Instagram Reels Scraper

Instagram Reels Scraper — views, likes and captions of public reels

The Instagram Reels Scraper exports the reels of public Instagram profiles: play count, likes, comments, caption, hashtags, audio, duration, date and the video link, paginated to the number you ask for.

It runs on Apify, needs no Instagram login and no cookies, and exports to JSON, CSV, Excel or an API call. Every session key it needs (tokens, query ids, cursors) is read from Instagram on each run, so it keeps working when Instagram ships new code.

What the Instagram Reels Scraper does

• Reads a profile's Reels tab and follows Instagram's cursor page after page (12 reels per page).
• Adds each reel's full details: caption, date, likes, comments count, audio track, tagged users and the MP4 link.
• Accepts single reel links as well as usernames.
• Keeps play counts from the Reels tab, which the single-reel view does not show.

Who uses the Instagram Reels Scraper

• Creators and agencies benchmarking reel performance.
• Brands tracking competitors' short-form video.
• Researchers building reel datasets.
• Social media managers reporting views and engagement.

How the Instagram Reels Scraper works

Instagram serves every public page to logged-out visitors together with the queries that fill it.

The Actor loads the page the way a browser does, reads the session values Instagram puts into it, and then asks Instagram's own GraphQL endpoint for the next page with the cursor the previous page returned.

Query ids that a page does not preload are read from the JavaScript bundles that page lists. Large files from Instagram's CDN (images, videos) are fetched directly with their signed links, so proxy traffic stays small.

Nothing is guessed: if Instagram stops publishing a value the Instagram Reels Scraper needs, the run log names it and the item is skipped instead of being filled with a stale value.

What is new in the Instagram Reels Scraper (October 2026)

These features were added on 2026-10-03 after comparing the Instagram Reels Scraper with the ten most used Actors of its kind on the Apify Store. Defaults keep the earlier behaviour.

• onlyPostsNewerThan / onlyPostsOlderThan: reels outside the dates are left out and the Reels tab stops once older reels arrive.
• skipPinnedPosts leaves out reels pinned to the top of the Reels tab (Instagram flags them; measured on mrbeast, 2 pinned reels).
• minViews keeps only reels with at least that many plays.
• keywords adds reels from Instagram's public keyword pages (only reels are kept).
• New fields: isPinned, musicInfo, audioUrl, images, coauthorProducers, latestComments and firstComment.

Input of the Instagram Reels Scraper

Field	Type	Default	What it does
usernames	array	["nasa"]	One per line: a username (nasa), an @handle (@nasa) or a profile URL (https://www.instagram.com/nasa/).
reelUrls	array	[]	Single reel links to scrape directly.
resultsLimit	integer	24	How many of each profile's newest reels to return (12 per page, paginated).
includeDetails	boolean	True	Reads each post's own data (likes, comments count, date, caption, tagged users, location, audio, video link). One extra request per post. Turn off for the faste
keywords	array	[]	Also return reels from Instagram's public keyword pages for these words (reels only).
onlyPostsNewerThan	string	—	Leave out posts published before this date: 2026-09-01, an ISO time (2026-09-01T10:00:00Z) or relative ("7 days", "2 weeks", "1 month"). UTC. Profile lists stop
onlyPostsOlderThan	string	—	Leave out posts published after this date (same formats). Combine with "newer than" for a date range.
skipPinnedPosts	boolean	False	Leave out the posts a profile pinned to the top of its grid (often months old). Instagram flags them in the profile's post list.
minViews	integer	0	Leave out reels with fewer plays.
maxItems	integer	0	Stops the whole run after this many dataset rows. 0 means only the per-target limits apply.
proxyConfiguration	object	{"useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"]}	Instagram limits logged-out visitors per IP address. Residential proxies (the default) give the most reliable results; the Actor switches to a fresh IP when Ins

Example input for the Instagram Reels Scraper:

{
  "usernames": [
    "nasa"
  ],
  "resultsLimit": 24,
  "includeDetails": true
}

Output of the Instagram Reels Scraper

Each dataset row is one reel. These are the fields the Instagram Reels Scraper produced in its test runs:

Field	Meaning
altText	altText
audio	Music or original audio used
caption	Caption text
carouselCount	carouselCount
childPosts	Items of a carousel
coauthors	Collab co-authors
commentsCount	Comments count
detailsAvailable	detailsAvailable
displayUrl	Image link (largest size)
hashtags	Hashtags found in the caption
height	height
id	Platform id of the item
inputUsername	inputUsername
likesAndViewsHidden	likesAndViewsHidden
likesCount	Likes (or reactions) count
locationId	locationId
locationName	Tagged place
mentions	@accounts mentioned in the caption
ownerFullName	Owner display name
ownerId	Owner account id
ownerUsername	Account that posted it
productType	productType
scrapedAt	When this row was read
shortCode	Instagram short code
taggedUsers	Accounts tagged in the media
timestamp	Publication time (UTC, ISO 8601)
topics	topics
type	Image, Video or Sidecar (carousel)
url	Public link of the item
videoDurationSec	Video length in seconds
videoPlayCount	Video plays
videoUrl	Video file link (signed CDN link, expires)
width	width
inputUrl	inputUrl
audioUrl	Audio-only track link (signed CDN link, expires)
captionIsEdited	Caption was edited after posting
coauthorProducers	Collab co-authors with name, id and verified flag
firstComment	Text of the newest comment
hasAudio	The video has sound
images	Every image link of the post (carousel items too)
isPinned	Pinned to the top of the profile (Instagram's own flag)
latestComments	Newest comments (about 13-15) with author, likes and date
locationLat	Latitude of the tagged place
locationLng	Longitude of the tagged place
musicInfo	Audio: id, title, artist, original or licensed, explicit, trending
ownerIsVerified	Owner has the verified badge
ownerProfilePicUrl	Owner profile picture link
keyword	Keyword
position	Rank of the post on Instagram's page

Fields that Instagram does not publish for an item are left empty rather than guessed. Download the dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or HTML, or read it through the Apify API.

Data quality of the Instagram Reels Scraper

• Every value in a Instagram Reels Scraper row is read from Instagram during your run; nothing is filled from a cache or an old snapshot.
• Rows are de-duplicated by id inside a run, so the same reel never appears twice in one dataset.
• Counts are numbers you can sort and sum (not "1.2K" text) wherever Instagram publishes the exact number.
• Dates are UTC in ISO 8601 format, which Excel, Google Sheets, Python and SQL all read directly.

Instagram Reels Scraper test results

These numbers come from live test runs of the Instagram Reels Scraper on 2026-10-03 (home connection, no proxy). Runs on the Apify platform use residential proxies and can be faster or slower.

Test	Rows	Time
prefill input (regression)	24	38 s
paginate reels (30)	30	39 s
second profile + reel URL	6	15 s
NEW skip pinned + date + min plays	4	30 s
NEW reels from a keyword page	5	32 s

Instagram Reels Scraper limits, stated plainly

• Private accounts return nothing; Instagram shows their reels only to followers. The Reels tab lists no dates, so with a date filter each reel is read once to learn its date.
• Video links are signed by Instagram and expire after some days; use the Instagram Reels Downloader to keep files.
• Measured locally: 30 reels from one profile in 45 seconds with full details.

How to run the Instagram Reels Scraper

1. Open the Instagram Reels Scraper in Apify Console and fill in the input fields described above.
2. Keep the default residential proxy unless you have a reason to change it; Instagram limits logged-out visitors per IP address.
3. Start the run, watch the log, and download the dataset when the status says Done.
4. To automate it, call the Instagram Reels Scraper from the Apify API, schedule it, or connect it to Make, Zapier, n8n or Google Sheets through an integration or webhook.

Python example with the Apify API client:

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>")
run_input = {
    "usernames": [
        "nasa"
    ],
    "resultsLimit": 24,
    "includeDetails": True
}
run = client.actor("neuro-scraper/instagram-reels-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

Instagram Reels Scraper pricing

The Instagram Reels Scraper uses pay-per-event pricing: you pay per dataset row (event "result"), plus the Apify platform usage of your run. Free-plan users get up to 30 rows per run, which is enough to test the Instagram Reels Scraper on real data.

Set a maximum cost per run in Apify and the Instagram Reels Scraper stops cleanly when it is reached.

Tips for large runs of the Instagram Reels Scraper

• Start with a small limit to check the Instagram Reels Scraper output, then raise it; the first rows arrive within seconds.
• Split very large jobs into several inputs and run them in parallel tasks; each run gets its own proxy sessions.
• Set a maximum cost per run in Apify; the Instagram Reels Scraper stops cleanly when the budget is reached and keeps every row it already saved.
• Schedule repeat runs instead of one huge run when you track the same targets over time.
• Keep the residential proxy: datacenter IPs are refused by Instagram far more often for logged-out visitors.

Instagram Reels Scraper compared with copying by hand

	Instagram Reels Scraper	Manual work
Speed	Seconds per page of results	Minutes per item
Fields	Every public field, same order every time	Whatever you copy
Format	JSON, CSV, Excel, API	Spreadsheet you build yourself
Repeatable	Schedule it daily	Start again each time
Errors	Logged per item	Unnoticed typos

Using the Instagram Reels Scraper in a workflow

• Send every new row to Google Sheets or Airtable with the Apify integration and keep a live table.
• Trigger a Make, Zapier or n8n scenario with a webhook when the run finishes.
• Load the JSON export into Python or BigQuery for analysis and dashboards.
• Use the Apify API: start the Instagram Reels Scraper with a POST request and read the dataset items endpoint when the run finishes.
• Chain it: pass the Instagram Reels Scraper output to another Apify Actor (for example a downloader or a transcript Actor) in an Apify task.
• Export straight to Excel from the dataset tab when you only need a one-off report.

Troubleshooting the Instagram Reels Scraper

• The run ends with no rows: open the log. The Instagram Reels Scraper writes one line per target saying what Instagram returned, for example a login wall or a missing item.
• Fewer rows than expected: the target may have fewer public items, or Instagram may stop serving more pages to logged-out visitors. The log names the reason.
• Slow run: large limits mean many pages; the Instagram Reels Scraper waits briefly between pages so Instagram keeps answering. Split big jobs into several runs.
• Proxy errors: keep the RESIDENTIAL group. The Instagram Reels Scraper already switches to a fresh IP when one is blocked.
• Free plan stops at 30 rows: that is the free-plan cap of the Instagram Reels Scraper; any paid Apify plan removes it.

What changed in this version of the Instagram Reels Scraper

• Rebuilt in October 2026 on Instagram's logged-out web endpoints; every token, query id and cursor is read at run time.
• Pay-per-event pricing (one event per row) replaces the old monthly rental; free-plan users can test with 30 rows per run.
• Residential proxy by default, with automatic switch to a fresh IP when Instagram blocks one.
• October 2026 feature round: new filters and fields matching the most used Instagram Actors on the Store, every one measured in a live test; existing inputs and fields are unchanged.

Is it legal to use the Instagram Reels Scraper?

The Instagram Reels Scraper reads only data that Instagram shows to any logged-out visitor. It never logs in and never touches private content. Personal data may still be in public posts, so check GDPR and the other laws that apply to you before you store or reuse it, and respect Instagram's terms.

Related scrapers

Actor	Link
Instagram Scraper	neuro-scraper/instagram-video-scraper
Instagram Profile Scraper	neuro-scraper/instagram-reels-scraper-downloader-pro
Instagram Posts Scraper	neuro-scraper/instagram-posts-scraper
Instagram Hashtag Scraper	neuro-scraper/instagram-reeel-scraper
Instagram Comments Scraper	neuro-scraper/instagram-reels-scraper-and-downloader-premium
Instagram Search Scraper	neuro-scraper/instagram-video-scraper-advanced
Instagram Video Downloader	neuro-scraper/instagram-video-downloader
Instagram Reels Downloader	neuro-scraper/instagram-reels-downloader
Instagram Image Downloader	neuro-scraper/instagram-video-scraper-and-downloader
Instagram Transcript Scraper	neuro-scraper/instagram-video-scraper-and-downloader-pro
Instagram Mentions Scraper	neuro-scraper/instagram-video-scraper-and-downloader-premium
Instagram Keyword Scraper	neuro-scraper/instagram-video-scraper-and-downloader-fastest

Leave a review

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Frequently asked questions

Does the Instagram Reels Scraper return the reel video file?

It returns the signed MP4 link. To store the files, use the Instagram Reels Downloader, which saves them in Apify storage.

Does the Instagram Reels Scraper need my Instagram login?

No. The Instagram Reels Scraper works logged out and never asks for your password or cookies. It reads only what Instagram shows to any visitor.

Do I need my own proxy for the Instagram Reels Scraper?

No. The Instagram Reels Scraper uses Apify residential proxies by default and switches to a fresh IP when Instagram blocks one. You can choose another proxy in the input.

What formats can I export from the Instagram Reels Scraper?

JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, HTML and RSS from the dataset tab, or any format through the Apify API, webhooks and integrations.

How fast is the Instagram Reels Scraper?

In the test runs above the Instagram Reels Scraper took between 15 and 39 seconds per run. Speed depends on how many items you ask for and on the proxy.

Why did the Instagram Reels Scraper return fewer rows than I asked for?

The Instagram Reels Scraper stops when Instagram has nothing more to show logged out, when your limit is reached, or when the free-plan cap of 30 rows applies. The run log always says which one happened.

Can I schedule the Instagram Reels Scraper?

Yes. Create a schedule in Apify Console to run the Instagram Reels Scraper daily or hourly and send the results to Google Sheets, Make, Zapier or n8n through an integration.

Can the Instagram Reels Scraper read private accounts or private groups?

No. The Instagram Reels Scraper reads public data only. Private content needs a login, and the Instagram Reels Scraper never logs in.

What happens when Instagram changes its website?

The Instagram Reels Scraper reads every key it needs from Instagram at run time, so routine changes are picked up automatically. If something can no longer be read, the log says so instead of returning wrong data.

Can I use the Instagram Reels Scraper with Make, Zapier or n8n?

Yes. Add the Instagram Reels Scraper as an Apify step in Make, Zapier or n8n, or send a webhook when the run finishes and fetch the dataset items from the Apify API.

Does the Instagram Reels Scraper work in every country?

The Instagram Reels Scraper reads Instagram through residential proxies that rotate across countries. Content that Instagram restricts by country follows those rules.

How do I collect only new items with the Instagram Reels Scraper?

Schedule the Instagram Reels Scraper and keep the item ids from earlier runs. Every row has a stable id, so a simple de-duplication against your previous export keeps only the new ones.

Can the Instagram Reels Scraper process many targets in one run?

Yes. Put as many targets as you like in the input; the Instagram Reels Scraper handles them one after another and a failing target never stops the others.

Can the Instagram Reels Scraper skip pinned reels?

Yes. Turn on skipPinnedPosts: the Reels tab marks pinned reels, and the Instagram Reels Scraper leaves them out.

Can the Instagram Reels Scraper find reels by keyword?

Yes. Add keywords and the Instagram Reels Scraper also returns reels from Instagram's public keyword pages for those words.