Affiliate disclosure: Apify links on this page may include referral parameters. If you sign up through one of these links, TrueFetch may earn a commission from Apify at no extra cost to you. Pricing, features, and Actor access are unaffected.

Instagram Explore — Trending Posts, Topics & Media API

Scrape Instagram Explore to extract trending posts by topic or section — including caption, media links, likes, comments, plays, and topic labels — in a single Apify Actor run. Returns clean JSON / CSV / Excel for content research, trend analysis, and AI agent workflows, with optional photo and video download, and no Instagram login or cookies required.

TL;DR (40-word answer): Instagram Explore is a no-login Apify Actor that returns 26 structured fields per Explore post at $2.50 per 1,000 posts, including caption, topic, section, media URLs, likes, comments, and plays. Last verified 2026-05-02.

What it is NOT: Instagram Explore is not a follower or profile scraper, not an Instagram DM automation tool, and not a hashtag tracker — it only reads publicly visible posts surfaced in the Instagram Explore feed for content discovery.

Instagram Explore is an Apify Actor that scrapes the Instagram Explore feed and returns 26 structured fields per post — id, code, url, username, section, topic, type, is_video, caption, timestamp, date, likes, comments, plays, duration, has_audio, location, image_url, thumbnail_url, video_url, width, height, media_count, and media_items. Supports optional photo or video download, configurable result limits, and clean media extraction. Maintained by TrueFetch on the Apify Store.

---

📸 Why choose Instagram Explore

Instagram Explore is best for content strategists, social media researchers, and developers who need structured trending Instagram data without managing authentication or building scrapers.

• 📊 26 fields per post — processor, processed_at, id, code, url, username, section, topic, type, is_video, caption, timestamp, date, likes, comments, plays, duration, has_audio, location, image_url, thumbnail_url, video_url, width, height, media_count, media_items.
• 📥 Optional media download — download images or all media (images + videos) to your Apify storage at $0.001 per media file.
• ⚡ Pay-per-result pricing — flat $2.50 per 1,000 posts ($0.0025 per result). Free Apify plan includes $5 monthly credits ≈ ~2,000 free Explore posts per month.

---

🚀 Quick Start — run in 3 steps

Run in Apify Console

1. Open the Actor — go to Instagram Explore on Apify and click Try for free.
2. Configure inputs — enter max_results and optionally set download_medias to image or all.
3. Click Start — the Actor streams results into the default dataset; download as JSON, CSV, or Excel.

Run via Apify API

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/TrueFetch~instagram-explore/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "max_results": 50,
    "download_medias": "none"
  }'

Run via MCP (for AI agents)

Instagram Explore is callable from Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible client through the Apify MCP Server. Reference the Actor as TrueFetch/instagram-explore and pass the same JSON input as above.

---

⚙️ Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description	Example
max_results	integer	✅	—	Maximum number of Explore posts to return. Minimum: 10.	50
download_medias	string	❌	none	Whether to download media files: none (no download), image (photos only), all (photos + videos).	image

{
  "max_results": 50,
  "download_medias": "none"
}

---

📦 Output dataset

Each run writes structured post objects to the default Apify dataset, exportable as JSON, JSONL, CSV, Excel, XML, RSS, or via the dataset API.

Field	Type	Always present?	Description	Example
processor	string	✅	Apify Actor URL that produced this record.	https://apify.com/TrueFetch/instagram-explore
processed_at	string	✅	ISO 8601 UTC timestamp.	2026-04-24T09:30:00+00:00
id	string	optional	Instagram post ID.	3284718293741928634
code	string	optional	Instagram post shortcode (used in post URL).	C5xKqPTL8JA
url	string	optional	Full URL to the Instagram post.	https://www.instagram.com/p/C5xKqPTL8JA/
username	string	optional	Instagram username of the post author.	natgeo
section	string	optional	Explore section the post appeared in.	interest_feed
topic	string	optional	Topic label for the Explore section.	Nature
type	string	optional	Post type: image, video, carousel, reel.	reel
is_video	boolean	optional	Whether the post contains video.	true
caption	string	optional	Post caption text.	Golden hour in Patagonia 🌅
timestamp	integer	optional	Unix timestamp when the post was published.	1713956400
date	string	optional	Human-readable post date.	2026-04-24T09:00:00+00:00
likes	integer	optional	Number of likes on the post.	48200
comments	integer	optional	Number of comments on the post.	312
plays	integer	optional	Number of video plays (reels/videos only).	1240000
duration	number	optional	Video duration in seconds.	29.5
has_audio	boolean	optional	Whether the post has audio.	true
location	string	optional	Location tag on the post.	Patagonia, Argentina
image_url	string	optional	URL of the main post image.	https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/...
thumbnail_url	string	optional	Thumbnail URL for video posts.	https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/...
video_url	string	optional	Direct video file URL.	https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/....mp4
width	integer	optional	Post image or video width in pixels.	1080
height	integer	optional	Post image or video height in pixels.	1920
media_count	integer	optional	Number of media items in the post (carousel count).	3
media_items	array<object>	optional	Array of individual media items (each with image_url, video_url, width, height).	[{...}]
status	string	✅	Record status (success or error).	success

Sample output

{
  "processor": "https://apify.com/TrueFetch/instagram-explore",
  "processed_at": "2026-04-24T09:30:00+00:00",
  "id": "3284718293741928634",
  "code": "C5xKqPTL8JA",
  "url": "https://www.instagram.com/p/C5xKqPTL8JA/",
  "username": "natgeo",
  "topic": "Nature",
  "type": "reel",
  "is_video": true,
  "caption": "Golden hour in Patagonia 🌅",
  "likes": 48200,
  "comments": 312,
  "plays": 1240000
}

---

💡 Use cases

For content strategists monitoring trending topics

• Problem: manually tracking which content formats and topics are trending on Instagram Explore takes hours every week.
• How Instagram Explore solves it: scrape Explore posts with topic, type, likes, and plays fields to identify trending formats and subjects automatically.
• Outcome: a structured weekly trending report at $2.50 per 1,000 posts.

For social media agencies benchmarking client content

• Problem: agencies need to compare a client's content performance against top Explore posts in the same topic area.
• How Instagram Explore solves it: extract likes, comments, plays, and caption for top Explore posts in relevant topics and build a benchmark comparison table.
• Outcome: structured competitive benchmarking data at a fraction of the cost of social media analytics platforms.

For AI agents tracking visual content trends

• Problem: LLM agents asked "what visual content is trending on Instagram Explore in the Nature topic today?" cannot trust stale training data.
• How Instagram Explore solves it: call the Actor over the Apify MCP Server and surface grounded, up-to-date Explore trend data.
• Outcome: accurate, source-cited Instagram trend data in production AI assistants.

---

💰 Pricing, limits, and performance

Fact	Value
Pricing model	Pay-per-result (event: result) + optional media download
Per-post price	$0.0025 per post = $2.50 per 1,000
Per-media-file price	$0.001 per file (when download_medias is not none)
Free-tier monthly allowance	$5 Apify credits ≈ ~2,000 free Explore posts / month
Min results per run	10
Output fields per post	26
Login / cookies required	No — works without an Instagram account
Export formats	JSON, JSONL, CSV, Excel, XML, RSS, dataset API

---

⚖️ Compared with alternatives

Capability	Instagram Explore	Instagram Basic Display API	Custom scraper
Trending Explore feed posts	✅	❌ (own content only)	you build & maintain
Topic, section, and media type fields	✅	❌	you build & maintain
Likes, comments, plays counts	✅	limited	you build & maintain
Optional media download	✅	❌	you build & maintain
No login or API approval required	✅	requires app review	you build & maintain
Pay-per-result pricing	$0.0025 / post	N/A	infra + dev cost
Export to CSV / JSON	✅	limited	you implement
Setup time to first result	< 60 seconds	days (app approval)	days–weeks

Verdict. Instagram's official APIs restrict access to Explore data and require lengthy app review. Instagram Explore delivers structured trending content data with no approval required.

---

⚠️ Common mistakes to avoid

1. Setting max_results below 10. The Actor requires at least 10 results per run — the minimum is enforced by input validation.
2. Setting download_medias to all for large runs. Video download is billed at $0.001 per file on top of the per-post charge. For analysis only, use none.
3. Expecting topic on every post. Some Explore posts have no topic label — topic will be empty for those items.
4. Expecting plays on non-video posts. The plays field is only populated for video, reel, and IGTV content.
5. Assuming video_url is always accessible. Instagram CDN links may expire — download media immediately if persistent storage is needed.

---

🛠️ Troubleshooting

Problem	Likely cause	Fix
Fewer results than max_results	Explore feed may have fewer posts available at that time.	Re-run the Actor or reduce max_results.
topic field is empty	Post has no topic label in the Explore section.	Expected — filter by non-empty topic in downstream processing.
plays / duration null	Post is an image, not a video.	Filter is_video == true to process only video posts.
Media download URLs expired	Instagram CDN links are short-lived.	Use download_medias: image or all to persist media to Apify key-value store.
Charge limit reached	Account-level monthly spend limit hit.	Raise the run / monthly limit in your Apify plan settings.

---

❓ FAQ

What data does Instagram Explore return?

Instagram Explore returns 26 structured fields per post including id, shortcode, URL, username, topic, section, type, caption, likes, comments, plays, duration, image URL, video URL, and media items.

How much does Instagram Explore cost?

Instagram Explore uses pay-per-result pricing at $0.0025 per post (= $2.50 per 1,000 posts). Optional media download is billed at $0.001 per file. The Apify Free plan includes $5 of monthly platform credits, covering approximately 2,000 free Explore posts per month.

Does Instagram Explore require a login?

No. The Actor reads publicly visible Explore posts without any login or cookies.

Can I download images and videos from Explore posts?

Yes. Set download_medias to image for photos only, or all for photos and videos. Downloaded files are saved to your Apify key-value store. Media download is billed at an additional $0.001 per file.

Can I schedule Instagram Explore to run automatically?

Yes. Use Apify Schedules to monitor trending content on a recurring cadence and push results via Webhooks.

---

🔌 Integrations

Instagram Explore plugs straight into the Apify ecosystem:

• Schedules — monitor trending posts on a recurring schedule (docs).
• Webhooks — POST results to your endpoint on ACTOR.RUN.SUCCEEDED (docs).
• Apify API — run-sync-get-dataset-items for blocking calls, runs for async (docs).
• MCP Server — call the Actor from Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor agents (docs).
• No-code — Make, Zapier, n8n, Pipedream, Google Sheets, Airtable.

---

🧱 Sister Actors from TrueFetch

Jobs

• Best Job Search
• Glassdoor Job Search
• Glints Company Finder
• Glints Job Finder
• Indeed Job Search
• JobStreet Company Finder
• JobStreet Job Finder
• LinkedIn Job Search
• StepStone Company Finder
• StepStone Job Finder

Shopping & Deals

• Amazon Deals Scraper
• Amazon Store Finder
• Argos Deals Scraper
• ASOS Fashion Scraper
• eBay Deals Scraper
• eBay Seller Finder
• Flipkart Deals Scraper
• John Lewis Deals Scraper
• Lidl Deals Scraper
• Magalu Deals Scraper
• MediaMarkt Deals Scraper
• Mercado Livre Deals Scraper
• Nykaa Beauty Scraper
• OTTO Deals Scraper
• Target Deals Scraper
• TradeIndia Product Finder
• TradeIndia Supplier Finder
• Walmart Deals Scraper

Vehicles

• AutoTrader Car Finder
• AutoTrader Dealer Finder
• Cars.com Car Finder
• Cars.com Dealer Finder
• Webmotors Car Finder

Real Estate

• MagicBricks Builder Finder
• MagicBricks Home Finder
• US Real Estate
• Zillow Real Estate

Local Business & Food

• BBB Business Finder
• BBB Review Checker
• Google Business Profile
• Reclame Aqui Company Finder
• Zomato Menu Checker
• Zomato Restaurant Finder

Classifieds

• Kleinanzeigen Listing Finder
• Kleinanzeigen Seller Finder
• OLX Listing Finder
• OLX Seller Finder

Social Media

• Find Any Company On LinkedIn
• Find Anyone On LinkedIn
• Instagram Explore
• Instagram Post
• Instagram Profile
• Reddit Community Post
• Reddit Community Profile
• Reddit Community User
• Reddit Post Search
• Reddit User Profile
• Social Media Marketing
• Telegram Channel Message
• Telegram Group Member
• Telegram Profile
• X Community Profile
• X User Profile

Videos & Text

• Best Video Downloader
• Instagram To Text
• TikTok Live Recorder
• TikTok Video Downloader
• TikTok Video Lookup
• Video Subtitles Downloader
• Video To Text
• YouTube Niche Scraper
• YouTube Video Downloader

Content & Articles

• Medium Article Finder
• Medium Writer Finder

---

📞 Support, changelog, last updated

Support

• 💬 Telegram Group: t.me/Apify_Actor
• 📧 Direct support: t.me/AiAgentApi
• 📖 Actor page & docs: apify.com/TrueFetch/instagram-explore

Maintained by TrueFetch on the Apify Store.

Cost of doing nothing: manually browsing Instagram Explore to capture trending post data — topics, captions, likes, plays, and media links — takes hours per session. Instagram Explore delivers structured trending content data at $2.50 per 1,000 posts. → Try it free with $5 of Apify credits.

Changelog

• 2026-05-02 — README rewritten for SEO + GEO; documented all 26 output fields, full pricing, troubleshooting matrix, and FAQ.
• 2026-04 — Added topic and section field extraction; improved media item array format.
• 2026-03 — Added optional media download at $0.001 per file.
• 2026-02 — Initial release: Instagram Explore feed scraping.

---

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@graph": [
    {
      "@type": "SoftwareApplication",
      "@id": "https://apify.com/TrueFetch/instagram-explore#software",
      "name": "Instagram Explore",
      "description": "Apify Actor that scrapes the Instagram Explore feed and returns 26 structured fields per post — caption, topic, section, media URLs, likes, comments, plays — with optional photo and video download. Pay-per-result at $0.0025 per post.",
      "applicationCategory": "BusinessApplication",
      "operatingSystem": "Web, Cloud",
      "url": "https://apify.com/TrueFetch/instagram-explore",
      "offers": {
        "@type": "Offer",
        "price": "0.0025",
        "priceCurrency": "USD",
        "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock"
      },
      "author": { "@id": "https://apify.com/TrueFetch#author-TrueFetch" },
      "publisher": { "@id": "https://apify.com/TrueFetch#publisher" }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Organization",
      "@id": "https://apify.com/TrueFetch#publisher",
      "name": "TrueFetch",
      "url": "https://apify.com/TrueFetch",
      "sameAs": ["https://t.me/Apify_Actor", "https://t.me/AiAgentApi"]
    },
    {
      "@type": "FAQPage",
      "mainEntity": [
        {
          "@type": "Question",
          "name": "What data does Instagram Explore return?",
          "acceptedAnswer": {
            "@type": "Answer",
            "text": "Instagram Explore returns 26 structured fields per post including id, shortcode, URL, username, topic, section, type, caption, likes, comments, plays, duration, image URL, video URL, and media items."
          }
        },
        {
          "@type": "Question",
          "name": "How much does Instagram Explore cost?",
          "acceptedAnswer": {
            "@type": "Answer",
            "text": "Instagram Explore uses pay-per-result pricing at $0.0025 per post (= $2.50 per 1,000 posts). Optional media download is billed at $0.001 per file. The Apify Free plan covers approximately 2,000 free Explore posts per month."
          }
        },
        {
          "@type": "Question",
          "name": "Does Instagram Explore require a login?",
          "acceptedAnswer": {
            "@type": "Answer",
            "text": "No. The Actor reads publicly visible Instagram Explore posts without any login or cookies."
          }
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
      "itemListElement": [
        {
          "@type": "ListItem",
          "position": 1,
          "name": "Apify",
          "item": "https://apify.com"
        },
        {
          "@type": "ListItem",
          "position": 2,
          "name": "Social Media",
          "item": "https://apify.com/store?category=SOCIAL_MEDIA"
        },
        {
          "@type": "ListItem",
          "position": 3,
          "name": "Instagram Explore",
          "item": "https://apify.com/TrueFetch/instagram-explore"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

---

Last Updated: May 2, 2026 Schema version: 1.1 Maintained by: TrueFetch · 💬 Telegram Group · 📧 Support