Instagram Comment Scraper

The Instagram Comment Scraper extracts comments from public Instagram posts and reels. Point it at a post URL or a username and every comment comes back with its text, author, like count, reply count, timestamp, and the parent comment ID that links a reply to the thread it belongs to.

What you get

One row per comment, exactly as a JSON export returns it.

{
  "comment": {
    "pk": "17919229620205994",
    "text": "Those are my initials too 👽",
    "created_at": "2026-08-03T02:31:51Z",
    "like_count": 0,
    "reply_count": 0,
    "parent_id": null,
    "owner_username": "an_instagram_user",
    "owner_is_verified": false
  },
  "post_shortcode": "Dbdo4gTupuE",
  "post_url": "https://www.instagram.com/p/Dbdo4gTupuE/",
  "scraped_at": "2026-08-03T09:12:00+00:00",
  "error": null
}

The table and CSV views flatten comment into columns of their own — comment.text, comment.like_count and the rest — so a spreadsheet gets one flat row per comment. Replies come back as rows of their own, with parent_id set to the pk of the comment they answer, so a thread can be rebuilt exactly rather than flattened into one undifferentiated list.

The sample is a real captured row, trimmed to the fields the dataset view shows, with the commenter's handle replaced by a placeholder: a private individual's username does not belong in public documentation. The post owners named elsewhere (nike, zara) are public brand accounts.

What it costs

Event	Price
Actor Start (apify-actor-start)	$0.005
Comment scraped (comment-scraped)	$0.001

You pay per comment delivered, not for time. A thousand comments cost about $1.01 and five thousand about $5.01, with the residential proxy included in those prices. A post that returns nothing is never charged.

Input

Field	Type	Required	Default	What it does
targets	array	yes	—	What to scrape, one entry per line. A post or reel URL (https://instagram.com/p/ABC123/) returns the comments on that post. A username (nike) returns the comments on that profile's recent posts, as many posts as max_posts allows. Both forms can be mixed in one run, and every comment returned becomes one dataset row. Required.
max_comments	integer	no	50	How many comments to return for each post, from 1 to 1000. Default 50. Replies count towards the cap, and a higher cap makes a run longer and more expensive, so 50 to 200 per post is a good place to start. A post with fewer comments than the cap simply returns what it has.
max_posts	integer	no	12	For a username in targets, how many of that profile's recent posts to collect comments from, from 1 to 100. Default 12. A post or reel URL always uses just that post, so this setting does not change it.
proxyUrls	array	no	—	Leave empty and the run uses the residential proxy that comes included in the price of the run. To route the run through your own provider instead, add one gateway URL per entry, for example http://user:pass@host:port. Any provider that issues URLs works (DataImpulse, BrightData, Oxylabs, Smartproxy, or your own). When set, only the URLs you give are used.

How to run it

1. Open the actor on Apify Console.
2. Put your post and reel URLs, or usernames, into Post URLs or Usernames.
3. Set Max Comments Per Post — 50 by default — and, for usernames, Max Posts Per Username.
4. Run. Export JSON, CSV or Excel from the dataset.

{
  "targets": ["https://www.instagram.com/p/Dbdo4gTupuE/", "nike"],
  "max_comments": 100,
  "max_posts": 5
}

Minimal input:

{
  "targets": ["https://www.instagram.com/p/Dbdo4gTupuE/"]
}

Available as the MCP tool herus13--instagram-comment-scraper on mcp.apify.com and through the Apify API; send the same JSON.

Why this scraper

• Threads survive the export. Every reply carries the ID of the comment it answers, so who replied to whom is still readable after the data leaves Instagram.
• A post link or a handle. Collect one campaign post, or walk a profile's recent posts, from the same input list.
• Nothing to sign in with. No Instagram account and no cookie are needed, so nothing of yours is exposed to the run.
• Flat rows, ready for a spreadsheet. One comment per row with a stable column set — no reshaping before a pivot table or a BI tool.
• Residential proxy included in the price of the run, with your own gateway URLs accepted when you prefer them.

Use cases

• Sentiment analysis on real audience reaction — comments carry the unfiltered response to a post in a way like counts never do, and the text, author, like count and timestamp come back structured and ready to classify.
• Thread reconstruction — the parent comment ID on every reply lets a conversation be rebuilt rather than flattened, which matters whenever who was answering whom is part of the question.
• Community management triage — point it at your own recent posts and surface the comments with the most likes or replies, the ones worth a response, on a schedule.
• Competitor audience research — a competitor's comment section shows what their customers ask for and complain about, and which posts provoked a conversation instead of passive likes.
• Campaign measurement — re-read a campaign post every few hours and watch the comment section fill, with the text and the counts kept for each pass.

FAQ

Do I need an Instagram account? No. The actor returns only what a public post's comment section shows to anyone, so there is nothing to sign in with and no credential to store.

Are replies included? Yes. A reply is its own row with comment.parent_id pointing at the comment.pk of the comment it answers, so full threads can be reassembled.

How many comments can I get per post? Up to 1000, capped by Max Comments Per Post (default 50). Posts with tens of thousands of comments are best started at 50 to 200 and raised once you have seen a run finish.

Am I charged for posts that return nothing? No. You pay per comment delivered; a post that is missing, private or empty costs nothing.

Is a proxy included? A residential proxy is included in the price of the run. To use your own, paste gateway URLs into Your own proxy URLs. Scraping at volume? Your own DataImpulse account is cheaper per GB.

Is scraping Instagram comments legal? This actor collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for complying with Instagram's terms and applicable laws, including GDPR and CCPA, and for not collecting personal data without a lawful basis.

Related actors

• Instagram Post Scraper — posts and reels by username or URL, with captions, likes, comments counts and media URLs.
• Instagram Profile Scraper — public profiles with biography, follower and following counts, verified and business flags, and recent posts.
• TikTok Profile Scraper — public TikTok profiles by handle, for cross-platform social monitoring.