Instagram Reel Transcript Scraper: Reels to Text

Instagram transcript scraper: paste reel links (or usernames) and get what's said in each reel as text, Instagram's own speech transcript of the reel with its language, next to the caption, length, plays, likes, date and creator. Any reel length, no login, no audio download or speech-to-text on your side.

👤 Creator	🗣️ Transcript	🌐 Language	⏱️ Length	▶️ Plays
natgeo	Hey, Nat Geo. Nightmare scenario. You get swallowe…	en	136 s	721,472
nasaadmin	We will launch the first of its kind interplanetar…	en	66 s	2,912,892
natgeo	Romance scams. One in seven adults have lost money…	en	30 s	967,009

$0.0030 per reel with a transcript on the Starter plan: $0.65 per 1,000 reels plus $0.00239 per transcript. Reels without speech cost only the reel. The prefilled run (20 reels) costs at most $0.06. No start fee, no minimum.

What you get

• The transcript Instagram itself made: transcript is the text of Instagram's own auto-captions for the reel (what the speakers say, in their language), read the way a visitor coming from Google sees the reel, with no login. Plain text, no timings. transcriptLanguage names its language (en, es, de, ...).
• Any length, one price: a 10-second clip and a 5-minute reel cost the same $0.00239 per transcript.
• Reels without speech aren't charged for it: music-only and silent reels come back with transcript null (or a few words of lyrics), and a transcript under 3 words is free.
• Reel links, profiles or keywords: reel URLs (/reel/, /reels/, /p/), usernames (natgeo), profile links or numeric ids; a profile gives its reels newest first, as deep as you ask. Keyword search (topics, #hashtags, Boolean) is built in too.
• The rest of the reel on the same row: caption, hashtags, plays, views, likes, comments, post date, length, sound, location, tagged users, collaborators, the creator's name and follower count, and optional MP4 and audio links.
• No login, no cookies, no account of yours involved. The Actor reads the public pages Instagram shows every visitor.

Typical uses: turning a creator's reels into searchable text, hook and script research, subtitles and translation input, and monitoring what's said about a brand or topic.

Input

{
  "profiles": ["https://www.instagram.com/reel/DeCPVhERA8e/", "natgeo"],
  "maxReelsPerProfile": 20,
  "includeTranscript": true
}

• Reel URLs or profiles: reel links, usernames, profile URLs or numeric ids, one per line.
• Max reels per profile: newest first, default 100. Max results (Advanced) caps the whole run.
• Add transcripts: on by default ($0.00239 per reel whose transcript has 3+ words). Off = the reels alone at the reel price.
• Add reel details: on by default and free; adds the video's views, the creator's name, picture and follower count, the sound, location, tagged users, collaborators, partnership and sponsor fields and the video's size (keys below marked details). Transcripts need it, so it stays on while they are.
• Add latest comments: off by default (free); adds firstComment and latestComments.
• Include video and audio links: adds videoUrl and audioUrl.
• Filters: Reels newer than, Skip pinned reels, Min plays, Min likes, Min comments. Reels the filters leave out aren't charged.
• Keyword search: Keywords, Max reels per keyword, Sort by, Continue with related searches, Only reels that mention the keyword. See Instagram Reels Search for how each works.

Output

One row per reel, in the dataset's 🗣️ Transcripts view. 📊 Overview shows the counts and caption, 👤 Creators who made each reel, 📈 Stats only the numbers. The run's OUTPUT record (🧾 Run summary) lists each reel URL, profile and keyword with its status and counts, and how many reels had a transcript (transcriptsRead of transcriptsAsked).

Output fields

• cover: the reel's cover image. Instagram signs media links; they stop working after a few days.
• caption: full caption.
• captionSnippet: first 50 characters of the caption.
• transcript: what's said in the reel, Instagram's own speech transcript (its auto-captions) as plain text, no timings; null for reels without speech (transcripts, a paid add-on).
• transcriptLanguage: the transcript's language (ISO 639-1: en, es, de, ...), null when it's too short to tell (transcripts).
• alt: Instagram's own alt text for the reel ("Video by
• authorUsername: the creator's username, without @.
• authorFullName: the creator's display name (details).
• reelUrl: https://www.instagram.com/reel/
• authorVerified: the creator has the blue check.
• authorFollowers: the creator's follower count (details).
• plays: play count (the number Instagram's reels tab shows). A reel given by URL has it when it's among its creator's latest 36 reels (older reels: null).
• views: the video's view count, a separate counter from plays (often a quarter to a half of them), as Instagram's public embed widget shows it; null when the creator hides counts or turned off embedding (details).
• likes: like count (null when the creator hides it).
• comments: comment count.
• fbLikeCount: likes on the reel's Facebook cross-post, when the creator shares reels to Facebook (details).
• durationSeconds: length in seconds.
• mediaType: reel (a Reels post) or video (a feed video). Photos and carousels are never rows.
• productType: Instagram's product type: clips for a Reels post, feed or igtv (details; in runs with profiles or reel URLs).
• postedAt: when it was posted (UTC).
• isPinned: pinned to the top of the creator's reels tab (profile and reel URL rows).
• rank: position in the profile's reels tab (pinned reels first), or in Instagram's list for a keyword row's topic (1 = first; null for reel URL rows).
• audioTitle: the reel's sound: a song name, or Original audio (details).
• audioArtist: the sound's artist, or the account whose original audio it is.
• isOriginalAudio: true when the sound is the creator's own audio, false for a song (details).
• locationName: the place tagged on the reel (details).
• taggedUsers: accounts tagged in the reel, each as {username, fullName, id, profilePicUrl, isVerified} (details).
• collaborators: collab co-authors shown next to the creator, in the same shape (details).
• isPaidPartnership: marked as a paid partnership (details).
• sponsors: brands named in the paid partnership label, in the same shape (details); Instagram usually hides them from visitors who aren't logged in, so this is mostly null even when isPaidPartnership is true.
• hashtags: hashtags in the caption, lower case, without #.
• mentions: accounts mentioned in the caption, without @.
• firstComment: the newest comment a visitor sees (details, with "Add latest comments" on, the default).
• latestComments: the newest comments a visitor sees (about 14), each as {id, text, ownerUsername, ownerProfilePicUrl, ownerIsVerified, timestamp, likesCount, repliesCount} (same switches).
• hasHiddenLikes: the creator hides the like count (likes is then null) (details).
• isCommentsDisabled: comments are turned off (details).
• latitude: the tagged place's latitude (details).
• longitude: its longitude (details).
• videoWidth: the video's width in pixels (details).
• videoHeight: its height (details).
• videoUrl: direct MP4 link, with "Include video and audio links" on (signed; expires after a few days).
• audioUrl: direct link to the reel's sound track (MP4 audio), same switch and expiry (in runs with profiles or reel URLs).
• images: the cover frame in two sizes, full size first, then 320 px wide (signed; expires after a few days) (details).
• authorAvatar: the creator's profile picture (signed; expires after a few days) (details).
• authorProfileUrl: the creator's profile.
• inputUrl: the profile or reel URL from your input the reel came from (in runs with profiles or reel URLs).
• keyword: your keyword this reel was found for (in runs with keywords).
• topic: the Instagram search it came from: your keyword, or a related search Instagram lists for it (keyword runs).
• matchedTerms: for a Boolean keyword, the words and phrases of it the reel's caption or creator holds (keyword runs).
• shortCode: the reel's shortcode.
• reelId: Instagram's numeric media id.
• audioId: Instagram's id of the sound; reels with the same id use the same sound (details).
• locationId: Instagram's id of the tagged place (details).
• authorId: the creator's numeric user id.
• scrapedAt: when the run collected it (UTC).

Every row of a run has the same keys: inputUrl, isPinned, productType and audioUrl come with profiles and reel URLs, keyword, topic and matchedTerms with keywords.

Example row (a profile row, video and audio links and comments on; latestComments shortened to its first comment here):

{
  "cover": "https://scontent-lax3-2.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-15/842191580_18656578867049152_4200499629839780998_n.jpg?...",
  "caption": "POV: you're watching the Earth set\n\nWe just released hundreds of new images and hours of new audio from our Artemis II mission around the Moon this spring. Check out our link in bio for the Artemis II Preliminary Lunar Science Report.\n\n#NASA #ArtemisII #Artemis",
  "captionSnippet": "POV: you're watching the Earth set We just release…",
  "transcript": "Would you look at that man? Wow. No wonder.",
  "transcriptLanguage": null,
  "alt": "Video by NASA on October 10, 2026. May be an image of planet, eclipse and text.",
  "authorUsername": "nasa",
  "authorFullName": "NASA",
  "reelUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/reel/DeTUk4sDSp-/",
  "authorVerified": true,
  "authorFollowers": 104348062,
  "plays": 8803898,
  "views": 3006729,
  "likes": 612960,
  "comments": 5937,
  "fbLikeCount": null,
  "durationSeconds": 43.8,
  "mediaType": "reel",
  "productType": "clips",
  "postedAt": "2026-10-10T15:15:02Z",
  "isPinned": false,
  "rank": 1,
  "audioTitle": "Original audio",
  "audioArtist": "nasa",
  "isOriginalAudio": true,
  "locationName": null,
  "taggedUsers": [
    {
      "username": "nasaartemis",
      "fullName": "NASA Artemis",
      "id": "1104426670",
      "profilePicUrl": "https://scontent-lax3-2.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-19/670016304_18577283653042671_4689932669633757619_n.jpg?...",
      "isVerified": true
    }
  ],
  "collaborators": null,
  "isPaidPartnership": false,
  "sponsors": null,
  "hashtags": [
    "nasa",
    "artemisii",
    "artemis"
  ],
  "mentions": null,
  "firstComment": "😍😍😍",
  "latestComments": [
    {
      "id": "18435033883198108",
      "text": "😍😍😍",
      "ownerUsername": "domusaureaarchitecture",
      "ownerProfilePicUrl": "https://scontent-dfw5-2.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.2885-19/118140493_305011100779012_9040235127101458324_n.jpg?...",
      "ownerIsVerified": false,
      "timestamp": "2026-10-12T18:19:43Z",
      "likesCount": 0,
      "repliesCount": null
    }
  ],
  "hasHiddenLikes": false,
  "isCommentsDisabled": false,
  "latitude": null,
  "longitude": null,
  "videoWidth": 1074,
  "videoHeight": 1908,
  "videoUrl": "https://scontent-lax7-1.cdninstagram.com/o1/v/t2/f2/m86/AQNUvreb47JFAC3mKM7kF_weYHzhiVF-MfERm99CfyBTok0ezeRdbVW8cH5NXn4mxO8gVi6j1GQ2RU9i4ByvKCLVPHdDruUpsCKYDQI.mp4?...",
  "audioUrl": "https://scontent-lax3-1.cdninstagram.com/o1/v/t2/f2/m78/AQPB4JL-DRgi9IPGEW-CRYYVXhI25dlK6MjaV6MVLn6z-PjYWWDHQ8paV0zV_HrR6itVi3lQcobq2zQ38W6sABUwWavnfWG0BvOCn3w.mp4?...",
  "images": [
    "https://scontent-lax3-2.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-15/842191580_18656578867049152_4200499629839780998_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e15_tt6&...",
    "https://scontent-lax3-2.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-15/842191580_18656578867049152_4200499629839780998_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e15_p320x320_tt6&..."
  ],
  "authorAvatar": "https://scontent-lax3-2.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.2885-19/29090066_159271188110124_1152068159029641216_n.jpg?...",
  "authorProfileUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/nasa/",
  "inputUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/nasa/",
  "shortCode": "DeTUk4sDSp-",
  "reelId": "4004634989362489982",
  "audioId": "28589819277311219",
  "locationId": null,
  "authorId": "528817151",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-12T18:21:54Z"
}

Pricing

Pay per result: you pay for reels delivered and for each transcript, never for unknown profiles, deleted reels or reels your filters leave out.

Plan	Per 1,000 reels	Per transcript
Free	$0.75	$0.00239
Starter	$0.65	$0.00239
Scale	$0.55	$0.00239
Business	$0.50	$0.00239

Transcripts: $0.00239 per reel with a transcript, on every plan, on top of the reel. Reels without speech (music only, silent) or with fewer than 3 words aren't charged for it.

Set a maximum cost on the run and the Actor stops at or before it. Proxies are included: the Actor uses Apify Proxy and switches to residential IPs on its own if Instagram keeps refusing datacenter ones.

Good to know

• Instagram's transcript, not ours. The text is the one Instagram's auto-captions show for the reel. It's very close to what's said (about 1 word in 9 differs from a large speech-to-text model on talking reels; noisy or mixed-language audio does worse), with no timestamps. Instagram makes it for reels with speech; a reel it made none for comes back null, and an empty answer is asked once more before it's believed.
• Music reels sometimes get a few words of the song's lyrics as their transcript; that is what Instagram has for them.
• Plays are the counts Instagram's reels tab shows; views are its own video view counter, read from the reel's public embed widget.
• If Instagram ever refuses every IP, the run fails with a clear message instead of finishing empty.
• Big runs: the Actor stops a little before the run's timeout and keeps every reel it delivered; raise the timeout in the run options for very large runs.

Related Actors

• Every reel of a profile with its MP4 links: Instagram Reels Scraper, the same engine (transcripts are an option there too).
• Reels by keyword: Instagram Reels Search.

Feedback

Found a bug or missing a field? Open an issue in the Issues tab. If the Actor saves you time, a short review on its Store page helps others find it.