Instagram Following Scraper

Instagram Following Scraper lets you scrape the complete following list of any Instagram account and export detailed profile data to JSON, CSV, or Excel. For every followed account, it extracts the username, full name, bio, follower count, business email, phone number, business category, profile picture URL, and 15+ more fields — far beyond a simple list of usernames. Use it for competitor analysis, influencer research, lead generation, audience insights, and network mapping.

📥 Input

The Actor requires just 2 inputs to run:

Field	Type	Required	Description
username	String	✅	The Instagram username whose following list you want to scrape.
cookies	String	✅	Your Instagram session cookies (see below for how to get them).
proxyConfiguration	Object	❌	Proxy settings. Residential proxies are strongly recommended. Defaults to Apify Proxy.

🍪 How to get your Instagram cookies

You need cookies from a logged-in Instagram session. There are two easy methods:

Method 1 — Browser extension (recommended):

1. Install a cookie export extension like EditThisCookie or Cookie-Editor
2. Go to instagram.com and make sure you're logged in
3. Click the extension icon and click Export (copies JSON to clipboard)
4. Paste the entire JSON array directly into the cookies field

Method 2 — DevTools:

1. Open instagram.com in Chrome while logged in
2. Press F12 to open DevTools → go to the Network tab
3. Refresh the page and click on any instagram.com request
4. Find the Cookie header in the Request Headers section
5. Copy the entire value and paste it into the cookies field

Note: The Actor accepts both formats automatically — JSON array from an extension or raw cookie string from DevTools.

Input example

{
    "username": "natgeo",
    "cookies": "YOUR_INSTAGRAM_COOKIES_HERE",
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
}

📤 Output

The Actor produces a dataset with one entry per followed account. Each entry contains 24 data fields with comprehensive profile information.

Output fields

Field	Type	Description
username	String	Instagram handle
full_name	String	Display name
id	String	Unique Instagram user ID
biography	String	Profile bio text
followers	Number	Follower count
following	Number	Following count
is_business_account	Boolean	Whether the account is a business account
is_professional_account	Boolean	Whether the account is a professional/creator account
is_private	Boolean	Whether the profile is set to private
is_verified	Boolean	Whether the account has a verified badge
business_email	String	Public business email (if available)
business_phone_number	String	Public business phone (if available)
business_category_name	String	Business category label
business_address_json	String	Business address (JSON string)
business_contact_method	String	Preferred contact method
overall_category_name	String	Overall profile category
category_enum	String	Category enum identifier
category_name	String	Display category name
profile_pic_url	String	HD profile picture URL
link_in_bio	String	External link from bio
has_clips	Boolean	Whether the account has Reels
has_guides	Boolean	Whether the account has Guides
highlight_reel_count	Number	Number of story highlights
hide_like_and_view_counts	Boolean	Whether likes/views are hidden

Output example

{
    "username": "exampleuser",
    "full_name": "Example User",
    "id": "1234567890",
    "biography": "Digital creator | Photographer 📸",
    "followers": 15420,
    "following": 892,
    "is_business_account": true,
    "is_professional_account": true,
    "is_private": false,
    "is_verified": false,
    "business_email": "hello@example.com",
    "business_phone_number": null,
    "business_category_name": "Photographer",
    "business_address_json": null,
    "business_contact_method": "CALL",
    "overall_category_name": "Photographer",
    "category_enum": "PHOTOGRAPHER",
    "category_name": "Photographer",
    "profile_pic_url": "https://instagram.com/...",
    "link_in_bio": "https://example.com",
    "has_clips": true,
    "has_guides": false,
    "highlight_reel_count": 5,
    "hide_like_and_view_counts": false
}

💰 How much will it cost?

This Actor uses pay-per-event pricing. You are charged $0.01 per profile saved to the dataset — you only pay for results you actually receive.

Before starting a run, you can set a maximum total charge to control your budget. The Actor will automatically stop charging once the limit is reached.

💡 Tips and best practices

• Use residential proxies — Instagram is more likely to rate-limit datacenter IPs. The Actor works best with Apify's residential proxy group.
• Keep cookies fresh — Instagram session cookies expire. If the Actor fails with authentication errors, re-export your cookies from a fresh login.
• Don't run in parallel — Running multiple instances with the same cookies simultaneously may trigger Instagram's security systems.
• The account must be accessible — The target account must be public, or the logged-in account (the cookie owner) must follow the target user to access their following list.
• Large lists may take longer — The Actor handles Instagram's limits automatically, but very large following lists (5,000+) may need extra time.
• Instagram may not return all accounts — Instagram sometimes limits the number of accounts it returns in a following list, even if the user follows more. This is an Instagram-side restriction and not something the Actor can control. The actual number of profiles returned may be lower than the total following count shown on the profile.

🔗 Integrations

Connect Instagram Following Scraper to any of your favourite apps with integrations on the Apify platform. You can integrate with Make, Zapier, Slack, Airbyte, GitHub, Google Sheets, Google Drive, and many more. You can also use webhooks to perform an action whenever an event occurs.

⚙️ Using the API

If you want to programmatically access your scraped data, you can use the Apify API. The API gives you endpoints for managing, scheduling, and running Actors. You can access datasets, key-value stores, and request queues — all to make sure you can retrieve your scraped data however you need it.

For example, to get your results as a JSON array:

https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/{DATASET_ID}/items?format=json

Or as a CSV file:

https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/{DATASET_ID}/items?format=csv

Check out the Apify API reference for full details.

❓ FAQ

Q: Can I scrape any Instagram user's following list?

A: You can scrape the following list of any public account, or any private account that the logged-in user (cookie owner) follows.

Q: Why do I need cookies?

A: Instagram requires authentication to access following lists. Cookies from a logged-in session provide this authentication.

Q: Is this against Instagram's Terms of Service?

A: Please review Instagram's Terms of Service and applicable laws before using this Actor. Use responsibly and at your own discretion.

Q: The Actor stopped and didn't get all accounts. Why?

A: Instagram occasionally rate-limits requests. The Actor handles this automatically with retries, but if your cookies expire mid-run or the rate limiting is severe, it may stop short. Try again with fresh cookies.

Q: What format are the cookies?

A: Both JSON array (from browser extensions like EditThisCookie) and raw cookie strings (from DevTools) are accepted. The Actor auto-detects the format.