Instagram Scraper - Posts, Profiles, Likes, No Login

Scrape Instagram profiles and posts without logging in. Give it a username or a profile URL and get back clean, structured JSON: followers, bio, bio links, verification status, and the account's most recent public posts with captions, hashtags, mentions, media URLs, dates, and - when you switch the engagement pass on - like and comment counts.

No Instagram account, cookies, or session token required. The scraper reads the same public page any visitor sees on instagram.com through residential proxies, then structures it for export to JSON, CSV, Excel, or your own database via the Apify API.

What this Instagram scraper does

• Profile data - username, user ID, full name, biography, follower count, following count, verified badge, private flag, pronouns, every link in the bio (not just the first one), Threads username, and the profile picture URL.
• Recent posts - the account's most recent public posts, each with post ID, shortcode, direct URL, media type (image / video / carousel), caption text, hashtags, @mentions, alt text, carousel item count, Reel flag, display image URL, and media URLs.
• Likes and comments (optional) - Instagram strips engagement counts out of the profile grid it serves to logged-out visitors. Turn on Get likes, comments and exact post time and the scraper opens each post to bring back likesCount, commentsCount, video view count, location, and the exact posted-at timestamp.
• Bulk input - pass many usernames or profile URLs in one run.
• Two row types - one profile row per account and one post row per post, so you can filter the dataset by dataType.

Why use this instead of the official Instagram API

The Instagram Graph API only works for accounts you own or manage, and it requires a Facebook Business account, app review, and access tokens. This Instagram scraper needs none of that. Point it at any public profile and get data immediately - useful for influencer research, competitor analysis, social media monitoring, lead generation, and content trend tracking.

How to use it

1. Open the Input tab.
2. Add one or more Usernames (without the @) - for example nasa, natgeo, nike.
3. (Optional) Or paste full Profile URLs like https://www.instagram.com/nasa/.
4. (Optional) Switch on Get likes, comments and exact post time if you need engagement metrics.
5. Click Start. Results appear in the Dataset tab and can be exported as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or RSS.

Example input

{
  "usernames": ["nasa", "natgeo"],
  "maxPostsPerProfile": 12,
  "scrapePostDetails": true,
  "proxyCountry": "US"
}

Example output (profile row)

{
  "dataType": "profile",
  "username": "nasa",
  "fullName": "NASA",
  "biography": "Making the seemingly impossible, possible.",
  "followersCount": 104409074,
  "followers": "104.4M",
  "followingCount": 91,
  "isVerified": true,
  "isPrivate": false,
  "externalUrl": "https://www.nasa.gov",
  "bioLinks": [
    { "title": "NASA.gov Homepage", "url": "https://www.nasa.gov" },
    { "title": "Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope", "url": "https://science.nasa.gov/mission/roman-space-telescope/" }
  ],
  "hasThreads": true,
  "threadsUsername": "nasa",
  "profilePicUrl": "https://...",
  "profileUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/nasa/"
}

Example output (post row, engagement pass on)

{
  "dataType": "post",
  "ownerUsername": "nasa",
  "shortcode": "DcOX3hWFiey",
  "url": "https://www.instagram.com/p/DcOX3hWFiey/",
  "mediaType": "image",
  "caption": "With your powers combined...",
  "hashtags": ["NASA", "Universe", "Nebula"],
  "mentions": ["NASAHubble", "NASAWebb", "NASAChandraXray"],
  "likesCount": 508438,
  "likes": "508.4K",
  "commentsCount": 3584,
  "comments": "3.6K",
  "timestamp": "2026-08-19T14:11:47.000Z",
  "date": "2026-08-19",
  "displayUrl": "https://...",
  "mediaUrls": ["https://..."],
  "isReel": false,
  "hasEngagementData": true
}

How many posts you get, and why

Instagram server-renders exactly one page of the profile grid - 12 posts for visitors who are not logged in, and it never serves a second page without an account. So 12 posts per profile is the honest ceiling for any no-login scraper, this one included. maxPostsPerProfile accepts higher numbers for backwards compatibility but clamps to 12, and the run log tells you when it does.

Pricing

This actor uses pay per event pricing:

• $0.005 per actor start (one event per GB of memory, minimum one)
• $0.002 per result (each profile row and each post row)

One profile with 12 posts is 13 results, so about $0.005 + 13 x $0.002 = $0.031. You only pay for data you actually get back.

Residential proxies are required

Instagram serves datacenter IP ranges a page with no data in it. This scraper defaults to Apify Residential proxies, which is what makes no-login extraction work, and you can choose the proxy country in the input. If residential proxies are not available on your plan, the run falls back to datacenter IPs and will most likely come back empty.

Tips for best results

• Leave Max concurrent requests at 1-3 to avoid rate limits.
• Use a proxy country close to your target audience for the most consistent results.
• Leave the engagement pass off when you only need captions, hashtags, media, and dates - it is one extra request per post, so runs with it on take noticeably longer.
• Private accounts return the profile row only; their posts are not public.
• Re-run on a schedule to track follower growth and new posts over time.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need an Instagram account or login? No. This scraper reads only public data and never logs in. No cookies, password, or session token needed.

Can it scrape an Instagram profile's followers and bio? Yes. Every run returns a profile row with follower count, following count, bio, verification status, private flag, and every link in the bio. Total post count is one of the fields Instagram withholds from logged-out visitors, so it comes back empty.

How many posts can it scrape per profile? Twelve - the single grid page Instagram serves anonymously. Anything beyond that requires a logged-in account, which this scraper deliberately does not use.

Does it scrape like and comment counts? Yes, with Get likes, comments and exact post time switched on. Instagram removed engagement counts from the logged-out profile grid, so they have to be read from each post page, which is why it is a toggle rather than always-on. Post rows carry hasEngagementData so you can tell at a glance which rows have it.

Does it handle carousels, Reels, and videos? Yes. mediaType tells you image, video, or carousel, isReel flags Reels, and carouselCount gives the number of items in a carousel.

Can I scrape multiple Instagram accounts at once? Yes. Add as many usernames or profile URLs as you want in a single run.

Why did a profile come back with zeroes and no posts? Some accounts have their public data withheld from logged-out visitors entirely. When that happens the profile row is flagged dataWithheld: true and the reason is recorded in the run's WARNINGS key-value record, so an empty result is never silent.

Can I scrape Instagram hashtags? This actor focuses on profiles and their posts, which is the most reliable no-login data source. Instagram puts anonymous hashtag feeds behind a login wall.

Is scraping public Instagram data legal? This tool collects only publicly available data that any visitor can see. You are responsible for complying with Instagram's terms, applicable laws such as GDPR and CCPA, and using the data ethically. Do not scrape private or personal data without a lawful basis.

What can I do with the data? Influencer marketing research, competitor and brand monitoring, content and hashtag trend analysis, audience growth tracking, lead generation, and feeding dashboards or AI/LLM pipelines.

How fresh is the scraped Instagram data? Every run reads instagram.com live, so the data is as current as the public profile at run time. Schedule recurring runs to track follower growth, new posts, and engagement over days or weeks.

What is a good Instagram API alternative for scraping public profiles? This actor is a no-login Instagram API alternative: instead of registering an app and waiting for Graph API approval, you send usernames and immediately receive followers, bio, and recent posts as clean JSON you can pipe anywhere.

Automate it

Add this Instagram scraper to an Apify Schedule to run it automatically every day or week - useful for tracking follower growth, new posts, and engagement on competitor or influencer accounts over time. Connect the output to Make, n8n, Zapier, Google Sheets, Slack, or any webhook through Apify integrations so fresh profile and post data flows straight into your dashboards, CRM, or alerting tools.

Related actors

• TikTok Profile & Post Scraper - Extend influencer and competitor research to TikTok with follower counts and video engagement metrics.
• YouTube Channel & Video Scraper - Add YouTube channel stats and video metadata for full cross-platform creator analysis.
• Reddit Sentiment Scraper - Pair Instagram audience data with Reddit posts and comments to measure real community sentiment about a brand.
• Telegram Channel Scraper - Monitor public Telegram channels (messages, views, media) alongside your Instagram tracking.
• Website Contact Finder - Turn the external website links from Instagram bios into emails and contact details for outreach.

Output formats

Export your dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or RSS, or pull it programmatically through the Apify API and integrations (Make, Zapier, n8n, Google Sheets, and more).