Instagram Post Scraper & API: Likes, Comments & Post Date

Instagram Post Scraper

Scrape any public Instagram post, Reel or carousel by its link, or the latest posts of a profile. You get the exact date and time it was posted, likes, comments, Reel plays, the caption with its hashtags and mentions, image and MP4 links, every carousel item, the audio, location, collaborators, tagged accounts, the top comments and the author's follower count and engagement rate.

{ "postUrls": ["https://www.instagram.com/p/DelZ5g8l8Pr/", "https://www.instagram.com/reel/Deo3af3k8JJ/"] }

No Instagram login, no cookies, no browser. Paste links, shortcodes or media IDs and get one row per post. Use it as an Instagram post scraper API for campaign reports, influencer vetting, UGC and brand monitoring, or as an Instagram post date and time finder: Instagram's app shows only "3 days ago", while this Actor gives the exact UTC time to the second.

What you get

Real example, 18 October 2026:

author	type	posted (UTC)	likes	comments	Reel plays	engagement, %	carousel items
natgeo	photo	2026-10-17 20:00:01	76,865	161		0.029
natgeo	reel	2026-10-17 13:11:03	209,039	3,384	10,867,982	0.079
natgeo	carousel	2026-10-16 19:35:02	26,816	74		0.010	7
nasa	carousel	2026-10-13 19:41:17	1,965,511	6,061		1.889	3
kyliejenner	reel	2026-10-16 18:21:42	719,241	4,274	19,123,320	0.190
kyliejenner	carousel	2026-09-14 15:26:49	3,188,274	8,409		0.840	9

Every row:

Field	Example	What it is
postUrl, shortcode, postId, type	instagram.com/reel/DemLxMGgoL_/, reel	the post; type is photo, carousel or reel
postedAt, postedAtUnix	2026-10-17T13:11:03Z, 1792242663	exact posting time (UTC), as Instagram stores it
likes, comments	209,039, 3,384	exact counts (likes is empty and likesHidden true when the author hides them)
plays	10,867,982	Reel plays, the number the app shows as views
engagementRate, ownerFollowers	0.079, 268,353,768	(likes + comments) / followers × 100, and the author's followers
caption, hashtags, mentions, captionEdited	"The giant anteater…", [], ["fernando.faciole"]	caption text, its hashtags and @mentions, whether it was edited
imageUrl, videoUrl, width, height	scontent…cdninstagram.com/….jpg / .mp4	the image (largest size) and the MP4 file; Instagram links expire after a few days
carouselCount, carouselItems	7, [{type: "video", imageUrl, videoUrl}]	each photo and video of a carousel
audio	{title: "Original audio", artist: "natgeo", isOriginal: true}	the song or original sound of a Reel, with its ID
coauthors, taggedUsers, locationName	["projectceti"], ["20thcenturystudios"]	collaborators, tagged accounts, location
topComments	[{username, text, likes, createdAt}, …]	up to 15 comments Instagram shows first
topics, altText	["whale communication", …], "Video by National Geographic…"	Instagram's related topics and the image description
ownerUsername, ownerId, ownerFullName, ownerVerified	natgeo, 787132, National Geographic, true	the author
profile, isPinned	nasa, false	for profiles: the profile you asked for and whether the post is pinned

The Posts view of the dataset shows the main table; Media, tags, comments shows the rest. Export to Excel, CSV, JSON or Google Sheets.

How to use it

1. Add post or Reel links: https://www.instagram.com/p/DelZ5g8l8Pr/, /reel/…, /tv/…, a shortcode DelZ5g8l8Pr or a numeric media ID, one per line (up to 5,000 a run).
2. Or add profiles: natgeo, @natgeo, a profile link or the user ID. You get the latest posts of each (up to 12, photos, carousels and Reels), with optional Posted after and Skip pinned posts filters.
3. Run, then open the dataset or call it from the API.

Reel plays are on by default: Instagram shows them only on the author's Reels tab, so the Actor reads that tab back to the Reel's date (10 pages = the author's latest 120 Reels by default; set Reels tab pages per author higher for older Reels, or turn plays off for speed).

Why this Actor

	This Actor	Typical post scrapers
Login, cookies	none	some need your session
Posting time	exact, to the second, for photos too	often only a date, or none for photos
Reel plays	yes, exact	often missing or a separate add-on
Followers, engagement	in every row	a separate run
Carousel items, MP4, audio	included	paid add-ons
Top comments	up to 15 in every row	a separate comments scraper
Monitoring	only-new mode for profiles	no
Price	$1.49 per 1,000 posts	$1.50-5.00 per 1,000, often + start fees

Monitor profiles for new posts

Save your input as a task, schedule it every hour or day and turn on Only new posts since the previous run: each run returns only the posts published since the last one (the first run returns everything and remembers it). Send new rows to Google Sheets, Slack, email or a webhook with an Apify integration.

Pricing

Pay per result, no subscription:

Event	Price	When
Post	$1.49 per 1,000 ($1.29 on Scale, $0.99 on Business)	each post in the results; missing posts and filtered posts are free
New profile lookup	$0.004	rare: a profile with embedding turned off that nobody looked up in the last 3 days, when Instagram shows its page only to a residential IP
Run start	$0.001

Examples: 100 post links = $0.15; the latest 12 posts of 10 competitors = $0.18; a daily only-new check of 20 profiles posting once a day ≈ $0.92 a month.

FAQ

Do I need an Instagram account? No. The Actor reads public posts the way a logged-out visitor sees them.

How exact is the posting time? It is the timestamp Instagram stores for the post, in UTC, to the second (convert it to your time zone in Excel or Sheets). For scheduled posts it is the time the post went live.

Why are there only 12 posts per profile? Instagram shows a profile's 12 latest posts to visitors without a login. For all Reels of a profile use Instagram Reels Scraper.

Why are some Reels without plays? The play count comes from the author's Reels tab. A Reel older than the pages read (120 Reels back by default) or a video posted outside the Reels tab gets no plays; raise Reels tab pages per author for older Reels.

Private accounts and deleted posts? Not available: the run log lists them and they are free.

Can I download the photos and videos? Each row has imageUrl / videoUrl and every carousel item's links. Instagram's links expire after a few days, so download them soon after the run.

All comments of a post? The row has up to 15 comments Instagram shows first; the full list needs a login.

Use with the API and AI agents

Run it from your code or an AI agent with the Apify API, the Apify MCP server or the Python and JavaScript clients; read the results from the dataset (?view=posts for the main table).

Other social media tools

Tool	What it does
TikTok Profile Scraper	All videos of TikTok creators with exact stats and MP4 links