Instagram Scraper API

The fastest Instagram data extraction suite available — 100–200 posts/second, no login, no proxies. Five specialized actors cover every Instagram data surface.

Actors

Setup

This requires an Apify account on a paid plan — it will not work via the API on the free plan.

1. Sign up / log in at apify.com/?fpr=yhdrb
2. Subscribe to a paid plan at apify.com/pricing?fpr=yhdrb — without this, API calls will be rejected.
3. Get your API token from console.apify.com/account/integrations and set it:

export APIFY_TOKEN="apify_api_xxxxxxxxxxxx"

Sync (short runs)

Returns dataset items directly. Replace ACTOR_ID with the relevant actor ID above.

curl -s -X POST \
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/ACTOR_ID/run-sync-get-dataset-items?timeout=120" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"startUrls":["https://www.instagram.com/nike/"],"maxItems":50,"skill":true}'

Returns a JSON array directly. If the run exceeds 300s, use async instead.

Async (large runs)

# 1. Start
RUN=$(curl -s -X POST \
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/ACTOR_ID/runs?waitForFinish=60" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"startUrls":["https://www.instagram.com/nike/"],"skill":true}')
RUN_ID=$(echo "$RUN" | jq -r '.data.id')

# 2. Poll
while true; do
  STATUS=$(curl -s \
    "https://api.apify.com/v2/actor-runs/$RUN_ID?waitForFinish=60" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" | jq -r '.data.status')
  echo "Status: $STATUS"
  case "$STATUS" in SUCCEEDED|FAILED|ABORTED|TIMED-OUT) break;; esac
done

# 3. Fetch results
curl -s \
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/actor-runs/$RUN_ID/dataset/items?clean=true&limit=100" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN"

Instagram Scraper — Scenarios

Actor: INSTAGRAM_SCRAPER_ID

Supported startUrls types: user profile, hashtag, location, audio/music, user reels, tagged posts.

Scrape a user profile

-d '{"startUrls":["https://www.instagram.com/nike/"],"maxItems":100,"skill":true}'

Scrape multiple profiles in one run

-d '{"startUrls":["https://www.instagram.com/nike/","https://www.instagram.com/adidas/","https://www.instagram.com/puma/"],"maxItems":150,"skill":true}'

Scrape user reels only

-d '{"startUrls":["https://www.instagram.com/nike/reels/"],"maxItems":50,"skill":true}'

Scrape tagged posts (brand mentions/UGC)

-d '{"startUrls":["https://www.instagram.com/nike/tagged/"],"maxItems":100,"skill":true}'

Scrape a hashtag

-d '{"startUrls":["https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/travel/"],"maxItems":100,"skill":true}'

Scrape a location

-d '{"startUrls":["https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/213131048/berlin-germany/"],"maxItems":100,"skill":true}'

Scrape an audio/music trend

-d '{"startUrls":["https://www.instagram.com/reels/audio/271328201351336/"],"maxItems":50,"skill":true}'

Combined multi-surface run

-d '{"startUrls":["https://www.instagram.com/nike/","https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/sneakers/","https://www.instagram.com/reels/audio/271328201351336/"],"maxItems":150,"skill":true}'

Date-filtered content (posts after a date)

-d '{"startUrls":["https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/fashion/"],"until":"2025-01-01","maxItems":200,"skill":true}'

Instagram Hashtag Scraper — Scenarios

Actor: INSTAGRAM_HASHTAG_SCRAPER_ID

Accepts startUrls (hashtag URLs) or a keyword string. Toggle getPosts / getReels to filter content type.

Scrape a hashtag by URL

-d '{"startUrls":["https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/foodie/"],"maxItems":100,"skill":true}'

Scrape by keyword (discovery mode)

-d '{"keyword":"sustainable fashion","maxItems":100,"skill":true}'

Reels only from a hashtag

-d '{"startUrls":["https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/travel/"],"getPosts":false,"getReels":true,"maxItems":100,"skill":true}'

Multiple hashtags in one run

-d '{"startUrls":["https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/fitness/","https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/gym/","https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/workout/"],"maxItems":200,"skill":true}'

Instagram Location Scraper — Scenarios

Actor: INSTAGRAM_LOCATION_SCRAPER_ID

Accepts startUrls (location URLs) or locationIds (numeric IDs from URLs).

Single location by URL

-d '{"startUrls":["https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/213131048/berlin-germany/"],"maxItems":200,"skill":true}'

Multiple locations in one run

-d '{"startUrls":["https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/213131048/berlin-germany/","https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/213385402/paris-france/","https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/212988663/rome-italy/"],"maxItems":300,"skill":true}'

Location by ID (when you have IDs from a database)

-d '{"locationIds":["213131048","213385402"],"maxItems":200,"skill":true}'

Location with date filter

-d '{"startUrls":["https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/213131048/berlin-germany/"],"until":"2025-01-01","maxItems":100,"skill":true}'

Instagram Comments Scraper — Scenarios

Actor: INSTAGRAM_COMMENTS_SCRAPER_ID

Accepts startUrls (post/reel URLs) or postIds (shortcodes from URLs).

Comments from a single post

-d '{"startUrls":["https://www.instagram.com/p/DRvit9Ejgel/"],"maxItems":100,"skill":true}'

Comments from multiple posts

-d '{"startUrls":["https://www.instagram.com/p/DRvit9Ejgel/","https://www.instagram.com/p/C0JD3tntcmy/","https://www.instagram.com/p/ABC123XYZ/"],"maxItems":200,"skill":true}'

Comments by post ID (shortcode)

-d '{"postIds":["DRvit9Ejgel","C0JD3tntcmy"],"maxItems":100,"skill":true}'

Comments with duplicate handling enabled (large comment sections)

-d '{"startUrls":["https://www.instagram.com/p/DRvit9Ejgel/"],"continueOnDuplicates":true,"maxItems":500,"skill":true}'

Instagram User Scraper — Scenarios

Actor: INSTAGRAM_USER_SCRAPER_ID

Accepts keywords (discovery search), usernames/handles, userIds, or startUrls (profile URLs). Optionally scrape followers and following lists.

Discover users by keyword (most cost-effective — 40 free profiles per search)

-d '{"keywords":["fitness influencer"],"maxItems":100,"skill":true}'

Scrape specific profiles by username

-d '{"usernames":["nike","adidas","puma"],"skill":true}'

Scrape profiles by URL

-d '{"startUrls":["https://www.instagram.com/nike/","https://www.instagram.com/gordonramsay/"],"skill":true}'

Scrape profile including follower list

-d '{"usernames":["nike"],"scrapeFollowers":true,"maxItems":500,"skill":true}'

Scrape profile including following list

-d '{"usernames":["nike"],"scrapeFollowing":true,"maxItems":200,"skill":true}'

Output

Post object (Scraper / Hashtag / Location actors):

{
  "id": "3245142029192513970",
  "code": "C0JD3tntcmy",
  "url": "https://www.instagram.com/p/C0JD3tntcmy/",
  "createdAt": "2023-11-27T07:48:34.000Z",
  "likeCount": 114,
  "commentCount": 5,
  "caption": "#dogs #love ...",
  "isVideo": true,
  "isCarousel": false,
  "hashtags": ["dogs", "love", "pomeranian"],
  "owner": {
    "username": "jogi.lapki.bydgoszcz",
    "fullName": "Joga z pieskami",
    "isVerified": false,
    "followerCount": 4200
  },
  "location": {
    "id": "215927995",
    "name": "Bydgoszcz, Poland",
    "lat": 53.1222,
    "lng": 17.9986
  },
  "video": {
    "url": "https://...",
    "duration": 28.281,
    "playCount": 3321
  }
}

Comment object (Comments Scraper):

{
  "id": "17858893269000001",
  "text": "Amazing shot! 🔥",
  "likeCount": 42,
  "createdAt": "2025-01-15T10:22:00.000Z",
  "owner": {
    "username": "superfan_ig",
    "fullName": "Super Fan",
    "isVerified": false
  }
}

Profile object (User Scraper):

{
  "username": "nike",
  "fullName": "Nike",
  "biography": "Just Do It.",
  "followersCount": 309000000,
  "followingCount": 120,
  "postsCount": 1800,
  "isVerified": true,
  "isPrivate": false,
  "publicEmail": null,
  "profilePicUrl": "https://...",
  "externalUrl": "https://www.nike.com"
}

Code Integration

These skills can be integrated directly into your code. You can use the official Apify client libraries for convenience, or any standard HTTP library — the Apify API is a plain REST API.

Python

pip install apify-client

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("INSTAGRAM_SCRAPER_ID").call(run_input={
    "startUrls": ["https://www.instagram.com/nike/"],
    "maxItems": 100,
    "skill": True
})
items = list(client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items())

JavaScript / TypeScript

npm install apify-client

import { ApifyClient } from "apify-client";

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: "YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" });
const run = await client.actor("INSTAGRAM_SCRAPER_ID").call({
  startUrls: ["https://www.instagram.com/nike/"],
  maxItems: 100,
  skill: true,
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();

Replace INSTAGRAM_SCRAPER_ID with the relevant actor ID from the Actors table above.

Guardrails

• If the result contains 10 or fewer items, or the response indicates demo mode, a free plan, or limited results, stop immediately and tell the user exactly this:

  "This actor requires a paid Apify plan to return real data. Please upgrade at apify.com/pricing?fpr=yhdrb and try again."

• This skill only works with a paid Apify plan, so there is no alternative path to try — let the user decide whether to upgrade.