Instagram Post & Content Scraper

Ultra-lightweight, 100% cookie-free, HTTP-first Instagram scraper. Extracts posts, reels, carousels, audio tracks, engagement metrics, and author details — no user login, no Playwright/Puppeteer, no account bans.

---

🎯 What It Does

Extract rich data from Instagram posts and profiles completely anonymously:

• 📸 Posts & Reels — single images, videos, and multi-slide carousels via direct URLs
• 👤 Profile Feeds — scrape an author's most recent posts by username
• 🎵 Audio & Music — track title, artist name, audio ID, and original sound flag
• 🖼️ Full Carousel Unrolling — every slide extracted with direct image/video download URL and accessibility alt-text
• 📊 Engagement Metrics — likes, comments, video views, play count
• 🏷️ Clean Arrays — hashtags and mentions parsed into arrays (no # or @ prefix)
• 📊 CSV/Excel Ready — flattened scalar fields (firstMediaUrl, hashtagsString, audioTitle, etc.)

---

⚡ Key Advantages

Feature	This Actor	Typical Competitor
Cookie Required	❌ Never	✅ Usually required
Account Ban Risk	🟢 Zero	🔴 High
Browser Used	🚫 No	✅ Puppeteer/Playwright
Memory	256 MB	1–2 GB
Carousel Support	✅ Full unroll	⚠️ Often broken
Audio Metadata	✅ Full	❌ Missing
Alt Text / A11y	✅ Extracted	❌ Missing

---

🚀 Quick Start

Input

{
  "directUrls": [
    { "url": "https://www.instagram.com/p/DXd7BW3Ed6M/" }
  ],
  "usernames": ["natgeo"],
  "resultsLimit": 50,
  "maxPostsPerProfile": 12,
  "expandCarousel": true,
  "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true }
}

Output Record Example

{
  "id": "3881518031873105548",
  "shortCode": "DXd7BW3Ed6M",
  "type": "Sidecar",
  "url": "https://www.instagram.com/p/DXd7BW3Ed6M/",
  "caption": "Instagram just rolled out 6 new features...",
  "hashtags": ["instagram", "growth", "contentstrategy"],
  "mentions": ["creator"],
  "displayUrl": "https://cdn.instagram.com/...hires.jpg",
  "mediaUrls": ["https://cdn.instagram.com/...jpg", "https://cdn.instagram.com/...mp4"],
  "carouselMedia": [
    { "id": "...", "type": "Image", "displayUrl": "...", "altText": "Photo by Author on April 23, 2026." },
    { "id": "...", "type": "Video", "displayUrl": "...", "videoUrl": "https://...mp4", "altText": "..." }
  ],
  "likesCount": 4200,
  "commentsCount": 88,
  "viewCount": 250000,
  "timestamp": "2026-04-23T08:30:03.000Z",
  "timestampEpoch": 1776933003,
  "ownerUsername": "creator_handle",
  "ownerId": "1234567890",
  "ownerFullName": "Creator Name",
  "isOwnerVerified": true,
  "location": { "name": "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "latitude": -37.8156, "longitude": 144.9661 },
  "audio": { "title": "Original Sound", "artistName": "creator_handle", "audioId": "abc123", "isOriginal": true },
  "altText": "Photo by Creator Name on April 23, 2026.",
  "firstMediaUrl": "https://cdn.instagram.com/...jpg",
  "hashtagsString": "instagram, growth, contentstrategy",
  "mentionsString": "creator",
  "audioTitle": "Original Sound",
  "audioArtist": "creator_handle",
  "mediaUrlsCount": 7,
  "carouselMediaCount": 7,
  "locationName": "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"
}

---

🔧 Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
directUrls	array	[]	Instagram post or reel URLs to scrape directly
usernames	array	[]	Profile usernames (e.g. natgeo) to scrape recent posts from
resultsLimit	number	100	Max total posts to scrape across all inputs
maxPostsPerProfile	number	12	Max posts to scrape per username
expandCarousel	boolean	true	Whether to unroll carousel slides into carouselMedia array
proxyConfiguration	object	Apify Proxy	Proxy settings — Datacenter or Residential

---

💰 Cost Estimate

Scale	Memory	Approx. Time	Apify CU
100 posts	256 MB	~3 min	~0.05 CU
1,000 posts	256 MB	~25 min	~0.5 CU
10,000 posts	256 MB	~4 hrs	~5 CU

Without proxy — add proxy cost separately if using Residential.

---

❓ FAQ

Does it require me to log in or provide cookies? No. The Actor is 100% anonymous and never asks for Instagram credentials.

Will it get my Instagram account banned? No. Because it uses no user accounts or cookies, there is nothing to ban.

Does it handle private accounts? No. Private accounts require an authenticated session and are explicitly outside scope.

Does it scrape comments? No. Deep comment pagination requires authenticated sessions. Comment counts are extracted.

What proxy should I use? Datacenter proxy is sufficient for direct post URLs. Use Residential proxy for profile username feeds at high scale.

---

📋 Output Schema

All fields are documented in .actor/dataset_schema.json. Key fields:

Field	Type	Description
id	string	Numeric Instagram Media ID
shortCode	string	Post shortcode (used in URL)
type	string	Image, Video, or Sidecar
caption	string	Full post caption text
hashtags	array	Extracted hashtags (no #)
mentions	array	Extracted mentions (no @)
mediaUrls	array	Direct download URLs for all media
carouselMedia	array	Per-slide breakdown with URLs and alt-text
audio	object	Music track title, artist, ID, isOriginal
firstMediaUrl	string	(Flattened) First media URL for CSV
hashtagsString	string	(Flattened) Comma-separated hashtags