Instagram Reels Data & Analytics | No Login | $1.20 / 1K

Get Instagram Reels data for any public account: the most recent Reels with caption, thumbnail and a working Reel URL, and, in the optional detail mode, likes, comments, exact post date and a direct video URL for Reels analytics. No login, no cookies, no browser.

Use it to track competitor Reels, compare which creators or brands get more engagement, build a Reels research sheet, or get a feed of new Reels on a schedule.

What you can do with Instagram Reels data

• Reels analytics for competitors: switch on detail mode and get like count, comment count and exact date per Reel, then rank by engagement in a spreadsheet.
• Compare creators or brands: put several accounts in one run and compare their recent Reels side by side.
• Monitor new Reels: set mode to changes and each run returns only Reels newer than the last run. Schedule it for a new-Reels feed.
• Research captions and hooks: export recent Reel captions to study wording, hashtags and posting patterns.
• Collect Reel video links: detail mode returns a direct video URL per Reel (an Instagram CDN link, so use it soon after the run).

Two modes, two prices

Mode	You get	Cost per Reel
Base (default)	username, caption, url, shortcode, mediaType, isPinned (a boolean only when Instagram includes the flag, otherwise null), thumbnailUrl	$0.0012 ($1.20 per 1,000)
Detail (fetchDetails: true)	Everything above plus likeCount, commentCount, takenAt (exact date), videoUrl	$0.0012 + $0.007 = $0.0082

Detail mode needs one extra request per Reel. The $0.007 detail charge is applied only when the details were actually fetched; if a Reel's detail page cannot be fetched, you keep the base row and are not charged the detail fee. View and play counts and video duration are not available, in either mode.

Input

Field	Description
usernames	Required. Usernames, @handles or profile URLs
fetchDetails	false (default) or true for likes, comments, date and video URL
mode	latest (default) or changes (only Reels newer than the last run)
maxItems	Cap on Reels saved in total (default 1000)
maxConcurrency, requestsPerSecond, maxRetries	Throughput controls
proxyConfiguration	Leave the default (Apify Proxy), see "How it works"

Example input:

{
  "usernames": ["nasa", "natgeo"],
  "fetchDetails": true,
  "mode": "latest",
  "maxItems": 20
}

Example output row (detail mode):

{
  "username": "nasa",
  "shortcode": "...",
  "url": "https://www.instagram.com/reel/.../",
  "caption": "...",
  "mediaType": "video",
  "isPinned": false,
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://...",
  "videoUrl": "https://...",
  "likeCount": 0,
  "commentCount": 0,
  "takenAt": "2026-10-01T12:00:00.000Z",
  "detailFetched": true,
  "profileUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/nasa/",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-21T08:00:00.000Z"
}

(Numbers above are placeholders.) In base mode, videoUrl, likeCount, commentCount and takenAt are null and detailFetched is false.

Pricing

Pay per event, no subscription:

Event	Price
Actor started	$0.005, once per run, regardless of results
Reel scraped	$0.0012 ($1.20 per 1,000)
Reel detail scraped	$0.007, only with fetchDetails: true and only when the details were fetched

Worked examples:

• 50 Reels, base mode: $0.005 + 50 x $0.0012 = $0.065
• 50 Reels with likes, comments, date and video URL: $0.005 + 50 x ($0.0012 + $0.007) = $0.415
• 10 reels-heavy accounts, base mode, daily changes runs: a few new Reels per run, a few cents per day

Per Reel, the base price is below Apify's official Instagram Reel Scraper on the Free, Bronze and Silver plans (before each Actor's own start fee and add-ons); on Gold and above the official Actor is cheaper per Reel. The official Actor also returns a wider field set. The proxy cost is included here, nothing extra is billed. Use maxItems or a maximum total charge to cap any run.

How it works, and the limits

Each Instagram profile page, fetched the way a search-engine crawler fetches it (Googlebot user agent), carries a preview of the account's most recent content, posts and Reels together, newest first. This Actor reads that block and keeps the Reels. Detail mode then fetches each Reel's own page for likes, comments, date and video URL. No login is ever used.

• Reels come from about the last 10 to 12 items per account. Reels are filtered out of the roughly 12 most recent posts and Reels, so a Reels-heavy account returns several per request and a photo-heavy account may return few or none. This is not a full Reels history.
• Proxy routing. With the default proxy setting, each page is tried first through Apify's free datacenter proxy (up to 3 fresh sessions) and only falls back to Apify's paid Unblocker proxy when those fail. The cost is included in the price. A custom proxy setting skips the free-first routing.
• Not perfectly consistent. The data block Instagram serves for a URL can vary between requests; the Actor keeps only Reels attributed to the username you asked for.
• It can change. This depends on Instagram continuing to serve this data to crawler requests. If it changes, output can degrade until the Actor is updated.
• Not available: view or play counts, video duration, hashtag search, and full Reels history.

Incremental mode (new Reels only)

Set mode to changes. Instagram's preview batch carries no timestamp, so the Actor tracks a high-water mark on the numeric Reel id (pk), verified to be strictly newest-first. Every run after the first returns only Reels newer than the last one saved, per username. The first run returns the current batch. State is kept in a key-value store on your Apify account.

Integrations and scheduling

• Apify Schedules: run daily or weekly with changes mode for a new-Reels feed, or with detail mode on a fixed list for engagement tracking.
• Google Sheets, Excel, Airtable: export the dataset as CSV, Excel, JSON or XML, or append each run with Apify's integrations.
• Make, n8n, Zapier: trigger on "run finished", then alert Slack or email when a competitor posts a new Reel.
• Webhooks and API: call your own endpoint on run completion, or start runs and read data via the REST API, JavaScript client or Python client.
• AI agents: the Actor can be called through the Apify MCP server.

FAQ

How do I get Instagram Reels likes and comments without the API?

Run this Actor with fetchDetails: true. Each Reel row then has likeCount, commentCount and takenAt. No login, developer app or review is needed.

Why not use the official Instagram Graph API?

The Graph API returns insights for professional accounts that authorize your app and needs a Meta developer app and review. It is built for managing your own accounts, not for reading competitors' public Reels. This Actor reads any public account with just a username.

Can I download Instagram Reels with it?

Detail mode returns a direct video URL (videoUrl) per Reel, which you can download from yourself. It is an Instagram CDN link, so fetch it soon after the run. The Actor does not download or store video files, and you remain responsible for respecting the creator's rights.

Can I get view counts?

No. View and play counts were not present in the data this Actor reads, in either mode.

How many Reels can I get per account?

Whatever Reels sit among the account's roughly 12 most recent posts and Reels. That is typically a handful, not the full history.

Is scraping Instagram legal?

The Actor reads only publicly visible pages and never logs in. You are responsible for how you use the data, including privacy law such as GDPR and Instagram's terms. This is not legal advice, and the Actor is not affiliated with Instagram or Meta.

Related Instagram Actors

• Instagram Scraper | Posts & Reels | No Login: posts, carousels and Reels in one export, base data only.
• Instagram Profile Scraper: follower counts, bio and verified status.
• Instagram Comments Scraper: the visible comments of any Reel or post.
• apify/instagram-reel-scraper: Apify's official Reel scraper with a wider field set.
• YouTube Shorts Scraper: the same short-video research use case for YouTube Shorts.