Instagram Hashtag Scraper - Engagement & Top Posts

Instagram Hashtag Analytics Scraper

Scrape Instagram hashtag analytics: engagement, related keywords, top creators and the top 12 posts for every hashtag you list. You pay only for the hashtags delivered. No Instagram API, and no login for most hashtags. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

In our tests on September 24, 2026, a run of 10 hashtags delivered 4 and charged exactly 4. The other 6, which Instagram keeps behind its login, came back as free error rows that say why. Each delivered hashtag came with its 12 top posts, each with likes, comments and a timestamp. A run that cannot fetch any hashtag ends as Failed, never as an empty success.

Instagram's official API limits hashtag data to a narrow window and requires a business account, app review and strict rate limits. This scraper reads public hashtag pages directly and returns one flat row per hashtag: average and max likes, comments and views, the reel count Instagram shows, related keywords and the top posts.

Who uses it	What they scrape Instagram for
Social media managers	Identify which hashtags drive the most engagement for a brand campaign.
Content strategists	Discover trending and related hashtags to expand content reach.
Market researchers	Track hashtag volume over time to measure brand or topic awareness.
Influencer marketing teams	Find high-engagement hashtags in a niche to match with creator partnerships.

What it does

This Actor collects Instagram hashtag analytics by reading public hashtag pages and returns each hashtag's metrics and optional top posts as a flat row.

• 📈 Bulk hashtag analysis: feed a list of up to a million hashtags and collect analytics for every one in a single run.
• 🔥 Top posts extraction: optionally pull the most-engaged posts for each hashtag, with likes, comments, and view counts.
• 🏷️ Related hashtag discovery: each result includes associated hashtags to help you map a full topic cluster.
• 📊 Flat row output: every hashtag returns as one row with the reel count Instagram shows and engagement signals, ready for pivot tables.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with Instagram data

📈 Track campaign hashtag performance.

A social media manager feeds a list of branded campaign hashtags and uses the reel count and top-post engagement to report reach to the client.

🔍 Discover niche hashtag clusters.

A content strategist starts with one broad hashtag and uses the related-hashtag list to build a full set of targeted tags for a new post series.

📊 Monitor competitor hashtag volume.

A market researcher scrapes competitor campaign hashtags weekly and charts changes in reel count and engagement to gauge momentum.

🤝 Qualify influencer niches.

An influencer marketing team scrapes niche hashtags, reviews the top posts, and shortlists creators whose content already leads the category.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
Reel count per hashtag	See the reel count Instagram shows on the hashtag's public page, when it shows one.
Engagement metrics on top posts	Get likes, comments, and view counts for the most visible content.
Related hashtags	Map the full topic landscape around any seed hashtag.
Pay only for what you get	Each delivered hashtag is one charge. Hashtags Instagram blocks come back as free error rows, and you are never billed past your limit.
Failures you can see	Every hashtag gets a row. If none can be fetched, the run ends as Failed with the reason.
No API, login optional	Reads public pages directly, no app registration or OAuth. A login only helps with very broad hashtags.

How it compares

The most used hashtag Actor on the Store is Apify's Instagram Hashtag Scraper. The two tools answer different questions, so pick by what you need. We ran both on the same hashtags on September 24, 2026.

	This Actor	Apify Instagram Hashtag Scraper
One row is	One hashtag, with its analytics and top 12 posts	One post
Best for	Comparing hashtags: engagement, reel count, related keywords, top creators	A feed of the newest posts under a hashtag
Engagement numbers	Average and max likes, comments and views per hashtag	Per post. The newest posts rarely have likes yet (15 of 65 rows in our test)
Post dates	Top posts span weeks or months, each with a timestamp	The newest posts, minutes old
Very broad hashtags (#food, #fitness, #love)	Need your optional Instagram login. Without it they come back as free error rows	Returned without a login
Price on the Bronze plan	$2.41 per 1,000 hashtags	$2.30 per 1,000 posts

Common complaints about hashtag scrapers, and what this Actor does

We read the 1 and 2 star reviews of the most used hashtag scraper. Here is how this Actor handles each complaint.

• "I set a limit but it fetched and charged far more." You are charged once per hashtag delivered, and never past the Maximum hashtags you set. In our tests the charge always matched the rows in the dataset.
• "It charged me for duplicate posts." One row is one hashtag, so duplicate posts never reach your bill.
• "It only returns today's posts, I need older ones." Top posts usually go back weeks or months, and each one has a timestamp. Every row also carries newestTopPostAt and oldestTopPostAt. There is no date filter, so you cannot ask for a specific date range.
• "It often has problems." Every hashtag you ask for gets a row. A hashtag that cannot be fetched says why (LOGIN_WALL, BLOCKED or NO_DATA) and is free. If nothing can be fetched, the run ends as Failed instead of an empty success.

Configure the run

Drive the Actor with a list of hashtags (without the # symbol) and set a maximum number to collect per run. Toggle top-post extraction on or off to balance speed against richer analytics. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults. These hashtags all load without a login:

{
  "hashtags": ["travel", "foodie", "gym", "gaming", "football"],
  "maxItems": 5
}

Research niche hashtags with their top posts:

{
  "hashtags": ["sourdoughscoring", "breakingnews"],
  "maxItems": 2,
  "includeTopPosts": true
}

A quick check across more hashtags, without top posts (faster):

{
  "hashtags": ["travel", "gaming", "football", "dog", "foodie", "gym"],
  "maxItems": 6,
  "includeTopPosts": false
}

Pricing

Pay per result: one result is one hashtag delivered to your dataset. Hashtags that cannot be fetched are free, and there is no charge to start a run.

Apify plan	Price per hashtag	1,000 hashtags
Free	$0.0025	$2.50
Bronze	$0.002405	$2.41
Silver	$0.002315	$2.32
Gold and above	$0.002225	$2.23

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the Instagram Hashtag Analytics Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to Instagram through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

$claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/instagram-hashtag-analytics-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Very broad hashtags (optional login)

Instagram hides some very broad hashtags, such as #food, #fitness, #love, #coffee, #beauty and #sunset, from anyone who is not logged in. Without a login, the Actor returns these as error rows with errorCode: "LOGIN_WALL", and you pay nothing for them.

If you need them, you can give the Actor your own Instagram session in the optional "Instagram sessionid cookie" field:

1. Open instagram.com in your browser while logged in.
2. Open DevTools (F12), then go to Application > Cookies > https://www.instagram.com.
3. Copy the value of sessionid and paste it into the field. Pasting your whole cookie string also works.

How the Actor uses it:

• The Actor retries only the hashtags that hit the login wall with your session. It still reads every other hashtag logged out.
• Those retries run one at a time, a few seconds apart, from one fixed proxy IP for the whole run, and stop after 50 hashtags per run.
• The field is a secret input. Apify stores it encrypted, the Actor uses it only for this run, and the value never appears in the log or the dataset.
• Rows fetched with your session include totalPosts (Instagram's post count for the hashtag) and have pageType: "logged_in_hashtag".
• If the session has expired or is invalid, those hashtags come back as unbilled error rows with errorCode: "INVALID_SESSION". Hashtags that work without a login still return normal results.

A note on risk: Instagram does not allow automated access, and using a personal account this way can get it rate-limited or sent to an identity check. Use a secondary account instead of your main one, and keep the number of broad hashtags per run small.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results for some hashtags?

Instagram only shows some hashtags to logged-out visitors. Very broad tags such as #food, #fitness, #love or #sunset now redirect to the login page, so no public data exists for them. Each hashtag that cannot be fetched appears in the dataset as an error row (status: "error", with errorCode and error explaining why) and is not charged. If no hashtag at all can be fetched, the run ends as Failed with the reason. More specific hashtags (for example #foodie or #gym) usually work. To include the broad ones, see "Very broad hashtags (optional login)" above.

The run is taking too long.

Top-post extraction adds one extra request per hashtag. Disable 'Include Top Posts' in the input to speed up the run significantly, or reduce the number of hashtags.

I see a 'rate limit' or 'blocked' error.

Instagram sometimes blocks a request even from a fresh IP. The Actor already retries those hashtags on new residential IPs. If one still comes back with errorCode: "BLOCKED", it is not charged. Run it again later or in a smaller batch.

Why is totalPosts empty?

Instagram no longer shows logged-out visitors how many posts use a hashtag. Instead of guessing, totalPosts is left null. totalReels (for example "3.9B") and totalReelsCount hold the reel count Instagram displays on the hashtag's public page, when it displays one.

My hashtags contain the # symbol and the run fails.

Enter hashtags without the # symbol. For example, use 'travel' instead of '#travel'. The Actor strips the symbol, but leading with it can cause lookup failures.

FAQ

Question	Answer
Do I need an Instagram login or API key?	No. The Actor reads public Instagram hashtag pages directly. You do not need an app registration or an API key. A login is optional and only helps with very broad hashtags that Instagram hides from logged-out visitors (see "Very broad hashtags (optional login)").
How many hashtags can I scrape in one run?	You can set the maximum up to 1,000,000 hashtags per run. The Actor processes them in small batches and returns one row per hashtag.
What data do I get for each hashtag?	Every hashtag returns the reel count Instagram shows (when shown), related keywords, and the dates of its newest and oldest top posts. When top-post extraction is enabled, you also get the most-engaged posts with their likes, comments, and view counts.
Does this scrape Instagram posts or profiles?	No. This Actor is focused on hashtag analytics: reel counts, related tags, and optional top-post metrics. For full posts, reels, or profiles, use the dedicated Instagram Post Scraper, Reel Scraper, or Profile Scraper on Apify.
Can I filter by date or media type?	The Actor reads the public hashtag page as Instagram serves it. It does not apply date or media-type filters. You get the current top posts and aggregate counts.
What format is the export?	You can export your results to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML directly from the Apify dataset tab.
How long does a run take?	Run time depends on how many hashtags you request and whether top-post extraction is enabled. A small list finishes in seconds; a large list with top posts takes longer because each hashtag requires an extra request.
Can I schedule this Actor to run automatically?	Yes. Apify supports scheduled runs. You can set the Actor to collect hashtag analytics daily, weekly, or on any cron schedule.
Does the Actor handle hashtags in languages other than English?	Yes. You can enter hashtags in any language Instagram supports, including Spanish (viajes, comida), Portuguese (praia, amor), Arabic, and others.
What is the difference between this and the Instagram Scraper?	The Instagram Scraper extracts full post content, comments, and profile data from URLs or search queries. This Actor is purpose-built for hashtag analytics: it returns reel counts, related hashtags, and top-post engagement signals for bulk hashtag lists.

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⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Meta Platforms, Inc. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.