Instagram Posts Scraper

Scrape Instagram posts in bulk with full captions, engagement metrics, media URLs, locations, tagged users, and carousel data. Handles pagination automatically.

What it does

• Scrapes post data — captions, like/comment counts, video views, media URLs, timestamps
• Extracts media details — images, videos, carousels with all child slides
• Captures metadata — locations, tagged users, coauthors, paid partnership flags
• Accepts usernames, @handles, or full Instagram URLs — mix and match any format
• Handles pagination automatically — set how many posts you want and it fetches across as many pages as needed
• Runs multiple usernames in parallel with configurable concurrency
• Uses multiple independent sources with automatic failover
• Returns one flat JSON object per post — each post includes a username field so you can easily group and filter results by account

Output

Each result is one JSON object per post. Every post includes the username field, so when scraping multiple accounts you can group results by username to see each account's posts separately.

Field	Type	Description
username	string	Username this post belongs to — use this to group posts by account
id	string	Post ID
shortcode	string	URL slug (instagram.com/p/{shortcode})
mediaType	string	"image", "video", or "carousel"
timestamp	integer	When posted (unix timestamp)
caption	string	Full caption text
displayUrl	string	Main image URL
thumbnailUrl	string	Square thumbnail URL
videoUrl	string	Video URL (if video)
dimensions	object	{"height": 1080, "width": 1080}
accessibilityCaption	string	Alt text
likeCount	integer	Number of likes
commentCount	integer	Number of comments
videoViewCount	integer	Video views (if video)
location	string	Location name
taggedUsers	string[]	Tagged usernames
coauthors	string[]	Collab post co-authors
isPaidPartnership	boolean	Sponsored content flag
commentsDisabled	boolean	Comments turned off
children	object[]	Carousel slides (each with id, mediaType, displayUrl, videoUrl, dimensions)

Use cases

• Content analysis — analyze captions, hashtags, and posting patterns at scale
• Engagement tracking — monitor likes, comments, and video views across accounts
• Competitor monitoring — track what competitors post, how often, and engagement rates
• Influencer analytics — evaluate content performance for influencer vetting
• Brand monitoring — find posts mentioning your brand via tagged users and coauthors

Integrations

Apify API

# Get all posts
curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/{DATASET_ID}/items?format=json"

# Filter posts by username using the API
curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/{DATASET_ID}/items?format=json&fields=username,shortcode,likeCount,caption"

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient
from itertools import groupby
from operator import itemgetter

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_API_TOKEN")

run = client.actor("YOUR_ACTOR_ID").call(run_input={
    "usernames": ["nasa", "spacex"],
    "maxPostsPerUser": 24,
})

# Group posts by username
posts = list(client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items())
posts.sort(key=itemgetter("username"))

for username, user_posts in groupby(posts, key=itemgetter("username")):
    user_posts = list(user_posts)
    avg_likes = sum(p.get("likeCount", 0) or 0 for p in user_posts) / len(user_posts)
    print(f"@{username}: {len(user_posts)} posts, avg {avg_likes:.0f} likes")

JavaScript / Node.js

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_API_TOKEN' });

const run = await client.actor('YOUR_ACTOR_ID').call({
    usernames: ['nasa', 'spacex'],
    maxPostsPerUser: 24,
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();

// Group posts by username
const grouped = Object.groupBy(items, post => post.username);
for (const [username, posts] of Object.entries(grouped)) {
    const avgLikes = posts.reduce((sum, p) => sum + (p.likeCount || 0), 0) / posts.length;
    console.log(`@${username}: ${posts.length} posts, avg ${Math.round(avgLikes)} likes`);
}

Webhooks & other platforms

Use Apify integrations to send results to Google Sheets, Slack, Zapier, Make, Amazon S3, or your own webhook endpoint.

Pricing

This actor uses pay-per-event pricing. You are charged per post successfully scraped. Check the Pricing tab for current rates.

Proxy requirements

Residential proxies are required. Configured by default with Apify's residential proxy pool.

Limits

• Private accounts: Posts are not accessible for private accounts
• Post pagination: Each page returns ~12 posts. Fetching 100 posts requires ~9 pages
• Rate limits: Use delayBetweenRequests (default 1s) and reasonable concurrency (default 5)