🔍 Instagram Search Scraper

You do not always know whose account to look at. Search finds it anyway.

Search Instagram by keyword and scrape the matching posts and reels. Just add a search phrase to get captions, hashtags, mentions, likes, comments, play counts and creator details, ranked by Instagram's own relevance.

✨ What makes this Instagram scraper different

	Most Instagram scrapers	This one
Filtering	Returns everything, you filter afterwards	Filters before counting, so you pay for matches
Sorting	Whatever order the platform gave	Enforced with a stable tiebreaker, identical every run
Missing data	A silent 0 you cannot distinguish from a real zero	Named in meta.fields_unavailable
Bad input	Burns a run, then fails	Rejected before the request is made

🎯 What can I do with Instagram Search Scraper?

Find creators you have never heard of

Search your category and read owner_username off the results. That is a discovery list built from what Instagram itself ranks highest.

{
  "targets": ["sustainable skincare"],
  "limit": 50
}

Turn it into a reels search

One filter narrows the whole thing to short-form video.

{
  "targets": ["home workout"],
  "filters": { "kind": "reel", "min_play_count": 50000 }
}

Track a phrase you do not own

Campaign hashtags spread to accounts you have never seen. Search catches them; a username list cannot.

{
  "targets": ["your campaign phrase"],
  "filters": { "posted_after": "2026-08-01T00:00:00Z" }
}

🧾 What can Instagram Search Scraper do?

• Search Instagram by any keyword or phrase
• Scrape the posts and reels that match your search
• Discover Instagram creators talking about your product or category
• Narrow an Instagram search to reels only
• Filter search results by engagement, date or hashtag
• Keep Instagram's relevance ranking, or sort by performance instead

📋 What data can I scrape from Instagram search results?

Field	Description
id	Instagram media ID
shortcode	Shortcode
url	Permalink
kind	post or reel
caption	Caption
like_count	Likes
comment_count	Comments
play_count	Plays, for reels
taken_at	Publish time, UTC
owner_username	Creator username
hashtags	Hashtags parsed from the caption
mentions	Mentions parsed from the caption
thumbnail_url	Cover image
video_url	Direct video URL, for reels

▶️ How to scrape Instagram search results

1. Add your a single keyword or phrase to targets
2. Set limit, and optionally Sort by and filters
3. Click Start
4. Download the dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel or XML, or pull it from the API

⬇️ Input

Field	Required	Description
targets	yes	A single keyword or phrase.
limit	no	Max items per target, applied after filtering. Default 15, max 5000.
sortBy	no	Pick a field to order by. Leave empty for the default order.
sortOrder	no	Highest first or lowest first. Defaults to highest first.
filters	no	Applied before sorting and before the limit.

{
  "targets": [
    "hammerhead shark"
  ],
  "limit": 30,
  "filters": {
    "kind": "reel",
    "min_play_count": 50000
  }
}

🎛️ How to filter and sort Instagram search results

Filter	Effect
kind	reel turns this into an Instagram reels search
min_play_count / min_like_count	Performance floors
posted_after / posted_before	Date window
caption_contains	Substring match on the caption
hashtags_any	Keep results using any of these hashtags
paid_partnership_only	Only sponsored content

Filters run before the row count, so a narrow filter costs less than a broad one. Sorting is applied with a stable tiebreaker, so two identical runs return identical order, and the sort you pick is applied server-side, not left to the platform.

⬆️ Output

One row per item, exportable as JSON, CSV, Excel or XML, or straight from the API.

🔍 Extracted Instagram search results data sample

{
  "id": "3963946321739534979",
  "shortcode": "DcCxC2AAFKD",
  "url": "https://www.instagram.com/p/DcCxC2AAFKD/",
  "kind": "reel",
  "caption": "Hammerhead sharks up close...",
  "play_count": 580358,
  "like_count": 3312,
  "owner_username": "natgeo",
  "hashtags": [
    "hammerheadsharksupclose"
  ]
}

🛡️ Why results stay reliable when Instagram changes

Instagram changes what it returns. When a field stops being available it does not vanish from the schema: it comes back empty and meta.fields_unavailable names it. You branch on that instead of guessing why a number is zero.

❓ FAQ

How do I search Instagram by keyword?

Put your phrase in targets and run it. Results come back ranked by Instagram's own relevance unless you choose a Sort by field.

Can I search Instagram for reels only?

Yes. Set filters.kind to reel and only reels are returned.

Can I find Instagram creators by topic?

Yes. Search the topic and read owner_username from the results, then enrich those accounts with the Instagram Profile Scraper.

Does this Instagram search scraper keep relevance order?

By default yes. Leaving Sort by empty preserves Instagram's ranking, which is usually what you want for discovery.

How many Instagram search results can I get?

Up to 5000 per run via limit, applied after filtering.

Why would I use search instead of a username list?

Because a username list only finds accounts you already know. Search finds the ones you do not.

🔗 Scrape more from Instagram

• 💬 Instagram Comments Scraper
• 👤 Instagram Profile Scraper
• 🎬 Instagram Reels Scraper
• 📸 Instagram Posts Scraper