Instagram Profile Scraper

Extract comprehensive Instagram profile data, follower counts, engagement metrics, and business contact information from any public Instagram account at scale.

What is Instagram Profile Scraper?

Instagram Profile Scraper is a powerful data extraction tool that collects detailed information from Instagram user profiles and their recent posts. Built for marketers, researchers, and businesses, this actor retrieves profile statistics, contact details, verification status, and engagement metrics without manual copying.

Whether you're conducting influencer research for brand partnerships, analyzing competitor growth patterns, or building lead lists for outreach campaigns, this scraper automates the tedious process of gathering Instagram data. It supports both public data extraction and authenticated mode for accessing complete business contact information and post analytics.

The actor uses intelligent fallback strategies to maximize data extraction even when Instagram's API changes or rate limits apply. You'll get structured, CRM-ready output that can be directly exported to spreadsheets, databases, or marketing automation tools.

What data does it extract?

Field	Type	Description
username	string	Instagram username (handle)
fullName	string	Display name on the profile
biography	string	Bio text (may contain email addresses or contact info)
profilePicUrl	string	High-definition profile picture URL
externalUrl	string	Website or link in bio (often leads to contact pages)
followers	number	Total follower count
following	number	Total following count
postsCount	number	Total number of posts on the profile
isVerified	boolean	Whether the account has a blue verification checkmark
isPrivate	boolean	Whether the account is private
isBusinessAccount	boolean	Whether the account is registered as a business or creator account
category	string	Business category (e.g., "Photographer", "Restaurant", "Media/News Company")
recentPosts	array	Array of recent post objects with engagement data
recentPosts[].postId	string	Unique post identifier
recentPosts[].shortcode	string	Instagram post shortcode (used in URLs)
recentPosts[].imageUrl	string	Post image URL
recentPosts[].caption	string	Post caption text
recentPosts[].likes	number	Number of likes on the post
recentPosts[].comments	number	Number of comments on the post
recentPosts[].timestamp	string	Post publication date (ISO 8601 format)
recentPosts[].isVideo	boolean	Whether the post is a video
recentPosts[].videoViewCount	number	Video view count (if applicable)
recentPosts[].url	string	Direct link to the post
source	string	Data extraction method used (api, embedded_json, og_meta, login_wall)
loginWallDetected	boolean	Whether Instagram showed a login wall during scraping
scrapedAt	string	Timestamp when the data was collected

How to scrape Instagram profiles

1. Sign up for Apify (free tier includes 5 compute units monthly) and locate the Instagram Profile Scraper in the Apify Store.

2. Prepare your profile list by entering Instagram usernames or full profile URLs. You can mix formats like nike, cristiano, or https://www.instagram.com/natgeo/.

3. Configure extraction settings: Choose how many recent posts to include per profile (default is 12) and whether to include Reels in the engagement data.

4. Add authentication (optional but recommended): For complete data access including business contact fields and post engagement, provide your Instagram session cookie. Without it, you'll get basic public data only.

5. Run the actor and wait for completion. Processing time depends on the number of profiles and whether you're using authenticated mode.

6. Export your data in JSON, CSV, Excel, or directly to Google Sheets, Zapier, Make, or your CRM via API.

7. Automate regular scraping by scheduling the actor to run daily, weekly, or monthly to track profile growth and engagement trends over time.

Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
profiles	array	Yes	List of Instagram usernames or profile URLs to scrape (e.g., ["apifytech", "https://www.instagram.com/cristiano/"])
maxPosts	integer	No	Maximum number of recent posts to scrape per profile for engagement analysis (default: 12, minimum: 0)
includeReels	boolean	No	Whether to include Instagram Reels in the posts results (default: false)
sessionCookie	string	No	Instagram sessionid cookie value for authenticated access. Required for full business contact data and engagement metrics. Leave empty for public data only.

Example input

{
  "profiles": [
    "nike",
    "natgeo",
    "https://www.instagram.com/cristiano/"
  ],
  "maxPosts": 12,
  "includeReels": false,
  "sessionCookie": "YOUR_SESSION_ID_HERE"
}

Example output

{
  "username": "natgeo",
  "fullName": "National Geographic",
  "biography": "Experience the world through the eyes of National Geographic photographers.",
  "externalUrl": "https://on.natgeo.com/instagram",
  "isBusinessAccount": true,
  "category": "Media/News Company",
  "followers": 275451488,
  "following": 173,
  "postsCount": 31356,
  "isVerified": true,
  "isPrivate": false,
  "profilePicUrl": "https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.2885-19/123456789_123456789_123456789_n.jpg",
  "recentPosts": [
    {
      "postId": "3284756123456789",
      "shortcode": "DUrIBy2klL4",
      "imageUrl": "https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.29350-15/example.jpg",
      "caption": "Witness the breathtaking beauty of the Northern Lights dancing across the Arctic sky. Photo by @photographer",
      "likes": 1247893,
      "comments": 4521,
      "timestamp": "2026-02-12T22:00:14.000Z",
      "isVideo": false,
      "videoViewCount": null,
      "url": "https://www.instagram.com/p/DUrIBy2klL4/"
    },
    {
      "postId": "3283421987654321",
      "shortcode": "DUpXfG8hKpM",
      "imageUrl": "https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.29350-15/example2.jpg",
      "caption": "Deep in the Amazon rainforest, scientists discover a new species of tree frog.",
      "likes": 986542,
      "comments": 3287,
      "timestamp": "2026-02-11T18:30:45.000Z",
      "isVideo": false,
      "videoViewCount": null,
      "url": "https://www.instagram.com/p/DUpXfG8hKpM/"
    }
  ],
  "source": "api",
  "loginWallDetected": false,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-02-15T10:45:32.147Z"
}

Is it legal to scrape Instagram?

Scraping publicly available data from Instagram is generally legal in many jurisdictions, as confirmed by multiple court rulings including the hiQ Labs v. LinkedIn case. Public Instagram profiles display information that is accessible to anyone without authentication, making it similar to viewing publicly posted content on any website.

However, you should be aware of Instagram's Terms of Service, which technically prohibit automated data collection. While collecting public data for research, market analysis, or business intelligence is widely practiced, you should avoid scraping private profiles, respect rate limits, and ensure compliance with data protection regulations like GDPR if you're collecting data on EU citizens. Always use scraped data responsibly and consider the privacy expectations of profile owners.

Pricing

This actor is free to use. You only pay for Apify platform compute resources consumed during execution. Apify's free tier includes 5 compute units per month, which is sufficient to scrape approximately 100-200 Instagram profiles. For larger-scale operations, paid plans start at $49/month with 100 compute units included.

FAQ

Can I scrape private Instagram profiles? No, this actor can only extract data from public Instagram profiles. Private profiles require follow approval and cannot be accessed through automated scraping tools. The actor will detect private accounts and indicate this in the isPrivate field of the output.

How many Instagram profiles can I scrape? There is no hard limit on the number of profiles you can scrape. The practical limit depends on your Apify compute units and Instagram's rate limiting. Without authentication, you may encounter rate limits after scraping several hundred profiles. With a valid session cookie, you can scrape thousands of profiles, though it's recommended to implement delays between batches to avoid detection.

Does it extract contact emails from Instagram bios? Yes, the actor extracts the full biography text where many users include email addresses. It also captures the external URL field (link in bio) which often leads to websites with contact information. However, the actor does not perform automatic email parsing or validation - you'll receive raw text that you can process separately.

Can I get post engagement data like likes and comments? Yes, when you provide a valid Instagram session cookie, the actor extracts detailed engagement metrics for recent posts including like counts, comment counts, video view counts, captions, and timestamps. You can control how many recent posts to include using the maxPosts parameter. Without authentication, post data extraction is limited.

How do I get an Instagram session cookie for authenticated access? Log into Instagram in your web browser, open Developer Tools (press F12), navigate to Application > Cookies > instagram.com, find the cookie named sessionid, and copy its value. Paste this value into the sessionCookie input field. The cookie typically remains valid for several weeks, but you'll need to refresh it if Instagram logs you out.

Does the actor work with Instagram business accounts? Yes, this actor is specifically designed to extract business account information including the isBusinessAccount flag, business category, and external contact URLs that business accounts often provide. This makes it particularly useful for B2B lead generation and influencer marketing campaigns.

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