Instagram Follower Monitor - Track New Followers & Unfollowers 2026

Monitor follower changes on any Instagram account and get notified of new followers and unfollowers. Perfect for influencer management, brand monitoring, and growth tracking.

No Login Required

Your Instagram account stays safe. This Actor:

• Does NOT require your Instagram login or cookies
• Uses our own infrastructure to fetch data
• Zero risk of account suspension for you
• Works with any public Instagram profile

Unlike browser extensions or tools that use your account, we handle all scraping server-side. Your credentials are never needed.

What This Actor Monitors

This Actor tracks follower changes on Instagram accounts:

• New followers - Who just followed the account
• Unfollowers - Who unfollowed since last check
• Growth rate - Net follower change over time
• Follower details - Username, ID, and profile info when available

Important: How Monitoring Works

This is a SCHEDULED monitoring Actor:

1. Run it on a schedule (hourly, daily, weekly)
2. It compares current followers to previous snapshot
3. Reports all changes since last run
4. Optionally sends webhook notifications

First Run	Subsequent Runs
5-15 min (baseline)	2-5 min (diff only)

First run takes longer because we need to establish a baseline of all current followers. After that, we only check what changed.

What You Get

On each run, you receive:

• List of new followers since last check (with usernames)
• List of unfollowers (user IDs)
• Total follower count change
• Current vs previous follower count
• Timestamps for the check

Input

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
username	String	Yes	Instagram username to monitor (without @)
webhookUrl	String	No	URL for instant notifications when changes detected

Example Input

{
    "username": "nike",
    "webhookUrl": "https://hooks.zapier.com/hooks/catch/123456/abcdef/"
}

Output

Full Output (Dataset)

{
    "username": "nike",
    "currentCount": 152340,
    "previousCount": 152000,
    "change": 340,
    "changePercent": 0.22,
    "newFollowersCount": 450,
    "unfollowersCount": 110,
    "newFollowers": [
        {
            "userId": "12345678901",
            "username": "new_fan_123",
            "fullName": "John Doe",
            "isVerified": false
        }
    ],
    "unfollowerIds": ["98765432101", "98765432102"],
    "checkedAt": "2026-01-15T10:00:00Z",
    "previousCheckedAt": "2026-01-14T10:00:00Z"
}

Output Fields Explained

Field	Description
currentCount	Current total follower count
previousCount	Follower count from last run
change	Net change (currentCount - previousCount)
changePercent	Percentage change
newFollowersCount	Number of new followers detected
unfollowersCount	Number of unfollowers detected
newFollowers	Array of new follower details
unfollowerIds	Array of unfollower user IDs

Webhook Notifications

Get instant alerts via webhook when changes are detected:

{
    "type": "follower_change",
    "username": "nike",
    "currentCount": 152340,
    "previousCount": 152000,
    "change": 340,
    "newFollowersCount": 450,
    "unfollowersCount": 110,
    "checkedAt": "2026-01-15T10:00:00Z"
}

Webhook integrations:

• Zapier - Send to Slack, Email, SMS, Google Sheets
• Make (Integromat) - Build advanced automation workflows
• n8n - Self-hosted automation
• Custom endpoint - Your own systems and dashboards

Setting Up Zapier Webhook

1. Create a new Zap in Zapier
2. Choose "Webhooks by Zapier" as trigger
3. Select "Catch Hook"
4. Copy the webhook URL
5. Paste it in the webhookUrl input field
6. Run the Actor once to test
7. Map the data to your action (Slack, Email, etc.)

Recommended Schedule

Use Case	Schedule	Why
Influencer monitoring	Every 4-6 hours	Catch suspicious drops quickly
Brand account tracking	Daily	Balance cost vs. insights
Growth campaigns	Hourly	Track campaign impact in real-time
General monitoring	Daily	Good baseline for most needs

How to Set Up a Schedule on Apify

1. Go to your Actor run page
2. Click "Schedule" tab
3. Choose frequency (hourly, daily, custom cron)
4. Set your timezone
5. Save and enable the schedule

Use Cases

• Influencer Vetting - Monitor influencers for suspicious follower drops (fake followers being purged)
• Brand Protection - Track your brand's follower health
• Campaign Tracking - Measure follower growth during marketing campaigns
• Competitor Intelligence - Watch competitor follower trends
• Client Reporting - Automated growth reports for agency clients

How Data is Stored

This Actor uses Apify Key-Value Store to remember the last state:

1. First run: Scrapes all followers, stores as baseline
2. Subsequent runs: Compares new data to stored snapshot
3. Calculates differences: New followers, unfollowers
4. Updates snapshot: Saves new state for next comparison

Data is stored per username, so you can monitor multiple accounts independently.

Integrations

Export your data to:

• Google Sheets - Direct integration, auto-sync results
• Zapier / Make (Integromat) - Trigger workflows when scrape completes
• Webhooks - Get real-time notifications
• API - Programmatic access via Apify API
• Download - JSON / CSV / Excel files

FAQ

How often should I run this?

Depends on your needs:

• Daily is good for most monitoring use cases
• Hourly for time-sensitive scenarios (crisis monitoring, campaign tracking)
• Every 4-6 hours is a good balance for active monitoring

What happens if I don't run it for a while?

The next run will show ALL changes since the last run. No data is lost - you'll see total new followers and unfollowers accumulated during the gap.

Can I monitor multiple accounts?

Yes! Create separate scheduled runs for each account, or run the Actor with different usernames. Each username has its own stored state.

Why can't I see unfollower usernames?

Instagram API limitations. We can detect which user IDs unfollowed, but getting current usernames for accounts that unfollowed requires additional API calls. The user ID is provided so you can look them up if needed.

Is this against Instagram's Terms of Service?

This Actor uses publicly available data. However, always use responsibly and respect rate limits. We recommend reasonable scheduling (not more than hourly) to avoid issues.

Cost Estimation

Monitoring Frequency	Accounts	Est. Monthly Cost
Daily	1	~$2-5
Daily	10	~$15-30
Hourly	1	~$15-25

Costs depend on follower count and Apify pricing tier.

Support

• Telegram: @taskforceorange
• Issues: Report bugs on the Actor page
• Feature requests: Contact via Telegram

Need Custom Solutions?

Looking for custom scraping, higher limits, or dedicated infrastructure?

📩 Contact us:

• Telegram: @taskforceorange
• Website: socialswarm.com

We offer:

• Custom actor development
• Enterprise-grade scraping solutions
• Dedicated proxy infrastructure
• White-label integrations
• Priority support

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