Instagram Followers & Following Scraper

A powerful and stealthy Apify actor for scraping Instagram followers and following lists with advanced anti-detection features.

🎯 Features

• Dual scraping modes: Scrape followers or following users
• Selective data collection: Choose exactly which user data to collect
• Anti-detection measures: Randomized delays, proxy rotation, human-like behavior
• Rate limit protection: Smart delays between requests to avoid Instagram blocks
• Real-time progress: Data saved immediately as it's collected
• Configurable limits: Set maximum pages per user to control data volume
• Professional proxy support: Built-in Apify proxy system with country selection

🚀 Quick Start

1. Get Instagram Cookies: Log into Instagram in your browser and copy session cookies
2. Configure Actor: Set target usernames and scraping preferences
3. Run & Collect: Actor automatically handles pagination and proxy rotation

📋 Input Parameters

🎯 Target Selection

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
usernames	Array	✅	List of Instagram usernames to scrape
scrapeType	String	❌	"followers" or "following" (default: "followers")

⚙️ Data Collection Options

Choose which user data fields to collect:

• collectUserId - User ID (default: true)
• collectUsername - Username (default: true)
• collectFullName - Display name (default: true)
• collectProfilePicUrl - Profile picture URL (default: true)
• collectIsPrivate - Private account status (default: true)
• collectIsVerified - Verification status (default: true)
• collectHasAnonymousProfilePic - Anonymous picture flag (default: false)
• collectProfilePicId - Profile picture ID (default: false)

🌐 Proxy Configuration

Configure proxy settings to avoid Instagram rate limits. For best results, select proxies from your account's country or nearby regions.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
proxyConfiguration	Object	❌	Apify proxy settings (default: {"useApifyProxy": true})

⏱️ Performance Settings

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
delaySeconds	Integer	❌	5	Base delay between requests (randomized 5-10s)
maxPages	Integer	❌	100	Maximum pages per user (0 = unlimited)

🔐 Authentication

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
cookies	String	✅	Instagram session cookies
userAgent	String	❌	Custom User-Agent string

📤 Output Format

Individual User Records

{
  "id": "123456789",
  "username": "john_doe",
  "full_name": "John Doe",
  "profile_pic_url": "https://...",
  "is_private": false,
  "is_verified": true,
  "scraped_for_username": "target_user",
  "scraped_at": "2025-01-09T12:00:00.000Z"
}

Summary Record

{
  "username": "target_user",
  "totalFollowers": 1247,
  "scrapeType": "followers",
  "fieldsCollected": ["id", "username", "full_name"],
  "maxPages": 100,
  "scraping_completed": true,
  "scraped_at": "2025-01-09T12:00:00.000Z"
}

🛠️ Usage Examples

Basic Followers Scraping

{
  "usernames": ["instagram", "cristiano"],
  "cookies": "ds_user_id=...;sessionid=...",
  "scrapeType": "followers"
}

Minimal Data Collection

{
  "usernames": ["target_user"],
  "cookies": "ds_user_id=...;sessionid=...",
  "collectUserId": false,
  "collectUsername": true,
  "collectFullName": false,
  "collectProfilePicUrl": false,
  "collectIsPrivate": false,
  "collectIsVerified": false
}

High-Speed Scraping

{
  "usernames": ["target_user"],
  "cookies": "ds_user_id=...;sessionid=...",
  "delaySeconds": 1,
  "maxPages": 10
}

Following Analysis

{
  "usernames": ["influencer"],
  "cookies": "ds_user_id=...;sessionid=...",
  "scrapeType": "following",
  "collectIsVerified": true
}

🔑 Getting Instagram Cookies

1. Open Chrome/Edge browser
2. Go to instagram.com and log in
3. Open Developer Tools (F12)
4. Go to Application/Storage → Cookies → https://www.instagram.com
5. Copy the cookie string containing:
   • ds_user_id
   • sessionid
   • csrftoken
   • Other Instagram cookies

⚡ Performance & Best Practices

Rate Limiting

• Use proxies: Always enable proxy configuration
• Random delays: Actor automatically randomizes delays
• Start small: Test with maxPages: 5 first
• Monitor usage: Check Instagram account status

Data Volume Control

• Selective collection: Only collect needed fields
• Page limits: Set maxPages based on your needs
• Batch processing: Process multiple users in one run

Proxy Configuration

• Residential proxies: Best for Instagram scraping
• Local regions: Use proxies from target account's country
• Rotation: Let Apify handle automatic IP rotation

🐛 Troubleshooting

Authentication Issues

❌ Instagram cookies are invalid or expired

Solution: Get fresh cookies from a logged-in browser session

Rate Limiting

HTTP 429: Too Many Requests

Solution:

• Increase delaySeconds
• Enable/use better proxies
• Reduce maxPages

Empty Results

Possible causes:

• Private account (followers/following not visible)
• Account doesn't exist
• Cookies expired

Proxy Issues

Solutions:

• Try different proxy groups
• Use residential proxies
• Check proxy status in Apify console

📊 Dataset Structure

The actor creates two types of records:

1. User Records: One per scraped user (saved immediately)
2. Summary Record: One per target username (saved at completion)

Filtering Results

Find verified users:

dataset.filter(record => record.is_verified === true)

Count private accounts:

dataset.filter(record => record.is_private === true).length

Group by username:

const grouped = dataset.reduce((acc, record) => {
  acc[record.scraped_for_username] = acc[record.scraped_for_username] || [];
  acc[record.scraped_for_username].push(record);
  return acc;
}, {});

🔒 Security & Ethics

• Respect Instagram's Terms of Service
• Use for legitimate research/analysis only
• Don't overload Instagram's servers
• Respect user privacy
• Comply with local laws

📞 Support

• Issues: GitHub Issues
• Documentation: Apify Docs
• Community: Apify Discord

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

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Built with ❤️ using Apify SDK