# Instagram User Scraper (`khadinakbar/instagram-user-scraper`) Actor

Search public Instagram users by keyword and return enriched profiles: bio, follower/following/media counts, verified & business flags, category, external links, and parsed email/phone. No login, no cookies. Provider-backed (ScrapeCreators). MCP-ready.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/khadinakbar/instagram-user-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Khadin Akbar](https://apify.com/khadinakbar) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, Lead generation, MCP servers
- **Stats:** 1 total users, 0 monthly users, 0.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $5.00 / 1,000 profile founds

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Instagram User Scraper

Search public **Instagram users by keyword** and get back enriched, ready-to-use profiles — no login, no cookies, no browser automation. Type what your ideal account looks like ("fitness coach", "real estate agent miami", "vegan bakery") and the actor returns matching public Instagram profiles with bio, follower/following/post counts, verified and business flags, category, external links, and **email/phone parsed from the bio** for lead generation.

This is a keyword **discovery** tool. If you already have a list of `@usernames` and just want each profile's details, use the companion **instagram-profile-scraper** actor instead.

### What you get

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `username` | Instagram handle (@username) |
| `fullName` | Display / full name |
| `biography` | Profile bio text |
| `email` | Best-effort email parsed from bio + bio links |
| `phone` | Best-effort phone parsed from bio text |
| `followerCount` | Public follower count |
| `followingCount` | Accounts the user follows |
| `mediaCount` | Number of posts |
| `isVerified` | Blue-badge verified |
| `isPrivate` | Private account flag |
| `isBusinessAccount` | Business / professional account flag |
| `categoryName` | Creator/business category (e.g. "Coach") |
| `externalUrl` | Website link on the profile |
| `bioLinks` | All outbound links in the bio |
| `profilePicUrl` | Direct profile-photo URL |
| `profileUrl` | Public instagram.com profile URL |
| `matchedFrom` | `profile` (bio match) or `caption` (post/reel caption match) |
| `igId`, `scrapeSource`, `scrapedAt` | ID, data source, ISO-8601 timestamp |

### When to use it

- Build **influencer & creator lists** for a niche or city.
- Generate **B2B / local lead lists** with contactable emails and websites.
- **Competitor and market research** — who is active in a category.
- Feed an **AI agent** a keyword and get structured profiles back (MCP-ready).

### Pricing

Pay-per-event, so you only pay for what you get:

- **Actor start:** $0.00005 per run
- **Profile found:** **$0.005** per unique profile written to the dataset

A run returning 50 profiles costs about **$0.25**. Set **Max results per query** to control the ceiling — the actor prints the maximum cost cap in the log before it charges anything.

### Input

```json
{
  "searchQueries": ["fitness coach", "real estate agent miami"],
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 50,
  "parseContacts": true
}
```

| Input | Type | Default | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| `searchQueries` | string\[] | — (required) | One or more keyword/phrase queries. |
| `maxResultsPerQuery` | integer | 50 | 1–500. Cap per query; results paginate automatically. |
| `parseContacts` | boolean | true | Parse email + phone from the bio into their own fields. |
| `provider` | string | auto | `auto` (ScrapeCreators, then SociaVault on block), `scrapeCreators`, or `sociaVault`. |

### Output example

```json
{
  "query": "fitness coach",
  "username": "charliejohnsonfitness",
  "fullName": "World's #1 Fitness Business Coach",
  "biography": "DM me \"PAID\" ...",
  "email": null,
  "phone": null,
  "followerCount": 503332,
  "followingCount": 6541,
  "mediaCount": 8387,
  "isVerified": true,
  "isPrivate": false,
  "isBusinessAccount": true,
  "categoryName": "Coach",
  "externalUrl": "https://www.7fss.com/step-1-copy",
  "bioLinks": ["https://www.7fss.com/step-1-copy"],
  "profilePicUrl": "https://instagram.f.../444225908_....jpg",
  "profileUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/charliejohnsonfitness/",
  "matchedFrom": "profile",
  "igId": "188767259",
  "scrapeSource": "scrapecreators",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-07-01T12:00:00.000Z"
}
```

### Use with the Apify API

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("khadinakbar/instagram-user-scraper").call(run_input={
    "searchQueries": ["vegan bakery"],
    "maxResultsPerQuery": 50,
    "parseContacts": True,
})
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item["username"], item["followerCount"], item.get("email"))
```

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' });
const run = await client.actor('khadinakbar/instagram-user-scraper').call({
  searchQueries: ['real estate agent miami'],
  maxResultsPerQuery: 50,
  parseContacts: true,
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);
```

### MCP / AI agents

This actor is MCP-ready. Exposed through the Apify MCP server as `apify--instagram-user-scraper`, an agent can call it with a single keyword and receive flat, structured profile records — ideal for automated prospecting and research workflows.

### How it works & limitations

- **No login, no cookies.** Search is powered by managed providers. ScrapeCreators (primary) resolves public Instagram profiles from Google's index and returns them already enriched. If ScrapeCreators is blocked, the actor automatically falls back to SociaVault, which discovers profiles via Google search and enriches each one — so a single provider outage does not fail your run.
- **Best-effort, not native search.** Because matching is Google-index-backed, results are the most relevant *public* profiles for your keyword, **not** a complete crawl of Instagram's internal search. Very fresh or fully private accounts may not appear.
- **Contacts are parsed, not guaranteed.** `email` and `phone` are extracted from the public bio and links when present, so they are frequently null.
- **Counts are point-in-time** snapshots from when the profile was read.

### FAQ

**Can I look up a specific @username?** This actor is for keyword discovery. For a known handle's full details, use **instagram-profile-scraper**.

**Do I need to provide an API key or cookies?** No. The data provider key is pre-configured by the actor owner; you only provide search queries.

**Why did I get fewer results than `maxResultsPerQuery`?** The index ran out of relevant public profiles for that keyword. Try broader or additional queries.

**Are private accounts included?** Private accounts can appear in results (flagged `isPrivate: true`) but expose only public metadata.

### Legal

This actor collects only **publicly available** information and does not log in or bypass authentication. You are responsible for using the data in compliance with Instagram's Terms of Service, the GDPR/CCPA, and any other applicable laws and regulations. Do not use scraped personal data for spam or unlawful purposes.

# Actor input Schema

## `searchQueries` (type: `array`):

One or more keyword or phrase queries to find public Instagram users (e.g. 'fitness coach', 'real estate agent miami', 'vegan bakery'). Each query is matched against public bios and captions. This is a keyword DISCOVERY search, NOT a username lookup and NOT a profile/post URL — to scrape a known @username's profile details use the instagram-profile-scraper actor. Matching is Google-index-backed and best-effort, so results are the most relevant public profiles, not the complete native Instagram search.

## `maxResultsPerQuery` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of Instagram profiles to return per query (results are paginated automatically). Defaults to 50. Range 1–500. Fewer results finish faster and cost less; large caps may return fewer than requested when the index runs out of relevant profiles.

## `parseContacts` (type: `boolean`):

When enabled (default), extracts a best-effort email (from the bio and bio links) and phone number (from the bio text) into dedicated fields for lead generation. Turn off for a leaner dataset. Not every profile publishes contact details, so these fields are often null.

## `provider` (type: `string`):

Which backend resolves the search. 'auto' (default) uses ScrapeCreators native profile search and automatically falls back to SociaVault (Google discovery + profile enrich) only if ScrapeCreators is blocked. Pick a single provider to force it. The owner's API keys are pre-configured as environment variables; you do not supply a key. NOT an Instagram login.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchQueries": [
    "vegan bakery"
  ],
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 50,
  "parseContacts": true,
  "provider": "auto"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `dataset` (type: `string`):

No description

## `summary` (type: `string`):

No description

## `runSummary` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "searchQueries": [
        "fitness coach",
        "real estate agent miami"
    ],
    "maxResultsPerQuery": 50
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("khadinakbar/instagram-user-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "searchQueries": [
        "fitness coach",
        "real estate agent miami",
    ],
    "maxResultsPerQuery": 50,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("khadinakbar/instagram-user-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "searchQueries": [
    "fitness coach",
    "real estate agent miami"
  ],
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 50
}' |
apify call khadinakbar/instagram-user-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,khadinakbar/instagram-user-scraper"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/eQzRdSBCWtN9LGINw/builds/wrlbi6pgv1vUlqktX/openapi.json