Instagram Reel Scraper — Views, Plays, Likes & Video URLs

Scrape Instagram Reels with the metric that matters: view counts. Point it at a profile, a hashtag or a single reel URL and export plays, likes, comments, captions and direct video URLs to CSV, Excel or JSON. No login, no API key.

Reels are where Instagram reach lives, and view counts are not in the API for anyone else's content. This returns them for any public reel.

What data does the Instagram Reel Scraper extract?

Reel performance fields

Field	Description
views	Play count — the headline reel metric
likes	Like count at scrape time
comments_count	Number of comments

Reel media fields

Field	Description
video_url	Direct MP4 URL, ready to download
thumbnail_url	Cover image URL
media_type	Always reel in this Actor
product_type	clips — Instagram's internal reel marker
caption	Full caption, emoji preserved
mentions	Accounts tagged in the caption
taken_at	ISO publish timestamp

Creator fields

Field	Description
username	Reel author's handle
user_id	Numeric Instagram user ID
user_full_name	Display name
is_verified	Verified status

Note that on collaboration reels the username is the posting creator, which may differ from the profile you scraped — useful for spotting who a brand actually partners with.

Why use this Instagram reel scraper

View counts you cannot get from the official API

Instagram's Graph API returns insights only for accounts you own. This returns views for any public reel, which is what makes competitive benchmarking possible.

Direct video URLs

Every row carries video_url — an MP4 link you can download immediately. No separate downloader step.

Reels only, no filtering needed

Feed scrapers return photos and carousels you then have to filter out. This returns reels exclusively, so resultsLimit is spent entirely on reels.

Incremental exports

onlyPostsNewerThan skips older reels, and skipped reels are not billed — so a daily scheduled run costs only what is new.

How to use it

1. Open the Actor in Apify Console.
2. Put usernames, profile URLs, hashtags or reel URLs into directUrls.
3. Set resultsLimit — reels per target, and your cost ceiling.
4. Optionally set onlyPostsNewerThan.
5. Save & Start, then download from Storage.

Input example

{
  "directUrls": ["nasa", "https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdEsW1ItqpI/"],
  "resultsLimit": 100,
  "onlyPostsNewerThan": "2026-09-01"
}

Output example

{
  "source": "nasa",
  "url": "https://www.instagram.com/p/DdEsW1ItqpI/",
  "shortcode": "DdEsW1ItqpI",
  "post_id": "3982503053431843400",
  "media_type": "reel",
  "product_type": "clips",
  "caption": "Curly-haired crew, this one's for you! 🌀🚀👩🏻‍🦱 Join me in my temporary home on the @iss…",
  "mentions": ["iss"],
  "views": 4295943,
  "likes": 102192,
  "comments_count": 1283,
  "taken_at": "2026-09-09T16:39:51+00:00",
  "username": "astro_jessica",
  "user_id": "4092263381",
  "user_full_name": "Jessica Meir",
  "is_verified": true,
  "video_url": "https://scontent…mp4"
}

Pricing

$0.00099 per reel scraped — the same rate on every Apify plan, including the free one.

Reels exported	Cost
1,000	$0.99
10,000	$9.90
100,000	$99.00

Not billed: unreachable usernames, private profiles, and reels excluded by your date filter.

Use cases

Find the hooks that worked in your niche

Export a few hundred reels from a hashtag, sort by views, and read the first line of every caption. That is your hook library, built from evidence.

Benchmark a creator's reels against their feed

Compare reel views with post likes from the Instagram Post Scraper to see whether an account's reach comes from short form or static posts.

Influencer vetting on real reach

A media kit quotes follower count. Reel view counts show how many people actually see a post — often an order of magnitude different.

Bulk reel download

video_url gives you the MP4 for every row, for archiving or offline review.

Track a campaign's reels daily

Schedule with onlyPostsNewerThan and watch view trajectories build over the first 72 hours, when reel distribution is decided.

FAQ

How do I get the view count of an Instagram Reel? Pass the reel URL, a username or a hashtag in directUrls and every row returns views — Instagram's play count for that reel — alongside likes and comments.

Can I scrape Instagram Reels without logging in? Yes. No Instagram account, cookie or API key is needed. You supply a profile, hashtag or reel URL and nothing else.

Can I download Instagram Reel videos with this scraper? Yes. Each row includes video_url, a direct MP4 link you can download. The Actor returns the URL rather than the file, so you choose what to fetch.

How much does it cost to scrape 10,000 Instagram Reels? $9.90 — a flat $0.00099 per reel on every plan, including the free tier. You pay only for reels actually returned.

Can I scrape Reels by hashtag? Yes. Pass a hashtag in directUrls and it returns reels carrying that tag, with the same performance fields as profile reels.

What is the difference between plays and views on Instagram Reels? Instagram reports a single public play count for reels, returned here as views. The separate plays-versus-views distinction exists on Facebook video, not on reels.

Why does the username differ from the profile I scraped? Collaboration reels are attributed to the posting creator. username is whoever published the reel, which is the more useful signal when you are mapping brand partnerships.

Can I get only new Reels since my last export? Yes. Set onlyPostsNewerThan to your last run's date. Older reels are skipped and not billed.

Is it legal to scrape Instagram Reels? This Actor collects only publicly available data and never accesses private content. Public data can still be personal data under GDPR and similar regulations, so collect only what you have a legitimate reason to process. See Apify's guidance on the legality of web scraping.

Integrations

Connect to Make, Zapier, n8n, Slack, Google Sheets, Google Drive, Airbyte and GitHub, or use webhooks on run completion. Official Node.js and Python SDKs are available, and the Apify MCP server lets an AI agent call this Actor directly.

Related Instagram scrapers

• Instagram Scraper — all-in-one: posts, reels, comments, profiles, hashtags, places and search
• Instagram Post Scraper — posts and carousels from profiles, hashtags or locations
• Instagram Comments Scraper — every comment on a post or reel
• Instagram Reel Transcript Extractor — speech-to-text and subtitles for reels
• Instagram Profile Scraper — bio, followers, email and category in bulk

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Built and maintained by Zaver. For bugs, feature requests or custom data needs, open an issue on this Actor.