Instagram Posts Scraper

Apify Actor that collects public profile timeline posts from Instagram . Each accepted post becomes one dataset row with URLs, caption, owner, engagement metrics, and carousel-friendly fields.

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1. Features

• Multiple profiles per run (username, @handle, or full profile URL).
• maxPosts cap per profile (paginates until the limit or the feed ends).
• dateFilter — optional “newer than” using absolute date (YYYY-MM-DD) or relative text (7 days, 2 weeks, …) via the Apify datepicker.
• skipPinnedPosts — omit pinned items from results (default: true).
• postTypeFilter — restrict to Instagram product_type: all, feed, clips, carousel_container.
• Structured output — Instagram URL, ISO timestamp, caption fields, owner block, image URLs, optional video URL, hashtags and mentions from caption, tagged users, coauthors, carousel child summary.
• Pagination stops early when the feed reaches posts older than the date filter (non-pinned, chronological path).

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6. Output fields (dataset)

Field	Type	Description
scraped_from	string	Username queued for this profile
instagram_url	string	Post URL https://www.instagram.com/p/{shortcode}/
shortcode	string	Media code from Instagram
timestamp	string (ISO 8601)	From taken_at / taken_at_timestamp
product_type	string	e.g. feed, clips, carousel_container
is_video	boolean	From media_type / video_versions
caption_text	string | null	Caption body
like_count	number | null	Likes
comment_count	number | null	Comments
view_count	number | null	Views when present
play_count	number | null	Plays; may use ig_play_count when present
owner_username	string | null	user.username
display_url	string | null	Primary image URL
video_url	string | null	First video_versions URL
video_duration	number | null	Seconds; may be parsed from DASH manifest
id	string | null	Compound media id
pk	string | null	Media pk
caption_created_at	string | null	Caption created_at as ISO
is_caption_edited	boolean	Caption edited flag
accessibility_caption	string | null	Alt text
is_comments_disabled	boolean	comments_disabled === true
like_and_view_counts_disabled	boolean	Likes/views hidden
owner_id	string | null	owner.id or user.id / user.pk
owner_full_name	string | null	Full name
owner_is_verified	boolean	Verified
owner_profile_pic_url	string | null	Avatar URL
media_name	string | null	Title or Reels audio title when present
image_width	number | null	original_width
image_height	number | null	original_height
image_urls	string[]	image_versions2 candidate URLs
is_pinned_post	boolean	Pinned (only appears when not skipped upstream)
is_sponsored	boolean	ad_id present
is_paid_partnership	boolean	Paid partnership
tagged_users	string[]	From usertags
hashtags	string[]	Parsed from caption
caption_mentions	string[]	@mentions in caption
coauthors	array	{ pk, username, full_name } objects
child_post_count	number | null	Carousel length
child_posts	array	Per-slide { pk, media_type, shortcode, image_url }
first_comment_text	string | null	Not filled by current query
latest_comment_text	string | null	Not filled by current query

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3. How to run (Apify Console)

Use this Actor in the Apify Console

1. Open the Input tab.
2. Under Target Profiles, add every Instagram account you want (username, @name, or full profile URL). This field is required.
3. Set Maximum Posts if you want a limit other than 50 (count is per profile).
4. Set Post Type Filter if you only want one kind of post: all, normal photos/posts, Reels, or carousels.
5. Leave Skip pinned posts on to drop pinned items, or turn it off to include them.
6. Under Extract posts that are newer than, either leave it blank (no date limit) or pick Absolute (calendar date) / Relative (e.g. last 7 days).
7. Click Start (or Save & Start). Watch Log for progress.
8. When the run finishes, open Output or Storage → Dataset to view, filter, or download your post rows.

Advanced: switch the Input view to JSON if you want to paste an object by hand; use the same field names as in §4. Input.

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4. Input

{
    "profiles": ["therock", "https://www.instagram.com/nasa/"],
    "maxPosts": 50,
    "postTypeFilter": "all",
    "skipPinnedPosts": true,
    "dateFilter": "2026-01-15"
}

Relative date example:

{
    "profiles": ["nasa"],
    "maxPosts": 100,
    "postTypeFilter": "clips",
    "skipPinnedPosts": true,
    "dateFilter": "30 days"
}

postTypeFilter	Meaning
all	All types that pass other filters
feed	Standard feed / image posts
clips	Reels
carousel_container	Carousels

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5. Output (example record)

One dataset object per stored post (shape matches .actor/dataset_schema.json):

{
    "scraped_from": "therock",
    "id": "3844133065635875205_232192182",
    "pk": "3844133065635875205",
    "shortcode": "DVZGqf2j0mF",
    "instagram_url": "https://www.instagram.com/p/DVZGqf2j0mF/",
    "product_type": "clips",
    "timestamp": "2026-02-19T12:37:02.000Z",
    "is_video": true,
    "video_duration": 261.942871,
    "view_count": null,
    "play_count": null,
    "caption_text": "Example caption…",
    "caption_created_at": "2026-02-19T12:37:04.000Z",
    "is_caption_edited": false,
    "display_url": "https://instagram.fcai19-11.fna.fbcdn.net/…",
    "accessibility_caption": null,
    "like_count": 322961,
    "comment_count": 6675,
    "is_comments_disabled": false,
    "like_and_view_counts_disabled": false,
    "owner_id": "232192182",
    "owner_username": "therock",
    "owner_full_name": "Dwayne Johnson",
    "owner_is_verified": true,
    "owner_profile_pic_url": "https://instagram.fcai19-11.fna.fbcdn.net/…",
    "media_name": "Original audio",
    "image_width": 720,
    "image_height": 1280,
    "image_urls": ["https://…"],
    "video_url": "https://instagram.fcai19-11.fna.fbcdn.net/…",
    "is_pinned_post": false,
    "is_sponsored": false,
    "is_paid_partnership": false,
    "coauthors": [],
    "tagged_users": ["americanblackfilmfestival"],
    "hashtags": ["RememberYourWhyCollection"],
    "caption_mentions": ["projectrock"],
    "child_post_count": null,
    "child_posts": [],
    "first_comment_text": null,
    "latest_comment_text": null
}

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