Instagram Account Posts Scraper

Fetch the post timeline of any public Instagram account in bulk — captions, image and video URLs, like and comment counts, carousel children, timestamps, and the poster's profile data — as clean structured JSON.

Why use this actor

• No account, no login, no API key — give it a username and you get the same feed the Instagram app shows.
• Paginated timeline — pulls the full grid newest-first, dozens to thousands of posts per account, in a single run.
• All post formats — single photos, single videos, Reels, and multi-slide carousels with every child media included.
• Rich engagement — like count, comment count, view / play count, video duration, and the original capture timestamp.
• Full media — multi-resolution image and video URLs straight from Instagram's CDN, plus alt-friendly metadata.
• Stable JSON envelope — every row carries _input, _source, _scrapedAt so you can join results back to your input list and feed pipelines, spreadsheets, or databases.

How it works

1. You provide a list of Instagram usernames (e.g. nasa) or full profile URLs.
2. The actor walks the account's post timeline page by page, newest-first, until maxPosts is reached or the timeline ends.
3. Each post is emitted as one dataset row with media URLs, caption, counters, and the poster's user record.
4. Results stream into your Apify dataset, ready to download as JSON, CSV, or Excel.

You do not manage scrapers, browsers, sessions, or rotating IPs — all handled internally.

Input

{
  "usernames": [
    "nasa",
    "natgeo"
  ],
  "maxPosts": 30,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": ["DATACENTER"]
  }
}

Field	Type	Description
usernames	array	List of Instagram usernames or full profile URLs. Both nasa and https://www.instagram.com/nasa/ are accepted.
maxPosts	integer	Max posts returned per account, paginated newest-first. 0 = unlimited. Default: 30.
proxyConfiguration	object	Apify Proxy settings. Datacenter works for most accounts; switch to Residential for large batches.

Output

Input: nasa, maxPosts: 30 (first 2 posts shown, long URLs truncated).

[
  {
    "_input": "nasa",
    "_source": "S1-primary",
    "_scrapedAt": "2026-05-18T10:54:19.253080+00:00",
    "pk": "3895560746578059612",
    "id": "3895560746578059612_528817151",
    "code": "DYPz9wEvaFc",
    "taken_at": 1778607257,
    "media_type": 1,
    "product_type": "feed",
    "caption": {
      "text": "Percy is roving the “Western Frontier” of Mars 🤠\n \nIt's the farthest west our Perseverance rover has explored since landing in Jezero Crater in 2021, and it's an ancient landscape that may predate the crater itself…"
    },
    "like_count": 227972,
    "comment_count": 936,
    "play_count": null,
    "video_duration": null,
    "original_width": 2500,
    "original_height": 2123,
    "user": {
      "pk": "528817151",
      "username": "nasa",
      "full_name": "NASA",
      "is_verified": true,
      "profile_pic_url": "https://instagram.fcgk52-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t51.2885-19/29090066_159271188110124..."
    },
    "image_versions2": {
      "candidates": [
        { "width": 2500, "height": 2123, "url": "https://instagram.fcgk52-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t51.82787-15/689446779_18608299801049152..." }
      ]
    },
    "locations": []
  },
  {
    "_input": "nasa",
    "_source": "S1-primary",
    "_scrapedAt": "2026-05-18T10:54:19.253080+00:00",
    "pk": "3891942993783911519",
    "id": "3891942993783911519_528817151",
    "code": "DYC9YhOj3Rf",
    "taken_at": 1778175780,
    "media_type": 8,
    "product_type": "carousel_container",
    "caption": {
      "text": "Don't let anyone dull your shine 💫\n \nThe heart of galaxy M77 is shining so brightly in this Webb telescope image, it nearly outshines the galaxy itself…"
    },
    "like_count": 678128,
    "comment_count": 1549,
    "user": {
      "pk": "528817151",
      "username": "nasa",
      "full_name": "NASA",
      "is_verified": true
    },
    "image_versions2": {
      "candidates": [
        { "width": 1060, "height": 1288, "url": "https://instagram.fcgk52-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t51.82787-15/672396587_18606926689049152..." }
      ]
    },
    "carousel_media_count": 3,
    "carousel_media": [
      {
        "id": "3891940960318236431_528817151",
        "media_type": 1,
        "image_versions2": {
          "candidates": [
            { "width": 1060, "height": 1288, "url": "https://instagram.fcgk52-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t51.82787-15/672396587_18606926689049152..." }
          ]
        }
      },
      {
        "id": "3891940963992441227_528817151",
        "media_type": 1,
        "image_versions2": {
          "candidates": [
            { "width": 1440, "height": 1743, "url": "https://instagram.fcgk52-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t51.82787-15/688674294_18606926698049152..." }
          ]
        }
      },
      "... 1 more"
    ]
  }
]

Field	Type	Description
_input	string	The username or URL exactly as you supplied it. Use this to join results back to your input list.
_source	string	Internal tag for the path used to fetch the post. S1-primary means the fastest, richest path; S2-* would indicate a fallback.
_scrapedAt	string	ISO-8601 UTC timestamp when the row was captured.
pk	string	Instagram's internal numeric media ID. Stable across edits.
id	string	Composite <pk>_<user_pk> id used in Instagram's mobile responses.
code	string	Shortcode visible in the post URL (instagram.com/p/<code>/ or /reel/<code>/).
taken_at	integer	Unix epoch (seconds) when the post was uploaded.
media_type	integer	1 = single photo, 2 = single video / Reel, 8 = carousel container (children are in carousel_media).
product_type	string	feed for grid photos, clips for Reels, carousel_container for multi-slide posts, igtv for long video.
caption.text	string	Full caption text (may contain emoji and line breaks). null if the post has no caption.
like_count	integer	Number of likes at fetch time. Some accounts hide this; null when hidden.
comment_count	integer	Number of comments at fetch time.
play_count	integer	Plays for video / Reels posts; absent for photos.
video_duration	number	Length in seconds for video / Reels posts.
original_width / original_height	integer	Native resolution of the post (or the first carousel child).
user	object	Poster's profile snippet: pk, username, full_name, is_verified, profile_pic_url.
image_versions2.candidates	array	Multi-resolution image URLs (largest first). Each entry: { width, height, url }.
video_versions	array	Multi-resolution video URLs (Reels and single videos). Each entry: { type, width, height, url }.
carousel_media	array	For carousel posts (media_type: 8) — one entry per slide, each with its own image_versions2 / video_versions.
carousel_media_count	integer	Number of slides in a carousel post.
locations	array	Tagged location(s); empty array when none was attached.

Error envelope

Accounts that don't exist, are deactivated, or fail to fetch return a structured error instead of crashing the run:

{
  "_input": "this-account-does-not-exist-xyz",
  "_error": "not_found",
  "_errorDetail": "NotFound feed/user this-account-does-not-exist-xyz",
  "_source": "S1-primary",
  "_scrapedAt": "2026-05-18T10:54:19.253080+00:00"
}

Filter on _error to triage failed rows.

Pricing

This actor is billed per result: $6.00 per 1,000 posts. Each post in the dataset = 1 result. Error rows (not-found, fetch-failed) are not billed.

Other Sosmed Actors

Platform	Actor	Best for
Instagram	Instagram Account Scraper	Bio, follower / following counts, post count for any handle
Instagram	Instagram Account Reels Scraper	Reels-only timeline with play counts and durations
Instagram	Instagram Post Detail Scraper	Full single-post detail by shortcode or URL
Threads	Threads Account Threads Scraper	Posts timeline for a Threads handle
Facebook	Facebook Page Posts Scraper	Posts timeline for any public Facebook Page
Twitter / X	X Account Tweets Scraper	Tweets timeline for any handle
Bluesky	Bluesky Account Posts Scraper	atproto posts timeline by handle or DID

Browse the full catalog at apify.com/xtracto.

Notes

• Instagram returns a rich record per post (carousel children with their own resolutions, video manifests, music metadata, paid-partnership flags, etc.). This actor preserves the full envelope so you can pick the fields you need.
• Pagination is handled internally — you do not need to manage cursors. To page externally, simply re-run with a larger maxPosts.
• Private accounts return zero posts and a single not_found error row.
• Media CDN URLs are signed and time-bound (valid for a few hours). If you need permanent copies, mirror the bytes shortly after the run finishes.
• like_count and comment_count are eventually-consistent and may lag the live UI by a few minutes.
• maxPosts: 0 means unlimited — a multi-year account can return thousands of posts; budget your run accordingly.
• For batches over ~30 accounts, switch proxyConfiguration to RESIDENTIAL to avoid per-IP rate limits.