Instagram Profile Scraper

Instagram Profile Scraper

The Instagram Profile Scraper is a Playwright-powered Apify actor that extracts rich, structured profile data from public Instagram accounts — including profile details, follower metrics, profile photos, external links, related profiles, IGTV entries, and recent posts with captions, hashtags, mentions, and media. Built for marketers, developers, data analysts, and researchers, it solves the challenge of scalable, reliable Instagram profile data collection without API keys. With residential proxies always enabled and automatic retries, it delivers fast, stable results you can export and integrate into your workflows at scale. 🚀

What data / output can you get?

Data field	Description	Example value
id	Instagram user ID	"242598499"
username	Handle of the account	"humansofny"
fullName	Display name / full name	"Humans of New York"
biography	Bio text from the profile	"New York City, one story at a time..."
followersCount	Number of followers	12802590
followsCount	Number of accounts the user follows	673
postsCount	Total posts on the profile	5839
verified	Verification badge status	true
isBusinessAccount	Business account flag	false
profilePicUrlHD	High-resolution profile picture URL	"https://instagram.cdn/.../profile_hd.jpg"
externalUrl	Main external URL in bio	"https://bit.ly/dearnewyorkbook"
externalUrlShimmed	Instagram’s shimmed version of external URL	"https://l.instagram.com/..."

Bonus outputs include:

• externalUrls (all links in bio with titles)
• relatedProfiles (similar accounts with basic public info)
• latestIgtvVideos (ID, shortCode, displayUrl, dimensions, timestamp)
• latestPosts (rich post objects with captions, hashtags, mentions, media, dimensions, likes/comments, owner info, and sidecar children)
• about (joinedDate, country) when includeAboutSection is enabled

All results are saved to the Apify dataset and can be exported to JSON, CSV, or Excel.

Key features

• 🌐 Residential proxy reliability (always on)
  Uses Apify Residential proxy by default with 3 automatic retries for maximum success on Instagram requests.

• 🧠 Playwright-based API interception
  Launches Chromium and listens for Instagram’s web_profile_info response to collect structured profile and post data — no API keys needed.

• 🧩 Rich, structured outputs
  Extracts profile stats, bio links, HD profile pictures, related profiles, IGTV entries, and recent posts with captions, hashtags, mentions, media URLs, dimensions, and engagement counts.

• 💾 Real-time dataset saving
  Each scraped profile is pushed to the Apify dataset immediately as it’s processed for incremental, fault-tolerant runs.

• 🔧 Developer-friendly & API-ready
  Built with the Apify SDK and Playwright. Access results via the Apify API or download as CSV/JSON for pipelines and analytics.

• ✅ No login required
  Works on public profiles without cookies or account authentication.

• 🔁 Automatic retry logic
  Handles transient failures and timeouts with up to 3 attempts and backoff delays for robust scraping.

How to use Instagram Profile Scraper - step by step

1. Create or log in to your Apify account at https://console.apify.com.
2. Find the actor named “instagram-profile-scraper” and open it.
3. Enter input data:
   • Paste Instagram profile URLs or usernames into startUrls (e.g., https://www.instagram.com/humansofny/, humansofny, @natgeo).
   • Optionally toggle includeAboutSection to add joinedDate and country to the output.
   • proxyConfiguration is available, but the actor always uses Apify Residential proxy regardless of your selection.
4. Click Start to run the actor.
5. Monitor progress in the logs (you’ll see per-profile status and success/failure messages).
6. View items in the OUTPUT tab of the run’s dataset as they appear in real time.
7. Export your results to JSON, CSV, or Excel from the dataset view or fetch them programmatically via the Apify API.

Pro Tip: Use the Apify API to schedule runs and pull datasets into your internal dashboards or enrichment pipelines.

Use cases

Use case name	Description
Influencer discovery for campaigns	Identify and evaluate public profiles by followersCount, engagement (likes/comments), and content themes (hashtags, captions).
Competitor profile benchmarking	Track verified status, follower trends, post counts, and link strategies across competitor profiles.
Content strategy analysis	Analyze recent posts’ captions, hashtags, mentions, and media types to inform content planning.
Social listening & brand tracking	Gather relatedProfiles and bio links to map brand networks and external destinations.
Market research datasets	Build structured datasets of public profiles for segmentation, reporting, and analytics.
Academic & non-profit research	Collect public Instagram profile metadata and content signals for studies at scale.
Data enrichment pipelines (API)	Automate profile data collection and export to CSV/JSON for CRM, BI, or internal APIs.

Why choose Instagram Profile Scraper?

Built for precision and reliability, this Instagram profile scraper combines Playwright automation with residential proxies to deliver accurate public data at scale.

• 🎯 Accurate, structured fields: Outputs are normalized for profile and post metadata.
• 🌐 Residential proxies by default: Higher success rate with 3 automatic retries.
• 🚀 Scales with your needs: Process multiple profiles sequentially and save results incrementally.
• 🧰 Developer access: Apify SDK + Dataset + API for integration into data pipelines.
• 🔒 Public data only: No login, no cookies — designed for public profile information.
• 🔄 Production-ready: Robust error handling, timeouts, and retries for stable runs.
• 🛠️ Better than extensions: Avoid unstable browser add-ons; run on reliable cloud infrastructure.

In short, it’s a robust, API-ready Instagram profile scraper for teams that need dependable, structured data from public profiles.

Is it legal / ethical to use Instagram Profile Scraper?

Yes — when used responsibly. This actor collects data from publicly available Instagram profiles and does not access private accounts or authenticated content.

Guidelines for compliant use:

• Only scrape public profile information.
• Respect Instagram’s Terms of Service and platform rate limits.
• Ensure your usage complies with applicable laws and regulations (e.g., GDPR, CCPA).
• Do not use scraped data for spam, harassment, or illegal activities.
• Consult your legal team for edge cases or jurisdiction-specific requirements.

Input parameters & output format

Example JSON input

{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://www.instagram.com/humansofny/",
    "natgeo",
    "@mileycyrus"
  ],
  "includeAboutSection": true,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}

Parameter reference:

• startUrls (array, required): Instagram usernames or profile URLs. Accepts formats like “username”, “@username”, “instagram.com/username”, or full “https://www.instagram.com/username/”.
• includeAboutSection (boolean, optional, default: false): When true, adds about.joinedDate and about.country to each profile item (if available in the response).
• proxyConfiguration (object, optional): Proxy UI configuration. Note: The actor always uses Apify Residential proxy with 3 automatic retries regardless of this setting.

Example JSON output

{
  "inputUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/humansofny",
  "url": "https://www.instagram.com/humansofny",
  "id": "242598499",
  "username": "humansofny",
  "fullName": "Humans of New York",
  "biography": "New York City, one story at a time...",
  "externalUrls": [
    {
      "title": "Dear New York Book",
      "lynx_url": "https://l.instagram.com/...",
      "url": "https://bit.ly/dearnewyorkbook",
      "link_type": "external"
    }
  ],
  "externalUrl": "https://bit.ly/dearnewyorkbook",
  "externalUrlShimmed": "https://l.instagram.com/...",
  "followersCount": 12802590,
  "followsCount": 673,
  "hasChannel": false,
  "highlightReelCount": 12,
  "isBusinessAccount": false,
  "joinedRecently": false,
  "businessCategoryName": null,
  "private": false,
  "verified": true,
  "profilePicUrl": "https://instagram.cdn/.../profile.jpg",
  "profilePicUrlHD": "https://instagram.cdn/.../profile_hd.jpg",
  "igtvVideoCount": 0,
  "postsCount": 5839,
  "relatedProfiles": [
    {
      "id": "178414011",
      "full_name": "Example Profile",
      "is_verified": false,
      "profile_pic_url": "https://instagram.cdn/.../pic.jpg",
      "username": "exampleuser",
      "is_private": false
    }
  ],
  "latestIgtvVideos": [
    {
      "id": "2891047461",
      "shortCode": "C0D3AbC",
      "displayUrl": "https://instagram.cdn/.../igtv.jpg",
      "dimensions": { "height": 720, "width": 1280 },
      "timestamp": "2025-10-13T20:14:46.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "latestPosts": [
    {
      "id": "3742534382104984578",
      "type": "Sidecar",
      "shortCode": "DPwJzEVDbwC",
      "caption": "A few years ago I received a DM...",
      "hashtags": ["story", "nyc"],
      "mentions": ["zohrankmamdani"],
      "url": "https://www.instagram.com/p/DPwJzEVDbwC/",
      "commentsCount": 3841,
      "dimensionsHeight": 1080,
      "dimensionsWidth": 1080,
      "displayUrl": "https://instagram.cdn/.../post.jpg",
      "alt": "Photo of people in NYC",
      "likesCount": 254147,
      "timestamp": "2025-10-13T20:14:46.000Z",
      "ownerUsername": "humansofny",
      "ownerId": "242598499",
      "images": [
        "https://instagram.cdn/.../image1.jpg",
        "https://instagram.cdn/.../image2.jpg"
      ],
      "childPosts": [
        {
          "id": "3742534382104984579",
          "type": "Image",
          "shortCode": "DPwJzEVDbwC",
          "caption": "",
          "hashtags": [],
          "mentions": [],
          "url": "https://www.instagram.com/p/DPwJzEVDbwC/",
          "commentsCount": 0,
          "dimensionsHeight": 1080,
          "dimensionsWidth": 1080,
          "displayUrl": "https://instagram.cdn/.../child.jpg",
          "alt": null,
          "likesCount": 0,
          "timestamp": "2025-10-13T20:14:46.000Z",
          "ownerUsername": "humansofny",
          "ownerId": "242598499",
          "firstComment": "",
          "latestComments": [],
          "images": [],
          "childPosts": [],
          "taggedUsers": []
        }
      ],
      "taggedUsers": [
        {
          "id": "123456789",
          "full_name": "Tagged Person",
          "is_verified": false,
          "profile_pic_url": "https://instagram.cdn/.../tagged.jpg",
          "username": "taggeduser"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "about": {
    "joinedDate": "2010-06-01T00:00:00.000Z",
    "country": "United States"
  }
}

Notes:

• Some fields may be null or empty arrays if not present in Instagram’s response (e.g., businessCategoryName, latestIgtvVideos, relatedProfiles).
• The about object appears only when includeAboutSection is set to true and the underlying fields are available.

FAQ

Do I need to log in or use API keys?

No. The scraper uses Playwright to intercept public web_profile_info responses on Instagram, so there’s no login or API key required.

Can this scrape private accounts?

No. It only collects publicly available information from public Instagram profiles. Private or password-protected content is not accessed.

How many profiles can I process in one run?

You can include multiple usernames/URLs in startUrls. The actor processes them sequentially and saves each result to the dataset as it completes.

How are proxies handled?

Residential proxies are always enabled with 3 automatic retries. The actor will use Apify Residential proxy regardless of the proxyConfiguration you provide.

What recent posts are included?

The actor captures the recent timeline posts available in Instagram’s web_profile_info response for each profile, including captions, hashtags, mentions, media URLs, dimensions, likes, and comments where available.

What does the About section add?

When includeAboutSection is true, the output includes an about object with joinedDate and country (if those fields are present in the response).

How do I export the data?

Open the run’s dataset in Apify and export to JSON, CSV, or Excel. You can also fetch dataset items programmatically using the Apify API.

Which fields might be missing?

If Instagram doesn’t provide certain fields for a profile (e.g., businessCategoryName, latestIgtvVideos), those will be null or empty arrays. This is normal and reflects the source data.

Closing CTA / Final thoughts

Instagram Profile Scraper is built for accurate, scalable extraction of public Instagram profile and post metadata. It delivers reliable results with residential proxies, structured outputs, and real-time dataset saving.

Whether you’re a marketer, developer, analyst, or researcher, you can turn public Instagram profiles into actionable datasets — no login or API keys required. Integrate via the Apify API, automate runs, and export to CSV/JSON for your dashboards and pipelines. Start extracting smarter Instagram insights at scale today.