🎬 Instagram Reel Scraper

🚀 Pull Instagram Reels from any public profile in minutes. Video URLs, views, likes, comments, captions, music, duration, thumbnails. No login.

🕒 Last updated: 2026-05-09 · 📊 20+ fields per reel · 🎵 Music + caption + comments · 🚫 No auth required

Pull live Instagram Reels from any public profile. The actor accepts a list of usernames, profile URLs, or direct Reel URLs and walks each profile's Reels feed to return one structured record per Reel ready for content research, social listening, brand monitoring, or creator-marketing analysis.

Every run fetches data live so you get the current state of Instagram at run time. Records include the Reel URL, video URL, thumbnail, view count, like count, comment count, caption, music track, duration, posted date, and optional top comments.

👥 Built for	🎯 Primary use cases
Content marketers	Track top-performing Reels by competitor
Brand teams	Monitor brand mentions across creator Reels
Influencer-marketing	Source creators by Reel performance
Music discovery	Surface trending audio and music tracks
Researchers	Study short-video content trends
Engineering teams	Power Reel-archival or analytics products

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📋 What the Instagram Reel Scraper does

• 🎬 Three input types. Username (natgeo), profile URL, or direct Reel URL.
• 🗓️ Date filter. newerThan cutoff (absolute date or relative like 30 days).
• 📌 Skip pinned. Optional flag to skip pinned (often older) Reels.
• 💬 Optional comments. Fetch top N comments per Reel.
• 🎵 Music data. Track name and artist where exposed.
• 📊 Engagement. Views, likes, comments, duration.

The scraper walks each profile's Reels feed in parallel, fetches each Reel's metadata, and pushes structured records to the dataset.

💡 Why it matters: Reels are Instagram's highest-engagement format but its UI is paginated, JS-rendered, and lacks bulk export. A live, structured pull beats manual scraping for creator-marketing intel, brand monitoring, and content research.

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🎬 Full Demo

🚧 Coming soon: a 3-minute walkthrough showing setup, a live run, and how to pipe results into Google Sheets via Apify integrations.

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⚙️ Input

Field	Type	Name	Description
urls	array	Username / Profile / Reel URLs	Required. Usernames, profile URLs, or direct Reel URLs.
maxItems	integer	Max Items	Free users: limited to 10 items (preview). Paid users: optional, max 1,000,000.
maxReelsPerProfile	integer	Max Reels Per Profile	Cap reels per profile.
newerThan	string	Newer Than	Date filter (e.g. 2026-04-01 or 30 days).
skipPinnedReels	boolean	Skip Pinned	Skip pinned reels for chronological accuracy.
commentsPerReel	integer	Comments Per Reel	0 to skip, up to ~15 per reel.

Example 1. NatGeo and NASA Reels, last 30 days.

{
  "urls": ["natgeo", "nasa"],
  "newerThan": "30 days",
  "skipPinnedReels": true,
  "commentsPerReel": 0,
  "maxItems": 100
}

Example 2. Direct Reel URL with top comments.

{
  "urls": [
    "https://www.instagram.com/reel/ABC123def/"
  ],
  "commentsPerReel": 10,
  "maxItems": 1
}

⚠️ Good to Know: Instagram throttles aggressive scraping. Set commentsPerReel: 0 for the fastest runs. Pinned reels can skew chronological order; enable skipPinnedReels for accurate latest-first results.

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📊 Output

The dataset returns one structured record per Reel. Each record carries identifiers, video URL, thumbnail, view count, like count, comment count, caption, music, duration, date, optional comments, and a back-reference URL. Consume the dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or RSS via the Apify console or API.

🧾 Schema

Field	Type	Example
🆔 reelId	string	ABC123def456
🔗 reelUrl	string (url)	https://www.instagram.com/reel/ABC123def456/
👤 ownerUsername	string	natgeo
🖼️ thumbnailUrl	string (url)	https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/.../thumb.jpg
🎥 videoUrl	string (url)	https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/.../video.mp4
📝 caption	string	Stunning shot of the Milky Way over Mount Bromo...
👁️ viewCount	number	2450000
❤️ likeCount	number	185000
💬 commentCount	number	4500
⏱️ durationSeconds	number	28
🎵 musicTrack	string or null	Original audio - natgeo
🎵 musicArtist	string or null	natgeo
📌 isPinned	boolean	false
📅 postedAt	ISO datetime	2026-04-12T14:30:00.000Z
💬 topComments	array	[{"author":"...", "text":"..."}]
📅 scrapedAt	ISO datetime	2026-05-09T12:00:00.000Z

📦 Sample records

1. High-engagement reel (NatGeo)

{
  "reelId": "ABC123def456",
  "reelUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/reel/ABC123def456/",
  "ownerUsername": "natgeo",
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/abc/thumb.jpg",
  "videoUrl": "https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/abc/video.mp4",
  "caption": "Stunning shot of the Milky Way over Mount Bromo, Indonesia. Photo by @photographer.",
  "viewCount": 2450000,
  "likeCount": 185000,
  "commentCount": 4500,
  "durationSeconds": 28,
  "musicTrack": "Original audio - natgeo",
  "musicArtist": "natgeo",
  "isPinned": false,
  "postedAt": "2026-04-12T14:30:00.000Z",
  "topComments": [],
  "scrapedAt": "2026-05-09T12:00:00.000Z"
}

2. Brand reel with top comments

{
  "reelId": "XYZ789ghi012",
  "reelUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/reel/XYZ789ghi012/",
  "ownerUsername": "nike",
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/def/thumb.jpg",
  "videoUrl": "https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/def/video.mp4",
  "caption": "Just Do It. New collection drops next week.",
  "viewCount": 5800000,
  "likeCount": 420000,
  "commentCount": 12500,
  "durationSeconds": 15,
  "musicTrack": "Power - Kanye West",
  "musicArtist": "Kanye West",
  "isPinned": true,
  "postedAt": "2026-05-01T09:00:00.000Z",
  "topComments": [
    {"author": "user1", "text": "Need these now"},
    {"author": "user2", "text": "Best campaign yet"}
  ],
  "scrapedAt": "2026-05-09T12:00:00.000Z"
}

3. Sparse record (smaller creator)

{
  "reelId": "QRS456tuv789",
  "reelUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/reel/QRS456tuv789/",
  "ownerUsername": "small_creator",
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/ghi/thumb.jpg",
  "viewCount": 1250,
  "likeCount": 85,
  "commentCount": 3,
  "durationSeconds": 22,
  "isPinned": false,
  "postedAt": "2026-05-07T18:00:00.000Z",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-05-09T12:00:00.000Z"
}

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✨ Why choose this Actor

	Capability
🎯	Built for the job. Scoped specifically to Instagram Reels so you skip the parser engineering entirely.
🔖	Structured output. Clean, typed fields ready for analysis, dashboards, or downstream pipelines.
⚡	Fast. Optimized request patterns return results in seconds, not minutes.
🔁	Always fresh. Every run pulls live data, so the dataset reflects Instagram as of run time.
🌐	No infra to manage. Apify handles proxies, retries, scaling, scheduling, and storage.
🛡️	Reliable. Battle-tested across many runs and edge cases, with graceful error handling.
🚫	No code required. Configure in the UI, run from CLI, schedule via cron, or call from any language with the Apify SDK.

📊 Production-grade structured Reels data without the engineering overhead of building and maintaining your own scraper.

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📈 How it compares to alternatives

Approach	Cost	Coverage	Refresh	Filters	Setup
⭐ Instagram Reel Scraper (this Actor)	$5 free credit, then pay-per-use	Public profiles	Live per run	Username, date, pinned, comments	⚡ 2 min
Build your own scraper	Engineering hours	Full once built	Whenever you maintain it	Custom code	🐢 Days to weeks
Paid social-listening tools	$$$ monthly per seat	Vendor-defined	Periodic	Vendor-defined	⏳ Hours
Manual sourcing	Hours per check	Limited	Stale	Manual	🕒 Variable

Pick this Actor when you want broad coverage, source-native filtering, and no pipeline maintenance.

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🚀 How to use

1. 📝 Sign up. Create a free account with $5 credit (takes 2 minutes).
2. 🌐 Open the Actor. Go to the Instagram Reel Scraper page on the Apify Store.
3. 🎯 Set inputs. Add usernames, profile URLs, or Reel URLs to urls and configure filters.
4. 🚀 Run it. Click Start and let the Actor collect your data.
5. 📥 Download. Grab your results in the Dataset tab as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML.

⏱️ Total time from signup to downloaded dataset: 3-5 minutes. No coding required.

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💼 Business use cases

📊 Content and creator marketing Track top-performing Reels by competitor Identify high-engagement creators by niche Build creator outreach lists Power influencer-discovery products	🏢 Brand monitoring Monitor brand mentions across creator Reels Track campaign performance after launches Surface UGC for repurposing Build sentiment dashboards
🎯 Music and audio discovery Surface trending audio and music tracks Build label-side trend reports Track viral audio adoption rates Power music-discovery products	🛠️ Engineering and product Power archival and analytics products Replace fragile in-house Instagram scrapers Wire datasets into your apps via the Apify API or webhooks Skip the proxy, retry, and parsing maintenance entirely

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🌟 Beyond business use cases

Data like this powers more than commercial workflows. The same structured records support research, education, civic projects, and personal initiatives.

🎓 Research and academia Empirical datasets for papers, thesis work, and coursework Longitudinal studies tracking changes across snapshots Reproducible research with cited, versioned data pulls Classroom exercises on data analysis and ethical scraping	🎨 Personal and creative Side projects, portfolio demos, and indie app launches Data visualizations, dashboards, and infographics Content research for bloggers, YouTubers, and podcasters Hobbyist collections and personal trackers
🤝 Non-profit and civic Transparency reporting and accountability projects Advocacy campaigns backed by public-interest data Community-run databases for local issues Investigative journalism on public records	🧪 Experimentation Prototype AI and machine-learning pipelines with real data Validate product-market hypotheses before engineering spend Train small domain-specific models on niche corpora Test dashboard concepts with live input

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🔌 Automating Instagram Reel Scraper

This Actor exposes a REST endpoint, so you can drive it from any language or workflow tool.

• Node.js - call it via the Apify JS SDK.
• Python - call it via the Apify Python SDK.
• REST - hit it directly through the Apify v2 API.

Schedules. Use Apify Scheduler to capture daily snapshots of target profiles. Combine with the Apify dataset diff tools to track new Reels and engagement velocity between runs.

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💰 How much does it cost?

Apify gives you $5 in free monthly credits on the Apify Free plan, enough to test Instagram Reel Scraper and pull a real sample dataset. For ongoing usage:

• Starter plan ($49/month) — Recommended for individuals running Instagram Reel Scraper regularly. Includes higher concurrency and larger datasets.
• Scale plan ($499/month) — Recommended for teams running Instagram Reel Scraper at production scale.

Pay-Per-Event pricing means you only pay for what you actually use. Failed runs are never charged. See the Pricing tab on this Actor's page for exact event prices.

💡 Tips for using Instagram Reel Scraper

• Start with a small maxItems (3-10) to validate output format before running larger jobs.
• Use Apify Schedules to run Instagram Reel Scraper on a recurring basis and keep your dataset fresh.
• Export via Integrations: Apify connects to Google Sheets, Airbyte, Make, Zapier, and direct webhooks — pipe your data anywhere.
• Monitor with webhooks: trigger downstream workflows the moment a run finishes.
• Re-run failed items: if any individual records error out, re-run with their inputs only. Failed events are not charged.

⚖️ Is it legal to use Instagram Reel Scraper?

Yes. Instagram Reel Scraper only collects publicly available data. Web scraping public data has been confirmed as legal by US courts (see hiQ Labs v. LinkedIn) and is widely used for research, market analysis, and business intelligence.

However, you are responsible for:

• Respecting the source website's Terms of Service.
• Complying with GDPR, CCPA, and other applicable data-protection laws when personal data is involved.
• Not republishing copyrighted content without permission.

If you have specific compliance concerns, consult your legal team. See the Apify legal docs for more.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

🔌 Integrate with any app

Instagram Reel Scraper connects to any cloud service via Apify integrations:

• Make - Automate multi-step workflows
• Zapier - Connect with 5,000+ apps
• Slack - Get run notifications in your channels
• Airbyte - Pipe results into your warehouse
• GitHub - Trigger runs from commits and releases
• Google Drive - Export datasets straight to Sheets

You can also use webhooks to trigger downstream actions when a run finishes.

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🔗 Recommended Actors

• 📸 Instagram Posts Scraper - Instagram posts and reels with metadata
• 📸 Instagram Profile Scraper - Profile data, follower counts, bio
• 📱 TikTok Video Scraper - TikTok videos with engagement
• 🎬 YouTube AI Transcriber - Transcribe YouTube videos
• 💼 LinkedIn Posts Scraper - LinkedIn posts from profiles

💡 Pro Tip: browse the complete ParseForge collection for more reference-data scrapers.

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🆘 Need Help? Open our contact form to request a new scraper, propose a custom project, or report an issue.

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⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Meta or Instagram. All trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The scraper accesses only publicly available pages and is intended for legitimate research, analytics, and content-marketing use. Users are responsible for compliance with Instagram's Terms of Service and applicable law.