Instagram Stories & Highlights Scraper API

Get current Instagram Stories, complete Highlight collections, and optional photos and videos saved inside Highlights—organized as one clean result per public profile.

Enter Instagram usernames or profile URLs and receive direct image and MP4 URLs, timestamps, music, mentions, links, locations, and structured Highlight contents. Use the results in monitoring, research, authorized archival, and media workflows. No Instagram login or cookies are required.

• One organized profile result with activeStories[] and nested highlights[].stories[]
• Direct image and MP4 URLs with dimensions, timing, duration, and audio availability
• Complete available Highlight discovery with optional, cost-controlled Story expansion
• Bulk public profiles with automatic input normalization and duplicate removal
• Pay per successful check—not per Story item returned

✨ Key features

Active Stories and complete Highlight discovery

Retrieve current 24-hour Stories while discovering all available Highlight collections and following supported Highlight list pagination.

Optional Highlight expansion

Open only the Highlights you need. maxHighlightsPerUser controls expansion cost without hiding the rest of the discovered Highlight inventory.

Direct Story media URLs

Receive image and MP4 URLs for downstream authorized media, monitoring, and archival workflows. The Actor also returns dimensions, timestamps, video duration, and audio availability.

One organized result per profile

Stories and Highlights stay grouped naturally under their Instagram profile instead of being scattered across mixed Dataset rows.

Rich Story metadata

Extract useful links, mentions, hashtags, music, locations, captions, and selected interactive stickers without receiving a large raw data dump.

Simple, predictable pricing

Pay when a profile check, Highlight page, or Highlight opens successfully. A Highlight returning many Story items still produces only one Highlight-content charge.

Stories, Highlights, and Highlight Stories

Active Stories are temporary photos and videos currently available in a user's 24-hour Story tray.

Highlights are collections of previous Stories that the profile owner saved on their profile.

Highlight Stories are the individual photos and videos saved inside one Highlight collection.

The output follows the same natural hierarchy:

Profile
├── activeStories[]
└── highlights[]
    └── stories[]

Each unique username produces one Dataset item. You do not need to filter and reconnect separate Story and Highlight rows.

🚀 Quick start

Minimum input

{
  "usernames": ["example_creator"]
}

The default behavior retrieves current Stories. To get Highlights or the Stories saved inside them, enable the corresponding input options.

1. Add usernames, @usernames, or public Instagram profile URLs.
2. Choose current Stories, Highlights, or both.
3. Enable Get Stories inside Highlights only when you need the media saved inside each collection.
4. Set how many Highlights may be opened, or use 0 to open all discovered Highlights.
5. Start the Actor and open the Dataset.

Input examples

Current Stories only

{
  "usernames": ["example_creator"],
  "includeStories": true,
  "includeHighlights": false
}

Highlight list only

{
  "usernames": ["example_creator"],
  "includeStories": false,
  "includeHighlights": true,
  "expandHighlightItems": false
}

Current Stories and complete Highlight contents

{
  "usernames": ["example_creator"],
  "includeStories": true,
  "includeHighlights": true,
  "expandHighlightItems": true,
  "maxHighlightsPerUser": 0
}

Input options

Field	Type	Required	Default	Limits	Description
usernames	string[]	Yes	['nike']	At least 1 item; no schema maximum	Usernames, @usernames, or public profile URLs. Duplicate profiles are processed once.
includeStories	boolean	No	true	—	Get Stories currently available in each profile's 24-hour Story tray.
includeHighlights	boolean	No	false	—	Discover Highlight collections and follow available list pages.
expandHighlightItems	boolean	No	false	—	Open selected Highlights and return their photos and videos in stories[].
maxHighlightsPerUser	integer	No	10	0–50; 0 means all	Maximum discovered Highlights to open per profile. This does not limit discovery.
compactOutput	boolean	No	false	—	Omit Stories or Highlights sections that were not requested. Status fields always remain.

The original expandHighlightStories input name remains accepted as a compatibility alias, but new integrations should use expandHighlightItems.

Short output example

{
  "schemaVersion": "2.0",
  "username": "example_creator",
  "status": "success",
  "activeStoryCount": 2,
  "activeStories": [
    {
      "id": "story_1001",
      "mediaType": "video",
      "mediaUrl": "https://example.com/story.mp4",
      "postedAt": "2026-08-13T10:00:00.000Z",
      "expiresAt": "2026-08-14T10:00:00.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "highlightCount": 0,
  "expandedHighlightCount": 0,
  "highlights": []
}

The shortened arrays above show the hierarchy only. Actual records use the complete Story and Highlight schemas below.

Output

The default Dataset contains one item for each unique profile. With compactOutput: false, requested and unrequested modules keep stable status, count, and array fields. With compactOutput: true, modules that were not requested may be omitted.

Run-level totals are stored separately in the default Key-Value Store under OUTPUT; they are not mixed into the profile Dataset.

Complete output field reference

Profile fields

Field	Type	Nullable	Format / unit	Meaning
schemaVersion	string	No	Currently 2.0	Version of the nested output contract.
input	string	Yes	Original value	Original username or URL supplied for this result.
username	string	Yes	Lowercase username	Normalized Instagram username; null for invalid input.
userId	string	Yes	Platform ID	Profile ID when exposed by the available public response.
profileUrl	string	Yes	HTTPS URL	Public Instagram profile URL.
status	string	No	Enum	Overall status: success, partial, private, not_found, or failed.
isPrivate	boolean	Yes	—	Whether available profile data identifies the account as private.
isAccessible	boolean	No	—	Whether at least part of the requested public data was retrieved.
reason	string	Yes	Machine-readable code	Null on complete success; otherwise explains the result state.
errorMessage	string	Yes	Human-readable text	User-facing explanation corresponding to reason.
storiesStatus	string	No	Module enum	success, partial, failed, or not_requested; may be omitted in compact output when unrequested.
activeStoryCount	integer	No	Items	Number of Story objects actually returned in activeStories; may be omitted in compact output.
activeStories	object[]	No	Story objects	Current Story items; may be omitted in compact output when unrequested.
highlightsStatus	string	No	Module enum	Status of Highlight discovery and expansion; may be omitted in compact output when unrequested.
highlightCount	integer	No	Collections	Unique Highlights discovered after available pagination; may be omitted in compact output.
expandedHighlightCount	integer	No	Collections	Highlights whose stories[] were successfully retrieved.
highlights	object[]	No	Highlight objects	Discovered Highlight collections and optional nested Stories.
requestedAt	string	No	ISO 8601 UTC	Time this profile was processed.

Story fields

Active Stories and Highlight Stories share one clean media schema.

Field	Type	Nullable	Format / unit	Meaning
id	string	Yes	Media ID	Story identifier when available.
mediaType	string	No	image, video, unknown	Normalized media type.
postedAt	string	Yes	ISO 8601 UTC	Story publication time.
expiresAt	string	Yes	ISO 8601 UTC	Current Story expiration; null for historical Highlight Stories.
mediaUrl	string	Yes	HTTPS CDN URL	Primary media URL: imageUrl for images and videoUrl for videos.
imageUrl	string	Yes	HTTPS CDN URL	Image or video-cover URL.
videoUrl	string	Yes	HTTPS MP4 URL	Direct video URL; null for image Stories.
width	number	Yes	Pixels	Selected media width.
height	number	Yes	Pixels	Selected media height.
durationSeconds	number	Yes	Seconds	Video duration; null for images or when unavailable.
hasAudio	boolean	Yes	—	Reported video-audio availability; null for images or when unavailable. It is not inferred from music.
caption	string	Yes	Text	Story caption when available.
accessibilityCaption	string	Yes	Text	Accessibility description when available.
mentions	object[]	No	Accounts	Structured account mentions with username and optional identity fields.
hashtags	string[]	No	Tags without #	Hashtags found in supported Story fields.
links	object[]	No	HTTPS URLs	Structured Story link stickers.
locations	object[]	No	Coordinates / text	Structured location metadata.
music	object	Yes	Title, artist, audio ID	Music metadata when available.
stickers	object[]	No	Selected sticker types	Useful supported interactive stickers without internal platform metadata.

Highlight fields

Field	Type	Nullable	Format / unit	Meaning
id	string	Yes	Normalized Highlight ID	Highlight identifier without an internal prefix.
title	string	Yes	Text	Highlight title.
coverImageUrl	string	Yes	HTTPS CDN URL	Best available Highlight cover image.
reportedMediaCount	number	Yes	Informational items	Count reported in Highlight metadata; not an authoritative retrievable Story count.
storiesExpanded	boolean	No	—	Whether this Highlight was successfully opened during the run.
storyCount	integer	Yes	Items	Number of Story objects actually returned; null when not expanded.
stories	object[]	No	Story objects	Photos and videos returned from this Highlight. Empty when not expanded or when no items are available.

Why can reportedMediaCount differ from storyCount?

reportedMediaCount is the count reported by Instagram's Highlight metadata. When expansion is enabled, storyCount is calculated from the actual Highlight Story items returned.

The reported metadata count can be higher than the number of currently retrievable items. The Actor keeps these values separate instead of assuming they are equal. A difference does not by itself make the result partial or failed.

Status values

Profile status

Status	Meaning	Result behavior	Billing behavior
success	Every requested module completed successfully.	Arrays can contain data or be empty. An empty successful check is not a failure.	Each successful requested operation is charged. A valid empty operation is charged because the check completed.
partial	Some requested work succeeded while another module, page, or expansion did not complete.	Successfully retrieved data remains available; failed sections are identified by module status and reason.	Only operations that completed successfully are charged. Failed operations are not charged.
private	The requested public data is unavailable because the profile is private.	isPrivate is true when confirmed by available data and otherwise can be null; isAccessible is false, with empty result arrays.	No custom data event is charged for the failed private-profile operation. The small Actor-start charge may still apply.
not_found	The profile could not be found.	isAccessible: false with reason: "user_not_found".	No custom data event is charged for the failed lookup. The small Actor-start charge may still apply.
failed	No requested module produced a successful usable result, or the input was invalid.	reason and errorMessage explain the failure.	Failed operations and invalid inputs do not create custom data-event charges. The small Actor-start charge may still apply.

Module status

Status	Meaning
success	The module completed, including a valid result containing zero items.
partial	Some available pages or Highlight expansions succeeded and some did not.
failed	The requested module did not produce a successful result.
not_requested	The module was disabled in the input and no corresponding retrieval was performed.

Billing is based on completed checks, so top-level status alone does not determine the final run price. For example, a partial profile can contain several successfully charged checks and one uncharged failed check.

Empty and unavailable result examples

Successful profile with no active Stories

{
  "schemaVersion": "2.0",
  "input": "example_creator",
  "username": "example_creator",
  "status": "success",
  "isPrivate": false,
  "isAccessible": true,
  "reason": null,
  "errorMessage": null,
  "storiesStatus": "success",
  "activeStoryCount": 0,
  "activeStories": []
}

The successful current-Story check is charged even though it returns zero Stories.

Private profile

{
  "schemaVersion": "2.0",
  "input": "private_example",
  "username": "private_example",
  "status": "private",
  "isPrivate": null,
  "isAccessible": false,
  "reason": "private_account",
  "errorMessage": "This profile is private or not publicly accessible.",
  "storiesStatus": "failed",
  "activeStoryCount": 0,
  "activeStories": []
}

Profile not found

{
  "schemaVersion": "2.0",
  "input": "missing_example",
  "username": "missing_example",
  "status": "not_found",
  "isPrivate": null,
  "isAccessible": false,
  "reason": "user_not_found",
  "errorMessage": "The Instagram profile could not be found."
}

Complete output example

{
  "schemaVersion": "2.0",
  "input": "example_creator",
  "username": "example_creator",
  "userId": "1000000001",
  "profileUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/example_creator/",
  "status": "success",
  "isPrivate": false,
  "isAccessible": true,
  "reason": null,
  "errorMessage": null,
  "storiesStatus": "success",
  "activeStoryCount": 1,
  "activeStories": [
    {
      "id": "story_1001",
      "mediaType": "video",
      "postedAt": "2026-08-13T10:00:00.000Z",
      "expiresAt": "2026-08-14T10:00:00.000Z",
      "mediaUrl": "https://example.com/story-video.mp4",
      "imageUrl": "https://example.com/story-cover.jpg",
      "videoUrl": "https://example.com/story-video.mp4",
      "width": 720,
      "height": 1280,
      "durationSeconds": 8.2,
      "hasAudio": true,
      "caption": "New collection",
      "accessibilityCaption": null,
      "mentions": [
        {
          "username": "example_brand",
          "userId": "1000000002",
          "fullName": "Example Brand"
        }
      ],
      "hashtags": ["newcollection"],
      "links": [
        {
          "url": "https://example.com/collection",
          "text": "View collection",
          "type": "link_sticker"
        }
      ],
      "locations": [],
      "music": {
        "title": "Example Song",
        "artist": "Example Artist",
        "audioId": "audio_1001"
      },
      "stickers": []
    }
  ],
  "highlightsStatus": "success",
  "highlightCount": 1,
  "expandedHighlightCount": 1,
  "highlights": [
    {
      "id": "highlight_1001",
      "title": "Travel",
      "coverImageUrl": "https://example.com/highlight-cover.jpg",
      "reportedMediaCount": 50,
      "storiesExpanded": true,
      "storyCount": 3,
      "stories": [
        {
          "id": "highlight_story_1001",
          "mediaType": "image",
          "postedAt": "2025-06-10T09:00:00.000Z",
          "expiresAt": null,
          "mediaUrl": "https://example.com/highlight-story.jpg",
          "imageUrl": "https://example.com/highlight-story.jpg",
          "videoUrl": null,
          "width": 1080,
          "height": 1920,
          "durationSeconds": null,
          "hasAudio": null,
          "caption": null,
          "accessibilityCaption": null,
          "mentions": [],
          "hashtags": [],
          "links": [],
          "locations": [],
          "music": null,
          "stickers": []
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "requestedAt": "2026-08-13T10:05:00.000Z"
}

Compact output

With compactOutput: false, stable empty arrays and count fields remain in every profile record. With compactOutput: true, a module that was not requested is omitted.

For example, a Stories-only result can omit highlightCount and highlights, while status, isAccessible, reason, and errorMessage always remain.

💰 Simple, predictable pricing

Pricing starts as low as $4.00 per 1,000 successful operations on eligible paid Apify plans. Free-plan rates are $6.00–$7.00 per 1,000 successful operations.

You pay for completed checks—not for every Story returned. A Highlight that returns 43 Story items still creates only one highlight-content charge.

Operation	Free-plan price	Per 1,000	When it applies
Current Stories for one profile (stories-profile)	$0.007	$7.00	One successful current Story check, including a valid empty result.
One Highlight list page (highlights-profile)	$0.006	$6.00	Each successfully retrieved Highlight list page. Profiles with more Highlights can require multiple pages.
Stories inside one Highlight (highlight-content)	$0.006	$6.00	One successfully opened Highlight, regardless of how many Story items it contains.

Depending on the eligible paid Apify plan, each operation costs $0.005, $0.0045, or $0.004. Check the Actor's Pricing tab for the exact price available to your plan.

Pricing examples at the Free-plan rate:

• 100 profiles with current Stories only: approximately $0.70, plus the small Actor-start charge.
• One profile with current Stories and a one-page Highlight list: approximately $0.013.
• Opening 10 Highlights adds approximately $0.06.
• One Highlight returning 43 Stories costs $0.006, not 43 × $0.006.

Additional billing rules:

• A successful check that confirms zero Stories or zero Highlights is charged because the retrieval completed.
• Failed retrieval operations are not charged.
• Duplicate versions of the same username are processed once per run and do not create duplicate operations.
• maxHighlightsPerUser limits Highlight expansion cost, not Highlight discovery.
• Each successfully retrieved Highlight list page is charged separately.
• A small automatic Actor-start charge may also apply.

You can set a maximum run cost in Apify when you need a hard spending limit.

Common use cases

Story archival workflows

Feed authorized public 24-hour Story metadata and temporary media URLs into your own archival system before the Stories disappear. The Actor itself does not permanently store media.

Brand monitoring

Track what public brands publish in Stories, including mentions, promotional links, music, locations, and posting times.

Influencer monitoring

Analyze public creator activity, tagged accounts, music usage, campaign links, and saved Highlight collections across multiple profiles.

Highlight inventory workflows

Discover public Highlight collections, export their covers and metadata, and optionally pass their retrievable photos and videos into your own authorized storage workflow.

Content auditing

Review how a public profile organizes long-term Story content and compare the metadata count with the items currently retrievable from each Highlight.

Creator and competitive intelligence

Use structured Story metadata in research, dashboards, alerts, and analysis without reconnecting mixed Dataset records.

How it works

1. The Actor normalizes usernames and profile URLs and removes duplicate profiles.
2. It retrieves current Stories when requested.
3. It discovers available Highlight collections and follows supported Highlight list pagination.
4. It opens the permitted number of Highlights only when expansion is enabled.
5. It normalizes useful media and metadata fields without exposing a large raw response.
6. It saves one hierarchical profile record to the Dataset for each unique input profile.

API integration

The Actor's full name is:

lance_api/instagram-stories-highlights-scraper-api

JavaScript

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });
const run = await client.actor('lance_api/instagram-stories-highlights-scraper-api').call({
    usernames: ['example_creator'],
    includeStories: true,
    includeHighlights: true,
    expandHighlightItems: false,
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items[0].activeStories);
console.log(items[0].highlights);

Python

import os
from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient(os.environ["APIFY_TOKEN"])
run = client.actor("lance_api/instagram-stories-highlights-scraper-api").call(run_input={
    "usernames": ["example_creator"],
    "includeStories": True,
    "includeHighlights": True,
    "expandHighlightItems": False,
})

profiles = client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).list_items().items
print(profiles[0]["activeStories"])
print(profiles[0]["highlights"])

cURL

curl -X POST \
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/lance_api~instagram-stories-highlights-scraper-api/run-sync-get-dataset-items" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "usernames": ["example_creator"],
    "includeStories": true,
    "includeHighlights": true,
    "expandHighlightItems": false
  }'

🤖 AI Agent integration

Use this Actor through the Apify MCP Server from MCP-compatible clients such as ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, and Codex.

Example prompt:

Use the Apify Actor lance_api/instagram-stories-highlights-scraper-api to retrieve current Instagram Stories and Highlights from these public profiles. Include direct media URLs, links, mentions, hashtags, music, locations, and timestamps. Keep the results grouped by profile and summarize each Highlight with its Story count.

Running the Actor through Apify MCP uses the same Actor pricing as a normal Actor run.

FAQ

What does one Dataset item contain?

One item represents one unique Instagram profile. Current Stories are in activeStories[]; Highlight collections are in highlights[]; expanded Highlight Stories are in each Highlight's stories[].

Does an account with no current Stories fail?

No. A successful check returns status: "success", activeStoryCount: 0, and activeStories: []. The successful check is charged because it confirmed the result.

Which input formats are accepted?

Use plain usernames, @usernames, or public Instagram profile URLs. Post, Reel, and Story URLs are not profile inputs.

Can I process multiple Instagram profiles?

Yes. Add multiple values to usernames. Duplicate versions of the same username are normalized and processed once per run.

How am I charged if a profile returns many Stories?

A successful current-Story check creates one stories-profile charge whether it returns zero, one, or many active Stories. You are not charged once per returned Story.

How much does Highlight expansion cost?

On the Free plan, each successfully opened Highlight costs $0.006, regardless of how many Story items it returns. On eligible paid plans, it costs $0.005, $0.0045, or $0.004; check the Pricing tab for your plan-specific rate.

Does maxHighlightsPerUser limit the returned Highlight list?

No. It limits only how many discovered Highlights are opened to retrieve their stories[]. All discovered collections remain in highlights[]. Use 0 to expand all discovered Highlights.

Why can one profile create multiple Highlight-list charges?

Highlight collections can be paginated. Each successfully retrieved list page creates one highlights-profile charge and is merged into the profile's highlights[].

Are media URLs permanent?

No. imageUrl and videoUrl are Instagram CDN URLs and may expire or stop working later.

Can it access private profiles?

No. The Actor is designed for publicly accessible profiles and does not attempt to obtain non-public information.

Does it download or permanently store media?

No. It returns temporary media URLs and structured metadata. Your authorized downstream workflow is responsible for any permitted download or storage.

Can AI agents use this Actor?

Yes. MCP-compatible AI clients can run it through the Apify MCP Server using the Actor's full name. MCP runs use the same pricing.

Does it return raw platform data?

No. The output keeps useful, documented fields and excludes large internal metadata, comments, licensing internals, and interaction controls.

Limitations

• Only publicly accessible profile data is supported.
• Current Stories can disappear before a scheduled or delayed run retrieves them.
• CDN media URLs are temporary and may stop working later.
• Some metadata fields can be null or empty arrays when Instagram does not expose them for a particular Story or Highlight.
• reportedMediaCount is informational metadata, not a promise that the same number of Story items can be retrieved.
• Highlight expansion returns the available items supplied for that Highlight; it does not invent pagination when none is provided.
• The Actor does not download media, transcribe audio, run OCR, analyze sentiment, or collect Story comments.

Public data and responsible use

Use this Actor only for lawful purposes. Respect Instagram's terms, privacy rights, intellectual property rights, and applicable data-protection rules. Only process data you are authorized to access and use.

Do not use the Actor for harassment, spam, unlawful profiling, attempts to obtain non-public information, or other activities that violate applicable laws or platform rules.

Support

For help, open an issue on the Actor page or email lanceapi2026@hotmail.com.

Include the Apify Run ID, the affected public username, the relevant input settings, and a short description of the expected and actual result. Never send account passwords, cookies, API tokens, or other secrets.