Instagram Profile Scraper — Extract Profiles & Posts Without API Key (Free)

Scrape Instagram profiles and recent posts using Instagram's mobile API. Get follower counts, post counts, bios, profile pictures, and recent post data including captions, likes, and comments — no Instagram API key or login required. Works reliably in 2026 on Apify.

Why This Scraper?

Instagram deprecated window._sharedData in 2024, breaking most scrapers. This actor uses Instagram's unofficial mobile API endpoint (i.instagram.com) for accurate, structured JSON data — the same API Instagram's own app uses.

Features

• Instagram mobile API — uses i.instagram.com/api/v1/ endpoint for reliable, structured data
• Profile data — full name, bio, follower/following/post counts, verification status, profile picture URL (HD)
• Recent posts — captions, like counts, comment counts, timestamps, image URLs, video view counts
• Session cookie support — optional sessionCookie input enables access to private profiles
• HTML fallback — automatically falls back to meta tag scraping if the API is unavailable
• Bulk scraping — comma-separated usernames, accepts @user, bare usernames, or full URLs
• Multiple output formats — JSON, CSV, Excel via Apify dataset export

Input

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
action	string	No	profile	profile (info + posts) or posts (posts only)
username	string	Yes	instagram	Username(s), comma-separated. Accepts @user, user, or full URL
maxPosts	integer	No	12	Max posts per profile (1-50)
sessionCookie	string	No	—	Instagram sessionid cookie for full access (optional)

Example Input

{
    "action": "profile",
    "username": "instagram, natgeo, nasa",
    "maxPosts": 5
}

Output Example

{
    "username": "natgeo",
    "fullName": "National Geographic",
    "biography": "Experience the world through the eyes of National Geographic photographers.",
    "followerCount": 283000000,
    "followingCount": 150,
    "postCount": 28500,
    "isPrivate": false,
    "isVerified": true,
    "profilePicUrl": "https://...",
    "profileUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/natgeo/",
    "recentPosts": [
        {
            "postId": "3350123456789",
            "shortcode": "DABcDeFgHiJ",
            "caption": "A polar bear navigates the melting Arctic...",
            "likeCount": 850000,
            "commentCount": 3200,
            "timestamp": "2026-03-28T14:00:00.000Z",
            "imageUrl": "https://...",
            "postUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/p/DABcDeFgHiJ/"
        }
    ],
    "scrapedAt": "2026-03-29T10:15:00.000Z"
}

Session Cookie (Optional)

For private profiles or more complete data, provide your Instagram sessionid cookie:

1. Log into Instagram in your browser
2. Open DevTools (F12) → Application → Cookies → https://www.instagram.com
3. Copy the value of the sessionid cookie
4. Paste it into the sessionCookie input field

Without a session cookie, the scraper works reliably for all public profiles.

Common Use Cases

• Influencer research — evaluate influencer profiles by follower count, engagement, and content quality
• Social media monitoring — track follower growth and posting activity across competitors
• Competitor analysis — compare engagement metrics, posting frequency, and content strategy
• Marketing campaigns — build lists of relevant Instagram profiles for outreach
• Content research — analyze trending content, hashtag performance, and engagement patterns
• Brand monitoring — track brand mentions and audience sentiment

Avoiding Instagram Blocks

Instagram aggressively blocks datacenter IPs and rate-limits API requests. For reliable, high-volume scraping, residential proxies are essential.

ThorData Residential Proxies provide 200M+ rotating residential IPs across 195 countries — keeping your Instagram scraping uninterrupted at any scale.

Limitations

• Private profiles require a valid sessionCookie to return full data
• Instagram rate-limits after ~100-200 requests from the same IP — use residential proxies
• Post data limited to the most recent ~12-50 posts per profile
• The mobile API response format may change without notice

Related Actors

• Twitter/X Scraper — scrape tweets and profiles without API keys
• Google Maps Scraper — extract business listings from Google Maps

Legal

This actor scrapes publicly available data from Instagram. Users are responsible for compliance with Instagram's Terms of Service and applicable data protection laws (GDPR, CCPA). Do not use to scrape private profiles without authorization.