Instagram Hashtag Scraper (Posts & Reels)

Get the public posts and reels on Instagram hashtag pages as JSON, CSV or Excel rows: caption, hashtags, views, owner, date and image or video links. Paste hashtags, with or without #. Add full post details or the latest public comments if you need them. No login, no cookies, no Instagram account.

What people use it for:

• Content research: what the top reels for a hashtag look like, and how many views they get.
• Trend tracking: run a set of hashtags every day and see which new reels appear.
• Creator discovery: the accounts behind the top reels for your niche's hashtags.
• Campaign hashtags: the public posts Instagram shows for your campaign's tag.

Quick start

Paste this into the JSON tab of the input and click Start:

{"hashtags": ["streetfood"], "maxPostsPerHashtag": 24}

You get the 24 top public reels on the #streetfood page: 24 rows, usually in under 10 seconds.

More examples:

{"hashtags": ["#veganrecipes", "#mealprep", "homeworkout"], "maxPostsPerHashtag": 48, "postDetails": true}

{"hashtags": ["streetfood"], "maxPostsPerHashtag": 10, "includeComments": true}

Hashtag links (https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/streetfood/) work too.

What you get

One row per post or reel (type is post), plus a free unavailable row for a hashtag with no public page, saying why. With Include comments on, comment rows (type is comment) follow each post.

Row	Fields
Post	foundViaHashtag, shortCode, url, postType, ownerUsername, caption, hashtags, mentions, viewsCount, displayUrl, videoUrl, mediaUrls, date, id
Detailed post (Full post details on)	adds takenAt (exact time), likesCount, commentsCount, every photo and video in mediaUrls, taggedUsers, coauthors, location, audio, width, height
Comment (Include comments on)	text, createdAt, likes, replyCount, postCode, postUrl, commentId
Every row	type, details (keyword or full; posts only), source, input, scrapedAt

Three real rows from a run on 2026-11-04 (shortened: image links cut, captions trimmed, account names replaced):

[
  {"type": "post", "foundViaHashtag": "streetfood", "shortCode": "Db4s3PGAc-8", "url": "https://www.instagram.com/reel/Db4s3PGAc-8/", "postType": "reel", "ownerUsername": "account_1", "caption": "Hardworking Old Man At Kolkata\n\n#streetfood \n#instagramreels...", "hashtags": ["streetfood", "instagramreels", "trendingreels", "reels"], "viewsCount": 22093266, "details": "keyword", "source": "streetfood"},
  {"type": "post", "foundViaHashtag": "streetfood", "shortCode": "Dc75mXFNPFd", "url": "https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dc75mXFNPFd/", "postType": "reel", "ownerUsername": "account_2", "caption": "Cheese Burst Pizza Sandwich😍\nEp. 9 Of Sandwich Series❤️...", "hashtags": ["garlicbread", "sandwich", "snacks", "trending"], "viewsCount": 11101592, "details": "keyword", "source": "streetfood"},
  {"type": "post", "foundViaHashtag": "streetfood", "shortCode": "DUw2AEsig9X", "url": "https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUw2AEsig9X/", "postType": "reel", "ownerUsername": "account_3", "caption": "Most Unique Idli Sandwich...", "hashtags": ["food", "foodstagram", "instafood", "foodblogger", "maharashtra"], "viewsCount": 6748605, "details": "keyword", "source": "streetfood"}
]

Pricing

You pay per row returned. There is no charge for Apify platform usage on top.

Row	Free and Starter	Scale	Business
Post	$0.30 per 1,000	$0.225 per 1,000	$0.165 per 1,000
Detailed post (Full post details on)	$0.50 per 1,000	$0.375 per 1,000	$0.275 per 1,000
Comment (Include comments on)	$0.30 per 1,000	$0.225 per 1,000	$0.165 per 1,000

A detailed post is charged instead of a post, never on top. Plus $0.00005 per run start. Apify's free $5 monthly credit covers about 16,000 posts. Free-plan runs stop at 1,000 rows each; any paid Apify plan removes the cap.

What's free: hashtags with no public page and entries that aren't hashtags (each comes back as a free unavailable row saying why), and posts and comments skipped by Only new posts. To cap a run's spend, set Maximum cost per run in the run options, or Max rows in the input.

Limits

• What a signed-out visitor sees. Someone who opens a hashtag without signing in gets Instagram's public page for the word: its top reels, not every post with the tag in date order. Most carry the tag; some are close matches. The hashtags field shows which posts carry it.
• Depth: Instagram decides how far each public hashtag page goes. When it ends before your limit, the run says so.
• The biggest one-word hashtags have no public page. Instagram asks signed-out visitors to log in before showing any tag page, and its public pages skip some of the largest topics (for example #fitness, #skincare and #food in November 2026). For those, the Actor reads Instagram's public pages for related searches (such as "fitness ideas") and keeps only posts whose caption carries the exact tag. You may get fewer posts than you asked for, and the run's status says which searches were used. If none of those pages has a tagged post, you get one free row saying so. Very rare hashtags can end that way too.
• Posts from a hashtag page carry what the page shows: views, caption, owner and video link, without likes. Turn on Full post details ($) for likes, comment counts, exact times, tagged accounts and location.
• Comments: each post's own page shows signed-out visitors its newest 7 to 12 comments, so that is the most each post gives. Commenter usernames are not collected here.
• Likes and views are null when the owner hides them, never 0.
• Image and video links are Instagram's signed links and stop working after a few days. Download what you need soon after the run.
• Email addresses and phone numbers are removed from captions and comments.

Filters: recent posts only, post types

Off by default; a run without them is unchanged. Posts newer than (a date or "7 days") leaves older posts out, and Post types (reel, video, image, carousel) keeps only those. Left-out posts are never charged, never pushed and don't count toward Posts per hashtag.

Logged-in mode: deeper hashtag lists and comment pages

Optional, and same prices. Signed out, Instagram hides its biggest tags (#fitness, #food, #skincare) and shows only a few comments per post. Logged in, the run reads the list Instagram shows a signed-in visitor, page after page, including those big tags, and each post's comments page after page (up to Comments per post). Only posts whose caption carries the exact tag are kept.

• Deeper data with our account (paid Apify plans, no cookie needed): uses our own Instagram account. It is shared by every user, so it has a daily limit and serves one run at a time; when it is busy, used up for the day or paused, the run reads signed out and says so.
• Instagram session cookie: your own account's sessionid instead (secret field, never stored, sent only to instagram.com). Your account, your risk: follow Instagram's terms and the laws that apply to you.

Account safety: one request every 2 to 3 seconds, Max logged-in requests per run, and the first time Instagram asks the account to verify itself or slow down, the logged-in part stops at once and the run finishes signed out. Private accounts, stories, messages and follower lists are never read.

Only new posts, and schedules

Turn on Only new posts and schedule the Actor daily or weekly. Each run looks at the same window (for example the top 24 posts per hashtag) and returns only the posts in it that earlier runs with the same input haven't returned. Skipped posts cost nothing. Set up a schedule under Schedules in Apify Console.

Integrations: API, n8n, Make and AI agents

API. Run it and get the rows back in one call:

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/locaihost~instagram-hashtag/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"hashtags": ["streetfood", "veganrecipes"], "maxPostsPerHashtag": 48}'

n8n, Make, Zapier, Google Sheets, Slack, webhooks. Apify's built-in integrations send each run's dataset wherever you need it, for example a daily sheet of new top reels for your niche's hashtags.

AI agents (MCP). Add this Actor to Claude, Cursor or any MCP client with https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=locaihost/instagram-hashtag, then ask something like "Which #mealprep reels have the most views right now?"

FAQ

How much does it cost to scrape an Instagram hashtag?

$0.30 per 1,000 posts on the Free and Starter plans, less on Scale and Business. Apify's free $5 monthly credit covers about 16,000 posts.

Do I need an Instagram account or cookies?

No. The Actor never logs in and never asks for cookies or passwords. It reads only what Instagram shows a signed-out visitor.

Why doesn't every post contain the hashtag?

Instagram's public hashtag page lists top reels for the word, which includes close matches. Filter on the hashtags field if you need posts that carry the exact tag.

Can I get profiles and their posts too?

Yes, from Instagram Scraper, which this Actor is built on: profiles, posts, reels, keywords and hashtags in one run.

Is it legal to scrape Instagram hashtags?

The Actor collects only public information a signed-out visitor can see, and never logs in. Instagram's terms restrict automated collection, so check them against your use. Email addresses and phone numbers are removed from captions. You are responsible for how you use the results, including Instagram's terms and the data-protection law that applies to you (for example GDPR when you process data about people in the EU).

More from locaihost data

• Instagram Scraper: public profiles, posts, reels and keyword pages.
• TikTok trends: trending TikTok hashtags, songs and videos.

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Support

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