Instagram Post and Profile Statistics

Collect public Instagram posts and exact profile follower counts. Get captions, publication dates, post URLs, likes, comment counts, and Reel play counts in a structured dataset. Collect a profile's timeline or refresh specific post URLs. The Actor uses an isolated browser without login cookies and does not download media.

How to use

1. Under Profile usernames/URLs OR post URLs, add 1–1,000 public profile usernames or URLs. To refresh specific posts instead, enter their post or Reel URLs. Do not mix profiles and posts in one run.
2. For profiles, set Maximum posts per profile (resultsLimit). The default is 100; the allowed range is 1–10,000. Direct-post mode processes every supplied post URL regardless of this limit.
3. Review Optional proxy if needed. No proxy is selected automatically; proxy execution has not been validated.
4. Start the Actor. Reel processing may take longer because the Actor searches the author's Reels tab to obtain the play count.
5. Check that the run succeeded and inspect RUN-SUMMARY, then export the dataset or retrieve it through the Apify API.

For a first run, use one profile and a small result limit. The limit is a maximum, not a guaranteed result count or proof of complete profile coverage.

Input

Run memory defaults are managed in Apify Console under Actor Settings. The source does not declare defaultMemoryMbytes; explicit run, task, or API memory settings can override the cloud default. Memory is a run option, not an input JSON field.

Example

{
  "username": ["https://www.instagram.com/instagram/"],
  "resultsLimit": 100
}

Fields

Field	Required	Description
username	For posts	Array of 1–1,000 profile names/URLs, or direct-post URLs. Use one kind per run.
usernames	For followers only	JSON/API alternative to username; accepts profile names/URLs only. Never supply both keys.
resultsLimit	No	Maximum posts per profile, from 1 to 10,000; default 100. Does not limit explicit post URLs.
proxyConfiguration	No	Optional Apify proxy configuration. Direct connections are used when omitted.

Use instagram.com or www.instagram.com HTTPS URLs without tracking query parameters or fragments. Bare profile names such as instagram are also accepted.

For direct-post refreshes, put post URLs in the same username array. /p/, /reel/, /reels/ and /tv/ aliases normalize to one shortcode. All requested posts are processed; resultsLimit only limits profile collection. Do not mix profile and post URLs in a request.

Followers-only input

For followers only, switch to JSON input and use the plural usernames key:

{
  "usernames": ["https://www.instagram.com/instagram/"]
}

A profile with no posts produces no post rows to carry followers. Use the followers-only input when a standalone follower row is needed.

Direct-post input

Replace the illustrative shortcodes below with real post shortcodes. Keep the username key singular even when supplying multiple URLs:

{
  "username": [
    "https://www.instagram.com/p/POST_SHORTCODE/",
    "https://www.instagram.com/reel/REEL_SHORTCODE/"
  ]
}

Output

Each post is one row; a carousel remains one row. Profile collection includes pinned posts and excludes posts whose verified author differs from the requested profile. Direct-post mode returns the actual author.

Example

The following is a synthetic example, not live statistics:

{
  "id": "123456789",
  "shortCode": "ExampleCode",
  "url": "https://www.instagram.com/p/ExampleCode/",
  "inputUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/example/",
  "ownerUsername": "example",
  "ownerId": "123",
  "followersCount": 500,
  "timestamp": "2024-01-01T00:00:00.000Z",
  "caption": "Example title\n\nExample body #example",
  "type": "Video",
  "productType": "clips",
  "likesCount": 0,
  "commentsCount": 2,
  "videoPlayCount": 1200,
  "videoViewCount": null,
  "hashtags": [
    "#example"
  ],
  "scrapedAt": "2024-01-02T00:00:00.000Z",
  "warnings": []
}

Fields

Field	Description
id, shortCode, url, inputUrl	String post ID, shortcode, post URL, and requested source.
ownerUsername, ownerId, followersCount	Author and current exact follower count.
timestamp, caption, hashtags	Publication time, caption with source line breaks, and hashtags.
type, productType	Image, Sidecar (carousel), or Video; Reels use productType: "clips".
likesCount, commentsCount	Public like and comment counts. Hidden likes stay null.
videoPlayCount, videoViewCount	Separate play and view metrics. Reel plays are not copied into views.
scrapedAt, warnings	Collection time and data notices.

Followers-only rows contain id, username, url, inputUrl, followersCount, and scrapedAt.

Data accuracy

Unavailable optional metrics remain null; confirmed zero remains 0. Missing or invalid followers or required Reel play counts fail the target. Counts are snapshots, not historical analytics.

Viewing and exporting results

Open the run's dataset to inspect results. Each post is one row; a carousel is one row rather than one row per image. Export JSON to preserve arrays such as hashtags, or use a tabular export for spreadsheet analysis. API integrations can retrieve the run's default dataset items.

Open RUN-SUMMARY in the run's default key-value store and check every requested target. Import successful runs only: rows from earlier targets can remain even if a later target fails.

Pricing

Check the Actor page for current prices. In pay-per-event runs, each returned result is billable. Proxy usage may add separate charges. Results delivered before a failure or budget stop may already be charged; a failed run does not mean no cost.

Limits and failures

• Reaching the profile limit can succeed but does not mean all posts were collected. Check limitReached and endOfFeed in RUN-SUMMARY.
• Old Reels can take longer because their play counts require searching the author's Reels tab. A missing target, unavailable required play count, or failed lookup makes the target fail; not every old Reel can be refreshed successfully.
• One failed target fails the whole run, including multi-account batches. Valid rows already written remain available; import successful runs only.
• When the budget prevents completion, the run fails with MAX_TOTAL_CHARGE_REACHED, stoppedEarly: true, and partial: true in the summary.
• Use a fresh dataset for each run; nonempty datasets are rejected.
• Login, private content, comment bodies, Stories, media downloading, and transcription are not supported. Public access restrictions can prevent collection.

Refreshing statistics

Start a new run with a fresh dataset. Reuse profile inputs to collect the current timeline up to your limit, or supply specific post URLs to refresh older posts outside that limit. For standalone follower rows, use the plural usernames input shown above.

For API compatibility and operator setup, see DEVELOPMENT.md.