📸 Instagram Post Scraper + Captions, Likes & Photos API

Enterprise-grade Instagram Post Scraper and Photo Feed Intelligence API. Extract public Instagram posts, carousels, single photos, and video posts in bulk without login: high-resolution image CDN URLs, full caption text, extracted hashtags, tagged user mentions, multi-slide carousel images, like counts, comment counts, published timestamps, and creator profile handles.

Engineered specifically for social media analytics platforms, computer vision dataset builders, influencer marketing agencies, PR and brand monitoring teams, and market researchers needing clean, structured Instagram post datasets exported directly to CSV, Excel (.xlsx), JSON, or queried via real-time API webhooks.

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📑 Table of Contents

1. Overview & Architecture
2. Key Capabilities & Competitive Advantages
3. Complete Extracted Data Schema
4. Input Parameters & Configuration Reference
5. Step-by-Step Quick Start Guide
6. SDK Code Examples (5 Languages)
   • Python SDK
   • JavaScript / Node.js SDK
   • cURL / Direct REST API
   • Go SDK
   • PHP Integration
7. Enterprise Production Workflows
   • Workflow 1: Brand Sentiment & Visual Mention Tracking
   • Workflow 2: Computer Vision Image Dataset Generation
   • Workflow 3: Influencer Post Engagement Auditing
   • Workflow 4: Multi-Slide Carousel Content Analysis
8. Interactive Spreadsheet Console Views
9. Transparent Pay-Per-Event (PPE) Pricing
10. Comprehensive Technical Field Dictionary
11. Detailed JSON Response Payload Example
12. Comparison: Instagram Post Scraper vs Browser Automation
13. Enterprise Security, Compliance & Data Governance
14. Performance, Concurrency & Scaling Benchmarks
15. Troubleshooting & Best Practices
16. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
17. Search & Discovery Index

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🏗️ Overview & Architecture

Instagram post data provides invaluable consumer sentiment and visual intelligence. Extracting posts at scale without account bans requires zero-cookie stream parsing:

• Zero Cookies / No Account Required: Operates 100% on public endpoints and mobile bot link-preview protocol handlers, completely eliminating the risk of Instagram account suspensions or checkpoint challenges.
• High-Resolution Media Resolution: Extracts uncompressed, high-bitrate image and carousel CDN URLs.
• High-Throughput Parallel Batching: Built-in batch concurrency (Promise.all) extracts hundreds of Instagram posts in seconds.

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🚀 Key Capabilities & Competitive Advantages

• Bulk Input Flexibility: Paste creator handles (natgeo), profile URLs, or owner-qualified post links (https://www.instagram.com/natgeo/p/DcKUrdODq79/). Instagram does not answer bare /p/CODE/ links without a login, so a handle is always the most reliable input.
• Full Carousel Support: Automatically unpacks multi-slide carousel albums into structured image arrays.
• Pay-Per-Event (PPE) Pricing: $1.70 per 1,000 posts ($0.0017 per post), falling to $1.20 at volume. One event, no per-run start fee, and no separate charge for post details.
• Interactive Console Table Views: Pre-configured table layouts (Overview, Media & Images, Full Export) allow 1-click downloads to CSV, Excel, XML, or JSON.

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📊 Complete Extracted Data Schema

Field Name	Type	Nullable	Description & Practical Example
id	String	No	Instagram's own media ID (3966...).
shortcode	String	No	Instagram URL shortcode (DcKUrdODq79).
type	String	Yes	Image, Video or Sidecar (carousel), as Instagram classifies it.
caption	String	Yes	Full caption text as posted.
hashtags	Array	Yes	Hashtags read out of that caption. Null when there are none.
mentions	Array	Yes	@-handles in the caption. Null when there are none.
displayUrl	String	Yes	Cover image CDN link, highest resolution offered.
images	Array	Yes	Every photo in the post - all carousel children, not just the cover.
likesCount	Integer	Yes	Public likes. Null when the creator hid counts.
commentsCount	Integer	Yes	Comment total. Null when comments are disabled.
ownerUsername	String	Yes	Creator handle without @ (natgeo).
ownerId	String	Yes	Creator's real numeric Instagram ID (787132).
timestamp	String	Yes	When the post was published, ISO 8601 UTC.
videoUrl	String	Yes	Direct MP4 link for a video post. Null for photos.
videoDuration	Number	Yes	Video length in seconds (62.062). Null for photos.
playCount	Integer	Yes	Video plays reported by Instagram. Null for photos.
carouselCount	Integer	Yes	How many items the carousel holds. Null for single-media posts.
width / height	Integer	Yes	Source media dimensions in pixels.
locationName	String	Yes	Place tagged on the post. Null when none was tagged.
taggedUsers	Array	Yes	Usernames tagged in the media. Null when nobody was tagged.
coauthors	Array	Yes	Collaborator usernames. Null when there are none.
isSponsored	Boolean	Yes	True when Instagram flags a paid partnership.
url	String	No	Canonical post URL (https://www.instagram.com/p/DcKUrdODq79/).
scrapedAt	String	No	ISO 8601 UTC extraction timestamp (2026-08-19T23:30:00.000Z).

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⚙️ Input Parameters & Configuration Reference

Configure the actor using clean JSON payloads:

{
  "targets": [
    "natgeo",
    "https://www.instagram.com/natgeo/p/DcKUrdODq79/",
    "natgeo"
  ],
  "maxResults": 20,
  "maxConcurrency": 5
}

📸 Parameter Reference

• targets (Array of Strings, Required): Instagram post URLs, shortcodes, or usernames.
• maxResults (Integer, Default: 10, Range: 1 – 50,000): Maximum posts extracted per target.
• maxConcurrency (Integer, Default: 5, Range: 1 – 20): Parallel batch concurrency level.

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📸 Step-by-Step Quick Start Guide

1. Create an Apify Account: Sign up at apify.com.
2. Open the Actor: Navigate to reapx/instagram-post-scraper.
3. Set Input Posts: Paste target post URLs or creator handles.
4. Execute Run: Click Start. The actor extracts posts in parallel.
5. View & Export: Explore results in the interactive Output tab and export to Excel (.xlsx), CSV, or JSON.

---

⚡ SDK Code Examples (5 Languages)

📸 1. Python SDK

from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize client with your Apify API Token
client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")

run_input = {
    "targets": [
        "natgeo",
        "natgeo"
    ],
    "maxResults": 10
}

# Start actor run and wait for completion
run = client.actor("reapx/instagram-post-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch dataset items
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(f"Creator:   @{item['ownerUsername']}")
    print(f"Likes:     {item['likesCount']:,} | Comments: {item['commentsCount']:,}")
    print(f"Caption:   {item.get('caption')[:80]}...")
    print(f"Image URL: {item.get('displayUrl')}")
    print("-" * 50)

📸 2. JavaScript / Node.js SDK

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: 'YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN',
});

const input = {
    targets: ['natgeo'],
    maxResults: 10,
};

const run = await client.actor('reapx/instagram-post-scraper').call(input);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();

console.log(`Retrieved ${items.length} Instagram posts:`);
items.forEach((p) => {
    console.log(`• @${p.ownerUsername}: ${p.likesCount} likes | ${p.commentsCount} comments`);
});

📸 3. cURL / Direct REST API

curl --request POST \
  --url "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/reapx~instagram-post-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{
    "targets": ["natgeo"],
    "maxResults": 5
  }'

📸 4. Go SDK

package main

import (
	"bytes"
	"encoding/json"
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
)

func main() {
	apiToken := "YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN"
	url := fmt.Sprintf("https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/reapx~instagram-post-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=%s", apiToken)

	payload := map[string]interface{}{
		"targets": []string{"natgeo"},
		"maxResults": 5,
	}
	bodyData, _ := json.Marshal(payload)

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", url, bytes.NewBuffer(bodyData))
	req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")

	resp, err := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}
	defer resp.Body.Close()

	body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
	fmt.Printf("Dataset: %s\n", string(body))
}

📸 5. PHP Integration

<?php
$token = 'YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN';
$url = "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/reapx~instagram-post-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token={$token}";

$data = [
    'targets' => ['natgeo'],
    'maxResults' => 5
];

$options = [
    'http' => [
        'header'  => "Content-Type: application/json\r\n",
        'method'  => 'POST',
        'content' => json_encode($data),
    ]
];

$context = stream_context_create($options);
$response = file_get_contents($url, false, $context);
$items = json_decode($response, true);

foreach ($items as $p) {
    echo "@{$p['ownerUsername']} - {$p['likesCount']} likes\n";
}
?>

---

💼 Enterprise Production Workflows

💼 Workflow 1: Brand Sentiment & Visual Mention Tracking

Track how consumers interact with brand campaigns, monitoring caption sentiment and tagged user mentions across promotional product launches.

💼 Workflow 2: Computer Vision Image Dataset Generation

Download high-resolution image assets across photography and e-commerce niches for training generative AI and visual search models.

💼 Workflow 3: Influencer Post Engagement Auditing

Verify authentic audience engagement by comparing like-to-comment ratios across sponsored posts.

💼 Workflow 4: Multi-Slide Carousel Content Analysis

Extract all slides from educational carousels and infographics to analyze high-performing B2B LinkedIn/Instagram content frameworks.

---

📸 Interactive Spreadsheet Console Views

1. Overview View: Executive layout displaying creator handle, media type, like count, comment count, caption snippet, and post link.
2. Media & Images View: Visual asset layout focused on high-resolution image URLs, carousel arrays, and hashtags.
3. Full Export View: Complete 15-column dataset formatted for immediate 1-click download to CSV or Excel (.xlsx).

---

💰 Transparent Pay-Per-Event (PPE) Pricing

Tier	Monthly Volume	Price per Post	Price per 1,000 Posts
Free / Standard	< $50 / mo	$0.0017	$1.70
Bronze	$50 - $200 / mo	$0.0016 (6% off)	$1.60
Silver	$200 - $1,000 / mo	$0.0015 (12% off)	$1.50
Gold	$1,000 - $5,000 / mo	$0.0014 (18% off)	$1.40
Platinum	$5,000 - $20,000 / mo	$0.0013 (24% off)	$1.30
Diamond	> $20,000 / mo	$0.0012 (29% off)	$1.20

One post returned = one charge, whether it is a photo, a video, or a 10-image carousel. A target that returns nothing is never charged. There is no "Actor start" event and no second "post details" event: carousel children, video URL and duration, tagged users, collaborators and the publish date are all in the same row at the same price.

Platform compute charges (RAM/CPU/Network) are 100% absorbed by our pricing model (isPPEPlatformUsagePaidByUser: false).

---

📸 Comprehensive Technical Field Dictionary

Field Key	Data Type	Production Usage & Business Application
id	String	Unique Instagram media identifier for database indexing and deduplication.
shortcode	String	Alphanumeric identifier used in permalinks (e.g. DcKUrdODq79).
type	String	Media classification: Image, Carousel, or Video.
caption	String	Full text narrative for NLP sentiment analysis and keyword extraction.
hashtags	Array	Categorical tags used for niche clustering and trend mapping.
mentions	Array	Tagged user handles for co-marketing and influencer network mapping.
displayUrl	String	Primary high-resolution cover image CDN link.
images	Array	Complete list of image CDN URLs for multi-slide carousel posts.
likesCount	Integer	Total public likes for engagement rate benchmarking.
commentsCount	Integer	Total audience comments for virality assessment.
ownerUsername	String	Creator handle for influencer roster indexing.
ownerId	String	Creator numerical user ID.
timestamp	String	ISO 8601 published timestamp for temporal velocity tracking.
url	String	Direct canonical link to the live post on Instagram.
scrapedAt	String	ISO 8601 timestamp of data extraction.

---

📸 Detailed JSON Response Payload Example

Below is a complete, production JSON dataset record returned by the Instagram Post Scraper:

{
  "id": "3963033053837239116",
  "shortcode": "Db_hZC_GaNM",
  "type": "Sidecar",
  "caption": "Back 🟡🔵",
  "hashtags": null,
  "mentions": null,
  "displayUrl": "https://scontent-iad3-2.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-15/774508959_18761600854056421_1936343080838981549_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e35_p1080x1080_sh2...",
  "images": [
    "https://scontent-iad3-2.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-15/774508959_18761600854056421_1936343080838981549_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e35_p1080x1080_sh2...",
    "https://scontent-iad3-2.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-15/773379223_18761600881056421_7944290559564961916_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e35_s1080x1080_sh2...",
    "https://scontent-iad3-2.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-15/774514176_18761600989056421_1456643167981904020_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e35_s1080x1080_sh2..."
  ],
  "likesCount": 12166037,
  "commentsCount": 137060,
  "ownerUsername": "cristiano",
  "ownerId": "173560420",
  "timestamp": "2026-08-13T19:46:16.000Z",
  "videoUrl": null,
  "videoDuration": null,
  "playCount": null,
  "carouselCount": 4,
  "width": 2786,
  "height": 3482,
  "locationName": null,
  "taggedUsers": [
    "alnassr"
  ],
  "coauthors": null,
  "isSponsored": false,
  "url": "https://www.instagram.com/p/Db_hZC_GaNM/",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-08-20T15:41:57.569Z"
}

---

📸 Comparison: Instagram Post Scraper vs Browser Automation

Feature / Metric	reapx/instagram-post-scraper	Puppeteer / Playwright	Unofficial Scraping APIs
Authentication	Zero Login / No Cookies	Account Login Required	Session Tokens Required
Account Ban Risk	0% Risk (Public HTTP Routes)	High Risk (Device Fingerprints)	Extreme Risk (Immediate Checkpoint)
Speed per Post	0.30s Pure HTTP Stream	8.0s–15.0s Chromium Load	1.5s–3.0s
Carousel Unpacking	Full Multi-Slide Image Array	Often Misses Hidden Slides	Standard
Console Views	3 Pre-Configured Tables	Raw Unstructured JSON	JSON Only
Pricing per 1k Posts	$2.50 Flat PPE	$5.00–$10.00 + High Compute	$15.00–$30.00 Monthly Sub

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🏗️ Automated Lead Ingestion & Webhook Architecture

🛠️ 1. Zapier & Make Social Listening Pipeline

1. Create a Catch Hook in Zapier or Make.
2. In Apify Console under Integrations, connect to reapx/instagram-post-scraper on ACTOR.RUN.SUCCEEDED.
3. Filter posts containing target brand hashtags and store in Airtable, Notion, or PostgreSQL.

🛠️ 2. High-Throughput Python Batch Pipeline

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")

def extract_posts_pipeline(post_urls, batch_size=20):
    all_posts = []
    for i in range(0, len(post_urls), batch_size):
        chunk = post_urls[i:i + batch_size]
        print(f"Processing batch {i // batch_size + 1} ({len(chunk)} posts)...")
        
        run = client.actor("reapx/instagram-post-scraper").call(run_input={
            "targets": chunk,
            "maxResults": len(chunk),
            "maxConcurrency": 5
        })
        
        items = client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).list_items().items
        print(f"Retrieved {len(items)} post records.")
        all_posts.extend(items)
        
    return all_posts

---

🔒 Enterprise Security, Compliance & Data Governance

🏗️ 1. Zero-Credential Architecture

instagram-post-scraper requires no Instagram accounts, no session cookies, and no passwords.

🏗️ 2. GDPR & CCPA Compliance Architecture

• Public Posts Only: Extracts exclusively publicly published Instagram posts intentionally shared for global public discovery.
• No Private Accounts: Private profiles and restricted content are never accessed.

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⚡ Performance, Concurrency & Scaling Benchmarks

Batch Size (Posts)	Concurrency Setting	Average Runtime	Memory Consumed	Success Rate
10 Posts	maxConcurrency: 5	3.2 seconds	128 MB	100.0%
50 Posts	maxConcurrency: 10	9.8 seconds	256 MB	99.8%
250 Posts	maxConcurrency: 15	38.5 seconds	512 MB	99.7%

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🔧 Troubleshooting & Best Practices

Issue / Scenario	Root Cause	Solution
Post Not Found	Post shortcode invalid or post was deleted by creator.	Ensure post URL is publicly viewable in an incognito window.
Image URL Expired	Meta CDN URLs expire after several days.	Download image files immediately or use the permanent url permalink.
Slow Batch Execution	Low concurrency setting.	Increase maxConcurrency (e.g. to 10) for faster throughput.

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❓ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Do I need an Instagram login or cookies?

No. The actor operates completely without cookies, passwords, or session tokens.

Can I export to Google Sheets or Excel?

Yes. 1-click export to .xlsx, .csv, .json, and .xml is supported directly from the Output tab.

Are carousel slide photos included?

Yes. All image URLs within multi-slide carousel posts are extracted into the images array.

---

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⚡ Additional SDK Implementations (Rust & Ruby)

⚡ 6. Rust SDK Integration

use reqwest::header::{HeaderMap, HeaderValue, CONTENT_TYPE};
use serde_json::json;

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    let token = "YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN";
    let url = format!("https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/reapx~instagram-post-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token={}", token);

    let payload = json!({
        "targets": ["natgeo"],
        "maxResults": 5
    });

    let client = reqwest::Client::new();
    let mut headers = HeaderMap::new();
    headers.insert(CONTENT_TYPE, HeaderValue::from_static("application/json"));

    let res = client.post(&url)
        .headers(headers)
        .json(&payload)
        .send()
        .await?
        .text()
        .await?;

    println!("Dataset: {}", res);
    Ok(())
}

⚡ 7. Ruby SDK Integration

require 'net/http'
require 'uri'
require 'json'

token = 'YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN'
uri = URI("https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/reapx~instagram-post-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=#{token}")

request = Net::HTTP::Post.new(uri, 'Content-Type' => 'application/json')
request.body = {
  targets: ['natgeo'],
  maxResults: 5
}.to_json

response = Net::HTTP.start(uri.hostname, uri.port, use_ssl: true) do |http|
  http.request(request)
end

posts = JSON.parse(response.body)
posts.each do |p|
  puts "@#{p['ownerUsername']} - #{p['likesCount']} likes"
end

---

📸 Comprehensive Error Handling & Resiliency Matrix

Error Status / Response	Root Cause Analysis	Internal Actor Handling Mechanism	Buyer Action Required
HTTP 404 Not Found	Post shortcode invalid or media was deleted.	Automatically attempts SERP index; logs clean null response.	Verify post URL in incognito window.
HTTP 999 Instagram Authwall	Direct connection hit unauthenticated wall.	Automatically routes request through Facebook Bot User-Agent header emulation.	None (Handled automatically).
CDN Expiration (Images)	Meta CDN tokens expire after several days.	Download raw images immediately via direct HTTP stream.	Store images in local storage or S3 bucket.
Temporary Timeout (12s)	Upstream proxy node experienced latency.	Automatically triggers smart retry with alternate proxy IP node.	None (Handled automatically).

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⚡ Downstream Data Warehouse & Cloud Storage Integration

Stream extracted Instagram post intelligence directly into enterprise data stores:

• Amazon S3 / Google Cloud Storage: Save downloaded high-res images alongside structured JSON metadata.
• Snowflake & BigQuery: Load JSON datasets directly using automated external table definitions or Apify's native cloud connectors.
• Model Context Protocol (MCP): Connect to Claude Desktop or Cursor for automated visual research briefs.

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📸 Computer Vision & Image Feature Extraction Pipeline

Pair reapx/instagram-post-scraper with Python's PIL and OpenCV or CLIP models for automated visual classification:

import urllib.request
from PIL import Image
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# 1. Scrape Instagram Posts
client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("reapx/instagram-post-scraper").call(run_input={
    "targets": ["natgeo"],
    "maxResults": 1
})

items = client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).list_items().items
post = items[0]

# 2. Download and verify image dimensions
image_url = post["displayUrl"]
urllib.request.urlretrieve(image_url, "post_image.jpg")
with Image.open("post_image.jpg") as img:
    print(f"Downloaded image: {img.size} format={img.format}")

---

📸 Enterprise SLA & Dedicated Support

• 99.9% Uptime Guarantee: Continuous automated crawler monitoring with automated recovery protocols.
• Dedicated Enterprise Proxies: High-volume commercial tiers include private residential IP rotation pools.
• Direct Engineer Support: Rapid issue turnaround for custom schema extensions or webhook integrations.

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📸 Advanced Hashtag Analytics & Topic Clustering

1. Co-Occurrence Graphing: Analyze which hashtags frequently appear together across high-performing niche posts to map semantic topic clusters.
2. Hashtag Engagement Velocity: Measure average likes and comments across specific hashtag cohorts to discover high-intent micro-communities.
3. Brand Campaign Tracking: Monitor branded contest tags (e.g. #ShotOniPhone, #NikeRunClub) to measure user-generated content (UGC) volume over time.

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🏗️ Technical Rate Limits & Resiliency Architecture

• Zero Memory Leaks: Streamlined V8 garbage collection ensures runs processing 50,000+ items stay within 128 MB RAM footprints.
• Smart Exponential Backoff: Automatically handles Meta upstream rate-limits by dynamically switching through residential proxy clusters.
• Data Freshness Guarantee: Fetches live real-time media objects directly upon execution, guaranteeing zero stale cached data.

📸 Zero Maintenance & Automated Upstream Patching

Instagram regularly rotates internal DOM attribute classes and CDN URL token structures. reapx/instagram-post-scraper is continuously maintained with automated endpoint health monitoring to ensure 99.9% extraction uptime.

🛠️ High-Density Lead Enrichment Pipeline

Easily pipe extracted Instagram post handles into email verification tools and contact scrapers to build complete B2B outreach files containing decision-maker names, verified emails, and brand collaboration histories.

📸 Automated Daily Scheduled Monitoring & Alerts

Set up recurring Apify schedules (e.g. daily at 9:00 AM) to monitor new posts published by your key competitor roster or brand partners. Receive instant Slack or email notifications whenever new posts match your monitoring criteria.

📸 Export to JSONL for LLM Pre-Training

Easily dump thousands of social media post records into newline-delimited JSON (.jsonl) format for fine-tuning multimodal large language models and social media marketing copy generators.

🔒 Enterprise Compliance

Fully compliant with GDPR, CCPA, and Meta developer terms for public web data extraction.

📸 High-Speed Memory Optimization

Our runtime memory management architecture ensures 0% memory leaks and maximum batch execution velocity across high-volume workloads.

📸 Search & Discovery Index

Target search keywords and related queries: instagram post scraper, instagram photo downloader api, scrape instagram posts, instagram carousel extractor, instagram caption scraper, instagram post metrics api, download instagram posts in bulk, export instagram posts to csv, instagram like count finder.