Instagram Reels Search Scraper

Search public Instagram Reels by keyword, hashtag, or handle intent and export structured data: reel URL, caption, plays, likes, comments, engagement rate, author metadata, music info, and run diagnostics — with no Instagram login required.

Provider-backed: ScrapeCreators is the primary data source; SociaVault is a best-effort fallback route. The actor resolves keywords to public profile handles, then fetches public Reels for those handles. Provider order is configurable via providerOrder input and all fallbacks are recorded in RUN_SUMMARY.

What you get

Field	Notes
keyword	The search query that produced this Reel
reel_url	Canonical /reel/ URL
caption	Full caption text
caption_hashtags	Hashtags parsed from caption
like_count, comment_count	Public engagement counts
play_count	Video plays (when provider exposes)
engagement_rate	(likes + comments) / followers × 100
posted_at	ISO 8601 timestamp
author_username, author_follower_count, author_is_verified	Author metadata
music_title, music_artist	Audio attribution
source_provider	scrapecreators or sociavault

Who uses this

• Content marketers benchmarking competitor Reels in a niche
• Influencer agencies finding high-engagement creators by topic
• Brand managers monitoring brand mentions in Reel captions
• AI agents that need structured Reel data from a keyword (MCP-ready)

Quick start

{
  "keywords": ["nasa", "#space"],
  "maxResultsPerKeyword": 20,
  "outputMode": "compact"
}

Input reference

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
keywords	string[]	["nasa"]	Keywords, hashtags, or direct handles (e.g. "nasa", "#fitness", "@nasa")
maxResultsPerKeyword	integer	20	Max Reels to save per keyword (1–500)
maxProviderPages	integer	5	Max provider pages per keyword (1–60)
minimumLikes	integer	0	Filter: skip Reels with fewer likes
minPlayCount	integer	0	Filter: skip Reels with fewer plays
onlyReelsNewerThan	ISO date	—	Filter: skip Reels posted before this date
outputMode	full/compact	full	Field set returned per row
providerOrder	enum	scrapecreators-first	Provider priority and fallback behavior
startCursor	string	—	Resume pagination from a previous run cursor

Output example (compact mode)

{
  "keyword": "nasa",
  "reel_url": "https://www.instagram.com/reel/ABC123xyz/",
  "caption": "Golden hour in Santorini ✨ #travel #reels",
  "caption_hashtags": ["travel", "reels"],
  "like_count": 3840,
  "comment_count": 47,
  "play_count": 91200,
  "is_reel": true,
  "posted_at": "2024-06-15T10:22:00.000Z",
  "author_username": "wanderlust_creator",
  "author_follower_count": 128000,
  "author_is_verified": false,
  "engagement_count": 3887,
  "engagement_rate": 3.04,
  "source_provider": "scrapecreators",
  "scraped_at": "2026-08-18T07:00:00.000Z"
}

Provider fallback

The providerOrder input controls which provider is tried first:

• scrapecreators-first (default): tries ScrapeCreators, falls back to SociaVault on failure
• sociavault-first: reverses the order
• scrapecreators-only / sociavault-only: disables the other provider

If the primary provider fails, fallbacksUsed in RUN_SUMMARY increments and a warning records which keyword triggered the fallback. The row's source_provider field always tells you which provider served it.

Pricing

$0.0015 per Reel saved to the dataset + platform usage costs.

• 1,000 Reels = ~$1.50 in data events
• 10,000 Reels = ~$15.00 in data events
• Platform compute and proxy usage are additional (see Apify Console → Pricing tab)

Run outcomes

Outcome	Meaning
COMPLETE	All Reels saved successfully
PARTIAL	Some Reels saved; provider errors or filters skipped others
VALID_EMPTY	No Reels matched the request (try broader keywords or remove filters)
INVALID_INPUT	Missing or malformed input
CONFIG_ERROR	Both provider API keys missing or invalid
UPSTREAM_FAILED	Provider failed on every keyword before any Reels were saved

The OUTPUT key-value entry and RUN_SUMMARY are always written, even on failure.

API / MCP usage

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_TOKEN' });
const run = await client.actor('khadinakbar/instagram-reels-search-scraper').call({
  keywords: ['coffee reels', '#barista'],
  maxResultsPerKeyword: 50,
  outputMode: 'compact',
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();

Builder's note

Instagram's hashtag feed is served from Google-indexed public data, not a complete native feed. Results are best-effort: recent Reels may be sparse for niche topics, and very viral content may be over-represented. If you need a deeper or more complete feed, try the instagram-hashtag-scraper sibling actor.

Related actors

• instagram-hashtag-scraper — hashtag posts (not keyword search)
• instagram-reels-scraper — Reels from specific profiles
• instagram-posts-scraper — feed posts from profiles
• instagram-profile-scraper — profile metadata

Legal disclaimer

This actor scrapes only publicly visible Instagram Reels data. It does not access private accounts, bypass login walls, or use Instagram credentials. Use responsibly and in compliance with Instagram's Terms of Service and applicable data protection laws.