Instagram Profile Scraper

Get public profile data from Instagram profiles by username or profile URL. No Instagram login is needed: the actor reads the same data Instagram shows to logged-out visitors, through residential proxies.

What does Instagram Profile Scraper do?

Instagram Profile Scraper returns public profile data for any list of Instagram usernames or profile URLs, without an Instagram login. For each profile you get the user ID, username, full name, biography, exact follower and following counts, post count, bio links, external website, verified and private flags, profile picture, the latest 12 posts with captions, hashtags and image URLs, and up to about 50 related profiles that Instagram suggests next to the account. It reads the same data Instagram shows to logged-out visitors through rotating residential proxies, retries on a new IP when a request is blocked, and only pushes profiles that loaded completely, so you never pay for empty rows. Unknown usernames are skipped and listed with the reason. Results export to JSON, CSV or Excel, or come back through the Apify API and MCP server. It is built for influencer discovery, lead lists, competitor tracking and audience research at scale.

What you get without cookies

For each public profile:

• id, username, fullName, biography, url
• followersCount and followsCount (exact)
• postsCount, rounded the way Instagram shows it to visitors (for example 32000 for "32K Posts")
• externalUrl, externalUrlShimmed and all bio links in externalUrls
• verified, private, profilePicUrl
• latestPosts: the latest 12 posts with id, shortcode, type, caption, hashtags, mentions, image URL and alt text
• relatedProfiles: the accounts Instagram suggests next to the profile, up to about 50

Limits without cookies:

• likesCount, commentsCount and timestamp in latestPosts are null, because the logged-out profile grid does not include them. Use the Instagram Post Scraper if you need engagement per post.
• profilePicUrlHD is the same 150 px picture as profilePicUrl.
• businessCategoryName, isBusinessAccount, highlightReelCount and igtvVideoCount are not shown to logged-out visitors and come back empty or 0.
• Posts of private profiles cannot be scraped, unless the account behind your cookies follows them.
• Numeric user IDs are not supported. Use usernames or profile URLs.

With your cookies (optional)

If you paste cookies from your own Instagram account, the actor uses Instagram's logged-in profile API instead. That adds the exact post count, the HD profile picture, the business category, and likes, comments and dates for the latest 12 posts. This path was not tested in the current version, so prefer running without cookies unless the logged-out mode is blocked for you.

Input

Field	Required	Description
usernames	Yes	Usernames or profile URLs, for example nasa or https://www.instagram.com/natgeo/
cookies	No	Your own Instagram cookies, see below
proxy	No	Defaults to Apify residential proxy
maxConcurrency	No	Profiles scraped in parallel, default 5
maxRequestRetries	No	Retries per request on a new IP, default 6

{
  "usernames": ["nasa", "natgeo"]
}

Output example

{
  "inputUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/nasa",
  "id": "528817151",
  "username": "nasa",
  "url": "https://www.instagram.com/nasa",
  "fullName": "NASA",
  "biography": "Making the seemingly impossible, possible.",
  "externalUrl": "https://www.nasa.gov",
  "followersCount": 98000000,
  "followsCount": 90,
  "verified": true,
  "private": false,
  "postsCount": 4800,
  "latestPosts": [
    {
      "id": "4004634989362489982",
      "type": "Video",
      "shortCode": "DeTUk4sDSp-",
      "caption": "POV: you're watching the Earth set...",
      "likesCount": null,
      "commentsCount": null,
      "timestamp": null
    }
  ],
  "relatedProfiles": [
    { "id": "5435768227", "username": "astro_seal", "full_name": "Chris Cassidy", "is_verified": true }
  ]
}

Numbers above are illustrative.

Reliability

Every request goes through a fresh residential IP if the previous one is blocked or rate-limited, up to maxRequestRetries times. Profiles that still fail are not pushed to the dataset. They are listed with the reason in the FAILED_ITEMS record of the key-value store, and the run's status message shows how many succeeded.

How to get your Instagram cookies

Cookies are optional. Only add them if you need what the "With your cookies" section above lists.

Use a secondary Instagram account, not your main one. Instagram can rate-limit or temporarily lock accounts that make many requests.

Option 1: Chrome or Edge developer tools

1. Log in to instagram.com with your secondary account.
2. Press F12 to open developer tools.
3. Open the Application tab, then Cookies, then https://www.instagram.com.
4. Copy the values of sessionid, ds_user_id and csrftoken.
5. Paste them into the cookies field in this format:

sessionid=YOUR_SESSIONID; ds_user_id=YOUR_DS_USER_ID; csrftoken=YOUR_CSRFTOKEN

Option 2: Cookie-Editor extension

1. Install the Cookie-Editor extension for your browser.
2. Log in to instagram.com, open Cookie-Editor and click Export, then Export as JSON.
3. Paste the whole JSON into the cookies field.

The actor checks the format before it starts and stops with a clear message if sessionid, ds_user_id or csrftoken is missing. Cookie values are never written to the log.

Keep them safe and fresh

• Cookies work like a password. Anyone who has them can act as that account. Do not share them or put them in public tasks or shared inputs. The field is stored as a secret on Apify.
• Cookies expire, and logging out of Instagram ends them immediately. If runs start failing with "your cookies may have expired", log in again in your browser and copy fresh cookies.
• Heavy use can get the account rate-limited. If that happens, wait a few hours or use a different secondary account.

FAQ

Do I need an Instagram account or cookies?

No. Follower and following counts, bio, links and latest posts all come back without a login. Cookies from your own secondary account are optional.

Are follower counts exact?

Yes. followersCount and followsCount are exact. postsCount is rounded the way Instagram shows it to visitors, for example 32000 for 32K posts.

Why are likes and comments empty in latestPosts?

The logged-out profile grid does not include them. Run the Instagram Post Scraper on the profile to get engagement per post.

Can I find similar accounts?

Yes. relatedProfiles lists the accounts Instagram suggests next to the profile, which is useful for influencer discovery.

What am I charged for?

Each profile pushed to the dataset is one result. Unknown, private or failed profiles are not charged. See the Pricing tab for the current price.

Legal

Only public data is collected. You are responsible for using it in line with Instagram's terms and data protection laws such as GDPR.