Instagram Highlights Scraper — By URL (No‑Login Highlights API)

Scrape Instagram Story Highlights by URL — fast, reliable, no Instagram login required.

Convert public Instagram highlights (story reels) into clean, structured CSV or JSON for analytics, archiving, influencer research, and automation.

What this actor does

The Instagram Highlights Scraper — By URL pulls full metadata for Instagram story highlights (the circular highlights saved on profiles) given one or more highlight URLs. It returns a structured JSON or CSV dataset that includes highlight-level metadata, cover media, items (story entries), mentions, stickers, and user information — all ready for downstream analytics, CRM enrichment, or archival.

• No Instagram credentials required — works with public profiles only.
• Input: a list of highlight URLs.
• Output: an array of highlight objects with rich metadata (example included below).

Why choose this actor

• No-login, low-risk scraping: avoids account credential management and reduces risk of account bans.
• URL-first: directly target specific highlights using canonical highlight links — ideal for targeted scraping and archival.
• Production-ready output: CSV, JSON, NDJSON outputs that plug into data pipelines, BI tools, or CRMs.
• Automation-friendly: schedule runs, use the Apify API, or wire results into webhooks and pipelines.
• Accurate item-level data: includes timestamps, media types, stickers, mentions, links and location tags.

Primary use cases

• Archive story highlights for brands, campaigns, or influencers.

• Monitor highlight content changes over time (brand safety, compliance, campaign tracking).

• Extract story items for creative research and competitive analysis.

• Build influencer portfolios and media catalogs.

• Enrich datasets with highlight-level media metadata for ML or visual analysis.

Input — required format

Provide a JSON object as the actor input. The only required field is links, an array of canonical Instagram highlights URLs.

{
  "links": [
    "https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/18043884427430363/",
    "https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/12345678901234567/"
  ]
}

Notes:

• Use full highlight URLs (the actor normalizes them and extracts highlight_id).
• The actor only scrapes public highlights. Private profiles will return an error or empty result for that highlight.

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Important fields explained (quick reference)

Before viewing the example output below, here are the most important fields you will commonly use and what they mean:

• link — The original highlight URL you provided.
• highlight_id — The numeric highlight identifier parsed from the URL (useful for deduplication and record linking).
• highlight — The main object containing all highlight metadata.
  • id / strong_id__ — Internal canonical highlight identifier prefixed with highlight:.
  • title — Highlight title as shown on Instagram.
  • user — Owner object: contains username, id/pk, full_name, is_verified, profile_pic_url and related user metadata.
  • cover_media — Object describing the highlight cover image (cropped and full image versions, crop rectangle, media_id).
  • items — Array of story items within the highlight. Each item contains:
    • id / pk — The media identifier.
    • taken_at — ISO timestamp showing when the story was posted (UTC).
    • media_type — Integer describing media type (1=image, 2=video, etc.).
    • thumbnail_url / video_url — Links to media assets (if available).
    • mentions, stickers, hashtags, locations — Arrays that capture story-level annotations and third-party references.
  • media_count — Number of items inside the highlight.
  • created_at / latest_reel_media — Timestamps useful for sorting and time-based filtering.
  • is_cacheable, is_pinned_highlight, is_archived — Flags for downstream logic.

Use these fields to filter, enrich, or join highlight data with your analytics or CRM systems.

Example output (abridged real-world example)

Below is a realistic example of the JSON array returned by the actor. Use this directly as a template for parsing results.

[
  {
    "link": "https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/18043884427430363/",
    "highlight_id": "18043884427430363",
    "highlight": {
      "id": "highlight:18043884427430363",
      "strong_id__": "highlight:18043884427430363",
      "latest_reel_media": 1682986565,
      "seen": null,
      "can_reply": true,
      "can_gif_quick_reply": true,
      "can_reshare": true,
      "reel_type": "highlight_reel",
      "ad_expiry_timestamp_in_millis": null,
      "is_cta_sticker_available": null,
      "should_treat_link_sticker_as_cta": null,
      "pool_refresh_ttl_in_sec": null,
      "can_react_with_avatar": false,
      "prefetch_count": 0,
      "cover_media": {
        "cropped_image_version": {
          "width": 150,
          "height": 150,
          "url": "https://scontent-lga3-2.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.29350-15/329603869_6667569846603361_2750874061760554681_n.jpg?...&_nc_sid=982cc7",
          "scans_profile": ""
        },
        "crop_rect": [
          0.037606837606837605,
          0.17740384615384605,
          0.9606837606837607,
          0.6966346153846152
        ],
        "media_id": "3033762930389999658_27876449",
        "full_image_version": null,
        "upload_id": null
      },
      "user": {
        "pk": "27876449",
        "pk_id": "27876449",
        "full_name": "Street League Skateboarding",
        "strong_id__": "27876449",
        "id": "27876449",
        "username": "sls",
        "is_private": false,
        "is_ring_creator": false,
        "show_ring_award": false,
        "is_verified": true,
        "profile_pic_id": "3709950862594002019_27876449",
        "profile_pic_url": "https://scontent-lga3-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.2885-19/...&_nc_sid=982cc7",
        "interop_messaging_user_fbid": 106742904056255,
        "is_creator_agent_enabled": false,
        "transparency_product_enabled": false
      },
      "items": [
        {
          "pk": "3033762930389999658",
          "id": "3033762930389999658_27876449",
          "code": "CoaF0_GpOAq",
          "taken_at": "2023-02-08T16:12:21Z",
          "media_type": 1,
          "product_type": "story",
          "thumbnail_url": "https://scontent-lga3-2.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.29350-15/...&_nc_sid=982cc7",
          "user": {
            "pk": "27876449",
            "id": "27876449",
            "username": null,
            "full_name": "",
            "profile_pic_url": null,
            "profile_pic_url_hd": null,
            "is_private": false,
            "is_verified": null
          },
          "video_url": null,
          "video_duration": 0,
          "sponsor_tags": [],
          "mentions": [
            {
              "user": {
                "pk": "9685464595",
                "id": "9685464595",
                "username": "drinkaccelerator",
                "full_name": "Accelerator Active Energy",
                "profile_pic_url": "https://scontent-lga3-1.cdninstagram.com/...",
                "profile_pic_url_hd": null,
                "is_private": false,
                "is_verified": true
              },
              "x": 0.96918957391127,
              "y": 0.07934385645030301,
              "width": 0.00001637378135515527,
              "height": 0.000001783129561344546
            }
          ],
          "links": [],
          "hashtags": [],
          "locations": [],
          "stickers": [
            {
              "id": null,
              "type": "gif",
              "x": 0.5,
              "y": 0.733173084259033,
              "z": 4,
              "width": 0.87582532051282,
              "height": 0.052747896634615,
              "rotation": 0,
              "story_link": {
                "url": "https://l.instagram.com/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ticketmaster.com%2F...",
                "link_title": "Visit Link",
                "link_type": "web",
                "display_url": "ticketmaster.com/..."
              },
              "extra": {}
            }
          ],
          "medias": []
        }
      ],
      "is_nux": false,
      "title": "SLS Chicago 🌇",
      "created_at": 1681422687,
      "is_pinned_highlight": false,
      "media_count": 7,
      "media_ids": [
        3033762930389999600,
        3034707043639605000,
        3070137153896768500,
        3073622087751584000,
        3093437598178079000,
        3093437933260906000,
        3093438000797734000
      ],
      "is_cacheable": true,
      "is_converted_to_clips": false,
      "disabled_reply_types": [
        "story_remix_reply",
        "story_selfie_reply"
      ],
      "highlight_reel_type": "DEFAULT",
      "is_added_to_main_grid": false,
      "is_archived": false,
      "show_expiration_tray_signal": false,
      "pk": "18043884427430363"
    }
  }
]

Quick start — Apify Console

1. Open the actor in your Apify Console.
2. Paste one or more canonical Instagram highlight URLs into the links array.
3. Run the actor. When finished, download dataset in JSON, NDJSON, or CSV.

Automation & Integrations

Use the Apify API or built-in integrations to automate and route results:

• Apify API — schedule runs, pass inputs programmatically, and fetch datasets.
• Webhooks — receive immediate notifications with dataset links after each run.
• Zapier / Make / Airbyte — ingest outputs into CRMs, data warehouses, or Google Sheets.

Rate limits, costs & best practices

• Pricing: pay-per-event model — you are charged only for each highlight scrape. Control costs by specifiying the max cost of the actor run and also per-run timeouts.
• If you need frequent, large-scale archiving, contact us for custom solutions.

Legal & ethical considerations

• This actor scrapes publicly available Instagram highlights only. Do not use scraped data for spam, doxxing, unlawful profiling, or unlawful commercial purposes.

• Comply with GDPR, CCPA, and other local regulations when storing or processing personal data.

• For enterprise use or high-volume commercial workflows, consult legal counsel.

Support & feedback

We’re here to help you get the most out of the Instagram Highlights Scraper - By URL

• 📩 Open an Issue in the Apify Console
• 💬 Contact Apify Support directly for help or custom solutions

Your feedback helps us keep improving—share your ideas, bugs, or feature requests anytime.

Get started

Scrape and archive Instagram highlights quickly and reliably. Provide highlight URLs, run the actor, and stream results into your analytics or archival pipeline.

Also Known As: Instagram Highlights Scraper, scrape Instagram highlights by URL, Instagram highlights API, story highlights downloader, Instagram highlights exporter, no-login Instagram scraper.