Instagram Video Downloader

Instagram Video Downloader is an Apify actor that extracts and re-hosts videos from Instagram post, reel, and IGTV URLs. Each downloaded video costs $0.02, or $20.00 per 1,000 videos, billed only on successful delivery to your chosen storage.

The Instagram Video Downloader runs one operating mode across 3 Instagram content types, accepts 24 input fields covering 4 storage providers, and returns 9 output fields per video through 1 pay-per-event charge type. Every price on this page is a per-event charge with no subscription and no monthly minimum.

What Does the Instagram Video Downloader Extract?

The Instagram Video Downloader extracts every video attached to an Instagram feed post, reel, or IGTV entry, including every video inside a multi-media carousel post. The table below lists the 4 source types it covers.

Source	How to Target It	What It Covers
Feed posts	Post URLs (/p/{shortcode}/) in startUrls	Every video attached to a standard feed post, including carousels
Reels	Reel URLs (/reel/{shortcode}/ or /reels/{shortcode}/) in startUrls	The reel video
IGTV	IGTV URLs (/tv/{shortcode}/) in startUrls	The IGTV video
Carousel posts	Any of the above URL types pointing at a multi-media post	Every video in the carousel, one result per video, numbered by its position

Which Instagram URLs Does the Instagram Video Downloader Accept?

The Instagram Video Downloader accepts 4 URL path patterns inside startUrls, listed below.

• /p/{shortcode}/ targets a standard feed post.
• /reel/{shortcode}/ targets a reel.
• /reels/{shortcode}/ targets the same reel under Instagram's alternate path.
• /tv/{shortcode}/ targets an IGTV entry.

Every URL is matched against the same shortcode. A post entered as /p/{shortcode}/, /reel/{shortcode}/, and /tv/{shortcode}/ in one run resolves once and is downloaded, and charged, once.

Who Uses the Instagram Video Downloader?

Listed below are the 5 roles that run the Instagram Video Downloader against Instagram video content.

• Social media and content teams pull campaign or influencer videos into downloadUrl for repurposing or cross-platform reposting, instead of relying on Instagram's own short-lived media links.
• Marketing and brand monitoring functions re-host UGC, branded content, or competitor posts by feeding startUrls from a tracked list and reading storageType back to confirm delivery.
• Agencies and freelancers batch a client's startUrls list against the client's own s3Bucket, googleCloudBucketName, digitalOceanBucketName, or azureContainerName as part of a deliverable pipeline.
• Product and dev teams building on Apify call the actor through the Apify API, budgeting runs against the fixed $0.02 video-download event instead of a variable proxy cost.
• Researchers and archivists collect a reproducible set of public Instagram video content, defined by an explicit startUrls list, and use jobId and inputSource to trace each result back to its query.

What Does the Instagram Video Downloader Cost?

The Instagram Video Downloader charges 1 event type. Each video-download event costs $0.02, or $20.00 per 1,000 videos.

Event Type	Price	What's Included
video-download	$0.02	Charged once per video successfully downloaded and re-hosted to your storage

Instagram Video Downloader Cost Examples

The table below prices 5 scenarios against the rate card above.

Scenario	Charge Events	Calculation	Total Cost
1 post, 1 video	1 video-download	$0.02 x 1	$0.02
1 carousel post, 6 videos	6 video-download	$0.02 x 6	$0.12
1 image-only post	none	n/a	$0.00
1 private or deleted post	none	n/a	$0.00
1 malformed or non-Instagram URL	none	n/a	$0.00

Instagram Video Downloader Unit Economics

The 4 figures below are derived from the rate card above. None of them include a subscription or platform fee, because the Instagram Video Downloader has neither.

Metric	Value
Cost per video	$0.02
Videos per $1	50
Cost per 1,000 videos	$20.00
Videos per $10	500

How Does the Instagram Video Downloader Free Plan Work?

The Instagram Video Downloader checks, before starting, whether its run's cost ceiling can cover even 1 video-download event. When it cannot and the account is not on a paid plan, the actor charges for a small number of video-download events, 10 by default in the actor's configuration, and returns that many placeholder items shaped { "demo": true } instead of downloading real videos. This lets a Free-plan account see the output shape before subscribing. On the Free plan, maxItems is fixed by the plan's own configuration; the value entered in the input is ignored. For unrestricted use, subscribe to a paid plan.

How Is the Instagram Video Downloader Configured?

The Instagram Video Downloader exposes 24 input fields: 4 core fields plus 20 storage-provider fields split across 4 providers.

Field	Type	Required	Description	Default
startUrls	array	Yes	Instagram post, reel, or IGTV URLs to download videos from.	[]
storageType	string	Yes	Target storage provider: apify, gcp, aws, digitalocean, or azure. Fill the matching configuration section below.	apify
maxItems	integer	No	Maximum number of items to output (minimum 1). Leave empty for no limit.	no limit
customMapFunction	string	No	Function that takes each output object as an argument and returns the mapped data, e.g. (object) => { return {...object} }. Not intended for filtering. Leave empty to keep the output as-is; an unusable function is ignored and the original items are saved instead.	null

Which Storage Configuration Fields Does the Instagram Video Downloader Use?

Fill in the section matching your storageType. Fields marked Secret are masked in the Apify Console and never logged.

AWS S3 Configuration (storageType: "aws"), 5 fields

Field	Type	Secret	Description
s3AccessKeyId	string	No	AWS access key ID.
s3SecretAccessKey	string	Yes	AWS secret access key.
s3Region	string	No	AWS region.
s3Bucket	string	No	Target S3 bucket name.
s3Path	string	No	Optional folder path in the S3 bucket.

Google Cloud Storage Configuration (storageType: "gcp"), 4 fields

Field	Type	Secret	Description
googleCloudProjectId	string	No	GCP project ID.
googleCloudServiceKeyJson	object	Yes	Service account credentials JSON.
googleCloudBucketName	string	No	Target Google Cloud Storage bucket name.
googleCloudPath	string	No	Optional folder path in the GCS bucket.

DigitalOcean Spaces Configuration (storageType: "digitalocean"), 7 fields

Field	Type	Secret	Description
digitalOceanAccessKeyId	string	No	DigitalOcean Spaces access key ID.
digitalOceanSecretAccessKey	string	Yes	DigitalOcean Spaces secret access key.
digitalOceanRegion	string	No	DigitalOcean Spaces region (e.g. nyc3).
digitalOceanBucketName	string	No	DigitalOcean Spaces bucket name.
digitalOceanEndpoint	string	No	Optional Spaces endpoint URL.
digitalOceanAcl	string	No	Optional ACL value (defaults to private).
digitalOceanPath	string	No	Optional folder path in the Spaces bucket.

Azure Storage Configuration (storageType: "azure"), 4 fields

Field	Type	Secret	Description
azureAccountName	string	No	Azure storage account name.
azureAccountKey	string	Yes	Azure storage account key.
azureContainerName	string	No	Azure container name.
azurePath	string	No	Optional folder path in the Azure container.

Which Input Rules Does the Instagram Video Downloader Enforce?

The Instagram Video Downloader enforces 7 input rules covering URL validation, deduplication, and storage credentials.

Rule	What It Means
startUrls is required and cannot be empty	A missing or empty startUrls fails the run with "Instagram start URLs must be provided" before it starts.
Only /p/, /reel/, /reels/, and /tv/ URLs are accepted	Any other Instagram URL, or a non-Instagram URL, is reported with invalidUrl status and never sent to the resolver.
Duplicate shortcodes are deduplicated	The same post entered under more than one of /p/, /reel/, /reels/, or /tv/ resolves once, by shortcode; only the first occurrence is processed.
storageType defaults to apify	An input saved without storageType runs against Apify's key-value store instead of failing.
Missing storage credentials fail the run	A storageType of aws, gcp, digitalocean, or azure without its required fields, for example s3Bucket for AWS, fails the run before any video is downloaded.
maxItems has a minimum of 1	A maxItems value below 1 is rejected by the input schema.
maxItems is ignored on the Free plan	The Free plan's item limit comes from its own plan configuration regardless of the maxItems value entered.

How Do You Run the Instagram Video Downloader with Apify Storage?

The Instagram Video Downloader defaults storageType to apify, so a run needs only startUrls to deliver videos into Apify's built-in key-value store.

{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://www.instagram.com/p/CuKHeY_PLbZ/",
    "https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdBT6qbjGaQ/"
  ],
  "storageType": "apify"
}

How Do You Run the Instagram Video Downloader with Your Own Cloud Storage?

The Instagram Video Downloader re-hosts every video to aws, gcp, digitalocean, or azure when storageType and that provider's credential fields are filled in. The example below targets an AWS S3 bucket.

{
  "startUrls": ["https://www.instagram.com/p/CuKHeY_PLbZ/"],
  "storageType": "aws",
  "s3AccessKeyId": "AKIA...",
  "s3SecretAccessKey": "...",
  "s3Region": "us-east-1",
  "s3Bucket": "my-video-archive",
  "s3Path": "instagram/"
}

How Do You Cap an Instagram Video Downloader Run's Volume?

The Instagram Video Downloader stops adding items once maxItems is reached, on paid plans. The example below caps a 3-URL run at 2 output items.

{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://www.instagram.com/p/CuKHeY_PLbZ/",
    "https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdBT6qbjGaQ/",
    "https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cp1a2B3cD4e/"
  ],
  "storageType": "apify",
  "maxItems": 2
}

Which Fields Does the Instagram Video Downloader Output?

The Instagram Video Downloader outputs 9 fields per video, covering source tracking, delivery, and status. Every item is stored as one JSON object per video found, per input URL.

{
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/p/DdBT6qbjGaQ/",
  "videoPosition": 1,
  "downloadUrl": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/xxx/records/ig-DdBT6qbjGaQ-1.mp4",
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/...",
  "storageType": "apify",
  "status": "succeeded",
  "jobId": "a1b2c3d4",
  "error": null,
  "inputSource": {
    "queryIndex": 0,
    "url": "https://www.instagram.com/p/DdBT6qbjGaQ/"
  }
}

Field	Description
sourceUrl	The input URL that produced this item.
videoPosition	1-based position of this video among all the post's media. A carousel whose videos are its 2nd and 4th items yields 2 and 4.
downloadUrl	The re-hosted video in your chosen storage. null unless status is succeeded.
thumbnailUrl	Instagram's own thumbnail link. Passed through as-is, and it will eventually expire.
storageType	Which storage the video was delivered to.
status	One of 6 values, listed below.
jobId	Identifier of the download job, for support requests. null if no job was created.
error	Why this item is not a download, or null.
inputSource	Which startUrls entry produced this item, as queryIndex and url.

Which Statuses Does the Instagram Video Downloader Report?

The Instagram Video Downloader reports 6 status values on every output item. 1 status is charged.

Status	Meaning	Charged
succeeded	The video was downloaded and re-hosted.	Yes
invalidUrl	The URL is not a post, reel, or IGTV URL.	No
unavailable	The post does not exist, or it is private or deleted.	No
noVideoContent	The post exists but contains no video.	No
failed	The download or the upload to your storage failed.	No
timedOut	The run ran out of time before this video was downloaded.	No

The 5 non-charged statuses split into 2 recovery behaviors: 4 statuses (invalidUrl, unavailable, noVideoContent, failed) report a problem with one video while the run continues to the next startUrls entry, and 1 status (timedOut) reports a video the run did not finish before its deadline. Wait time for one download scales with the video's own length; a job whose backend heartbeat or phase freezes past that scaled threshold is reported as failed, and a video still in progress when the run's own deadline arrives is reported as timedOut instead of stalling the whole run.

Which Instagram Video Downloader Questions Come Up Most Often?

What can the Instagram Video Downloader collect?

Videos attached to Instagram posts, reels, and IGTV entries, including every video inside a carousel post, sourced from the URLs supplied in startUrls.

Can the Instagram Video Downloader download a carousel post?

Yes. Every video in the post is returned as its own result, numbered by its position in the post.

Does the Instagram Video Downloader need my own cloud storage account?

No. The default storageType is apify, which saves videos to Apify's built-in key-value store with no extra setup. An AWS S3, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean Spaces, or Azure account is optional.

What happens if I enter the same Instagram Video Downloader post as a /p/ and a /reel/ URL?

The Instagram Video Downloader deduplicates it by shortcode and downloads, and charges, it once.

How do I cap the volume of an Instagram Video Downloader run?

maxItems sets the maximum number of items returned, on paid plans. On the Free plan it is fixed by the plan configuration regardless of what is entered.

Can I customize the Instagram Video Downloader output?

Yes. customMapFunction takes each output object and returns a mapped object. An unusable function is ignored and the original items are saved instead.

Is there a free way to try the Instagram Video Downloader?

Yes. A Free-plan account can start a run and see a small number of placeholder items without a subscription. For unrestricted use, subscribe to a paid plan.

Am I charged by the Instagram Video Downloader for a private or deleted post?

No. Nothing is charged for a URL that is not a valid post, reel, or IGTV link, or for a post that is private, deleted, or contains no video.

Does a failed Instagram Video Downloader download cost anything?

No. A failed or timedOut item is not charged.

Can I fetch Instagram Video Downloader results via the API?

Yes, in any language, including Python, PHP, and Node.js, via the Apify API.

Where Do You Get Instagram Video Downloader Support?

The Instagram Video Downloader is published by epctex, reachable at epctex.com for all available products. Custom integrations go through the chat box on epctex.com. Support requests go to business@epctex.com.