Instagram Reels Transcript Scraper: Reels to Text, No Login

Turn Instagram reels and videos into text. Give it public accounts or reel links and get back what is said in every reel, word for word and in the language it is spoken in, together with each post's caption, plays, likes, comment count, date, hashtags, mentions, audio and video link. No Instagram account, no cookies, no login.

It is built for people who need the words, not just the numbers: content teams studying what works, brands checking what creators say about them, researchers and AI pipelines that need reel content as text.

What you get

Field	What it holds
transcript	Everything said in the reel or video, word for word (empty for music-only reels)
hook, hookStartSeconds	The opening line: what is said in the first 3 seconds of speech, run on to the end of its sentence, and the second it starts
segments, srt (Timestamps on)	Each sentence with its start and end in seconds, and an SRT subtitle file
translation (optional)	The transcript in the language you pick, with transcriptLanguage and translationLanguage
caption, hashtags, mentions	The post's own text
videoPlayCount, likesCount, commentsCount	Engagement as shown publicly
timestamp, type, videoDuration	When it was posted, Video/Image/Sidecar, length in seconds
url, shortCode, videoUrl, displayUrl	Links to the post, the video file and the cover image
ownerUsername, coauthors, taggedUsers	Who posted it and who is in it
audio, locationName	The sound used and the tagged place
Profile row	Name, bio, links, followers, following, verified, private or not
comments (optional)	The first ~15 comments of each post

What people use it for

• Content research: read what the best reels in your niche actually say, then reuse the hooks and structure
• Creator and influencer vetting: check what a creator says on camera before you pay them
• Brand monitoring: find out what creators say about your brand or product in their videos
• Repurposing: turn your own reels into blog posts, captions, threads and newsletters
• Competitor analysis: track what a competitor's reels promise, every week on a schedule
• AI and research datasets: feed reel transcripts to an AI summariser, a classifier or a search index

How to use it

1. Add one or more public accounts (username, @handle or profile link) and/or reel or post links.
2. Choose how many of each account's latest posts to read, and keep Transcripts on.
3. Click Start. A few reels take under a minute; a hundred take a few minutes.
4. Download the results as JSON, CSV or Excel, or connect them to Sheets, Make, Zapier or your app.

Input

Field	Example	Notes
Accounts	username	Public accounts; their latest posts and reels
Reel or post links	https://www.instagram.com/reel/...	Any public reel or post
Latest posts per account	12	Up to 200
Transcripts	on	Speech written down, any language
Timestamps and subtitles	on	Segments and an SRT file; no extra charge
Translate transcripts to	English	Optional, 19 languages; no extra charge from this Actor
First comments	off	Adds the first ~15 comments, free

Output

Each result is one row in the run's dataset (download it as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or HTML, or read it through the API). An example row (values shortened):

{
  "kind": "post",
  "type": "Video",
  "url": "https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdG4RIxIPyf/",
  "ownerUsername": "example.creator",
  "timestamp": "2026-09-10T13:00:14+00:00",
  "videoDuration": 72.61,
  "videoPlayCount": 3348780,
  "likesCount": 80007,
  "commentsCount": 584,
  "caption": "Welcome to Africa 🌍 … takes you deep into the heart of our wildest continent…",
  "transcript": "Welcome to Africa. Welcome to Earth's wild home. See a new side to animals you know, and meet some you've neve…",
  "transcriptLanguage": "en",
  "hook": "Welcome",
  "hookStartSeconds": 3.0,
  "segments": [
    {
      "start": 3.0,
      "end": 4.1,
      "text": "Welcome"
    },
    {
      "start": 5.9,
      "end": 7.3,
      "text": "to Africa."
    },
    {
      "start": 8.0,
      "end": 9.2,
      "text": "Welcome"
    }
  ],
  "srt": "1\n00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:04,100\nWelcome\n…",
  "translation": "Bienvenido a África. Bienvenido al hogar salvaje de la Tierra. Descubre una nuev…",
  "translationLanguage": "Spanish",
  "videoUrl": "https://instagram.fna.fbcdn.net/...mp4"
}

A record named SUMMARY in the run's key-value store says what each account or link returned, with notes (for example a private account), what was charged and how much traffic the run used. The example row is from a run on 17 October 2026 (account name and caption shortened): a 73-second reel, written down in 11 timed segments with a Spanish translation; 1 post and 2 transcript minutes were charged.

Pricing

• $0.003 per post (each reel, video, image post or profile row returned)
• $0.005 per started minute of speech written down, with timestamps, SRT, the opening line and the translation (only with Transcripts on)
• Music-only reels, image posts and missing or private accounts cost nothing for transcripts
• The AI model that writes the speech down (Google's Gemini Flash) is billed by Apify at its exact cost: about $0.004 a minute with timestamps on paid Apify plans (measured 17 October 2026); Apify charges free-plan accounts 10 times that

What typical jobs cost at the list price:

Job	Cost
10 reels of about 1 minute, with transcripts	about $0.08
An account's latest 50 posts, half of them 1-minute reels	about $0.28
100 reel links of 30-60 seconds	about $0.80

On Apify's Scale and Business plans the per-event prices are lower (Store discounts). Set Maximum cost per run and the Actor stops cleanly when it is reached: you never pay more than that.

Tips

• Use reel links when you already know the videos: it is faster and you pay only for those.
• Leave Transcripts off for a quick engagement export, then run again on the reels you care about.
• Schedule it weekly on a list of accounts to build a running library of what they say.
• Pair it with an AI summariser to turn 100 transcripts into one page of patterns.

Use it through the API

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("zaiq/instagram-transcript-scraper").call(run_input={"profiles": ["<instagram username>"], "maxPostsPerAccount": 10, "transcripts": true})
for row in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(row)

JavaScript

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>' });
const run = await client.actor('zaiq/instagram-transcript-scraper').call({"profiles": ["<instagram username>"], "maxPostsPerAccount": 10, "transcripts": true});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();

HTTP (one call, results back)

curl -X POST 'https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/zaiq~instagram-transcript-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"profiles": ["<instagram username>"], "maxPostsPerAccount": 10, "transcripts": true}'

Integrations and schedules

• Schedules: run it every hour, day or week from the Apify Console (Schedules) and keep a history of results.
• Make, Zapier, n8n, Google Sheets, Slack, Airtable: connect it through Apify's integrations, or send each finished run to a webhook.
• Datasets: results stay in the run's dataset; export them or read them by API whenever you need them.

Use it with AI agents (MCP)

Add Apify's MCP server (https://mcp.apify.com) to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code or any MCP client. The agent can find this Actor and run it for you: ask it for "the transcripts of this account's last 10 reels". AI agents can also pay for runs directly through Apify's agentic payments.

Limits

• Public accounts and posts only; private accounts return nothing (and cost nothing).
• Instagram shows signed-out visitors the first ~15 comments of a post.
• Videos up to 30 minutes are written down in full: long speech goes to the AI in 2-minute pieces, so it is not cut off.
• Public data only: you are responsible for how you use it under Instagram's terms and the privacy laws that apply to you.

FAQ

Do I need an Instagram account or cookies?

No. It reads public pages signed out, from residential addresses.

Which languages work?

Any language: the speech is written down in the language spoken. Ask an AI tool to translate it if you need English.

How accurate are the transcripts?

They are written by Google's newest Gemini Flash model from the reel's own audio track, word for word. Music and heavy background noise can drop words.

Is there a limit on reels?

Up to 200 latest posts per account per run, and as many reel links as you like.

Why are some transcripts empty?

The reel has no speech (only music), or it is an image post.

Can I get older posts?

Yes, raise Latest posts per account. Instagram serves them 12 at a time.

Related Actors from Zaiq

• tiktok-transcript-scraper: the same for TikTok videos
• youtube-transcript-scraper: YouTube transcripts and subtitles
• x-video-transcript-scraper: X posts and what is said in their videos
• facebook-ads-library-scraper: the ads behind the reels

Support

Questions, a site that changed, or a field you need? Open an issue on this Actor's Issues tab: we answer there, usually within a day.

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Also found as: instagram transcript, instagram reel transcript, instagram video to text, reels transcript scraper, instagram transcription api, instagram reels scraper.