Instagram Reels Search & Trend Discovery · No Login

Search Instagram Reels by keyword and pull their public performance data — no login, no cookies, no browser. This Instagram Reels search scraper returns one structured row per Reel, including play counts, likes, comments, shares, the full caption with parsed hashtags and mentions, the creator's profile, the audio track, the video URL, and the timestamp. Export to JSON, CSV, or Excel.

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What this Actor does

Give the Actor a search term — a keyword, topic, or niche — and it queries Instagram's own Reels search endpoint, follows the pagination cursor, and writes one dataset row per Reel. The results are exactly what the public source returns, so you can measure what is trending for any keyword without an account or a logged-in session.

Each row carries the Reel's identity and media (code, id, video_url, thumbnail_url, video_duration), the engagement counters (ig_play_count, like_count, comment_count, share_count), the caption with hashtags and @mentions already split into arrays, the creator's profile (username, full name, verification, profile picture), the audio metadata (clips_metadata.audio_type, the original sound's audio_id and title), and the post timestamp in both epoch and ISO 8601 form.

What you can do with it

• Trend discovery — search any keyword and rank the Reels by play count, likes, or shares to see what is actually resonating right now.
• Content ideation — mine the captions, hashtags, and audio tracks of top-performing Reels in a niche and turn them into a content calendar.
• Competitor research — track which topics and formats a competitor's audience engages with, and how their Reels perform over time.
• Audio and sound tracking — surface the audio IDs behind viral Reels to spot trending sounds early.
• Campaign planning — find high-performing Reels for a campaign brief before committing creative budget.
• Trend reporting — run on a schedule to build a rolling keyword-level trend report for a client or your own brand.

Input

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
query	string	Yes	trending	Search term or keyword to find relevant Reels (e.g. fitness, marketing tips, travel).
maxPages	integer	No	1	Maximum number of result pages to fetch (1–100). Pagination is handled automatically.

Example:

{
  "query": "fitness",
  "maxPages": 3
}

One search term per run. The Actor walks the Reels search results page by page until maxPages is reached or the results end, whichever comes first. Leave maxPages at 1 for a fast, cheap test run; raise it to pull deeper into the result set.

Output

Each dataset row is one Reel's public record, shaped like Instagram's own payload. The values you most often need:

• Reel identity (top level): id (media ID), code (shortcode), taken_at (epoch) and taken_at_date (ISO 8601), media_type, is_video, product_type, and mediaId.
• Engagement counters: ig_play_count (views), like_count, comment_count, and share_count.
• Caption (caption object): caption.text (full caption), caption.hashtags (array), and caption.mentions (array).
• Creator (user object): user.username, user.full_name, user.is_verified, and user.profile_pic_url.
• Audio (clips_metadata object): clips_metadata.audio_type and clips_metadata.original_sound_info.audio_id / original_audio_title; has_audio flags presence.
• Media: video_url (direct video file), video_duration, thumbnail_url, and location / tagged_users where the source exposes them.

Example output (representative subset)

{
  "id": "3575393669538547061",
  "code": "DGeWZllBoV1",
  "caption": {
    "text": "For more tips and insights, follow @iamishachopra\n\n#instagrammarketingtips #instagramgrowthexpert #contentideas",
    "hashtags": ["#instagrammarketingtips", "#instagramgrowthexpert", "#contentideas"],
    "mentions": ["@iamishachopra"]
  },
  "user": {
    "username": "iamishachopra",
    "full_name": "Isha Chopra: Social Media Marketer | Insta Coach",
    "is_verified": true,
    "profile_pic_url": "https://scontent-vie1-1.cdninstagram.com/..."
  },
  "ig_play_count": 7169443,
  "like_count": 39008,
  "comment_count": 284,
  "share_count": 95428,
  "video_url": "https://scontent-vie1-1.cdninstagram.com/...",
  "video_duration": 24.3,
  "taken_at_date": "2025-02-24T23:37:12+00:00",
  "clips_metadata": {
    "audio_type": "original_sounds",
    "original_sound_info": {
      "audio_id": 939635911650210,
      "original_audio_title": "Original audio"
    }
  }
}

Representative subset of the fields returned per Reel. Counters are top-level, the caption is nested under caption, the creator under user, and the audio under clips_metadata. Missing values stay null rather than being guessed.

Pricing

This Actor is billed per dataset row (result) plus the standard Apify Actor-start event. From $2.50 per 1,000 results on the free tier, down to $1.50 per 1,000 results at the Gold subscription tier and above. The live price is always shown in the Pricing section above, and you only pay for the rows a run actually produces — so a single-keyword test run costs well under a cent.

Example tasks

Ready-made configurations you can run as-is from the Actor's Example tasks tab:

• Find trending reels in a niche
• Research a topic's top reels
• Analyze a niche's reel engagement
• Study a competitor's reel topics
• Track a hashtag's reel performance
• Discover content ideas from search
• Find high-performing reels for a campaign
• Build a trend report for a client
• Source UGC reels for reposting

FAQ

How much does it cost to search Instagram Reels? Pricing is per returned row, from $1.50 per 1,000 results at higher subscription tiers ($2.50 per 1,000 on the free tier), plus a small Actor-start event per run. You only pay for the rows the run produces, so a single-keyword test costs a fraction of a cent.

Do I need cookies or a login? No. This Actor reads public data only — no cookies, no Instagram account, and no browser automation. Your own account is never at risk.

How many Reels can I get per run? Pagination is automatic and capped by maxPages (1–100). Each page returns a batch of Reels matching your keyword, so raise maxPages to pull deeper into the result set. Large result sets finish in batches within the run timeout.

What search terms work best? Keywords, topics, and niche terms — for example fitness, home cooking, or marketing tips. The more specific the term, the more focused the result set.

What formats can I export? JSON, CSV, Excel, and XML — directly from the Apify Console or via the API.

Can I schedule it? Yes. Run it from the Apify API, on a schedule, or via a webhook, and export results as JSON, CSV, Excel, or XML.

Related actors

More Instagram scrapers from the same portfolio:

Actor	What it does
Instagram Post & Reel Details Scraper	Full details for a specific post or Reel by URL
Instagram Profile Posts & Reels Scraper	Every post and Reel from a public profile
Instagram Profile Reels Scraper	All Reels from a profile with play counts and audio
Instagram Comments Scraper	Comments and replies from any post or Reel
Instagram Likes Scraper	Users who liked any post, with optional enrichment
Instagram Hashtag Posts & Reels Scraper	Posts and Reels for a hashtag
Instagram Highlights Scraper	A profile's story highlights
Instagram Tagged Posts & Mentions Scraper	Posts a profile is tagged in
Instagram Audio & Trending Sounds Scraper	Trending sounds and audio metadata
Instagram User Search	Find Instagram users by keyword

Limits

• Public data only — private accounts and non-public results are not returned.
• One search term per run — the input takes a single query. To cover several keywords, run the Actor once per term or put it on a schedule.
• Pagination is bounded by maxPages (default 1, maximum 100); large result sets process in batches within the run timeout.
• Counters reflect what the public source exposes at run time; missing values stay null rather than being guessed.

Automation

Use the Actor from code with the Apify API, run it on a schedule, or trigger it by webhook. Results export to JSON, CSV, Excel, or XML and connect directly to Google Sheets, Slack, Zapier, Make, n8n, and other Apify integrations. Put it on a schedule to build a rolling keyword-level trend series.

Feedback and support

Found a bug or need a slightly different output shape? Open an issue on the Issues tab. We actively maintain this Actor and aim to respond within 24 hours.