🌐 Instagram & Threads Search Scraper

Search public Instagram and Threads content by query and receive clean, deduplicated rows with captions, authors, dates, engagement, media previews, and direct post links.

Perfect for creator research, campaign monitoring, competitor tracking, social listening, and content discovery. ✨

💡 Why this Actor

• 🌐 Instagram + Threads in one run — combined META_SEARCH covers both platforms from a single query list
• 🔎 Query-only workflow — search by keyword or hashtag, with no usernames, profile URLs, or login required
• 🧹 Deduplicated results — duplicate post URLs are saved only once within each run
• 📊 Multiple output views — profiles, posts & media, query results, and platform comparison tables
• ✅ No invented data — missing likes, comments, images, or dates are omitted, never faked
• 📏 Built-in cost control — cap total paid results and results per query before you scale up

📸 Sample output

A real run's output — exportable to JSON, CSV, or Excel.

🚀 Start in 60 seconds

1. Keep Mode set to 📸 Instagram + Threads search.
2. Add one query per row: ai startup, marketing, or #travel.
3. Set Results per query and Maximum output results.
4. Click Save & Start.
5. Open Output → Main results or Query results.

Example:

{
  "mode": "META_SEARCH",
  "queries": ["ai startup", "marketing", "#travel"],
  "maxResults": 50,
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 10
}

🎛️ Search modes

Mode	Searches	Best for
META_SEARCH	Instagram + Threads	One combined social search
INSTAGRAM_SEARCH	Instagram public posts and Reels	Hashtags, campaigns, visual content
THREADS_SEARCH	Threads public posts	Topics, brands, discussions

The normal workflow is query-only. You do not need to enter usernames or profile URLs.

🧭 How the Actor works

🔎 Your queries
        ↓
🌍 Public search discovery
        ↓
🔗 Unique Instagram / Threads post URLs
        ↓
📄 Public page details
        ↓
📊 Clean Output tables

Instagram queries work best with hashtags and campaign terms. Threads queries search public indexed discussions. Private, deleted, or unavailable content is not returned as fake data.

📦 Output views

View	What you see
Main results	Compact, user-friendly result cards
Profiles	Names, handles, followers, bios, verification, profile photos
Posts & media	Captions, dates, likes, comments, images, videos, and links
Query results	Query, platform, author, text, engagement, preview, and source
Platform comparison	Instagram vs Threads followers and activity
Changes	New or edited posts during monitoring runs
Issues	Real source or page errors only
Run summary	Counts, runtime, mode, and quality overview

🔎 Query result example

{
  "recordType": "search_result",
  "platform": "instagram",
  "searchQuery": "ai startup",
  "contentType": "reel",
  "authorUsername": "example_brand",
  "authorName": "Example Brand",
  "text": "A public caption about AI startups #AI",
  "likeCount": 342,
  "commentCount": 18,
  "publishedAt": "2026-07-09",
  "imageUrl": "https://...",
  "url": "https://www.instagram.com/example_brand/reel/ABC123/",
  "detailStatus": "page_metadata",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-07-09T20:00:00Z"
}

🧾 Important fields

Field	Description
platform	instagram or threads
searchQuery	Query that found the post
searchQueries	All matching queries after duplicate removal
contentType	post, reel, video, or thread
authorUsername	Public author handle
text	Caption or post text
likeCount	Public likes when available
commentCount	Public comments when available
imageUrl	Public preview image when available
videoUrl	Public video link when available
url	Direct post URL
detailStatus	page_metadata or search_result_only

📏 Limits and cost control

• Maximum output results is the global cap for the main paid Results output.
• Results per query controls discovery volume for each query and platform.
• Duplicate post URLs are saved only once.
• Start with 5–10 results per query, verify the output, then scale up.

📸 Instagram example

{
  "mode": "INSTAGRAM_SEARCH",
  "queries": ["travel", "streetphotography"],
  "maxResults": 50,
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 10
}

🧵 Threads example

{
  "mode": "THREADS_SEARCH",
  "queries": ["AI startup", "climate tech"],
  "maxResults": 50,
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 10
}

🔔 Monitoring

For scheduled profile monitoring, reuse the same monitorKey and enable enableDeltaMonitoring in a legacy profile mode. The Actor reports new or meaningfully edited posts in Changes.

🤖 API example

curl -X POST \
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/trakk~threads-profile-scraper/runs?token=YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "mode": "META_SEARCH",
    "queries": ["AI startup", "marketing"],
    "maxResults": 50,
    "maxResultsPerQuery": 10
  }'

Python:

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("trakk/threads-profile-scraper").call(
    run_input={
        "mode": "META_SEARCH",
        "queries": ["AI startup", "marketing"],
        "maxResults": 50,
        "maxResultsPerQuery": 10,
    }
)

for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item["platform"], item["url"])

✅ Data quality

• Public URLs are preserved for every result row.
• Duplicate URLs are removed within a run.
• Optional fields are omitted when the source does not expose them.
• The Actor does not invent missing likes, comments, images, or dates.
• Private, deleted, age-restricted, and unavailable content may return fewer optional fields.

❓ FAQ

Do I need an Instagram or Threads login?

No. The Actor works with public search results and public pages.

Why is an image sometimes empty?

Some public pages do not expose a preview image. The text and direct URL are still returned when available.

Can I search several topics at once?

Yes. Add each topic on its own row in Search query(ies).

What does search_result_only mean?

The public search engine found the URL, but the page did not expose additional metadata. The URL and search context are still preserved.

Are old profile modes still supported?

Yes. PROFILE_COMPARISON, INSTAGRAM_POSTS, THREADS_POSTS, and ALL_CONTENT remain available for existing API integrations.

Happy researching! 🚀