Instagram Scraper

A professional Apify Actor that extracts comprehensive data from Instagram, including profiles, posts, followers, comments, hashtags, and engagement metrics.

Features

• 👤 Profile Scraping: Extract profile information including bio, followers, following, posts count, verification status
• 📸 Post Extraction: Scrape posts with images, captions, likes, comments, and dates
• 🏷️ Hashtag Scraping: Extract posts from specific hashtags
• 💬 Comments Extraction: Optional detailed comments with author information
• 📊 Engagement Metrics: Extract likes, comments count, and other engagement data
• 🔄 Pagination Support: Automatically scrolls and loads more posts
• 🚀 High Performance: Efficient scraping with proper error handling and retries
• 🔒 Proxy Support: Built-in Apify Proxy support for reliable scraping

Input

Field	Type	Required	Description
username	String	No*	Instagram username to scrape (without @)
hashtag	String	No*	Hashtag to scrape (without #)
postUrl	String	No*	Direct URL to a specific Instagram post
maxPosts	Number	No	Maximum number of posts to extract (default: 50, max: 1000)
includeComments	Boolean	No	Whether to include comments for each post (default: false)
maxComments	Number	No	Maximum number of comments per post if includeComments is true (default: 10, max: 100)
includeLikes	Boolean	No	Whether to include likes count for each post (default: true)
username_login	String	No	Optional: Your Instagram username for login. Without login, you'll get 1-12 posts. With login, up to 1000 posts accessible.
password_login	String	No	Optional: Your Instagram password for login. Only needed if you want to scrape more posts. Can proceed without login.

*At least one of username, hashtag, or postUrl must be provided

Example Input

{
  "username": "instagram",
  "maxPosts": 100,
  "includeComments": true,
  "maxComments": 20,
  "includeLikes": true
}

{
  "hashtag": "photography",
  "maxPosts": 50
}

{
  "postUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/p/ABC123xyz/"
}

Output

The actor saves results to the Apify Dataset. Output format depends on the input:

Profile Data

{
  "username": "instagram",
  "fullName": "Instagram",
  "bio": "Bringing you closer to the people and things you love.",
  "profilePicture": "https://instagram.com/...",
  "followers": 1000000,
  "following": 100,
  "postsCount": 5000,
  "isVerified": true,
  "isPrivate": false,
  "profileUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/instagram/",
  "timestamp": "2024-01-10T12:00:00.000Z"
}

Post Data

{
  "postId": "ABC123xyz",
  "postUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/p/ABC123xyz/",
  "username": "instagram",
  "mediaUrl": "https://instagram.com/...",
  "caption": "Beautiful sunset 🌅",
  "likes": 50000,
  "commentsCount": 1000,
  "date": "2024-01-10T10:00:00.000Z",
  "type": "photo",
  "comments": [
    {
      "author": "user123",
      "authorUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/user123/",
      "text": "Amazing!",
      "likes": null
    }
  ],
  "timestamp": "2024-01-10T12:00:00.000Z"
}

Hashtag Post Data

{
  "postId": "DEF456abc",
  "postUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/p/DEF456abc/",
  "hashtag": "photography",
  "mediaUrl": "https://instagram.com/...",
  "caption": "Great shot!",
  "likes": 1000,
  "commentsCount": 50,
  "date": "2024-01-09T15:00:00.000Z",
  "type": "photo",
  "timestamp": "2024-01-10T12:00:00.000Z"
}

Usage

Local Development

1. Install dependencies:

$npm install

2. Run the actor:

$npm start

Apify Platform

1. Create a new actor on Apify
2. Upload the actor files
3. Configure input parameters
4. Run the actor

Using Apify CLI

apify create instagram-scraper
cd instagram-scraper
# Copy files to the actor directory
apify push
apify call --memory=4096

Output Dataset

Results are saved to the Apify Dataset with different schemas depending on the input:

Profile Schema

• username: Instagram username
• fullName: Full display name
• bio: Profile bio
• profilePicture: Profile picture URL
• followers: Number of followers
• following: Number of accounts following
• postsCount: Total number of posts
• isVerified: Whether account is verified
• isPrivate: Whether account is private
• profileUrl: Profile URL
• timestamp: ISO timestamp of extraction

Post Schema

• postId: Unique post identifier
• postUrl: Direct URL to the post
• username: Post author username (if scraping profile)
• mediaUrl: URL to the post media (image/video)
• caption: Post caption text
• likes: Number of likes (if includeLikes is true)
• commentsCount: Number of comments
• date: Post date/time
• type: Post type (photo or video)
• hashtag: Hashtag (if scraping hashtag)
• comments: Array of comment objects (if includeComments is true)
• timestamp: ISO timestamp of extraction

Best Practices

1. Rate Limiting: Instagram may implement rate limiting for high-volume requests. Consider using Apify Proxy and adding delays.

2. Max Posts: Start with smaller values (50-100) to test before scaling up to avoid timeouts.

3. Comments: Enabling comments extraction significantly increases scraping time. Use only when necessary.

4. Private Accounts: Private accounts cannot be scraped without authentication. The actor will detect private accounts.

5. Login: Some features (like hashtag scraping) may require login for full access. The actor works without login but may have limitations.

6. Error Handling: The actor includes comprehensive error handling. Check the actor logs for any issues.

Limitations

• Instagram may require login for some features (hashtag scraping, private profiles)
• Instagram may implement rate limiting or CAPTCHA challenges for high-volume requests
• The actor respects Instagram's structure and may need updates if Instagram changes their UI
• Comments extraction requires additional page interactions and may slow down scraping
• Maximum 1000 posts per run (configurable via maxPosts)
• Private profiles cannot be scraped without authentication

Troubleshooting

No results found

• Verify the username/hashtag/postUrl is correct
• Check if the account is private (private accounts require login)
• Try increasing wait times if pages load slowly

Missing data fields

• Some posts may not have all fields (e.g., likes, comments)
• Instagram structure may vary by region or account type
• Check actor logs for extraction warnings

Scraping too slow

• Reduce maxPosts
• Disable includeComments if not needed
• Check your internet connection and Apify platform resources
• Consider using Apify Proxy for better performance

Login required

• Some features require Instagram login
• Hashtag scraping may show login prompts
• Consider implementing authentication for full access

Changelog

Version 1.0.0

• Initial release
• Profile scraping
• Post extraction
• Hashtag scraping
• Comments extraction support
• Engagement metrics extraction

License

ISC

Support

For issues, questions, or contributions, please visit the actor's page on Apify Store.