Instagram Scraper: Profiles, Posts & Reels

What does Instagram Scraper do?

Instagram Scraper gets public Instagram profiles, posts and reels from usernames or links: followers, bio and links for each profile, and for each post the caption, hashtags, likes, comments count, date, image and video URLs, collaborators, tagged users, audio and the first comments. One run takes any mix of profiles, reels tabs and post links. No login, no cookies, no account.

It is not a hashtag or keyword search: Instagram shows those pages only to signed-in accounts (Limits).

Input fields · API · Use it from Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor (MCP)

Jump to: Monitor · Fields · Price · How to use · Input · Output · Switching · AI agents (MCP) · Limits · FAQ

Try it in one click: the input comes pre-filled with NASA's profile. That's 13 results (the profile and its 12 latest posts), or about $0.033 (13 × $2.50/1,000, plus $0.00005 for the run start). Then replace it with what you actually want.

Monitor Instagram profiles: get only new posts, in Slack, email or a webhook

With Only new posts since the last run on, each run returns (and charges for) only the posts published since the newest one it returned before for that profile. A run with nothing new costs only the $0.00005 start fee.

1. Put the profiles in Profiles, posts or reels ("targets": ["nasa", "natgeo"]), turn off Include the profile ("includeProfile": false) if you only want posts, turn on Only new posts since the last run ("onlyNew": true), and click Start. This first run returns the latest posts (12 per profile by default) and is the baseline.
2. Click Save as a new task (top right of the actor page). What has been returned is remembered per profile (and per reels filter), in a key-value store in your account, so two tasks on one profile don't hide each other's posts unless they use the same filter.
3. In Apify Console, open Schedules, click Create new, set how often in Schedule setup (for example every hour, or daily at 07:00), then Add your task.
4. On the task, open the Integrations tab and pick where the new posts go:
   • Slack: click Configure, sign in, pick the workspace and channel, and the "run succeeded" event. A useful message: {{resource.statusMessage}} and a link, <https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{{resource.defaultDatasetId}}|new posts>.
   • Gmail: click Connect with Google, set the subject and body, and attach the dataset. It sends after each successful run.
   • HTTP webhook: event ACTOR.RUN.SUCCEEDED, your URL. Apify POSTs {"eventType": ..., "resource": {...}}; resource.defaultDatasetId is the run's dataset, and GET https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/<defaultDatasetId>/items?format=json (with your API token) returns the new posts.

Apify's integrations fire after every successful run, including quiet ones: a quiet run's dataset is empty.

What data does Instagram Scraper return?

One result per profile ("type": "profile") and one per post or reel ("type": "post"), in one table: every result has every column, and the ones that don't apply are empty.

Field	Example	Notes
type, url	post, https://www.instagram.com/reel/DeTUk4sDSp-/	Reels link as /reel/
username, fullName, biography	nasa, NASA, Making the seemingly impossible, possible. ✨	Profiles
followersCount, followingCount	104366397, 90	Profiles
isVerified, isPrivate, externalUrls	true, false, [{"title": "NASA.gov Homepage", "url": "https://www.nasa.gov"}, ...]	Profiles: every bio link
caption, hashtags, mentions	"POV: you're watching the Earth set...", ["NASA", "ArtemisII"], []	Posts
timestamp	2026-10-10T15:15:02Z	Posts: when it was published (UTC)
likesCount, commentsCount	670284, 6575	Posts; likesCount is null when the owner hides likes
postType, isReel	video, true	image, video or carousel
displayUrl, videoUrl, videoDuration	image and MP4 links, 43.77	Video length in seconds
carouselItems	[{"type": "image", "displayUrl": "...", ...}]	Every photo or video in a carousel, one row per post
ownerUsername, coauthors, taggedUsers	nasa, ["nasasolarsystem", "nasaartemis"], [...]	Collab posts list their collaborators
locationName, audioTitle, audioArtist	International Space Station, Original audio, nasa	When the post has them
latestComments	[{"text": "...", "ownerUsername": "...", "likesCount": 0, ...}]	The comments Instagram shows logged-out visitors (about 10-15)

Every result also has a stable id (Instagram's own), the input line it came from and scrapedAt. The full list is under Output.

How much does it cost to scrape Instagram?

You pay per result: $2.50 per 1,000 results on the Free plan, $2.10 on Starter, $1.75 on Scale and $1.40 on Business, plus $0.00005 each time a run starts. A result is one profile or one post (a carousel is one result, however many photos it holds); the full post details are included, with no extra events.

• The example below: 13 results × $2.50/1,000 = $0.033, plus the start fee.
• A month, for example: 20 competitor accounts checked daily with only new posts on, about 2 new posts each a day: 1,200 posts ≈ $2.52 on Starter, plus $0.002 of start fees.
• Caps: Max results per run in the input, and Maximum cost per run in the run options. The run stops cleanly at whichever comes first; it stops fetching as soon as the limit is covered, so a capped run is also a fast one.

Never charged: inputs that fail (a hashtag link, a username that doesn't exist, a post Instagram withholds), posts skipped by your filters, and posts already returned when only new is on.

How to scrape Instagram profiles, posts and reels

1. Open Instagram Scraper and click Try for free (or Start if you're signed in).
2. Put usernames or links in Profiles, posts or reels, one per line: nasa, https://www.instagram.com/nasa/, https://www.instagram.com/nasa/reels/ (reels only), or a post or reel link.
3. Set Posts per profile (12 by default, 0 for profiles only) and, if you want, Only reels, Only posts newer than (2026-09-01 or 7 days) and Only new posts since the last run.
4. Click Start, then open the Output tab and export as JSON, CSV or Excel.

Example: NASA's profile and latest posts

The pre-filled input:

{"targets": ["https://www.instagram.com/nasa/"], "postsPerProfile": 12}

It returned 13 results in 44 seconds (run on 2026-10-14): the profile first, then its 12 latest posts in the profile's order (pinned posts first, as on Instagram). It costs $0.033 at the Free plan price below. One of NASA's reels (from an earlier run that day; long links, the empty profile columns and all but one comment left out, the commenter's name replaced):

{
  "id": "4004634989362489982",
  "type": "post",
  "url": "https://www.instagram.com/reel/DeTUk4sDSp-/",
  "input": "nasa",
  "shortCode": "DeTUk4sDSp-",
  "postType": "video",
  "isReel": true,
  "productType": "clips",
  "caption": "POV: you're watching the Earth set\n\nWe just released hundreds of new images and hours of new audio from our Artemis II mission around the Moon this spring. ...\n\n#NASA #ArtemisII #Artemis",
  "hashtags": ["NASA", "ArtemisII", "Artemis"],
  "mentions": [],
  "timestamp": "2026-10-10T15:15:02Z",
  "likesCount": 670284,
  "likesHidden": false,
  "commentsCount": 6575,
  "ownerUsername": "nasa",
  "ownerFullName": "NASA",
  "ownerId": "528817151",
  "ownerVerified": true,
  "coauthors": ["nasasolarsystem", "nasaartemis"],
  "taggedUsers": ["nasaartemis", "nasasolarsystem"],
  "locationName": null,
  "displayUrl": "https://scontent-cdg4-3.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-15/842191580_..._n.jpg?...",
  "videoUrl": "https://scontent-cdg6-1.cdninstagram.com/o1/v/t2/f2/m86/AQNUvreb47JF....mp4?...",
  "videoDuration": 43.77,
  "width": 1074,
  "height": 1908,
  "hasAudio": true,
  "carouselCount": null,
  "audioTitle": "Original audio",
  "audioArtist": "nasa",
  "originalAudio": true,
  "altText": "Video by NASA on October 10, 2026. May be an image of planet, eclipse and text.",
  "topics": ["earthrise", "apollo mission", "lunar surface", "blue marble", "nasa footage"],
  "latestComments": [
    {"id": "18369051532301081", "text": "So what was moving the moon?", "ownerUsername": "a_commenter", "timestamp": "2026-10-14T22:31:32Z", "likesCount": 0, "repliesCount": null}
  ],
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-14T22:31:46.415219Z"
}

Input

Field	What it does
Profiles, posts or reels (targets)	One per line: a username, a profile link, a profile's /reels/ link, or a post or reel link.
Posts per profile (postsPerProfile)	Latest posts per profile, newest first; 0 = profile only. Default 12, at most 2,000.
Include the profile (includeProfile)	One profile result per profile line (default on).
Only reels (onlyReels)	From profiles, return reels only.
Only posts newer than (newerThan)	2026-09-01, 2026-09-01T12:00:00Z, or an age: 12 hours, 7 days, 2 weeks, 3 months.
Only new posts since the last run (onlyNew)	For schedules: only posts newer than the newest this input returned before.
Max results per run (maxResults)	Cap the total number of results.

{
  "targets": ["nasa", "https://www.instagram.com/natgeo/reels/", "https://www.instagram.com/p/DeTUk4sDSp-/"],
  "postsPerProfile": 50,
  "newerThan": "30 days",
  "maxResults": 500
}

Output

A post looks like the example above. A profile (real output, 2026-10-14; the picture link shortened, two of five bio links shown, the empty post columns left out):

{
  "id": "528817151",
  "type": "profile",
  "url": "https://www.instagram.com/nasa/",
  "input": "nasa",
  "username": "nasa",
  "fullName": "NASA",
  "biography": "Making the seemingly impossible, possible. ✨",
  "followersCount": 104366397,
  "followingCount": 90,
  "isVerified": true,
  "isPrivate": false,
  "hasReels": true,
  "externalUrl": "https://www.nasa.gov",
  "externalUrls": [
    {"title": "NASA.gov Homepage", "url": "https://www.nasa.gov"},
    {"title": "MAX POWER", "url": "https://www.nasa.gov/maxpower"}
  ],
  "profilePicUrl": "https://scontent-den2-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.2885-19/29090066_..._n.jpg?...",
  "pronouns": [],
  "threadsUsername": "nasa",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-14T22:31:46.415219Z"
}

Image and video links are Instagram's own signed links: they work for a few days, so download what you want to keep (Bulk Image Downloader reads this run's dataset with its URL field set to displayUrl). id is stable across runs, so you can use it to deduplicate. The run's RUN_STATS record lists every input, how many results it gave, pages read and anything that failed, with the reason.

Switching from another Instagram actor?

Most Instagram actors take links or usernames and a few switches. Here's where each goes:

What you had	Put it here
Profile links or usernames (directUrls, usernames)	Profiles, posts or reels (targets), one per line; links and usernames can be mixed
Post, reel or IGTV links	targets too, in the same run as profiles
A content-type switch (posts, reels, details)	Not needed: a profile line gives the profile and its posts. Only reels (onlyReels) or a /reels/ link for reels only; Include the profile off for posts only; Posts per profile 0 for profiles only
A results limit per profile (resultsLimit)	Posts per profile (postsPerProfile)
A date cutoff (onlyPostsNewerThan)	Only posts newer than (newerThan): the same date or relative forms
A "post details" or "add-on" setting	Not needed: every post comes in full (likes, comments count, date, media, collaborators, audio, first comments)
Hashtag, place or search inputs	Not available here: Instagram shows those only to signed-in accounts (why)

What's different in the output: profiles and posts come in one table, one row per profile or post, every column on every row (type says which). A carousel is one row with its photos in carouselItems. Field names that differ: likesCount, commentsCount, timestamp, displayUrl, videoUrl and ownerUsername are what you'd expect; posts from a profile carry the profile line in input.

Run it on a schedule, or from your own code

1. Save your input as a task (Save as a new task, top right of the actor page) and add it to a schedule (Console → Schedules → Create new).
2. Collect results: download the dataset as JSON, CSV or Excel; fetch the latest run's results from the API (GET https://api.apify.com/v2/actor-tasks/<task id>/runs/last/dataset/items?status=SUCCEEDED&format=csv, with your API token); let a webhook tell your system when a run succeeds; or connect it to Make, Zapier or n8n through Apify's integrations.

Can I use Instagram Scraper from an AI agent (MCP)?

Yes, through Apify's MCP server, from Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any other MCP client. Add this to your client's MCP configuration (or let the agent find it with the server's actor search); your client signs you in to Apify:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=humble-echidna/instagram-scraper"
    }
  }
}

To use an Apify API token instead of signing in, add "headers": {"Authorization": "Bearer <APIFY_TOKEN>"} next to url.

An agent should pass usernames or links and a small count, e.g. {"targets": ["natgeo"], "postsPerProfile": 10, "maxResults": 20}.

Who it's for

Social media and influencer marketers vetting creators (followers, engagement on recent posts, collabs), brands and agencies tracking competitors' posts and reels, researchers collecting public posts over time, and anyone whose dashboard or AI agent needs fresh Instagram numbers on a schedule instead of copying them by hand.

Why this one?

• Everything in one run and one table. Profiles, posts, reels and single post links together; no separate actor or run per content type, no add-on events for post details.
• Only new posts. Schedule it and get just the posts published since the last run, per profile; quiet runs cost the start fee.
• Full posts from a profile. Likes, comments count, date, video URL and length, collaborators, tagged users, carousel items and audio for every post, not just the first page's summary.
• It finishes. On 2026-10-14 on Apify, 5 profiles × 100 posts plus a post link (506 results) took 180 s with no refusals; a visitor Instagram turns away is replaced by a new one, and a run refused everywhere stops early instead of hanging.
• Reliable. One failing input, or one post Instagram withholds, never affects the others. The run log and the RUN_STATS record say exactly which input had a problem and why.

Limits

• No hashtags, locations, search, stories, highlights, tagged posts or follower lists. Instagram shows these only to signed-in accounts, and this actor never signs in, uses cookies or accounts. Those lines fail with the reason and aren't charged.
• Comments: the 10-15 that Instagram shows logged-out visitors, in its order, inside each post (latestComments); not all of them, and no replies.
• Not in Instagram's logged-out data: video view and play counts, the number of posts on a profile, business category and contact buttons. They're left out rather than guessed.
• Private accounts: only the profile result; their posts aren't public.
• Counts are what logged-out visitors see when the run reads them; Instagram may round or delay some.
• Up to 2,000 posts per profile. With Only reels or a date filter, the run reads at most five times the pages of 12 posts the count needs, plus three, to find them; RUN_STATS says so when it stops there.
• Instagram changes its web app often. When it renames the queries this actor uses, it reads the new names from Instagram's own pages; if Instagram changes more than that, inputs fail with a "changed its pages" reason until the actor is updated.

FAQ

Is it legal to scrape Instagram?

This actor reads only what Instagram shows anyone who isn't signed in: public profiles and posts, through the same requests instagram.com's own pages make in a browser. It never logs in, so it accepts no Instagram terms on your behalf, and it can't see private accounts. Instagram's robots.txt disallows automated access and its Terms of Use forbid collecting data by automated means without permission; a US federal court held in 2024 (Meta v. Bright Data) that Meta's terms didn't bind a scraper of public data that never logged in, but the law differs by country. Results include public usernames and comments, which are personal data in many places (GDPR and similar laws): have a lawful reason, keep only what you need, and don't use it for spam or profiling people. How you use the data is up to you and the laws that apply to you. An account owner who wants their account left out of this actor can open an issue.

Why did an input return nothing, or fewer results than expected?

The usual reasons: the account is private or doesn't exist, the line is a hashtag or other signed-in-only page, the post was deleted or is age-restricted, or a filter (Only reels, Only posts newer than, Only new) skipped the rest. The run log and RUN_STATS name the input and the reason, and every other input is unaffected. If Instagram turned away every visitor, the inputs fail free; run it again later. Please open an issue with the input you used if it keeps happening.

Can I get only new results since my last run?

Yes, for profiles: turn on Only new posts since the last run (how). Post links are always returned.

How is this different from Instagram's official API?

Meta's Instagram Graph API gives full data for accounts you manage, and limited data on other business or creator accounts through a business account of your own and an app review. This actor needs neither and works for any public account, but only with what logged-out visitors can see.

Related actors

Actor	Use it when
Bulk Image Downloader	You want the images saved before Instagram's links expire (dataset input, URL field displayUrl)
Dataset Transformer	You want the results filtered, renamed or flattened into your own CSV or Excel layout
Dataset Diff	You want to see how followers or likes changed between two runs
Audio & Video Transcriber	You want reels' speech as text (dataset input, URL field videoUrl)

Feedback and support

Found a bug, or need a field that isn't here? Open an issue on the Issues tab with the input you used.

Versions

Current version: 0.1. See the Changelog tab for what changed in each version.