Hashtag Generator & Finder: Instagram & TikTok Hashtags

Answer first: this actor is a hashtag generator, hashtag finder and hashtag research tool for Instagram and TikTok built on real data. It finds the best Instagram hashtags and TikTok hashtags for a topic and adds hashtag analytics (post counts, view counts, tiers, TikTok performance vs your seed). You give it a seed hashtag or niche word in any language, such as latteart or コーヒー. It returns the best related hashtags: the ones real creators actually pair with it, each with its real post count (Instagram) or view count (TikTok) and a broad / mid / niche tier, plus ready-to-paste sets: a 5-tag core set and a 15-tag (Instagram) or 8-tag (TikTok) extended set. It also gives an avoid list of generic, engagement-bait and dead tags. The first seed in every run is free at the default settings (20-post quick check), then $0.03 per seed report covering both platforms. The public data comes from Apify's own Instagram and TikTok scrapers, billed separately: about $0.16 per seed for both platforms at default settings (real run, 18 Oct 2026).

Quick facts
Best for	Hashtag research, hashtag generator for Reels and TikTok, finding niche hashtags, hashtag strategy for clients, content planning
Input	1–20 seed hashtags or niche keywords in any language (#coffee #latte, coffee, latte, tag URLs and coffee shop all work). Or datasets from earlier hashtag-scraper runs
Output	One row per seed: instagram.coreSetText, instagram.extendedSetText, tiktok.coreSetText, tiktok.extendedSetText, candidates[] (tag, tier, volume, co-occurrence, TikTok performance), avoid[], examplePosts[], summary
Our price	First seed free in every run (default 20-post quick check), then $0.03 per completed seed report (Instagram + TikTok together). No start fee. Seeds with no data, low samples (<5 posts), invalid input and seeds over your max cost are never charged
Data cost	Posts and volumes are fetched by the leading scrapers on your account, under one hard cap for all of them that you set (tested 20 Oct: $0.135 of a $0.15 cap, $0.090 of a $0.10 cap). Real test at today's defaults (both platforms): $0.155 per seed; TikTok only about $0.09
Needs	No logins, no cookies, no API keys. Public data only

How it works

1. Seed volume and Instagram's own suggestions. apify/instagram-scraper reads the hashtag page: total post count plus the related and frequent hashtags Instagram suggests, each with its post count.
2. What creators pair with it. apify/instagram-hashtag-scraper samples recent Instagram posts. clockworks/tiktok-hashtag-scraper (4.92★) samples the top TikTok videos for the tag. Co-occurrence is counted by distinct accounts, and posts stuffed with 20+ tags count less, so one spam account can't hijack your set.
3. Volume check. The top unverified candidates (default 8 per seed and platform) are looked up for their real post or view count and tiered:
   • Instagram: broad ≥5M posts, mid 500K–5M, niche 20K–500K, micro <20K
   • TikTok: broad ≥10B views, mid 500M–10B, niche 10M–500M, micro <10M
4. TikTok performance. For TikTok, performanceVsSeed compares the median plays of top videos using a tag with the median of all top videos for your seed.
5. Sets. The core set is your seed + 1 broad + 2 mid + 2 niche, filled by score when a tier is short. Generic tags (fyp, explore, like4like and others), micro tags and tags with 0 posts go to avoid.

All scrapers run as separate runs on your account with maxTotalChargeUsd set from Max scraper spend, so every cost is visible in your Console.

Spend guards (0.1.8+). Max scraper spend is one budget for all scraper runs together: each scraper gets a share of what is left, rounded down, so the total never goes over it. If the budget is smaller than the estimate, the actor samples fewer posts per seed (shown in the log and SUMMARY.notes) instead of letting the first hashtag eat the whole budget, and volume checks take the top candidate of every seed first. Before any scraping it also checks this run's maximum cost per run: seeds it could not bill get a free NOT_PROCESSED row and no scraper runs are started for them, so you never pay scraper costs for reports you can't receive.

Sample output (real run, 18 Oct 2026, seed latteart, 30-post sample)

{
  "seed": "latteart",
  "status": "ANALYZED",
  "summary": "#latteart | Instagram 12.1M posts (broad); core set: #latteart #latteartgram #latteartist #latteartsg #cappuccino | TikTok 12.0B views (broad); core set: #latteart #lattearttutorial #coffeeathome #coffeetutorial #latteartist",
  "instagram": {
    "seedVolume": 12100000,
    "seedTier": "broad",
    "coreSetText": "#latteart #latteartgram #latteartist #latteartsg #cappuccino",
    "extendedSetText": "#latteart #cappuccino #barista #latteartgram #latteartist #latteartsg #coffee #coffeetime #coffeeshop #latte #coffeeaddict #coffeelover #espresso #coffeebreak #cafe",
    "candidates": [
      { "tag": "latteartgram", "tier": "mid", "volume": 1060000, "source": "instagram suggested" },
      { "tag": "latteartist", "tier": "mid", "volume": 506240, "source": "instagram suggested" },
      { "tag": "latteartsg", "tier": "niche", "volume": 72460, "source": "instagram suggested" }
    ],
    "avoid": [ { "tag": "fypシ", "reason": "generic / engagement-bait tag: huge competition, little targeting value" } ]
  },
  "tiktok": {
    "seedVolume": 12000000000,
    "coreSetText": "#latteart #lattearttutorial #coffeeathome #coffeetutorial #latteartist",
    "extendedSetText": "#latteart #coffee #lattearttutorial #coffeeathome #coffeetutorial #latteartist #barista #espresso",
    "candidates": [
      { "tag": "espresso", "tier": "broad", "volume": 23600000000, "coOccurrencePct": 9.52, "medianPlaysWithTag": 2586300, "performanceVsSeed": 2.76 }
    ],
    "avoid": [ { "tag": "fyp", "reason": "generic / engagement-bait tag: huge competition, little targeting value" } ]
  }
}

Each platform block also has authorsSampled, postsSampled, spamPostSharePct, up to 40 scored candidates and 3 examplePosts. The key-value store has SUMMARY (charges, every scraper run and its cost) and a Markdown REPORT.

Real spend-capped run (20 Oct 2026, build 0.1.9)

Input: "seeds": ["#LatteArt, コーヒー"], verifyTop: 3, maxScraperSpendUsd: 0.10, maximum cost per run $0.03. Run CXLtokV7gzyiocMjw:

Seed	Status	Our fee	Instagram core set	TikTok core set
latteart (from #LatteArt)	ANALYZED	free (first seed)	#latteart #latteartgram #latteartist #latteartsg #latte	#latteart #espresso #coffee #homebarista #coffeetips
コーヒー	ANALYZED	$0.03	#コーヒー #カフェ #coffee #コナコーヒー #コナコーヒーカルチュラルフェスティバル	#コーヒー #coffeetok #カフェ #coffeerecipe #espresso

Scraper runs: $0.090 of the $0.10 cap. The cap was below the default estimate, so each seed got 7 Instagram posts and 7 TikTok videos instead of 20, and the Instagram volume check was skipped (not enough budget left). Japanese tags show Instagram tier unknown, because Instagram's hashtag-details lookup returns 0 for non-Latin tags. With 7 posts the Japanese set still includes one-off tags such as the festival name, which is why the defaults sample 20.

Input example

{
  "seeds": ["latteart", "coffeeshop"],
  "platforms": ["instagram", "tiktok"],
  "postsPerHashtag": 20,
  "verifyTop": 8,
  "maxScraperSpendUsd": 1
}

Only need one platform? Set platforms to ["tiktok"] or ["instagram"], which roughly halves the scraper cost. Already scraped? Pass datasetIds (IDs or dataset URLs) from clockworks/tiktok-hashtag-scraper, apify/instagram-hashtag-scraper or apify/instagram-scraper hashtag-details runs. Seeds found only in your data are researched from that data only: no new post scraping, and never on the other platform. Hashtags with fewer than 5 rows (volume-check rows) are used for tiers, not as seeds. If you add data and leave the pre-filled example seed coffeeshop in place, it is ignored.

Seed formats. One seed per line, or several in one line (#coffee #latte, coffee, latte). coffee shop becomes #coffeeshop, coffee-lover!! becomes #coffeelover, and Instagram/TikTok tag URLs are read. Non-English hashtags work (café, コーヒー, قهوة). Entries made only of numbers or symbols (2024, !!!) get a free INVALID_INPUT row, and no scraper is started for them.

Pricing (pay per event) and total cost

What	Price	Who bills it
Seed report (this actor)	First seed free in every run when postsPerHashtag ≤ 20 (the default), then $0.03 per seed, both platforms included	This actor
Instagram seed volume + suggestions	$0.0027 per seed (list price; our 18 Oct run was billed $0.00135 per seed)	apify/instagram-scraper
Instagram post sample	$0.0026 per post (20 by default)	apify/instagram-hashtag-scraper
TikTok top videos	$0.003 per video (20 by default)	clockworks/tiktok-hashtag-scraper
Volume check	about $0.003 per tag per platform (8 by default)	the scrapers above

Prices above are FREE-tier list prices, and they're cheaper on paid Apify plans. Real totals from our 18 Oct 2026 test runs at today's defaults (20 posts, 8 volume checks): coffeeshop on both platforms cost $0.155 in scraper runs (Instagram $0.068, TikTok $0.087) and $0 from us (first seed free). smallbusinesstips on TikTok only cost $0.084. The older 30-post / 10-check default cost $0.212 per seed. The log prints an estimate first, and Max scraper spend is a hard cap.

Run (both platforms, defaults)	Our fee	Scraper data (approx.)	Total (approx.)
1 seed	$0	$0.16	$0.16
5 seeds	$0.12	$0.78	$0.90
20 seeds	$0.57	$3.10	$3.67

Scraper cost scales with seeds and settings and is only an estimate from our test runs; your Console shows each scraper run's real cost. For 5+ seeds at full depth, raise Max scraper spend above the default $1 (about $0.16 per seed); otherwise the actor samples fewer posts per seed to stay under it.

Never billed by this actor: NOT_ANALYZED (no data), LOW_SAMPLE (fewer than 5 posts sampled on every platform), NOT_PROCESSED (over 20 seeds, or over your maximum cost per run: not scraped either) and INVALID_INPUT rows. SUMMARY.billedReports and ourChargeUsd are read from Apify's charge counter, and SUMMARY.scraperRuns lists each scraper run with the cost it actually charged.

How it compares (Apify Store, verified 23 Oct 2026)

List prices on the Apify Free plan, read from the Apify Store API on 20 October 2026. Monthly users and the new parseforge row were re-checked on 23 October 2026.

Actor	Price	Monthly users	What you get
cygnix_labs/hashtag-research-strategy (this)	First seed free, then $0.03 / seed + about $0.16 scraper cost (both platforms)	1	Tiered, volume-checked, ready-to-paste Instagram + TikTok sets, TikTok performance vs seed, avoid list
memo23/instagram-hashtag-analytics	$0.002 / hashtag + $0.0001 start	2	Instagram only: post count, related tags, engagement in one row
seemuapps/instagram-hashtag-research-scraper	$0.0025 / hashtag result + tiny start fee	4	Instagram related hashtags with post counts
enezli/instagram-hashtag-discovery	$0.05 / hashtag	0	Instagram co-occurrence from recent posts
data-slayer/instagram-hashtag-research	$0.0023 / report + $0.007 per top or recent sample + $0.001 start	2	Instagram only: hashtag report with post samples
devil_port369-owner/instagram-hashtag-research-scraper	$0.05 / result + $0.10 start	2	Instagram hashtag research and generator
apify/social-media-hashtag-research	Free actor (you pay platform usage)	27	Raw posts with a hashtag across Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Facebook. No sets or tiers
apify/instagram-hashtag-analytics-scraper	$0.0023 / result + $0.001 start + $0.007 per top / latest posts add-on	648	Instagram hashtag stats, related hashtags and posts
apify/instagram-hashtag-scraper	$0.0026 / post	16,146	Raw Instagram posts for a hashtag
clockworks/tiktok-hashtag-scraper	$0.003 / video	1,815	Raw TikTok videos for a hashtag
parseforge/tiktok-hashtag-analytics-scraper	$0.00655 / result	169	TikTok hashtag view counts and top posts

Honest take. For Instagram-only related tags with post counts, memo23 and seemuapps are much cheaper per hashtag. Use this actor when you want Instagram and TikTok in one report, tags ranked by how many distinct creators actually pair them with your seed, broad / mid / niche tiers from live volumes, TikTok performance vs your seed and finished sets you can paste. It runs three of the scrapers above under the hood, so the raw scrapers are always cheaper if you only need posts. Free "hashtag generator" websites usually guess from a word list or an AI model, with no live volume data. One limit: Instagram's hashtag scraper returns recent posts, so Instagram engagement per tag isn't scored. That signal comes from TikTok's top videos.

For AI agents / MCP

When an agent should call this actor: the user asks which hashtags to use on Instagram or TikTok, wants a hashtag set for a Reel or TikTok video, asks for hashtag research or niche hashtags, or wants to know if a hashtag is too broad or dead.

Connect the Apify MCP server with only this actor enabled (works in Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code, Codex and any MCP client):

https://mcp.apify.com?tools=cygnix_labs/hashtag-research-strategy

Or with the default server, use search-actors keywords such as hashtag research, hashtag generator, tiktok hashtags.

Example call-actor input:

{
  "seeds": ["latteart"],
  "platforms": ["instagram", "tiktok"],
  "postsPerHashtag": 20,
  "verifyTop": 8,
  "maxScraperSpendUsd": 0.5
}

What to read from the result: instagram.coreSetText and tiktok.coreSetText are paste-ready answers. summary is a one-line explanation, and avoid[] lists the tags to drop and why. Rows with status NOT_ANALYZED, LOW_SAMPLE, NOT_PROCESSED or INVALID_INPUT carry a reason and charged: false; LOW_SAMPLE rows still include tag sets as a hint.

Cost control for agents: tell the user the estimate first: about $0.16 per seed for both platforms and about $0.09 for TikTok only at the defaults (scraper data), plus $0.03 per seed after the first, which is free. Pass maxTotalChargeUsd in callOptions to cap our fee, and maxScraperSpendUsd in the input to cap scraper spend. This actor is pay-per-event and runs with limited permissions, so it works for autonomous agents and with Apify agentic payments.

Example prompt: "Give me 5 Instagram hashtags and 5 TikTok hashtags for a latte art Reel, with a mix of big and niche tags, and tell me which ones to avoid."

FAQ

How many hashtags should I use? The core set is 5 tags, matching Instagram's own advice to use a few highly relevant hashtags. The extended set (15 on Instagram, 8 on TikTok) is there if you want more options to rotate.

Why do the broad / mid / niche tiers matter? Broad tags carry huge volume but your post sinks in minutes. Niche tags have smaller audiences who actually look for that topic. A mix gives reach and staying power.

Is it legal? Do I need an account? It reads public hashtag pages and public posts only, with no login or cookies. Respect each platform's terms when you use the data.

Why are some suggested tags local, like latteartsg? Instagram suggests them because they're popular next to your seed. Keep them if they match your audience, and swap them out if not. The candidates list gives you alternatives with volumes.

What if a seed doesn't exist? You get status: "NOT_ANALYZED" with the reason, and no report charge. The scrapers may still bill a cent or less for the lookup.

Does it check for banned hashtags? Latin-script tags where Instagram shows 0 posts are flagged in avoid as possibly restricted or hidden. That's a strong hint, not an official list. Non-Latin tags are never flagged this way, because Instagram's lookup returns 0 for all of them.

Does it work for non-English hashtags? Yes. Seeds and related tags in any script (Japanese, Korean, Arabic, accented Latin) are sampled from Instagram and TikTok posts and ranked the same way. TikTok view counts work for them. Instagram post counts can't be looked up for non-Latin tags, so their Instagram tier is unknown, and we skip that paid lookup for them.

What does "Max scraper spend" do if it's low? It is a hard cap for all scraper runs together. With a low cap the actor samples fewer posts per seed and may skip volume checks, and the log and SUMMARY.notes say so. A seed sampled below 5 posts on every platform becomes LOW_SAMPLE and is free.

Can I cap spend? Yes, in two ways. maxScraperSpendUsd caps all scraper runs together, and Apify's maximum cost per run caps this actor's fee. Seeds over that maximum aren't scraped at all.

Is this an Instagram hashtag scraper or a TikTok hashtag scraper? Not a raw one. It runs Apify's Instagram and TikTok hashtag scrapers for you, then turns the posts into hashtag analytics: which tags real creators pair with your seed, live post or view counts, tiers and ready sets. If you only need raw posts for a hashtag, apify/instagram-hashtag-scraper or clockworks/tiktok-hashtag-scraper are cheaper.

Does it show trending hashtags? It does not give a global "trending today" list. It finds the best related Instagram hashtags and TikTok hashtags for your topic, from posts that are live now. On TikTok, performanceVsSeed shows which related tags' top videos get more plays than your seed's.

What hashtag analytics do I get per tag? Instagram post count, TikTok view count, tier (broad / mid / niche / micro), coOccurrencePct (the share of distinct sampled accounts that used it with your seed), postsWithSeed, the source (Instagram suggestion or co-occurrence), and for TikTok medianPlaysWithTag and performanceVsSeed. Example posts are included so you can check the context.

Integrations

Schedule a monthly refresh per client niche, call it through the Apify API or MCP, or push results to Google Sheets, Notion (through Make or Zapier), n8n, Slack or webhooks.

Changelog

• 0.1.11 (2026-10-23): Store text and README only, no code change. Title now says "Instagram & TikTok Hashtags". New FAQs: scraper or not, trending hashtags, which hashtag analytics you get. Comparison monthly users re-checked 23 Oct, and parseforge TikTok hashtag analytics added.
• 0.1.10 (2026-10-20): Scraper cost in SUMMARY is now what each scraper run actually charged (charged events × price), not a list-price estimate (a capped run returned 14 posts but charged 11). README: spend guards, real capped run, seed formats, non-English FAQ, comparison re-verified 20 Oct.
• 0.1.9 (2026-10-20): With a low Max scraper spend, every seed gets a smaller post sample instead of the first seed taking the whole budget (on 0.1.7 a 2-seed run got 20 TikTok videos for seed 1 and 0 for seed 2). Volume checks take each seed's top candidate first. The Instagram details lookup (which returns 0 but still charges for non-Latin tags) is skipped for them.
• 0.1.8 (2026-10-20): Billing and spend fixes. Max scraper spend is now one cap for all scraper runs together (0.1.7 could go over it: $0.084 on a $0.05 cap). Maximum cost per run is checked before scraping, so seeds it can't bill get a free NOT_PROCESSED row and aren't scraped (0.1.7 scraped them and then dropped them without a row). Seeds with fewer than 5 sampled posts are LOW_SAMPLE and free (0.1.7 billed 1-video seeds from volume-check rows). Supplied datasets no longer trigger scraping on the other platform, and the pre-filled coffeeshop example is ignored when you add data. Seed parsing handles #a #b / comma lists, tag URLs, coffee-lover!!, full-width ＃, URL-encoded and non-English tags. Invalid seeds (2024, !!!) get a free INVALID_INPUT row and no scraper is started for them. Non-Latin tags no longer get a false "0 posts, avoid" flag.
• 0.1.7 (2026-10-19): Cheaper by default. Report fee $0.04 → $0.03 per seed; defaults now 20 posts and 8 volume checks, so the first seed of every default run is free and scraper data drops from about $0.21 to about $0.16 per seed (both platforms, real 18 Oct runs). Title and Store text now say hashtag generator + Instagram & TikTok hashtag research. Comparison re-verified 19 Oct 2026 against 7 named actors.
• 0.1 (2026-10-18): First release. Instagram + TikTok co-occurrence by distinct accounts, real volume tiers, TikTok performance vs seed, core and extended sets, avoid list, dataset input, spend-capped scraper orchestration.

More tools by Cygnix Labs

• Website SEO Audit + AEO/GEO Checker
• Keyword Clustering + Content Briefs
• Search Intent Classifier

Questions or a feature request? Open an issue on this actor's Issues tab. We answer within 24 hours.