:

• Full post and reel metadata (captions, timestamps, media URLs)
• Engagement signals: likes, comments, plays, reshares
• Author snapshots: follower count, account type, verification
• Audio context: track name, artist, trending status
• Location data: venue name, city, coordinates
• Collaboration flags: paid partnerships, co-authors, tagged users

No credentials. No cookies. No session maintenance on your end.

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Input

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
hashtag	String	✅	—	The hashtag to scrape, without the #. E.g. travel, fitness, streetphotography
scrape_type	String	❌	recent	recent for newest posts, top for highest-performing
max_items	Integer	❌	24	How many posts to retrieve. Minimum is 24
cursor	String	❌	—	Resume token from a previous run (paid only)

Example:

{
  "hashtag": "streetphotography",
  "scrape_type": "top",
  "max_items": 100
}

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Output

Each record in the dataset is one post, reel, or carousel. Here's the full field breakdown.

Core Post Fields

Field	Type	Description
id	String	Instagram internal post ID
shortcode	String	Shortcode used in the post URL
url	String	Direct link to the post
taken_at	Integer	Publish time as Unix timestamp
taken_at_timestamp	String	Publish time in ISO 8601 / UTC
scraped_at	String	When this record was collected
product_type	String	clips = Reel, feed = standard post
media_type	Integer	1 = Photo · 2 = Video · 8 = Carousel

Author (author object)

Field	Type	Description
id	String	Instagram user ID
username	String	Handle
full_name	String	Display name
is_verified	Boolean	Blue checkmark status
is_private	Boolean	Private account flag
follower_count	Integer	Follower count at scrape time
account_type	Integer	1 = Personal · 2 = Creator · 3 = Business
profile_pic_url	String	Profile picture URL

Content

Field	Type	Description
caption	String	Full caption text
hashtags	Array	Hashtags parsed from caption
mentions	Array	@mentions parsed from caption
caption_is_edited	Boolean	Whether caption was edited post-publish
carousel_media_count	Integer	Slide count (carousel posts only)

Engagement

Field	Type	Description
like_count	Integer	Instagram likes
comment_count	Integer	Instagram comments
play_count	Integer	Total video/reel plays
ig_play_count	Integer	Instagram-side play count
fb_play_count	Integer	Facebook play count (cross-posts)
fb_like_count	Integer	Facebook likes
fb_comment_count	Integer	Facebook comments
reshare_count	Integer	Reshare count
like_and_view_counts_disabled	Boolean	True if creator has hidden counts

Media

Field	Type	Description
video_url	String	Highest-quality video URL
thumbnail_url	String	Post thumbnail URL
duration_seconds	Float	Video length in seconds
original_width	Integer	Media width in pixels
original_height	Integer	Media height in pixels
has_audio	Boolean	Whether audio is present

Audio (audio object)

Handles all three Instagram audio structures automatically.

Field	Type	Description
title	String	Track title (licensed music)
artist	String	Artist or original audio creator
type	String	licensed_music, original_sound, or audio type flag
is_explicit	Boolean	Explicit content flag
original_audio_title	String	Custom label for original audio
is_trending	Boolean	Whether the audio is trending in Reels

Location (location object)

Field	Type	Description
pk	String	Location ID
name	String	Venue or place name
address	String	Street address
city	String	City
lat	Float	Latitude
lng	Float	Longitude

Collaboration & Rights

Field	Type	Description
is_paid_partnership	Boolean	Sponsored content flag
coauthor_usernames	Array	Co-author handles
has_tagged_users	Boolean	Whether users are tagged in post
can_viewer_reshare	Boolean	Resharing allowed
ig_media_sharing_disabled	Boolean	Sharing disabled by creator

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Sample Record

{
  "id": "3621480123456789012",
  "shortcode": "DAbc1234XYZ",
  "url": "https://www.instagram.com/reel/DAbc1234XYZ/",
  "taken_at": 1720000000,
  "taken_at_timestamp": "2024-07-03T12:00:00+00:00",
  "scraped_at": "2025-04-13T09:30:00+00:00",
  "product_type": "clips",
  "media_type": 2,
  "author": {
    "id": "123456789",
    "username": "jane.travels",
    "full_name": "Jane Wanderlust",
    "is_verified": false,
    "is_private": false,
    "follower_count": 48200,
    "account_type": 2,
    "profile_pic_url": "https://..."
  },
  "caption": "Golden hour in Santorini 🌅 #travel #greece #sunset #reels",
  "hashtags": ["travel", "greece", "sunset", "reels"],
  "mentions": [],
  "like_count": 4821,
  "comment_count": 112,
  "play_count": 98400,
  "video_url": "https://...",
  "thumbnail_url": "https://...",
  "duration_seconds": 14.5,
  "has_audio": true,
  "audio": {
    "title": "Golden Hour",
    "artist": "JVKE",
    "type": "licensed_music",
    "is_explicit": false,
    "original_audio_title": null,
    "is_trending": true
  },
  "location": {
    "pk": "213204004",
    "name": "Santorini, Greece",
    "city": "Santorini",
    "lat": 36.3932,
    "lng": 25.4615
  },
  "is_paid_partnership": false,
  "coauthor_usernames": [],
  "has_tagged_users": true
}

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Pagination & Resuming Runs (Paid)

Long scrapes can be paused and continued without data loss. The final record in every paid dataset includes a _metadata block:

{
  "_metadata": {
    "cursor": "QVFDZjJmUTdQcGQ4VUluUFZMa3N...",
    "total_scraped": 500,
    "unique_items": 498,
    "hashtag": "travel"
  }
}

To resume: copy the cursor value, start a new run with the same hashtag, and paste it into the Resume Cursor field. The scraper picks up from the exact point it left off — no re-scraping, no duplicates.

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Free vs Paid

Feature	Free	Paid
Posts per run	~24	Up to max_items
Scrape type (recent / top)	✅	✅
Full output fields	✅	✅
Pagination cursor	❌	✅
Resume interrupted runs	❌	✅
Priority support	❌	✅

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How to Use It

Trend monitoring — run it on a niche hashtag weekly and compare engagement velocity over time. Spot content formats gaining traction before they peak.

Creator discovery — filter top posts for accounts with sub-50K followers and high engagement rates. That's your emerging influencer list.

Audio tracking — is_trending on the audio object tells you which sounds are gaining velocity in Reels before the mainstream catches on.

Location intelligence — need to understand content patterns from a specific city or venue? Filter by location.city or use the lat/lng coordinates for geo-clustering.

Pipeline integration — the output is clean, flat JSON. Drop it directly into BigQuery, Airtable, a CRM enrichment flow, or any BI tool. No cleaning required.

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Technical Notes

• Works on public hashtags only — content must be visible to unauthenticated Instagram users
• Deduplication is built in — safe to run overlapping time windows without getting duplicate records
• Automatic retry on failures — up to 3 attempts per request with exponential backoff
• Handles all three Instagram audio data structures without any configuration

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Disclaimer

This scraper collects only publicly available content — the same data visible to anyone browsing Instagram without an account. No private data, credentials, or messages are accessed or stored. Use responsibly and in accordance with applicable laws and platform terms of service. The developer assumes no liability for misuse.

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Support

Found a bug or need a custom configuration? Use the Issues tab on this Actor's page. Paid users get priority responses.