Instagram Hashtag & Keyword Search Scraper

Search Instagram by hashtag or by keyword and export the public media it returns. No login, no cookie, no session.

This is the discovery entry point — it starts from a subject rather than an account, so you don't need to know who posts about something to find the posts.

Input

Field	Type	Default	What it does
scraperType	enum	hashtagMedia	Required. See the table below.
hashtag	string	—	Hashtag to search, no #. Hashtag mode only.
keyword	string	—	Search term. Keyword modes only.
tab	enum	recent	recent or top. Hashtag mode only.
limit	integer	100	Rows to save. 0 pulls everything available.
addonMediaDetails	boolean	false	Swaps each thin hit for its full media record.

scraperType	Searches	Uses
hashtagMedia	A hashtag	hashtag, tab
postsByKeyword	Posts matching a keyword	keyword
reelsByKeyword	Reels matching a keyword	keyword

{
  "scraperType": "hashtagMedia",
  "hashtag": "streetphotography",
  "tab": "recent",
  "limit": 200
}

Fill the field the mode reads. Hashtag mode ignores keyword; the keyword modes ignore hashtag and tab. Filling the wrong one leaves the run with nothing to search.

Output

Field	What it holds
pk	Instagram media ID
code	Shortcode — the identifier in a post URL
like_count	Likes
comment_count	Comments
taken_at	When it was posted
media_type	Image, video, or carousel
enriched	Whether full media details were fetched

{
  "pk": "3412987456123456789",
  "code": "DDPp2UWzWEm",
  "like_count": 4821,
  "comment_count": 63,
  "taken_at": 1785312000,
  "enriched": false
}

Keep code — it feeds Instagram Media Engagement for comments and likers.

recent vs top

recent is chronological: what's being posted under the tag right now. Use it for monitoring, and for diffing one run against the next — the ordering is stable.

top is Instagram's ranking of the tag's best-performing posts. Use it for research into what works. It reshuffles between runs, so it's poor for tracking change.

Questions

Is this every post using the hashtag? No. Instagram serves a bounded window rather than a full tag archive. A hashtag with 40 million posts will not return 40 million rows, whatever limit says. You get a substantial slice in Instagram's ordering.

Hashtag or keyword — what's the difference? Hashtag mode searches the tag itself, so it only finds posts the author explicitly tagged. Keyword modes search more broadly and catch posts that discuss a subject without tagging it — which is often where the honest conversation is, since tags are chosen for reach.

Why did my run return nothing? Almost always the wrong field for the mode. hashtagMedia reads hashtag; postsByKeyword and reelsByKeyword read keyword. A keyword sitting in hashtag while the mode is Keyword Posts gives the run nothing to search.

Should the hashtag include #? No — pass it bare. streetphotography, not #streetphotography.

What does addonMediaDetails add, and what does it cost? Search and hashtag results come back thin. The addon swaps each for its full media record — like and comment counts, owner details. One extra request and one billable event per item, so 500 results is 500 extra requests. Search thin first, enrich the subset worth it.

Do keyword reels and keyword posts overlap? They can. Instagram surfaces reels in general results too, so postsByKeyword may include reels. reelsByKeyword is the reliable way to isolate them.

Do I need an Instagram login? No. Nothing logs in and no session is passed.

Other Instagram Actors

Actor	Use when
Instagram Media Engagement	You want comments and likers (needs code)
Instagram User Search	You want accounts rather than posts
Instagram Profile Content	You want one account's whole output
Instagram Followers & Following	You want an account's audience

Support

Questions, bugs, or feature requests: contact@toolzerhub.com

Browse the rest: apify.com/toolzerhub