Instagram Profile Scraper

Scrape Instagram profile data including bio, followers, posts, and engagement metrics. Just provide usernames and get structured JSON data back.

Features

• Profile data - Username, bio, follower/following counts, profile pictures, verification status
• Recent posts - Up to 12 posts with likes, comments, captions, and media URLs
• Engagement metrics - Automatically calculated engagement rate
• Related profiles - Suggested/similar accounts from Instagram
• Date filtering - Only include posts newer than a specified date
• Proxy support - Built-in Apify Proxy integration to avoid rate limiting
• Error handling - Returns structured error objects instead of crashing

Input

Field	Type	Description
usernames	array	Required. List of Instagram usernames to scrape (without @)
proxyConfiguration	object	Proxy settings. Recommended to use Apify Proxy
maxRetries	integer	Max retry attempts per profile (default: 3)
delayBetweenRequests	integer	Delay in ms between requests (default: 1000)
onlyPostsNewerThan	string	Filter posts by date. Accepts YYYY-MM-DD, ISO format, or relative like 30 days, 6 months, 1 year

Example Input

{
  "usernames": ["instagram", "cristiano"],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  },
  "onlyPostsNewerThan": "6 months"
}

Output

Each scraped profile is saved to the dataset with the following structure:

Successful Scrape

{
  "username": "instagram",
  "userId": "25025320",
  "fullName": "Instagram",
  "biography": "Discover what's new on Instagram",
  "followerCount": 698856927,
  "followingCount": 262,
  "mediaCount": 8299,
  "isVerified": true,
  "isPrivate": false,
  "isBusiness": false,
  "isProfessional": true,
  "profilePicUrl": "https://...",
  "profilePicUrlHd": "https://...",
  "externalUrl": "http://help.instagram.com/",
  "bioLinks": [{"title": "", "url": "http://help.instagram.com", "link_type": "external"}],
  "pronouns": [],
  "categoryName": null,
  "highlightReelCount": 15,
  "posts": [
    {
      "id": "3808662901121777021",
      "shortcode": "DTbFrq6kn19",
      "displayUrl": "https://...",
      "isVideo": true,
      "postType": "video",
      "likeCount": 192022,
      "commentCount": 2878,
      "caption": "the way he actually flew...",
      "takenAt": 1768248111,
      "videoUrl": "https://...",
      "viewCount": 8343294
    }
  ],
  "relatedProfiles": [
    {
      "username": "nctwish_official",
      "fullName": "NCT WISH",
      "profilePicUrl": "https://...",
      "isVerified": true,
      "isPrivate": false
    }
  ],
  "engagementRate": 2.45,
  "scrapedAt": "2025-01-13T12:00:00.000Z"
}

Error Response

{
  "username": "nonexistent_user",
  "error": "not_found",
  "message": "Profile not found: nonexistent_user"
}

Error types: not_found, private, rate_limited, unknown

Post Types

The scraper handles all Instagram post types:

Type	Description	Extra Fields
image	Single image	displayUrl
video	Video/Reel	videoUrl, viewCount, thumbnailUrl
carousel	Multiple images/videos	carouselItems[] with individual media

Proxy Configuration

Using Apify Proxy is highly recommended to avoid rate limiting:

{
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"]
  }
}

For high-volume scraping, residential proxies provide better success rates.

Cost Estimation

• ~1 request per profile
• Average run: 1-2 seconds per profile
• Memory: 256MB is sufficient for most runs

Limitations

• Only public profiles can be fully scraped
• Private profiles return an error response
• Maximum 12 recent posts per profile (Instagram API limit)
• Related profiles may not be available for all accounts

Local Development

# Install dependencies
pnpm install

# Run locally
echo '{"usernames": ["instagram"]}' > storage/key_value_stores/default/INPUT.json
pnpm run start:dev

# Build
pnpm run build

Deploy to Apify

$apify push

License

ISC