🔎 Instagram Related Profiles Scraper — BFS Network Graph Crawler

Instagram Related Profiles Scraper is a deep-graph Instagram network scraper that crawls the "related / suggested profiles" graph hop by hop from any seed account. Instead of returning one flat list of similar accounts, it performs a breadth-first (BFS) crawl up to 3 levels deep and — for every profile it discovers — pulls full profile details like followers, following, biography, business status and post count.

If you have ever wanted to map an entire Instagram creator network, cluster influencers by niche, or build a lookalike audience graph from just a couple of seed usernames, the Instagram Related Profiles Scraper is built for exactly that.

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🧭 What this actor does

Instagram surfaces "related accounts" whenever you view a profile. A normal related-profiles scraper stops at that first list. The Instagram Related Profiles Scraper treats those suggestions as a graph and keeps walking:

• 🌱 Hop 0 — your seed profile(s)
• 🪜 Hop 1 — the seed's related accounts
• 🕸️ Hop 2–3 — related-of-related accounts, expanding the network outward

Every visited account is emitted as a graph node, tagged with hopLevel (distance from the seed) and discoveredFrom (which account surfaced it), so you can rebuild the full network graph downstream.

Related keywords: instagram related profiles scraper, instagram network scraper, instagram graph crawler, similar accounts finder, instagram lookalike audience, influencer discovery tool, instagram profile details api, instagram followers scraper, instagram bio scraper, social network mapping, instagram bulk profile scraper, instagram deep crawl.

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📊 What data you get

Each row is one node in the crawled graph.

Field	Type	Description
username	text	The account that was visited/crawled at this node.
limit	number	Branching limit (max related profiles taken per node).
related_profiles_count	number	How many related profiles were collected for this node.
related_profiles	array	List of related/suggested profiles (see per-profile fields below).
hopLevel	number	Distance from the seed (0 = seed root, 1 = first hop, …).
discoveredFrom	text	The parent account that led the crawler to this node (null for seeds).
error	text	Error message if this node could not be fetched.

Per related profile (inside related_profiles[]):

Field	Type	Description
id	text	Instagram numeric user id.
username	text	Handle of the related account.
full_name	text	Display name.
is_private	boolean	Whether the account is private.
is_verified	boolean	Whether the account is verified.
profile_pic_url	text	Profile picture URL.
followers	number	Follower count (when Fetch Full Profile Details is enabled).
following	number	Following count.
biography	text	Profile bio text.
is_business	boolean	Whether it is a business account.
posts_count	number	Number of posts.

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⭐ Key features

• 🕸️ True BFS graph crawl — expands the related-profiles network up to 3 hops from each seed.
• 🔬 Deep profile enrichment — followers, following, bio, business flag and post count for every discovered account.
• 🧭 Graph metadata — hopLevel + discoveredFrom on every node so you can reconstruct edges.
• ⚡ Smart caching — each profile is fetched at most once per run, even when it appears in multiple branches.
• 🌱 Multi-seed — start from many usernames at once; each grows its own network.
• 🔒 Residential proxy support — resilient against rate limits and login walls.
• 📂 Clean structured output — export to JSON, CSV, Excel or via API.

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🛠 How to use it — step by step

1. 🌱 Add seed profiles — paste Instagram URLs, @handles, or plain usernames into Seed Profiles.
2. 🪜 Choose crawl depth — 1 for direct related accounts, 2–3 to explore the wider network.
3. 🔬 Toggle Fetch Full Profile Details — on for enriched data, off for a faster graph-only crawl.
4. 🌿 Set Max Branches per Node — the branching factor (keep it 5–20 for deep crawls).
5. 🔒 Enable Apify Proxy — residential is strongly recommended.
6. ▶️ Run the actor and watch the frontier expand in the live log.
7. 📂 Export the dataset in JSON / CSV / Excel or pull it via the Apify API.

💡 Tip: depth grows the dataset exponentially. A single seed at depth 3 with branching 10 can visit hundreds of accounts — start small and scale up.

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🎯 Use cases

• 📈 Influencer discovery — find clusters of creators in a niche from one seed.
• 👥 Lookalike audiences — build a graph of accounts similar to your target.
• 🏪 Competitor mapping — see who Instagram associates with a competitor and how deeply.
• 🎓 Social network research — study community structure and connectivity.
• 📊 Market intelligence — assemble large, structured profile datasets for analysis.
• 🧩 Lead generation — surface business accounts (with bios) across a network.

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📝 Input example

{
  "urls": [
    "https://www.instagram.com/ishowspeed/",
    "mrbeast"
  ],
  "depth": 2,
  "includeProfileDetails": true,
  "max_profiles": 10,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}

📂 Output example

{
  "username": "ishowspeed",
  "limit": 10,
  "related_profiles_count": 2,
  "related_profiles": [
    {
      "id": "278193020",
      "username": "fazeclan",
      "full_name": "FaZe Clan",
      "is_private": false,
      "is_verified": true,
      "profile_pic_url": "https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/v/....jpg",
      "followers": 8900000,
      "following": 812,
      "biography": "The most iconic esports & lifestyle brand.",
      "is_business": true,
      "posts_count": 15342
    },
    {
      "id": "288090135",
      "username": "mls",
      "full_name": "Major League Soccer",
      "is_private": false,
      "is_verified": true,
      "profile_pic_url": "https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/v/....jpg",
      "followers": 10500000,
      "following": 431,
      "biography": "Our House. #MLS",
      "is_business": true,
      "posts_count": 42310
    }
  ],
  "hopLevel": 0,
  "discoveredFrom": null
}

A hop-1 node discovered from the seed looks like this:

{
  "username": "fazeclan",
  "limit": 10,
  "related_profiles_count": 8,
  "related_profiles": [ "... enriched related profiles ..." ],
  "hopLevel": 1,
  "discoveredFrom": "ishowspeed"
}

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🤔 FAQ

How is this different from a normal related-profiles scraper?

A standard scraper returns one hop of suggestions. This actor performs a multi-hop BFS crawl, visiting related-of-related accounts up to 3 levels deep and enriching each one with full profile details.

What does hopLevel mean?

It is the distance from your seed. 0 is the seed itself, 1 is its related accounts, 2 is related-of-related, and so on.

What is discoveredFrom?

The parent account whose related list surfaced this node — this lets you reconstruct the graph edges. Seeds have null.

Can I make it faster?

Yes — disable Fetch Full Profile Details for a lightweight graph-only crawl, lower depth, or reduce Max Branches per Node.

Why do I need a proxy?

Deep crawls issue many requests. Instagram rate-limits and shows login walls to unauthenticated traffic, so an Apify residential proxy keeps runs stable.

Does it scrape private accounts' data?

No. Only public information exposed by Instagram's public profile endpoints is collected.

What formats can I export?

JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or programmatic access through the Apify API and integrations.

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⚖️ Responsible use

Use this Instagram network scraper for public data only and in line with Instagram's terms and applicable data-protection laws. It is intended for research, analytics, influencer discovery and market intelligence — not for accessing private data.