Instagram Posts Scraper Pro

Scrape Instagram posts, reels, and carousel posts from public profiles and direct post URLs with optional session cookies, explicit diagnostics, and simple per-post pricing.

$0.90 / 1,000 posts | Optional cookies | HTTP-first speed | Clear login-wall diagnostics

Why use this Instagram scraper

• Scrape public Instagram usernames, profile URLs, post URLs, and reel URLs in one actor.
• Capture posts, reels, and carousels with normalized media, captions, hashtags, mentions, coauthors, and engagement metrics.
• Skip pinned posts correctly before date filtering so "recent posts only" runs behave the way users expect.
• Use fast, balanced, or full extraction modes depending on how much fallback and resilience you want.
• Attach optional profile snapshots and recent comment previews without introducing a second billing event.
• Get explicit run diagnostics such as login_wall, private_or_unavailable, rate_limited, and no_posts_found instead of a silent empty dataset.

What makes this actor stronger

• Clearer pricing: one post event instead of separate billing for lightweight results versus detailed results.
• Better reliability strategy: HTTP-first for lower cost, then browser fallback only when Instagram degrades or HTML parsing is required.
• Better migration path: accepts username, resultsLimit, and dataDetailLevel for easier switching from other Instagram post actors.
• Better observability: every run persists both RUN_META and SUMMARY.json so empty runs can be audited quickly.
• Better operator controls: optional raw session cookie header support when public Instagram surfaces become login-walled.

What data you can extract

Field	Description
id	Stable Instagram media or post identifier
shortCode	Post or reel shortcode
postUrl	Canonical Instagram post URL
type	image, video, reel, or carousel
caption	Caption text when available
hashtags	Hashtags parsed from the caption
mentions	Mentions parsed from the caption
coauthors	Coauthor usernames when exposed
isPinned	Whether the post appears pinned
isSponsored	Best-effort sponsored indicator
commentsDisabled	Whether comments are disabled
publishedAt	ISO publish timestamp when parseable
likesCount	Like count when visible
commentsCount	Comment count when visible
videoViewCount	View count for reels and videos when visible
videoDurationSeconds	Video duration when visible
media	Normalized media array with image or video variants
ownerUsername	Post owner username
ownerFullName	Post owner full name when available
ownerIsVerified	Best-effort verification flag
profile	Optional profile snapshot object
recentComments	Optional preview comments when exposed
accessStatus	Success or explicit diagnostic status
warnings	Honest extraction warnings instead of invented values
extractionMethod	http_api, http_html, or browser_html

Supported inputs

• Instagram usernames such as natgeo
• Instagram profile URLs such as https://www.instagram.com/nasa/
• Instagram post URLs such as https://www.instagram.com/p/SHORTCODE/
• Instagram reel URLs such as https://www.instagram.com/reel/SHORTCODE/

Out of scope in v1:

• Stories
• Hashtag feeds
• Location feeds
• Topic discovery feeds
• Full comment crawling

Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
startUrls	array	[]	Usernames, profile URLs, post URLs, or reel URLs
maxPostsPerProfile	integer	24	Max posts emitted for each profile target
skipPinnedPosts	boolean	false	Remove pinned posts before date filtering
onlyPostsNewerThan	string	none	ISO date or relative value like 2 weeks
extractionMode	string	balanced	fast, balanced, or full
includeRecentComments	boolean	true	Include comment preview when Instagram exposes it
recentCommentsLimit	integer	3	Max preview comments per post
includeProfileDetails	boolean	false	Attach a profile snapshot to each post
sessionCookieHeader	string	none	Optional raw Cookie header from a logged-in session
proxyConfiguration	object	none	Optional proxy configuration
emptyRunPolicy	string	retry_then_warn	How to exit when reachable targets emit zero posts
debugMode	boolean	false	Include extra diagnostics
username	array or string	none	Legacy compatibility alias for profile targets
resultsLimit	integer	none	Legacy compatibility alias for maxPostsPerProfile
dataDetailLevel	string	none	Legacy compatibility alias for extractionMode

Example input

{
  "startUrls": [
    "natgeo",
    "https://www.instagram.com/nasa/",
    "https://www.instagram.com/reel/DHB0Example/"
  ],
  "maxPostsPerProfile": 20,
  "skipPinnedPosts": true,
  "onlyPostsNewerThan": "30 days",
  "extractionMode": "balanced",
  "includeRecentComments": true,
  "recentCommentsLimit": 3,
  "includeProfileDetails": true,
  "emptyRunPolicy": "retry_then_warn"
}

Migration-friendly input example

{
  "username": ["natgeo", "nasa"],
  "resultsLimit": 12,
  "skipPinnedPosts": true,
  "dataDetailLevel": "detailedData"
}

If both legacy and canonical fields are provided, the canonical fields win.

Output example

{
  "id": "3612345678901234567",
  "shortCode": "DHB0Example",
  "postUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/reel/DHB0Example/",
  "type": "reel",
  "caption": "A behind-the-scenes launch day update from @nasa #space",
  "hashtags": ["space"],
  "mentions": ["nasa"],
  "coauthors": [],
  "isPinned": false,
  "isSponsored": false,
  "isPaidPartnership": false,
  "commentsDisabled": false,
  "publishedAt": "2026-03-21T14:13:00.000Z",
  "likesCount": 18452,
  "commentsCount": 213,
  "videoViewCount": 220194,
  "videoDurationSeconds": 28.4,
  "media": [
    {
      "type": "video",
      "url": "https://instagram.fxyz1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t50.2886-16/example.mp4",
      "thumbnailUrl": "https://instagram.fxyz1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t51.2885-15/example.jpg",
      "altText": "Astronauts preparing for launch",
      "width": 720,
      "height": 1280,
      "durationSeconds": 28.4,
      "variants": []
    }
  ],
  "ownerUsername": "nasa",
  "ownerFullName": "NASA",
  "ownerId": "528817151",
  "ownerIsVerified": true,
  "profile": {
    "username": "nasa",
    "fullName": "NASA",
    "followersCount": 98123456,
    "followingCount": 81,
    "postsCount": 4321
  },
  "recentComments": [
    {
      "id": "17890000123456789",
      "text": "This is incredible.",
      "ownerUsername": "spacefan",
      "likesCount": 12
    }
  ],
  "inputUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/nasa/",
  "accessStatus": "success",
  "warnings": [],
  "extractionMethod": "http_api",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-03-25T22:15:00.000Z"
}

Diagnostics and run artifacts

Every run stores:

• RUN_META with input count, items emitted, retry usage, residential fallback usage, exit code, and success flags
• SUMMARY.json with per-target accessStatus, items emitted, extraction method, and warnings

Possible accessStatus values:

• success
• login_wall
• private_or_unavailable
• rate_limited
• not_found
• no_posts_found
• unknown_error

API examples

JavaScript

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });

const run = await client.actor('netdesignr/instagram-posts-scraper-pro').call({
  startUrls: ['natgeo'],
  maxPostsPerProfile: 12,
  skipPinnedPosts: true,
  extractionMode: 'balanced',
  includeProfileDetails: true,
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")

run = client.actor("netdesignr/instagram-posts-scraper-pro").call(run_input={
    "startUrls": ["https://www.instagram.com/nasa/"],
    "maxPostsPerProfile": 12,
    "skipPinnedPosts": True,
    "extractionMode": "balanced"
})

items = client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).list_items().items
print(items)

cURL

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/netdesignr~instagram-posts-scraper-pro/runs?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "startUrls": ["natgeo"],
    "maxPostsPerProfile": 12,
    "skipPinnedPosts": true,
    "extractionMode": "balanced"
  }'

Pricing

This actor is designed for a simpler one-event pricing model.

• Free: $0.90 / 1,000 posts
• Starter: $0.80 / 1,000 posts
• Scale: $0.70 / 1,000 posts
• Business: $0.50 / 1,000 posts

The actor charges only after dataset items are successfully written. Retries do not add a second detail charge because there is no separate detail event.

FAQ

Does this scrape Instagram posts without logging in?

Yes, for public surfaces Instagram still exposes to logged-out browsers. When Instagram degrades the public response, the actor can retry, use a proxy, or use an optional logged-in cookie header.

Why is session cookie support useful?

It helps when Instagram serves a login wall, partial HTML, or a reduced public response. It is optional and meant for users who already have a compliant internal workflow for handling their own account session data.

How does pinned post filtering work?

When skipPinnedPosts is enabled, pinned posts are removed before the onlyPostsNewerThan filter is applied. This avoids the common case where an old pinned post slips into a recent-only result set.

Does it support reels and carousels?

Yes. Reels are normalized as type: "reel" and multi-item posts are normalized as type: "carousel" with a media[] array.

Can I scrape full comments?

No. v1 focuses on post extraction and only keeps small recent comment previews when Instagram exposes them in the source payload.

What happens on empty runs?

The actor retries once with a fresh session. If needed and no proxy was supplied, it can attempt a residential proxy fallback. The final run status is written to RUN_META and SUMMARY.json.

Legal and responsible use

Use this actor only for data you have the right to collect and process. Respect Instagram's terms, applicable law, privacy obligations, and downstream compliance requirements such as GDPR or CCPA. Review your own legal basis before using scraped social media data in production.