# 🔥 Instagram Post Scraper (`easyapi/instagram-post-scraper`) Actor

Scrape Instagram posts from usernames, profile URLs, or post URLs. Get captions, metrics, media, mentions, coauthors, and recent comments in clean JSON.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/easyapi/instagram-post-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [EasyApi](https://apify.com/easyapi) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 1 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $4.99 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## 🔥 Instagram Post Scraper

Scrape public Instagram posts at scale. Add usernames, profile URLs, or specific post URLs and get captions, engagement metrics, media URLs, mentions, coauthors, and recent comments in clean JSON.

### ✨ Key Features

- 📷 Extract posts, carousels, and reels/videos from any public profile
- 🔗 Scrape by **username**, **profile URL**, or **exact post URL**
- 📝 Full caption, hashtags, mentions, and tagged users
- ❤️ Likes, comments, video views / plays, and duration
- 💬 A few latest comments with timestamps and authors
- 📅 Optional date cutoff and skip-pinned filter
- ⚡ Choose **basic** or **detailed** data depth
- 📋 Structured JSON output, streamed while the run is in progress

### 💪 Why Choose This Actor?

- **Focused**: Built specifically for Instagram post extraction
- **Flexible**: Profiles and post URLs in the same run
- **Efficient**: Results are pushed continuously while the job runs
- **Structured**: Renamed, integration-friendly field names
- **Reliable**: Stable public-data extraction

### 🎯 Perfect For

- 📊 Influencer and creator content monitoring
- 🔥 Trend and engagement analysis
- 🏢 Competitor post tracking
- 🔔 Brand mention and UGC workflows
- 🤖 LLM / RAG pipelines that need clean post text + media

### 📝 Input Requirements

- `targets` (required): Usernames, profile URLs, and/or post URLs
- `maxPostsPerProfile` (optional): Max posts per profile. Default: `20`. Ignored for specific post URLs
- `skipPinned` (optional): Skip pinned posts. Default: `false`
- `postedAfter` (optional): Only posts newer than a date (`YYYY-MM-DD` / ISO) or relative value (e.g. `1 day`, `2 months`). UTC. Ignored for specific post URLs
- `detailLevel` (optional): `basic` or `detailed`. Default: `detailed`

#### Input Example

```json
{
  "targets": [
    "natgeo",
    "https://www.instagram.com/p/DLNsnpUTdVS/"
  ],
  "maxPostsPerProfile": 10,
  "skipPinned": false,
  "postedAfter": "1 month",
  "detailLevel": "basic"
}
```

#### Output Example

```json
{
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/p/DLNsnpUTdVS/",
  "postId": "3660778310592222546",
  "mediaType": "Image",
  "code": "DLNsnpUTdVS",
  "text": "Your phone isn’t rotting your brain—but cell death and fungi might.",
  "tags": [],
  "mentionedUsers": [],
  "postUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/p/DLNsnpUTdVS/",
  "commentCount": 230,
  "topComment": "Amen.",
  "recentComments": [
    {
      "commentId": "18070377008012681",
      "body": "Amen.",
      "authorUsername": "acostadorego",
      "publishedAt": "2025-07-31T05:38:50.000Z",
      "likeCount": 0,
      "replyCount": 0
    }
  ],
  "height": 1350,
  "width": 1080,
  "imageUrl": "https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/...",
  "likeCount": 18420,
  "publishedAt": "2025-07-01T12:00:00.000Z",
  "authorName": "National Geographic",
  "authorUsername": "natgeo",
  "authorId": "787132",
  "commentsDisabled": false,
  "pinned": false,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-07-21T02:00:00.000Z"
}
```

### 🚀 How to Use

1. Add one or more usernames, profile URLs, or post URLs to `targets`
2. Optionally set `maxPostsPerProfile`, `postedAfter`, and `detailLevel`
3. Click **Start** and download results as JSON, CSV, Excel, or HTML

### 📌 Notes

- Only **public** Instagram accounts and posts can be scraped
- Specific post URLs ignore `maxPostsPerProfile` and `postedAfter`
- Free users have run and result-size limits; upgrade for unlimited usage

# Actor input Schema

## `targets` (type: `array`):

Usernames, profile URLs, or specific post/reel URLs to scrape. Mix profile and post targets in one run if needed. Post URLs ignore maxPostsPerProfile and postedAfter.

## `maxPostsPerProfile` (type: `integer`):

Max posts to scrape per profile target. Ignored when the target is a specific post URL.

## `skipPinned` (type: `boolean`):

Exclude pinned posts from profile scrapes.

## `postedAfter` (type: `string`):

Limit how far back to go. Use YYYY-MM-DD / ISO, or a relative value (e.g. 1 day, 2 months, 3 years). Times are UTC. Ignored for specific post URLs.

## `detailLevel` (type: `string`):

basic is faster and cheaper. detailed adds alt text, recent comments, music info, and video play counts (may cost more upstream).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "targets": [
    "natgeo",
    "https://www.instagram.com/natgeo/",
    "https://www.instagram.com/p/DLNsnpUTdVS/"
  ],
  "maxPostsPerProfile": 10,
  "skipPinned": false,
  "postedAfter": "1 month",
  "detailLevel": "basic"
}
```

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "targets": [
        "natgeo",
        "https://www.instagram.com/natgeo/",
        "https://www.instagram.com/p/DLNsnpUTdVS/"
    ],
    "maxPostsPerProfile": 10,
    "skipPinned": false,
    "postedAfter": "1 month",
    "detailLevel": "basic"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("easyapi/instagram-post-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "targets": [
        "natgeo",
        "https://www.instagram.com/natgeo/",
        "https://www.instagram.com/p/DLNsnpUTdVS/",
    ],
    "maxPostsPerProfile": 10,
    "skipPinned": False,
    "postedAfter": "1 month",
    "detailLevel": "basic",
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("easyapi/instagram-post-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "targets": [
    "natgeo",
    "https://www.instagram.com/natgeo/",
    "https://www.instagram.com/p/DLNsnpUTdVS/"
  ],
  "maxPostsPerProfile": 10,
  "skipPinned": false,
  "postedAfter": "1 month",
  "detailLevel": "basic"
}' |
apify call easyapi/instagram-post-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=easyapi/instagram-post-scraper",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/zsba8QECZYseGWeNf/builds/ZaVBCtm0HbHPv094w/openapi.json