Instagram Post Scraper

Checking posts one by one in the app — or paying browser-scraper prices for a likes count — wastes hours you don't have. Paste up to 500 post or reel links and get likes, comments, captions, media URLs, and owner info back as structured rows at a flat $1.98 per 1,000.

Likes, comments, captions, and media metadata for any public Instagram post or reel URL — paste links, export rows.

🔥 $1.98 per 1,000 rows · up to 500 URLs per run · ⚡ API-based — no browser, no proxies · integration guide

💡 Why this scraper

• 💵 Flat $1.98 per 1,000 rows — about 80% below typical Instagram scrapers on the Store, with platform API usage included in the price.
• ⚡ API calls, not browser automation — no headless Chrome to babysit, no proxies to rent, no cookies or logins. Runs start fast and fit in 256–512 MB of memory.
• 📦 Structured rows, every time — each dataset row is the same Social Fetch API envelope (data, meta, and lookupStatus where applicable), so your parsing never breaks when Instagram redesigns its UI.
• 🔁 Nothing locked to Apify — the same endpoint is available on the Social Fetch API with an sfk_ key when you outgrow Actor runs.

New to Social Fetch on Apify? The integration guide has screenshots, the actor catalog, and troubleshooting.

🎯 What can you do with it

You need	Give the Actor	You get
Report on a campaign	Sponsored post and reel URLs	Likes and comments per deliverable, exportable to CSV
Benchmark reels in your niche	Competitor reel links	Engagement stats to compare formats and hooks
Reverse-engineer viral posts	Links to posts that took off	Captions and stats to study what worked
Reference media in your tools	Any batch of post URLs	Display media URLs, shortcodes, and owner handles

📦 Data you get

Post or reel

• Shortcode, URL, and caption
• Media type and display image or video URLs

Engagement

• Likes and comment counts

Owner

• Owner handle
• lookupStatus per row (found / not_found)

🚀 Quick start

1. Fill in the Input below — sample values are pre-filled.
2. Click Start and wait for the run to finish.
3. Open the Dataset tab and export as JSON, CSV, or Excel.

🧪 Input recipes

• postUrls — public Instagram post or reel links

Single lookup

Start with one link to see the exact row shape.

{
  "postUrls": [
    "https://www.instagram.com/p/DL2lr7ouyW5/"
  ]
}

Batch up to 500 links

Swap in your own links — one dataset row per URL, in input order.

{
  "postUrls": [
    "https://www.instagram.com/p/DL2lr7ouyW5/",
    "https://www.instagram.com/reel/<shortcode>/"
  ]
}

📤 Example output

{
  "data": {
    "lookupStatus": "found",
    "post": {
      "shortcode": "DL2lr7ouyW5",
      "url": "https://www.instagram.com/p/DL2lr7ouyW5/",
      "caption": "The blueprint to a better game. \n\nGet ready to outwork everyone in the Sabrina 3. The lightweight, versatile tool to build your game bucket by bucket.\n\nComing soon."
    },
    "owner": {
      "handle": "nike"
    },
    "metrics": {
      "likes": 64396,
      "comments": 426
    }
  },
  "meta": {
    "requestId": "req_b0afea53-45a7-4197-b753-e6451da410f0",
    "version": "v1"
  }
}

Rows may include data.lookupStatus (found, not_found, or private). Completed lookups are billed, including not_found.

💵 Pricing & cost control

	Cost per 1,000 lookups
Instagram Post Scraper	$1.98
Typical Instagram scrapers on Apify	$10.00

Roughly 80% less than many Instagram post scrapers on the Store — structured API data behind every row.

Keeping costs predictable

• Pay-per-event pricing: you pay for results, not platform usage — no compute or proxy surcharges on top.
• A run can never bill more rows than the URLs you submit (up to 500), so the ceiling on a run's cost is known before you press Start.
• Completed lookups are billed even when the result is not_found or private — the work was done, and the row tells you why.

🧩 Related actors

• Instagram Profile Scraper — profile followers, bio, and metrics

🔗 Wire it up

Works with Make, Zapier, n8n, Apify webhooks, and scheduled runs — or call the Social Fetch API directly.

🛠️ Troubleshooting

Symptom	What's happening
A row says "lookupStatus": "not_found"	The Instagram content doesn't exist, was deleted, or the input has a typo. The lookup completed, so the row is billed — it echoes the input value so you can spot the culprit.
Links you know exist come back not_found	Check the URL format against the recipes above — this Actor expects instagram.com/p/… post or instagram.com/reel/… links.
Run fails with No dataset items were produced	The input list was empty or no lookups completed. Copy a recipe above and swap in your own values.

❓ FAQ

• Do I need a Social Fetch API key? No — your Apify token is enough. Never paste an sfk_ key into Actor input.
• Why was I charged for not_found? The lookup completed, but Instagram did not return that profile, video, or post. That still counts as a billable dataset row.
• What URLs work? Standard Instagram post or reel links (.../p/... or .../reel/...). Profile URLs belong in the profile Actor, not here.
• Can I download media files? Not through this Actor. Use the Social Fetch API with downloadMedia=true on your own API key.
• Can it scrape stories or highlights? No — public feed posts and reels only.
• Is it legal to scrape Instagram? This Actor reads only publicly available data — no logins, no private accounts, nothing beyond what Instagram shows any visitor. How you store and use the data is your responsibility; review Instagram's terms and the laws that apply to your use case.

🤝 Support & more

• Apify integration guide — quick start and actor catalog
• API reference — same endpoints with your sfk_ key
• Missing a field or hit a snag? Open an issue on this Actor's Issues tab or email support@socialfetch.dev.