Instagram Comments Scraper

Instagram Comments Scraper — every comment on a post, as clean structured rows

Paste one or more public Instagram post or reel URLs and get their comments back as structured rows: comment text, author username, likes, reply count, and timestamp. Set how many comments to pull per post and download the result as JSON, CSV, Excel, or XML. No login, cookies, or API key required.

What can Instagram Comments Scraper do?

• Pull comments from one post or thousands in a single run
• Accept post and reel URLs, or bare shortcodes (Dc1MK-6z3Gh)
• Return comment text, author details, likes, reply count, and timestamp
• Keep the feed order and deduplicate repeated posts automatically
• Export to JSON, CSV, Excel, or XML; run via the API, schedule runs, and connect through MCP

What data can I extract?

What you get	Features
Comment — comment ID, full text, created time, covered/hidden flag Author — username, user ID, verified status, profile picture Engagement — like count and reply count per comment Target — media ID, post shortcode, canonical post URL for joining	Top-level comments, paginated up to your chosen cap One row per comment, keyed by comment ID Export to JSON, CSV, Excel, XML API access, webhooks, scheduling, LLM-ready output for MCP

How to use Instagram Comments Scraper

1. Create a free Apify account.
2. Open Instagram Comments Scraper in Apify Console.
3. Paste one or more public post or reel URLs into Posts / Reels, one per line.
4. Set Max comments per post (default 100).
5. Click Save & Start.
6. Download the results in JSON, CSV, Excel, or XML from the Storage tab.

Input

Give it a list of posts; each one contributes its own comments to the dataset. For each post the Actor reads the comments and stops at your cap.

• posts — public post or reel URLs, or bare shortcodes.
• max_comments — how many top-level comments to return per post (default 100).

Example input

{
  "posts": ["https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dc1MK-6z3Gh/", "https://www.instagram.com/p/DcU4X0MlePc/"],
  "max_comments": 100
}

See the Input tab above for every parameter.

Output

Results land in a dataset under the Storage tab. Three built-in views are included: Overview, Authors, and Engagement. Download in JSON, CSV, Excel, or XML, or pull them via the API.

{
  "media_id": "3978139377163268513",
  "shortcode": "Dc1MK-6z3Gh",
  "post_url": "https://www.instagram.com/p/Dc1MK-6z3Gh/",
  "id": "18413957944157434",
  "text": "Hey Judy. See you on Nov 13",
  "created_at": 1789645609,
  "author_username": "bayannyc",
  "author_id": "1455667077",
  "author_pk": "1455667077",
  "author_is_verified": false,
  "author_profile_pic_url": "https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.2885-19/251671921_615884486522584_n.jpg",
  "like_count": 0,
  "child_comment_count": null,
  "is_covered": false,
  "scraped_at": "2026-09-17T14:11:12Z"
}

Field names are lowercase snake_case, and the input keys match them. Long URLs are abbreviated for readability — the dataset contains the full links.

What can you do with the data?

1. Understand how a post landed

1. Run the Actor on your own or a competitor's post.
2. Open the Overview view and sort by like_count.
3. Read the top comments to see what resonated.

2. Build a comment corpus for text analysis

1. Run the Actor with a higher max_comments.
2. Export the dataset to CSV or JSON.
3. Feed the text column into sentiment, topic, or keyword analysis.

3. Track commenters / moderate

1. Run the Actor over recent posts.
2. Use the Authors view to see who is commenting and whether they are verified.
3. Join rows back to the post with post_url or media_id.

How much does Instagram Comments Scraper cost?

This Actor is billed per comment returned (pay-per-event) on top of standard Apify platform usage. A run over 10 posts at 100 comments each is billed as up to 1,000 results; posts with fewer comments than the cap are billed for what they return.

See the Pricing tab for current rates and your plan's discounts.

FAQ

Do I need an Instagram account, cookies, or an API key? No. The Actor reads publicly available comments, so no login or credentials are required.

Does it include replies? No — it returns top-level comments. child_comment_count tells you how many replies a comment has, when the source exposes it.

Can it scrape comments on private posts? No. Only public posts and reels have readable comments; private or restricted posts are reported in the run log and skipped.

How many comments can I get per post? Up to max_comments (default 100). Raise it for more; large pulls take longer and are billed per comment returned.

Is it legal to scrape Instagram? Comment text and author names are personal data. Only collect it when you have a legitimate reason, and follow Apify's legal guidance and the terms that apply to your use case.

Can I use it with the API, SDKs, or MCP? Yes — see the API tab above, or connect through the Apify MCP server.

A post is missing from the results. That post is logged with the reason (for example, it does not exist, has comments disabled, or was temporarily throttled). The rest of the run continues; re-run just that post if needed.

Notes and limitations

• Top-level comments only. Replies are not returned; child_comment_count gives the reply count where available (null when the source does not expose it).
• No like/date filters. Instagram does not paginate comments by date, so the newest comments are returned first up to max_comments.
• created_at is a Unix timestamp in UTC.
• is_covered marks comments the platform has hidden from general view.
• author_profile_pic_url is a time-limited image link; download it soon after the run if you need it.
• Comments and author names are personal data — handle the results accordingly.

Run locally

go run ./cmd/actor

Input is read from the Apify key-value store; see INPUT_SCHEMA.json.

Support

Found a bug or have feedback? Open an issue in the Issues tab.