Instagram Profile Scraper

Look up public Instagram accounts by username or by numeric ID and get a structured row back for each one — display name, verified badge, private flag, follower and following counts, and the usernames the account used before. No Instagram login or cookies.

Pass a list and you get a row per account. Every row carries source_identifier, the username or ID it was fetched for, so a run over 200 accounts stays sortable.

Pick a mode

Mode	Give it	Use it for
Get profile by username	usernames	The normal lookup. Also the fastest way to get an account's numeric ID.
Get profile by user ID	userIds	You already have the numeric ID and the handle may have changed.
Extended profile	usernamesOrIds	Adds follower_count and following_count as their own fields.
Username by ID	userIds	Resolving old IDs back to current handles, in bulk.
Former usernames	usernamesOrIds	Every previous handle, each with the date it changed.

Usernames go in without the @.

Output

Field	What it is
source_identifier	The username or ID this row was fetched for
pk	Instagram's internal numeric ID, as a string
username	Handle, without the @
full_name	Display name
is_private	Whether the account is private
is_verified	Whether it carries the verified badge
follower_count	Followers — on Extended profile
following_count	Following — on Extended profile
former_usernames	Previous handles with change dates; empty if never renamed

Questions

Do private accounts work? Yes, for the profile itself. A private account returns its row with is_private: true — name, badge, counts and former usernames are all public metadata. What you can't get is its posts or its follower list; those modes return nothing for a private account.

One username was wrong. Does the whole run fail? No. An identifier Instagram has no record for produces no row at all, rather than a blank one, and the run carries on to the next. Compare the rows you got back against the list you sent — a missing source_identifier is the answer.

Which mode gives me the numeric user ID? Get profile by username. The pk field is that ID. You need it for the Posts & Reels Actor, which takes numeric IDs only.

Why does follower_count sometimes not appear? Only Extended profile returns it as its own field. The plain username and ID modes report the same number as edge_followed_by instead — same figure, different name, because that is how Instagram hands it over on those two endpoints.

Former usernames came back empty. Is that a failure? No. It means the account has never been renamed. Instagram only records a change when one happens.

The rest of the family

Need what an account posted? Instagram Posts, Reels & Reposts Scraper — it takes the pk from here. Need who follows them? Instagram Followers, Following & Related Accounts Scraper — that one takes a username directly. Want every mode in one place? Instagram Scraper - All In One.

Support

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

Browse the rest: apify.com/toolzerhub