Instagram Scraper

An Apify actor designed to extract publicly available data from Instagram posts. This tool primarily focuses on scraping posts associated with a given hashtag. Extract posts, engagement metrics, captions & user data from any hashtag in seconds.

Technology Used

• Python
• Playwright
• Headless chrome

✨ Features

• Hashtag Scraping: Collects data from posts under a specified Instagram hashtag.
• Rich Data Extraction: Gathers comprehensive details including:
  • Post ID, URL, and Shortcode
  • Media Type (Image/Video)
  • Caption, Hashtags, and Mentions
  • Number of Likes and Comments
  • Owner ID (Username)
  • Media Dimensions and Display URL
  • Timestamp of publication
  • Information about child posts for carousel media.
• Configurable Depth: Control the number of results to scrape.
• Session Management: Supports instagramSessionId for logged-in scraping, which can help bypass certain public access limitations and get more comprehensive data.

🚀 Input

The actor expects a JSON object as input, configured through the Apify Console UI. Here are the available input fields:

Field	Type	Description	Default	Required
instagramSessionId	string	Your Instagram session ID cookie value. Required for logged-in access, which can provide more consistent results and access to certain public data.	-	Yes
targetHashtag	string	The hashtag to scrape (e.g., 'studentlife'). The actor will navigate to this hashtag page and extract posts.	studentlife	Yes
numResultsToScrape	integer	The desired number of detailed posts to scrape from the hashtag page. Set to 0 to scrape all available posts (use with caution).	3	No

Example Input:

{
    "instagramSessionId": "YOUR_INSTAGRAM_SESSION_ID_COOKIE",
    "targetHashtag": "travel",
    "numResultsToScrape": 10,
    "specificTestUrl": "[https://www.instagram.com/p/C7u1W3VvF1Z/](https://www.instagram.com/p/C7u1W3VvF1Z/)"
}

Example Output:

[{
    "id": "C0dF2f1gH3i",
    "type": "Image",
    "shortCode": "C0dF2f1gH3i",
    "caption": "Exploring the beautiful city of #Singapore! So much to see and do. #travel #wanderlust",
    "hashtags": ["Singapore", "travel", "wanderlust"],
    "mentions": [],
    "url": "[https://www.instagram.com/p/C0dF2f1gH3i/](https://www.instagram.com/p/C0dF2f1gH3i/)",
    "commentsCount": 15,
    "firstComment": "Looks amazing!",
    "latestComments": [
        {
            "username": "userA",
            "text": "Great shot!",
            "timestamp": "2025-06-07T10:30:00Z"
        },
        {
            "username": "userB",
            "text": "Enjoy your trip!",
            "timestamp": "2025-06-07T10:35:00Z"
        }
    ],
    "dimensionsHeight": 1080,
    "dimensionsWidth": 1080,
    "displayUrl": "[https://scontent-lax3-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.2885-15/](https://scontent-lax3-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.2885-15/)...",
    "images": [
        {
            "displayUrl": "[https://scontent-lax3-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.2885-15/](https://scontent-lax3-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.2885-15/)...",
            "dimensionsHeight": 1080,
            "dimensionsWidth": 1080
        }
    ],
    "alt": "A vibrant cityscape with modern buildings and lush greenery.",
    "likesCount": 250,
    "timestamp": "2025-06-07T10:00:00Z",
    "childPosts": [],
    "ownerId": "travelgram_explorer"
}
]