# Instagram Similar Accounts Finder (`seemuapps/instagram-similar-accounts-finder`) Actor

Find Instagram accounts similar to any profile - competitors and lookalike creators ranked by match score, with bios, follower counts and contact details.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/seemuapps/instagram-similar-accounts-finder.md
- **Developed by:** [Seemu Scraping](https://apify.com/seemuapps) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $20.00 / 1,000 similar accounts

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/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Instagram Similar Accounts Finder

Find Instagram accounts similar to any profile: direct competitors, lookalike creators and brands in the same niche. Every result is scored for how closely it matches and comes with a one-line reason why. No login required.

Instagram's own "Suggested for you" list mixes true competitors with whatever the audience also follows (big retailers, celebrities, grocery chains). This actor reads each candidate's bio, category and size, compares it with the account you gave it, and keeps only the ones that are actually alike.

### What you get

Each dataset record is one similar account:

- `similarityScore` (0-100), how closely it matches your account
- `relationship`: `direct-competitor`, `similar-creator`, `adjacent` or `audience-overlap`
- `similarityReason`, a short plain-English explanation, e.g. *"A modern skincare brand with overlapping beauty shoppers and a pared-back approach to beauty products."*
- `sharedTraits`, e.g. `["modern skincare", "minimalist beauty", "beauty shoppers"]`
- `username`, `fullName`, `url`, `userId`, `profilePicUrl`
- `biography`, `category`, `city`, `externalUrl`
- `followerCount`, `followingCount`, `mediaCount`
- `isVerified`, `isBusiness`, `isPrivate`
- `publicEmail`, `publicPhone` when the account lists them
- `discoveredVia`, how the account was found (Instagram suggestions, niche search, or suggestions of another strong match)

The **Key-value store** tab also has a `SEED_PROFILE` record showing how your account was understood: its niche, audience, account type and location.

### Use cases

- **Competitor research**: map every brand competing for the same customers
- **Influencer discovery**: start from one creator you like and find more like them
- **Lead generation**: build prospect lists of similar businesses, with emails where public
- **Partnership and collab outreach**: find accounts with the same audience
- **Market mapping**: see who else is active in a niche and how big they are

### How to use

1. Enter an Instagram **username** (with or without @, or paste the profile URL)
2. Set **Max results** (default 30)
3. Optionally raise **Minimum similarity score**: 60 is a good default, and 80+ returns close competitors only
4. Optionally add **Extra criteria** in plain English, e.g. *"independent brands only, no big retailers"*, *"based in Australia"* or *"creators, not brands"*
5. Optionally set **Minimum / Maximum followers** to target a size tier, e.g. micro-influencers
6. Run the actor. Results appear in the **Dataset** tab and can be exported to JSON, CSV or Excel, or sent to Google Sheets

Works for accounts Instagram shows no suggestions for, too: the actor falls back to niche search and follows the suggestions of the best matches it finds.

### How it works

1. Reads your account's bio and recent captions to work out its niche, audience and type
2. Collects candidates from Instagram's suggested accounts and from searches for that niche
3. Checks each candidate's profile and scores it against your account
4. Follows the suggestions of the strongest matches to find more lookalikes

If very few candidates clear your minimum score, the run stops early and says so, so you're not left waiting on a long run that returns almost nothing. Lower the minimum score to get more results.

### Example input

```json
{
  "username": "glossier",
  "maxItems": 30,
  "minSimilarity": 70,
  "extraCriteria": "independent beauty brands, not retailers"
}
```

### Example output record

```json
{
  "seedUsername": "glossier",
  "username": "rhode",
  "url": "https://www.instagram.com/rhode/",
  "userId": "10580369975",
  "fullName": "rhode skin",
  "similarityScore": 91,
  "relationship": "direct-competitor",
  "similarityReason": "A modern skincare brand with overlapping beauty shoppers and a pared-back approach to beauty products.",
  "sharedTraits": ["modern skincare", "minimalist beauty", "beauty shoppers"],
  "biography": "...",
  "category": null,
  "followerCount": 5292543,
  "followingCount": 508,
  "mediaCount": 1609,
  "isVerified": true,
  "isPrivate": false,
  "isBusiness": false,
  "city": null,
  "externalUrl": "https://www.rhodeskin.com",
  "publicEmail": null,
  "publicPhone": null,
  "profilePicUrl": "https://...",
  "discoveredVia": ["suggested"]
}
```

Other top matches for `glossier` in the same run: merit (89), summerfridays (88), iliabeauty (87), milkmakeup (86), saiebeauty (86), tower28beauty (85), kosas (84).

### Tips

- Results are saved in batches with the strongest matches first in each batch. Sort by `similarityScore` in the dataset view for a single ranked list.
- Use **Max followers** to find smaller, more affordable creators similar to a big one.
- Turn off **Expand search** to only check Instagram's direct suggestions for the account.

# Actor input Schema

## `username` (type: `string`):

The account to find lookalikes for. With or without @, or paste the profile URL.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

How many similar accounts to return. Set 0 to keep going until no more matches are found.

## `minSimilarity` (type: `integer`):

Only return accounts scoring at least this much (0-100). 90+ = direct competitors and true lookalikes, 70-89 = same niche with a notable difference, 40-69 = adjacent niche or shared audience.

## `extraCriteria` (type: `string`):

Plain-English requirements for the results, e.g. "only independent brands, no big retailers" or "based in Australia" or "creators, not brands".

## `minFollowers` (type: `integer`):

Skip accounts with fewer followers than this. 0 = no minimum.

## `maxFollowers` (type: `integer`):

Skip accounts with more followers than this. 0 = no maximum.

## `includePrivate` (type: `boolean`):

Private accounts can still be scored from their bio but have no public posts.

## `expandSearch` (type: `boolean`):

Also search by niche keywords and follow the suggestions of your strongest matches. Finds far more accounts; turn off to only check Instagram's direct suggestions for the seed.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "username": "glossier",
  "maxItems": 30,
  "minSimilarity": 60,
  "minFollowers": 0,
  "maxFollowers": 0,
  "includePrivate": false,
  "expandSearch": true
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

One similar account per record: similarityScore, relationship, similarityReason, sharedTraits, bio, category, follower counts, contact details.

## `seedProfile` (type: `string`):

SEED\_PROFILE record in the default key-value store: how the seed account was understood (niche, audience, account type, location).

# 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 = {
    "username": "glossier"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("seemuapps/instagram-similar-accounts-finder").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 = { "username": "glossier" }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("seemuapps/instagram-similar-accounts-finder").call(run_input=run_input)

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

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

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "username": "glossier"
}' |
apify call seemuapps/instagram-similar-accounts-finder --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,seemuapps/instagram-similar-accounts-finder"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/uFJoMUhCYUJZ2HADK/builds/Y3XdTPgWZpXUfbt77/openapi.json