# Instagram Profile Scraper - Followers, Bio and Posts (`s-r/instagram-profile-scraper`) Actor

Scrape public Instagram profiles by username or profile URL. Returns follower count, following, post count, bio, category, verified status, website and recent posts. No login, cookies or API key required.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/s-r/instagram-profile-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [SR](https://apify.com/s-r) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, Marketing
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per event

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Instagram Profile Scraper - Followers, Bio and Posts

Scrape any public Instagram profile for follower count, bio, category, verification and recent posts. No login, no cookies and no API key: the actor reads Instagram's public surface directly.

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

### What you get

- `followers`, `following` and `posts_count` - the three headline counts, as numbers
- `full_name`, `bio_snippet`, `category` and `pronouns` - how the account presents itself
- `is_verified` and `has_public_story` - badge state and whether a story is live right now
- `website` and `phone` - link in bio and the public contact number when the account publishes one
- `profile_pic_url` and `user_id` - image URL and the stable numeric id for joins
- Recent posts per profile, controlled by a single input, or profile data only when set to zero

### Why scrape this from Instagram

Follower counts are the most requested and least accessible number on Instagram. The Graph API returns them only for accounts you own or manage, which rules out every competitor, prospect and creator you might actually want to measure. The public profile page carries the figure, but it is rendered inside a page built to resist bulk reading.

This actor reads the logged-out public profile surface and returns it as a row. Accepts bare usernames, @handles or full profile URLs interchangeably, so a list assembled by hand from different sources works without normalising it first.

### Input

| Field | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| `search` | array | yes | `['natgeo']` | Instagram usernames or profile URLs, one per line. |
| `maxPostsPerProfile` | integer | no | `0` | Recent posts to also return per profile. Left at 0 you get one row and one charge per profile. Each post returned is billed as its own, cheaper post event. |

### Output

One row per profile.

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `username` | Instagram handle |
| `full_name` | Display name |
| `followers` | Follower count |
| `following` | Accounts this profile follows |
| `posts_count` | Total posts on the profile |
| `bio_snippet` | Profile biography text |
| `category` | Business or creator category |
| `is_verified` | Whether the account carries the verified badge |
| `has_public_story` | Whether a public story is live |
| `profile_pic_url` | Profile picture URL |
| `website` | Link in bio |
| `phone` | Public contact phone when published |
| `pronouns` | Pronouns set on the profile |
| `user_id` | Instagram numeric user id |
| `url` | Public Instagram URL for this record |
| `record_type` | Which kind of row this is |

### Use cases

**Influencer vetting at list scale.** Before outreach, pull the whole candidate list in one run and filter on follower count, verification and whether the bio and category match the brief. The `website` field surfaces who already runs a funnel, which usually separates creators who treat this as a business from ones who do not.

**Competitive benchmarking on a schedule.** Track a competitor set weekly and the follower deltas become a growth-rate table. Growth rate is far more informative than absolute size, and it is the number that reveals which competitor's content strategy is actually working.

**Lead qualification for B2B outreach.** Business profiles publish a category and often a public contact number and website. For agencies selling to local businesses, that is a qualification pass and a contact route in the same row, without touching a login-gated surface.

**Building a creator database.** `user_id` is stable even when a handle changes, so it is the right join key for a database that has to survive rebrands. Combined with follower count and category it supports a searchable creator index that stays correct over time.

### How it compares

The closest competitor is `apify/instagram-profile-scraper`, the platform-official actor, at $0.0026 per profile. This actor is $0.0012, a 54% undercut. It is the platform owner, with the trust and default ranking that implies, so the honest comparison is price and simplicity: two inputs here against a broader configuration surface there. If you need Instagram's full profile graph, theirs is more complete. If you need follower counts and bios for a list of handles at half the rate, this is narrower on purpose.

### Pricing

$0.0012 per profile returned, which is $1.20 per 1,000 rows. Recent posts are opt-in and bill separately at $0.0010 each, so leaving posts at 0 means exactly one charge per profile. All pricing is pay-per-event - you only pay for results you receive. No actor-start fee, no per-compute-unit charges.

### Limits and gotchas

- Public accounts only. Private accounts return counts without content.
- Follower count, not the follower list. The list needs authentication and is out of scope.
- Email is not published on the logged-out profile surface. `website` and `phone` are returned when the account publishes them.
- Recent posts are the visible grid sample, not full post history.
- Free Apify plans are capped at 10 rows per run. Paid plans have no cap.
- Handles that have been renamed or deleted return an error row rather than a blank profile.

### FAQ

**Can I get Instagram follower counts without the API?**

Yes. The Graph API only returns follower counts for accounts you own or manage. The public profile page publishes the figure for any public account, and this actor reads it there.

**Does this work on private accounts?**

No. Private accounts publish only their name, picture and counts. There is no logged-out route to their content, and this actor does not attempt one.

**Can I get the list of followers?**

No. This returns the follower count, not the follower list. Exporting a follower list requires an authenticated session, which this actor deliberately does not use.

**Do I need cookies or a session?**

No. Everything comes from the logged-out public profile surface, which is why there is no account to get rate limited or banned.

**Can I pass profile URLs instead of usernames?**

Yes, and you can mix them. Bare usernames, @handles and full profile URLs all work in the same run.

### Related Actors

- [Instagram Post Scraper](https://apify.com/s-r/instagram-post-scraper)
- [Instagram Keyword Scraper](https://apify.com/s-r/instagram-keyword-scraper)
- [Instagram Location Scraper](https://apify.com/s-r/instagram-location-scraper)

# Actor input Schema

## `search` (type: `array`):

Instagram usernames or profile URLs, one per line.

## `maxPostsPerProfile` (type: `integer`):

Recent posts to also return per profile. Left at 0 you get one row and one charge per profile. Each post returned is billed as its own, cheaper post event.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "search": [
    "natgeo",
    "https://www.instagram.com/nasa/"
  ],
  "maxPostsPerProfile": 0
}
```

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "search": [
        "natgeo"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("s-r/instagram-profile-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "search": ["natgeo"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("s-r/instagram-profile-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "search": [
    "natgeo"
  ]
}' |
apify call s-r/instagram-profile-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=s-r/instagram-profile-scraper",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/tCgp5nOuBpce7qySg/builds/mRWb5dg4xY3iRMLH3/openapi.json