Instagram Handle Checker · No Login · Bulk Availability

Turn a list of Instagram handles into a clean availability table — paste your usernames, get available / taken status for each one. Export to CSV, JSON, or Excel in one click.

No login. No cookies. No Instagram account needed.

Free plan: 20 handles per run. Paid plans use your PPE budget. This is not a hundreds-of-handles free run.

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Who is this for?

You are…	Typical goal	Suggested setup
Brand manager	Lock down a handle before a product launch	10–50 brand name variants
Startup founder	Secure consistent usernames across platforms	20–30 variations of your company name
Agency	Check availability for client campaigns in bulk	Paid plan — 100–300 names, export CSV for reporting
Social media consultant	Handle research during client onboarding	Weekly batch checks (paid for bulk)
Username investor	Scan large name portfolios for available gems	Paid plan — 500–1 000 handles per run
Influencer / creator	Find a free handle that matches your brand	10–20 creative variations

You get yes / no / error per handle, ready to filter in a spreadsheet. No setup beyond pasting your list.

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Quick start

1. Open the Actor on Apify Console
2. Under Instagram Handles, paste your usernames — one per line (@ and profile URLs are stripped)
3. Click Start
4. Results appear in the Dataset tab within seconds — download as CSV, JSON, or Excel

That's it. No login, no cookies, no extra configuration needed.

Free plan: 20 handles / run. Paid: unlimited (set a max charge per run if you want a spend cap).

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Ready-made examples

Example	Best for
Check Instagram handles for brand launch	Brand & product launch — 10 name variants
Bulk check for agency clients	Agency onboarding — CSV export for client reporting
Available handles only — filtered export	Username investors & creators — clean available-only dataset
Startup username consistency check	Founders — 15 variations before company announcement
Influencer name variants	Creator spellings
Online shop handle check	E-comm brand before packaging
French brand names	FR product shortlist
Podcast show name	Show title as @handle
Web3 project name	Token / protocol announce
Fashion label	Label and drop names
Restaurant name	Venue before menus
Short available usernames	Filtered free short names

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What you get (columns)

Field	Type	Description
handle	string	The username you checked (without @)
available	yes / no / error	Availability status at time of check
suggestions	string	When the handle is taken, up to 3 alternatives that were checked available. N/A if the handle is free, the check failed, or no alternative passed.
error	string	Error message if the check failed, or N/A

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Input

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
handles	array of strings	Yes	Usernames to check. @, Instagram profile URLs, casing, and duplicates are normalised. Invalid names are written as error rows and not billed. Free plan: 20 handles / run. Paid: unlimited (budget).
maxTotalChargeUsd	number	No	(API only) Maximum spend cap in USD for this run. Default: unlimited.

JSON example:

{
  "handles": ["aurora.xo", "mybrand2025", "its.aurora", "logement"]
}

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Output sample

[
  {
    "handle": "aurora.xo",
    "available": "no",
    "suggestions": "N/A",
    "error": "N/A"
  },
  {
    "handle": "mybrand2025",
    "available": "yes",
    "suggestions": "N/A",
    "error": "N/A"
  },
  {
    "handle": "its.aurora",
    "available": "yes",
    "suggestions": "N/A",
    "error": "N/A"
  }
]

Download in JSON, CSV, Excel, or HTML from the Dataset tab.

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How it works

1. Validates, lowercases, strips @ / profile URLs, and deduplicates your list
2. Looks up each username on Instagram's public profile API (no login)
3. Missing user → available; existing user (including private) → taken
4. Retries failed checks with a fresh residential proxy IP before marking as error (errors are not billed)
5. When a handle is taken, checks a few simple variants and writes the ones that are available into suggestions (not billed as extra rows)
6. Pushes results to the dataset in real time — available handles appear as they are confirmed

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Important / Limitations

• Availability is point-in-time. A handle that shows as available can be registered by someone else within seconds. Run checks right before you plan to register.
• New handles only. The Actor tells you whether a username is currently taken — not who owns it, not the profile behind it.
• Rate limits on very large batches. For lists above 500 handles, the Actor rotates residential proxy IPs automatically. Expect ~50–100 checks per minute on large runs.
• Some mega-accounts may not surface. Instagram's internal search may not return a result for very high-profile verified accounts (e.g. instagram, meta). Treat those as inconclusive, not available.

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How much does it cost to use this Actor?

This Actor uses pay-per-event (PPE) pricing — you pay per handle that returns available or taken. Failed checks and invalid names are not billed. There is no actor-start fee. Paid Apify plans get a lower price per handle.

Scenario	FREE	Bronze	Silver	Gold
20 handles (Try / free cap)	$0.08	$0.07	$0.06	$0.05
100 handles (paid)	$0.40	$0.35	$0.30	$0.25
1,000 handles (paid)	$4.00	$3.49	$2.99	$2.49
5,000 handles (paid)	$20.00	$17.45	$14.95	$12.45

Gold / Platinum / Diamond are $0.00249 per handle (~$2.49 / 1k).

Is this Actor free to use?

Free plan: 20 handles / run. Paid: unlimited (budget). That is enough to smoke-test a brand name. Agency bulk (100–5,000) needs a paid Apify plan.

New to Apify? The Apify free trial lets you run the 20-handle Try. Upgrade when you need bulk.

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Is it legal to scrape Instagram handle availability?

This Actor only queries the public, anonymous account-search endpoint that Instagram exposes on its own password-reset flow — the same request any browser sends when you type a username. No private data, no profile content, no login is involved.

As always, use data in compliance with Instagram's Terms of Service and applicable regulations (GDPR, CCPA). This Actor does not extract profile content, followers, or any personal information — only whether a username string is already registered.

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Also available

Social Handle Checker — Check username availability across Instagram, TikTok, X, Snapchat, Twitch, and GitHub in one run.

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Use cases

• Brand launch: Check 30 variations of your brand name across common patterns (.brand, brand_, brand2025) before going public
• Agency onboarding: Validate handle availability for new clients in seconds instead of checking one by one
• Portfolio scanning: Run 500+ names at once to find available gems for future registration
• Name consistency: Verify a username is free before claiming it across multiple platforms

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Local development

git clone <repo>
cd instagram-handle-checker
npm install

Create an input.json at the project root:

{
  "handles": ["aurora.xo", "mybrand2025", "testhandle99"]
}

Run locally:

$apify run --input-file=./input.json

Results are saved to output.csv and storage/datasets/default/ locally.

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Support

Use the Issues tab on the Actor page for bug reports and questions. For custom Instagram data pipelines or bespoke automation, contact corentin@outreacher.fr.

Ready? Paste your handles and click Start — results in under 30 seconds.