Instagram Profile Scraper

A powerful Instagram profile scraper that allows you to extract posts and reels from any Instagram profile with advanced filtering and sorting capabilities.

🌟 Features

• Content Type Filtering: Scrape posts (photos), reels (videos), or both
• Detailed Post Data: Get comprehensive information about each post including likes, comments, views, captions, and more
• Profile Information: Extract complete profile metadata including followers, bio, verification status, etc.
• Multiple Profiles: Scrape multiple Instagram profiles in a single run
• Cookie-Based Authentication: Secure authentication using your Instagram session cookies

📋 Prerequisites

• An Apify account
• Instagram session cookies (exported from your browser)
• A browser extension like Cookie-Editor to export cookies

🚀 Quick Start

1. Export Instagram Cookies

1. Log in to Instagram in your browser
2. Install the Cookie-Editor browser extension
3. Navigate to instagram.com
4. Click the Cookie-Editor extension icon
5. Click "Export" and copy the cookies
6. You'll need cookies in JSON format

2. Configure Input

{
  "usernames": ["natgeo", "nasa"],
  "maxPosts": 10,
  "contentType": "both",
  "sortBy": "newest",
  "cookies": [
    {
      "domain": ".instagram.com",
      "name": "sessionid",
      "value": "YOUR_SESSION_ID_HERE",
      "path": "/",
      "secure": true,
      "httpOnly": true
    }
  ]
}

⚙️ Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
usernames	Array	✅ Yes	-	List of Instagram usernames to scrape (without @)
maxPosts	Integer	No	10	Number of posts to scrape (1-100)
contentType	String	No	"both"	Filter by content type: both, posts, reels
cookies	Array	✅ Yes	-	Instagram session cookies (JSON format)

Content Type Options

• both: Scrape all content (photos and videos)
• posts: Only scrape photo posts
• reels: Only scrape video content/reels

📊 Output Format

Each scraped post is returned as a separate row with the following structure:

{
  "scraped_at": "2026-01-03T10:30:00.000000",
  "content_type_filter": "reels",
  "user": {
    "username": "natgeo",
    "user_id": "787132",
    "full_name": "National Geographic",
    "biography": "Experience the world through the eyes of National Geographic photographers.",
    "external_url": "https://www.natgeo.com",
    "followers": 275788786,
    "followees": 172,
    "total_posts": 31238,
    "is_verified": true,
    "is_private": false,
    "is_business_account": true,
    "profile_pic_url": "https://..."
  },
  "shortcode": "ABC123xyz",
  "url": "https://www.instagram.com/p/ABC123xyz/",
  "type": "video",
  "caption": "Amazing wildlife captured in 4K...",
  "date_posted": "2026-01-02T15:30:00",
  "likes": 125430,
  "comments": 3421,
  "is_video": true,
  "video_url": "https://...",
  "video_view_count": 2500000,
  "video_duration": 45.5,
  "thumbnail_url": "https://...",
  "media_count": 1,
  "tagged_users": ["photographer_name"],
  "location": "Serengeti National Park"
}

🔑 Data Fields Explained

User Fields (nested in user object)

• username: Instagram handle
• user_id: Instagram user ID
• full_name: Display name
• biography: Profile bio text
• external_url: Website link in bio
• followers: Follower count
• followees: Following count
• total_posts: Total number of posts on profile
• is_verified: Blue checkmark status
• is_private: Private account status
• is_business_account: Business account status
• profile_pic_url: Profile picture URL

Post Fields

• shortcode: Unique Instagram post identifier
• url: Direct link to the post
• type: "photo" or "video"
• caption: Post caption text
• date_posted: Publication date (ISO format)
• likes: Number of likes
• comments: Number of comments
• is_video: Boolean indicating video content
• video_url: Direct video URL (videos only)
• video_view_count: View count (videos only)
• video_duration: Duration in seconds (videos only)
• thumbnail_url: Post thumbnail URL
• media_count: Number of media items (for carousels)
• tagged_users: Array of tagged usernames
• location: Location name if geo-tagged

Optimization Tips

1. Start with fewer posts: Test with 5-10 posts before requesting 50+
2. Content filtering is efficient: Filtering for "reels" or "posts" doesn't significantly impact speed
3. Private accounts: You must follow private accounts to scrape their content

🚨 Important Notes

Rate Limiting

• Scraping too frequently may result in temporary blocks
• Use responsibly and respect Instagram's Terms of Service

Authentication

• Cookies are required - the scraper cannot work without valid Instagram cookies
• Cookies expire after some time; you may need to refresh them periodically
• Keep your cookies secure - they provide access to your Instagram account

Private Accounts

• You can only scrape private accounts if you follow them
• The scraper will warn you if an account is private

🛠️ Troubleshooting

"Cookie login failed"

• Your session cookies are invalid or expired
• Re-export fresh cookies from your browser
• Make sure you're logged into Instagram when exporting

"This is a private account"

• You can only scrape private accounts you follow
• Log in with an account that follows the target profile

"No reels found"

• The profile might not have video content
• Try using "both" instead of "reels"
• Some accounts post primarily photos

Happy Scraping! 🎉