Instagram Stories Scraper API

Retrieve the currently active Instagram Stories of public profiles as clean, structured Dataset rows. Submit usernames or profile URLs and receive images, videos, timestamps, mentions, hashtags, links, music, locations, stickers, profile state, and a transparent processing status.

The Actor is focused exclusively on active Instagram Stories. It does not collect Highlights, historical Stories, posts, Reels, comments, transcripts, OCR, translations, or private content.

Key features

• One simple input: usernames
• Accepts username, @username, and Instagram profile URLs
• Returns one Dataset row per active Story
• Always returns a status row when a profile has no Stories, is invalid, is restricted, or processing fails
• Includes direct image and video URLs, publication and expiration times, dimensions, duration, and audio state
• Extracts available mentions, hashtags, links, locations, music, captions, and interactive stickers
• Supports concurrent batches of up to 50 profiles for paid users
• Never retries Story processing, keeping cost and behavior predictable
• Charges once per profile processed, never once per Story

Use cases

• Competitor and brand Story monitoring
• Influencer and creator research
• Active Story archiving
• Scheduled social media monitoring
• Automation and API pipelines
• AI analysis workflows

Quick start

Use a username:

{
  "usernames": ["instagram"]
}

Equivalent accepted values include @instagram and https://www.instagram.com/instagram/. Duplicate representations of the same username are processed once.

The default profile, instagram, was verified as a real public profile on September 8, 2026. Its public profile ID observed during validation was 25025320.

Input

Field	Type	Required	Description
usernames	string[]	Yes	Instagram usernames, @usernames, or profile URLs. Free users can process 1 profile per run; paid users can process up to 50.

Clearly malformed usernames, non-Instagram URLs, and post, Reel, or Story URLs are rejected before Story processing.

Output

Each active Story is a separate Dataset row with its profile context. If a profile returns no Story item, the Actor emits exactly one profile status row. Every accepted unique input therefore remains traceable.

Profile and result fields

Field	Type	Meaning
input	string	Original supplied value
username	string | null	Normalized username
userId	string | null	Instagram profile ID when available
profileUrl	string | null	Canonical profile URL
status	string	success, no_stories, invalid, restricted, or failed
reason	string | null	Stable reason code when applicable
errorMessage	string | null	Human-readable result explanation
charged	boolean	Whether the profile-processing event was charged
isPrivate	boolean | null	Confirmed privacy state when available
isAccessible	boolean	Whether Story data was accessible
activeStoryCount	integer	Total active Stories returned for this profile
requestedAt	string	ISO 8601 processing timestamp

Story fields

Field	Type	Meaning
storyId	string | null	Story identifier
mediaType	string | null	image, video, or unknown
postedAt	string | null	Publication time in ISO 8601 UTC
expiresAt	string | null	Expected expiration time in ISO 8601 UTC
mediaUrl	string | null	Primary image or video URL
imageUrl	string | null	Image or video-cover URL
videoUrl	string | null	Direct video URL
width, height	number | null	Media dimensions in pixels
durationSeconds	number | null	Video duration
hasAudio	boolean | null	Reported video audio availability
caption	string | null	Story caption when available
accessibilityCaption	string | null	Accessibility description when available
mentions	object[]	Mentioned accounts
hashtags	string[]	Hashtags without #
links	object[]	Link stickers
locations	object[]	Location metadata
music	object | null	Title, artist, and audio ID when available
stickers	object[]	Supported poll, question, quiz, countdown, and slider metadata

Verified output examples

The following excerpts use real results collected on September 8, 2026. Temporary CDN URLs are intentionally omitted from these documentation excerpts; the Dataset row contains the complete mediaUrl, imageUrl, and videoUrl values at run time.

Active Story

The public natgeo profile returned one active video Story:

{
  "input": "natgeo",
  "username": "natgeo",
  "userId": "787132",
  "profileUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/natgeo/",
  "status": "success",
  "reason": null,
  "charged": true,
  "isPrivate": false,
  "isAccessible": true,
  "activeStoryCount": 1,
  "storyId": "3981132462985100812",
  "mediaType": "video",
  "postedAt": "2026-09-07T19:03:30.000Z",
  "expiresAt": "2026-09-08T19:03:30.000Z",
  "width": 720,
  "height": 1280,
  "durationSeconds": 60.022,
  "hasAudio": true,
  "caption": null,
  "mentions": [],
  "hashtags": [],
  "locations": [],
  "music": null,
  "stickers": []
}

No active Stories

The public instagram profile returned zero active Stories during the same validation:

{
  "input": "instagram",
  "username": "instagram",
  "userId": "25025320",
  "profileUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/instagram/",
  "status": "no_stories",
  "reason": "no_active_stories",
  "charged": true,
  "isPrivate": false,
  "isAccessible": true,
  "activeStoryCount": 0,
  "storyId": null,
  "mediaType": null
}

Story availability changes continuously, so a later run may return a different count.

Status and reason

Status	Meaning	Charged?
success	Processing completed and at least one active Story was returned	Yes
no_stories	The profile was processed successfully but has no active Stories	Yes
invalid	Strong preflight evidence confirmed malformed, nonexistent, or deleted input	No
restricted	The profile may be valid, but access is private, login-restricted, challenged, or otherwise restricted	Yes
failed	Formal processing began but did not complete, or the run budget prevented processing	Yes after processing begins; no for a pre-processing budget block

Possible reason values are:

no_active_stories, invalid_username, invalid_profile_url, profile_not_found, profile_deleted, private_profile, login_required, access_restricted, challenge_required, temporarily_unavailable, rate_limited, processing_failed, and budget_limit_reached.

Login restrictions, challenges, temporary blocks, and inconclusive profile responses are not treated as proof that a profile is invalid.

Pricing

You pay for profile processing, not Story count.

Plan	Price per processed profile	Price per 1,000 profiles
Free	$0.0035	$3.50
Starter	$0.0032	$3.20
Scale	$0.0030	$3.00
Business	$0.0028	$2.80

An Actor start costs $0.099. The processing event name is result and its title is Profile.

Billing examples

• 1 profile with 0 active Stories = 1 profile-processing charge
• 1 profile with 1 active Story = 1 profile-processing charge
• 1 profile with 20 active Stories = 1 profile-processing charge
• A clearly invalid or nonexistent profile rejected before processing = 0 profile-processing charges

Profiles that require processing to determine availability, restrictions, or Story status are charged once. A processing error after formal Story processing begins is also charged once.

Free and paid limits

• Free users: 1 unique valid profile per run
• Paid users: up to 50 unique valid profiles per run

Requests over the applicable limit fail before Story processing. Inputs are never silently truncated.

API usage

Actor ID:

lance_api/instagram-stories-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-scraper-api').call({
    usernames: ['instagram'],
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

Python

import os
from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient(os.environ["APIFY_TOKEN"])
run = client.actor("lance_api/instagram-stories-scraper-api").call(run_input={
    "usernames": ["instagram"]
})
items = client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).list_items().items
print(items)

cURL

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

Scheduled monitoring

Create an Apify Schedule for recurring checks, then compare storyId values with the previous Dataset to identify newly published Stories. Choose an interval that matches your monitoring requirements and budget. Remember that Stories normally remain active for about 24 hours.

Media URL notice

mediaUrl, imageUrl, and videoUrl are temporary Instagram CDN URLs and may expire. Download or persist media you are authorized to retain as soon as practical.

Limitations

• Only currently active Stories are returned.
• Private content is not accessed.
• Instagram can require login, present a challenge, rate-limit requests, or temporarily restrict access.
• Metadata fields can be null or empty when Instagram does not expose them for a Story.
• The Actor does not retry failed Story requests.
• Story availability and CDN URLs can change between runs.

Privacy and responsible use

Use the Actor only for lawful purposes and only process data you are authorized to access. Respect Instagram's terms, privacy rights, intellectual-property rights, and applicable data-protection laws. Do not provide passwords, cookies, login sessions, or access tokens as input.

FAQ

Does an account with no Stories fail?

No. It returns one row with status: "no_stories", reason: "no_active_stories", and activeStoryCount: 0.

Why is a profile charged if it returns no Story?

The Actor must process the profile to determine its current Story state. The charge covers that profile-processing operation, not the number of Story rows.

Can one profile create multiple processing charges?

No. One unique profile entering formal processing creates exactly one result charge, regardless of Story count.

Are invalid profiles charged?

Malformed input and profiles rejected by strong native preflight evidence are not charged. Ambiguous access responses proceed conservatively because a login restriction or parsing failure does not prove that a profile is invalid.

Can it access private profiles?

No. A private or restricted profile receives a transparent status row.

Are media URLs permanent?

No. They may expire. Persist authorized media promptly if you need it later.

Support

For support, open an issue on the Actor page or email lanceapi2026@hotmail.com. Include the Apify Run ID, public username, and expected versus actual result. Never send passwords, cookies, or API tokens.