Instagram Reels Search & Trend Discovery

Instagram Reels Search & Trend Discovery

Instagram Reels Search & Trend Discovery is an Instagram Reels search scraper: type a keyword and get the Reels Instagram shows for it, with plays, likes, comments, captions, hashtags, video links, duration, post date and creator for every Reel.

Search any topic in any language, collect up to 1,200 Reels per run by expanding into Instagram's own related searches, and rank them by play count to spot trending content, hooks and creators. No Instagram login or account needed.

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Copy this block into ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, or any LLM to start using this actor.

Use the Apify actor "parsebird/instagram-reels-search-scraper" (actor ID: parsebird~instagram-reels-search-scraper) to search Instagram Reels by keyword, via the ApifyClient: client.actor("parsebird/instagram-reels-search-scraper").call(run_input={"query": "cooking", "maxPages": 5}). Inputs: query (string, required, default "trending"; a keyword or phrase in any language; a leading # is removed; if Instagram has no results for the exact phrase the actor uses the closest Instagram search, e.g. "trending" becomes "trending reels"); maxPages (integer 1-100, default 1; one page = 12 Reels, so 100 pages = up to 1,200 Reels); expandRelatedSearches (boolean, default true; Instagram returns about 40-70 Reels per search term, so when a term runs out the actor continues with Instagram's related searches); includeDetails (boolean, default true; adds like_count, comment_count, taken_at, taken_at_date, video_duration, user.full_name, width, height, location, coauthors, is_paid_partnership); proxyConfiguration (object, default Apify Proxy, used only if Instagram refuses the direct connection). Output: one dataset row per Reel with id, code, url, search_query, matched_keyword, position, caption {text, hashtags, mentions}, user {id, username, full_name, is_verified, is_private, profile_pic_url}, ig_play_count, like_count, comment_count, counts_hidden, video_url, video_duration, thumbnail_url, width, height, taken_at, taken_at_date, has_audio, is_video, product_type, is_paid_partnership, coauthors, location {id, name}, scraped_at. Audio track names and share counts are not available without logging in to Instagram and are not returned. A RUN_SUMMARY record in the default key-value store holds savedCount, chargedCount, stopReason and per-keyword stats. Pricing: pay per Reel saved. Full API spec: https://apify.com/parsebird/instagram-reels-search-scraper/api. Get your token: https://console.apify.com/account/integrations.

What is Instagram Reels Search & Trend Discovery?

Instagram Reels Search & Trend Discovery is an Instagram Reels scraper and unofficial Instagram search API. It reads the public keyword search pages that Instagram shows to logged-out visitors (for example instagram.com/popular/cooking/) and turns every Reel into clean, structured data.

Use it to answer questions like:

• What Reels does Instagram show for "social media tips", and which ones got the most views?
• Which creators dominate a topic, and are they verified?
• Which hashtags, hooks and video lengths do the top Reels in my niche use?
• Which related searches does Instagram suggest around my keyword?

The easiest way to try it: click Start with the example input. It searches for trending and returns 12 Reels in a few seconds.

What can Instagram Reels Search & Trend Discovery do?

• 🔎 Keyword search for Reels: any topic or phrase, in any language (receta de pollo, recettes faciles and makeup tutorial all work). Hashtag-style input such as #travel is accepted too.
• 📈 Trend discovery: when a keyword runs out, the actor keeps going with Instagram's own related searches (for example cooking → how to cook ceviche, steak cooking time). Each Reel's matched_keyword shows which search found it.
• 📊 Engagement numbers: plays (ig_play_count), likes and comments as plain numbers, ready to sort and chart.
• 🎬 Video data: direct video file link, thumbnail, duration in seconds, width and height, post date.
• 👤 Creator data: username, full name, verified badge, profile picture and user ID, plus collab co-authors and the paid-partnership flag.
• 🧹 Parsed captions: full caption text with hashtags and @mentions pulled out into their own lists.
• ⏱️ Runs on Apify: schedule daily or weekly runs to track a topic, call it through the Apify API or Apify MCP from an AI agent, and send results to Google Sheets, Slack, Make, Zapier or webhooks with integrations. Export as JSON, CSV, Excel, HTML or XML.

What data can you extract from Instagram Reels search?

Field	Description
id, code, url	The Reel's ID, short code and link
search_query, matched_keyword, position	Your query, the Instagram search that returned the Reel, and its rank in the run
caption.text, caption.hashtags, caption.mentions	Caption text, plus hashtags and @mentions parsed from it
user.username, user.full_name, user.is_verified	The creator who posted the Reel
user.id, user.is_private, user.profile_pic_url	Creator ID, privacy flag and profile picture
ig_play_count	Total plays on Instagram
like_count, comment_count, counts_hidden	Likes and comments; empty when the creator hid them (counts_hidden is true)
video_url, thumbnail_url	Video file and cover image links (Instagram media links expire after a while)
video_duration, width, height, has_audio	Video length in seconds, dimensions and audio flag
taken_at, taken_at_date	Post time as a Unix timestamp and as an ISO date
product_type, is_video	clips for Reels; always a video
is_paid_partnership, coauthors, location	Branded-content flag, collab co-authors and tagged location
scraped_at	When the row was collected

How to search Instagram Reels by keyword

1. Open Instagram Reels Search & Trend Discovery in Apify Console.
2. Enter your keyword in Search query, for example social media tips, travel or cooking.
3. Set Maximum pages. Each page is 12 Reels, so 5 pages gives up to 60 Reels.
4. Keep Expand with related searches on if you want more Reels than one keyword holds.
5. Click Start and wait for the run to finish. 12 Reels take a few seconds.
6. Open the Output tab and download your data as JSON, CSV or Excel, or read it through the API.

Input example

{
    "query": "social media tips",
    "maxPages": 5,
    "expandRelatedSearches": true,
    "includeDetails": true
}

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
query	string	Yes	trending	Keyword or phrase to search for
maxPages	integer	No	1	Pages to collect, 1–100. One page = 12 Reels
expandRelatedSearches	boolean	No	true	Continue with Instagram's related searches when a keyword runs out
includeDetails	boolean	No	true	Add likes, comments, post date, duration, full name, size, location
proxyConfiguration	object	No	Apify Proxy	Used only if Instagram refuses the direct connection

Output example

{
  "id": "3657452092031050323",
  "code": "DLB4Uy4hSJT",
  "url": "https://www.instagram.com/reel/DLB4Uy4hSJT/",
  "search_query": "trending",
  "matched_keyword": "trending reels",
  "position": 6,
  "caption": {
    "text": "New trending video #instagramindia #instagramreel #trendingreels #instagram @khushi_pandit76",
    "hashtags": ["#instagramindia", "#instagramreel", "#trendingreels", "#instagram"],
    "mentions": ["@khushi_pandit76"]
  },
  "user": {
    "id": "44683590910",
    "username": "khushi_pandit76",
    "full_name": "🌸KHUSHI DIXIT🌸",
    "is_verified": false,
    "is_private": false,
    "profile_pic_url": "https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-19/702176732_..."
  },
  "ig_play_count": 189769,
  "like_count": 1455,
  "comment_count": 36,
  "counts_hidden": false,
  "video_url": "https://instagram.fkul10-2.fna.fbcdn.net/o1/v/t2/f2/m86/AQOnmN49...mp4?...",
  "video_duration": 7.64,
  "thumbnail_url": "https://instagram.fkul10-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t51.75761-15/509183260_...",
  "width": 1076,
  "height": 1920,
  "taken_at": 1750222301,
  "taken_at_date": "2025-06-18T04:51:41+00:00",
  "has_audio": true,
  "is_video": true,
  "product_type": "clips",
  "is_paid_partnership": false,
  "coauthors": [],
  "location": { "id": "321873307", "name": "Lucknow , Uttar Pradesh, India" },
  "scraped_at": "2026-10-01T12:11:20.400Z"
}

Use cases

• Content research: find the most-watched Reels for a topic before you script your own, and study their hooks, length and hashtags.
• Trend discovery: run a broad keyword with many pages and group results by matched_keyword to see which sub-topics Instagram connects to it.
• Influencer discovery: collect creators who rank for your niche, then filter by verified badge, play counts and engagement.
• Competitor and brand monitoring: schedule a weekly search for your brand or product category and track which Reels appear.
• Hashtag research: count the hashtags used by the top Reels for a keyword.
• Datasets for AI and analytics: build labelled collections of short-form videos with captions and engagement numbers.

How much does it cost to scrape Instagram Reels search?

Instagram Reels Search & Trend Discovery uses pay-per-event pricing. You pay for each Reel saved to the dataset. Searches that return nothing are not charged.

Event	Free	Bronze	Silver	Gold
Reel scraped (per 1,000)	$1.99	$1.69	$1.39	$1.19

The example run (1 page, 12 Reels) costs about $0.02 on the Free plan. A full 100-page run (1,200 Reels) costs about $2.39 on the Free plan and $1.43 on Gold. You can set a maximum cost per run in the run options, and the actor stops when it is reached.

Python and JavaScript API examples

Python:

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("parsebird/instagram-reels-search-scraper").call(run_input={
    "query": "social media tips",
    "maxPages": 5,
})
reels = list(client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items())
for reel in sorted(reels, key=lambda r: r["ig_play_count"] or 0, reverse=True)[:10]:
    print(reel["ig_play_count"], reel["user"]["username"], reel["url"])

JavaScript:

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>' });
const run = await client.actor('parsebird/instagram-reels-search-scraper').call({
    query: 'travel',
    maxPages: 10,
    expandRelatedSearches: true,
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
const byKeyword = {};
items.forEach((r) => { byKeyword[r.matched_keyword] = (byKeyword[r.matched_keyword] || 0) + 1; });
console.log(byKeyword);

See the API tab for more clients and endpoints.

FAQ

How many Reels can I get for one keyword? Instagram shows logged-out visitors about 40 to 70 Reels per search term (in our tests: 64 for cooking, 68 for makeup tutorial, 44 for trending reels). With Expand with related searches on, the actor continues with Instagram's related searches and reaches the full 100 pages (1,200 Reels); in our tests a 100-page trending run used 23 related searches and returned no duplicates.

Why did my keyword change to something else? Instagram only has search pages for some phrasings. If your exact phrase returns nothing, the actor tries close variants (<query> reels, <query> ideas, <query> trends, trending <query>) and uses the first one that has results. For example, trending becomes trending reels and fitness becomes fitness reels. The log says when this happens, and matched_keyword shows the search used.

Why did my search return nothing? Instagram has no public search page for that phrase or its variants. Try a more common phrase. The run finishes with a clear status message and is not charged.

Can I get the audio track name or share count? No. Instagram does not show a Reel's audio name or share count to logged-out visitors, and this actor does not log in to Instagram. has_audio tells you whether the Reel has sound. To go from a sound to the Reels using it, use Instagram Reels Audio Scraper.

Can I filter by date or sort by views? Instagram's public search has no date or sort filters, so results come in Instagram's own order. Every row has taken_at_date and ig_play_count, so you can sort and filter in Excel, Google Sheets or your code.

Why are plays or likes empty for some Reels? The creator hid the like and view counts. counts_hidden is true for those Reels.

What does "Include likes, comments, date and duration" change? With it on (default), the actor loads each Reel's details for likes, comments, post date, duration, full name, size and location. With it off, you get plays, caption, video link and creator username only, with fewer requests.

Do I need a proxy or an Instagram account? No account. Keep the default proxy setting: the actor uses the direct connection first and switches to Apify Proxy automatically if Instagram starts refusing requests.

How fast is it? In our tests, 12 Reels took a few seconds and 1,200 Reels with full details took about 2 minutes 20 seconds.

Do the video and image links last? Instagram media links expire after some time. Download the files soon after the run, or store url and look the Reel up again later.

Can I schedule runs and connect other tools? Yes. Use Apify Schedules for recurring runs and integrations for Google Sheets, Zapier, Make, n8n, Slack or webhooks.

Something is missing or broken? Open an issue in the Issues tab. We read every report and fix problems quickly.

Is it legal to scrape Instagram Reels search results?

Instagram Reels Search & Trend Discovery only collects information that Instagram shows to anyone without logging in: public Reels, their public engagement numbers and the public profile names of their creators. It does not log in, and it does not collect private accounts or private messages. Creator usernames and names can still be personal data under laws such as the EU GDPR and the California CCPA, so make sure you have a lawful reason to store and use them. Videos and images are protected by copyright; use the links for analysis, not for republishing. You should also check Instagram's terms of use. If you are unsure, ask a lawyer. Read more in Apify's blog post Is web scraping legal?.

Other Instagram and short-video scrapers

• Instagram Reels Audio Scraper: find the Reels using any Instagram sound or song
• TikTok Trends Scraper: trending hashtags, songs, creators and videos from TikTok
• YouTube Search Scraper & API: YouTube videos for any keyword
• YouTube Trending Videos Scraper: what's trending on YouTube by country
• YouTube Shorts Downloader: download YouTube Shorts videos
• Threads Search Scraper: Threads posts for any keyword or tag