Instagram Post Scraper - Captions, Likes and Comments by URL

This Instagram post scraper turns post or reel URLs into structured rows: caption, likes, comments, reel views, hashtags, music and owner stats, ready for campaign reports and content analysis. No Instagram login or Instagram API key is required: the actor reads publicly available post data.

This is a single-purpose Instagram post scraper. It does one thing, takes a handful of inputs and returns one clean row per post.

What you get

• caption, hashtags and mentions - full caption text with tags and handles already parsed out
• likes, comments_count and views - engagement, as numbers rather than display strings
• owner_username, owner_followers and owner_is_verified - who posted it and how big they are
• music_title and music_artist - the audio track for reels
• video_url, image_url, thumbnail_url and duration_seconds - media URLs and length
• comments - the visible comments, when you switch them on

Why scrape this from Instagram

A post URL is the unit people actually work in. Someone sends you a link and the question is how it performed, who posted it and what audio it used. Getting that from the Graph API requires owning the account; getting it from the page requires parsing a render that changes shape regularly.

This actor takes the URL exactly as copied from the app or browser and returns the post as a row. Post, reel and TV URLs all work, including the canonical form with the username in the path. Hashtags and mentions come out as arrays rather than leaving you to regex the caption.

Input

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
search	array	yes	No default	Instagram post, reel or TV URLs, one per line.
includeComments	boolean	no	False	Also return the visible comments on each post.
maxComments	integer	no	20	Only used when comments are included.

Instagram Post Scraper input example

This input was used for a successful run with two public National Geographic posts. Counts and visible comments can change between runs.

{
  "search": [
    "https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdG4RIxIPyf/",
    "https://www.instagram.com/p/Dd8u0tIFz1F/"
  ],
  "includeComments": true,
  "maxComments": 100
}

The search field also accepts public profile URLs and @handles, keywords and location URLs. A profile returns its public profile record and, by default, up to twelve timeline posts. maxPostsPerProfile: 0 requests only the profile. The optional maxReelsPerProfile requests additional posts from the profile's reels tab and defaults to zero. A keyword returns posts that Instagram associates with that keyword; not every phrase has a public keyword page. If there is no matching page, the run completes without results or charges for that term.

Existing saved tasks can continue using the advanced fields queries, profiles and locationIds. The actor combines those entries with search and removes duplicate post shortcodes. enrichReels and includeCreatorStats default to true; disabling them can leave some engagement, audio or creator fields empty. maxReels controls keyword results and defaults to 200. Public data availability remains the limit even when a larger number is requested.

Output

One row per post, plus public profile or location records when those inputs are requested. Existing output fields remain available. The additional source, platform, fetched_at and _type fields identify the origin, collection time and record type. Post rows also expose post_url, post_id, author_handle, author_id and text; profile rows expose profile_url, handle, name, bio and emails alongside the existing names. Unavailable values are null or an empty list as appropriate, rather than estimated engagement.

Field	Description
shortcode	Post shortcode from the URL
url	Public Instagram URL for this record
caption	Post caption text
likes	Like count
comments_count	Comment count
views	View count for video posts
posted_at	Publication timestamp
is_video	Whether the post is a video
video_url	Direct video URL when available
image_url	Full size image URL
thumbnail_url	Thumbnail URL
hashtags	Hashtags found in the caption
mentions	Accounts mentioned in the caption
owner_username	Handle that published the post
owner_followers	Follower count of the publishing account
owner_is_verified	Whether the publisher is verified
music_title	Audio track title
music_artist	Audio track artist
duration_seconds	Video length in seconds
comments	Comment records when comments are requested
record_type	Which kind of row this is

Instagram Post Scraper output example

A selection of fields from a real row, returned for the first URL of a two-URL run on 2 October 2026. The full row also carries media URLs, IDs and the other fields listed below.

{
  "record_type": "reel",
  "shortcode": "DbIdlf0j6uA",
  "url": "https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbIdlf0j6uA/",
  "owner_username": "natgeo",
  "owner_followers": 268480747,
  "owner_is_verified": true,
  "caption": "Describe Pompeii: Out of Time in 3 words? It's Now Streaming.\n\n#PompeiiOutOfTime with @twhiddleston is now streaming on @DisneyPlus and @hulu.",
  "hashtags": ["pompeiioutoftime"],
  "mentions": ["twhiddleston", "disneyplus", "hulu"],
  "likes": 27958,
  "comments_count": 316,
  "views": 72795,
  "posted_at": "2026-07-23T13:00:03Z",
  "is_video": true,
  "duration_seconds": 36.202,
  "music_title": "Original audio",
  "music_artist": "natgeo",
  "engagement_rate": 0.0104
}

Use cases

Campaign reporting on creator posts. When creators deliver links rather than analytics screenshots, this turns a list of URLs into a performance table. owner_followers alongside likes gives an engagement rate per post, which is the number that survives scrutiny in a wrap report.

Competitive content teardowns. Collect a competitor's best-performing posts and pull them in one run. Caption structure, hashtag sets and audio choices become comparable across dozens of posts at once, which is where content patterns actually become visible.

Audio and trend tracking for reels. music_title and music_artist on every reel let you see which tracks are attached to the posts that performed. Audio choice is one of the strongest reach levers on reels and one of the least documented.

Compliance and disclosure auditing. For regulated categories, the caption and its parsed hashtags are the evidence trail for whether required disclosure was present. Running a creator's delivered links through this produces a dated, structured record.

How this Instagram scraper compares

Instagram Graph API. The official API only returns insights for accounts you own or manage. To look at a creator's or competitor's post you need their permission. This actor works from the public post URL, so any public post or reel is in scope.

Copying numbers by hand. Likes, comment counts and reel views are shown on the page, but copying them for fifty creator posts is slow and error-prone, and hashtags and mentions have to be picked out of the caption. Here each URL becomes one row with every count as a number and tags already split into arrays.

Profile-feed scrapers. Many Instagram scrapers in the Store start from a profile and walk its feed. That is the right tool when you want everything an account posted. When you already have the exact links, for example a creator's campaign deliverables, a URL-first Instagram post scraper avoids paying for posts you did not ask for. Profile URLs, keywords and locations are still accepted when you do want discovery.

Pricing

$0.0010 per post returned, which is $1.00 per 1,000 rows. All pricing is pay-per-event - you only pay for results you receive. There is no actor-start event. Deleted posts and unavailable results are free. Public profile and location records count as results when returned.

Limits and gotchas

• Public posts only. Private accounts do not resolve.
• Comments are the visible set, not the complete thread. Very large comment counts are truncated by Instagram before this actor sees them.
• View counts exist for video posts only. Image posts return no view figure, which is Instagram's behaviour rather than a gap here.
• Media URLs are time-limited by Instagram's CDN. Fetch them promptly or re-run.
• Free Apify plans are capped at 10 rows per run. Paid plans have no cap.
• Deleted posts keep a result row with unavailable: true and a reason. The row is free. Empty source failures are reported without charging for missing data.

FAQ

Can I scrape an Instagram post without logging in?

Yes. This actor reads the public post surface logged out, so no Instagram account is needed. Instagram can still restrict requests or return only some public fields.

Does it work on reels as well as posts?

Yes. Post, reel and TV URLs are all accepted, including the canonical form with the username in the path. The type is detected from the URL.

Can I get the comments?

Yes, switch on include comments and set how many per post. It is off by default because most reporting use cases only need the count.

Does it return video files?

It returns the video URL Instagram serves, plus the thumbnail and image URLs. It does not re-host or download the media.

What if the post is from a private account?

It will not resolve. Private posts have no public surface, and this actor does not authenticate.

Is this an Instagram scraper API I can call from code?

Yes. Like every Apify actor it can be started through the Apify API or the Python and JavaScript clients, and the rows come back as JSON, CSV or Excel from the dataset. Pass the same search array you would enter in the console.

Related Actors

• Instagram Profile Scraper
• Instagram Keyword Scraper
• Instagram Trending Scraper