# Instagram Followers Scraper (`goat255/instagram-followers-scraper`) Actor

Scrape the full follower list of any public Instagram account without a login. Give a list of usernames and get back every follower as a clean row: username, full name, id, private and verified flags, and profile picture. Pagination is walked automatically up to your chosen limit per account.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/goat255/instagram-followers-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Goutam Soni](https://apify.com/goat255) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, Marketing, Lead generation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.50 / 1,000 follower scrapeds

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.

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 Followers Scraper - Export Any Public Account's Follower List

Scrape the full follower list of any public Instagram account. Get every follower's username, display name, numeric user ID, private and verified flags, and profile picture URL, without an Instagram API key, login, or cookies.

### What this Instagram followers scraper does

Pass a list of Instagram usernames (plain handles, @handles, or profile URLs, mixed freely) and the actor returns one clean JSON row per follower. Pagination is walked automatically page after page until it hits the cap you set or the account runs out of followers, so a request for 5,000 followers really does walk deep into the list rather than stopping at the first page.

Perfect for **audience research, lead list building, influencer vetting, competitor audience analysis, and community mapping** on Instagram at scale.

### Why use this Instagram followers scraper

- **No API key, no login, no cookies.** Works on any public Instagram account. You never hand over an Instagram account or a password.
- **Deep pagination.** Ask for 100 followers or 200,000 and the scraper keeps fetching until your cap is reached.
- **Verified and private flags on every row**, so you can filter an audience down to reachable or noteworthy accounts in one pass.
- **Numeric user IDs included**, which stay stable even when someone changes their handle. That makes repeat runs genuinely comparable.
- **Bulk by username.** Several accounts processed in parallel in a single run, each row tagged with the account it came from.
- **Residential proxies** built in with rotating IPs.
- **Clean, flat JSON.** Every field is always present, with `null` where a value genuinely does not exist, so CSV exports never shift columns.

### What data you get per follower

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `type` | string | Record type, always `"follower"` |
| `queryUsername` | string | The account whose followers you asked for |
| `username` | string | The follower's Instagram handle |
| `fullName` | string | The follower's display name |
| `id` | string | The follower's numeric Instagram user ID |
| `isPrivate` | boolean | Whether the follower's account is private |
| `isVerified` | boolean | Whether the follower has a verified badge |
| `profilePicUrl` | string | The follower's profile picture URL |
| `scrapedAt` | string | When the row was scraped (ISO 8601 UTC) |

### How to use the Instagram Followers Scraper

1. Click **Try for free** on the actor page.
2. Enter Instagram **usernames** in the `usernames` input. Plain usernames, @handles, and profile URLs all work and are deduplicated.
3. Set `maxFollowersPerUser` (default 1,000, up to 200,000) to cap how many followers come back per account.
4. Tune `concurrency` (default 3, up to 10) for your speed and safety tradeoff.
5. Click **Save & start**. Download in JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or HTML, or stream via API.

#### Example input

```json
{
  "usernames": ["example_brand", "example_user"],
  "maxFollowersPerUser": 5000,
  "concurrency": 3
}
```

#### Example output

```json
{
  "type": "follower",
  "queryUsername": "example_brand",
  "username": "example_user",
  "fullName": "Jane Doe",
  "id": "100000001",
  "isPrivate": false,
  "isVerified": false,
  "profilePicUrl": "https://example.com/avatar.jpg",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-07-21T09:00:00.000Z"
}
```

### Top use cases

- **Audience research.** Understand who actually follows an account in your niche before you spend on reaching them.
- **Lead list building.** Export the followers of a niche account, then enrich the handles for contact details.
- **Influencer vetting.** A follower list full of private, pictureless accounts looks very different from a healthy organic audience.
- **Competitor audience analysis.** Pull two competitors' follower lists and compare the overlap to size a shared market.
- **Community mapping.** Find the verified and high-signal accounts inside a community by filtering on `isVerified`.
- **Audience change tracking.** Snapshot a follower list on a schedule and diff by `id` to see who joined and who left.
- **CRM enrichment.** Match followers to existing contact records using stable numeric user IDs.

### Integrations

#### Apify API

```bash
curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/{DATASET_ID}/items?format=json"
```

#### Python

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_API_TOKEN")

run = client.actor("goat255/instagram-followers-scraper").call(run_input={
    "usernames": ["example_brand"],
    "maxFollowersPerUser": 5000,
})

followers = list(client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items())

verified = [f for f in followers if f.get("isVerified")]
public = [f for f in followers if f.get("isPrivate") is False]
print(f"{len(followers)} followers, {len(verified)} verified, {len(public)} public")
```

#### JavaScript / Node.js

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

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_API_TOKEN' });

const run = await client.actor('goat255/instagram-followers-scraper').call({
    usernames: ['example_brand', 'example_user'],
    maxFollowersPerUser: 5000,
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();

// Followers shared by both accounts
const byAccount = {};
for (const row of items) {
    (byAccount[row.queryUsername] ||= new Set()).add(row.id);
}
const [a, b] = Object.values(byAccount);
const overlap = [...a].filter((id) => b.has(id));
console.log(`${overlap.length} shared followers`);
```

#### No-code integrations

Stream results to Google Sheets, Slack, Zapier, Make, Amazon S3, HubSpot, or any webhook via [Apify Integrations](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations).

### Pricing

Pay per result. No subscription. No per-run start fee. You only pay for the followers you actually receive.

| Event | Price |
|---|---|
| Follower scraped (primary) | $0.0025 |

Apify's $5 platform free credit applies on first use, which is roughly 2,000 free followers to start.

### FAQ

#### Do I need an Instagram account or API key?

No. The scraper works on any public Instagram account without a login, cookies, or the Instagram Graph API.

#### Can it scrape followers of a private account?

No. Private accounts do not expose their follower list. A private target returns a single row with `ok: false` and `error: "private_account"`, so you can tell it apart from an account that simply has no followers.

#### How many followers can I get per account?

Up to 200,000 per account per run. Pagination is walked automatically, so setting `maxFollowersPerUser` to 5,000 returns 5,000 followers if the account has them, not just the first page.

#### Why did I get fewer followers than I asked for?

The account ran out. Ask for 5,000 on an account with 800 followers and you get 800 real rows rather than 5,000 padded ones. The run log states the count per account.

#### Does it return followers' email addresses?

No. A follower row carries the handle, name, ID, status flags and profile picture. To pull public emails and phone numbers, feed the usernames into the [Instagram Profile Scraper](https://apify.com/goat255/instagram-profile-scraper), which extracts business contact fields.

#### In what order do followers come back?

In the order Instagram serves them, which is roughly newest first. It is not a stable ranking, so match rows by `id` rather than by position when comparing runs.

#### Can I export to CSV, Google Sheets or Excel?

Yes. JSON, CSV, Excel, XML and HTML are all supported, plus direct integrations to Google Sheets, Zapier, Make, Slack and S3.

#### What happens if an account cannot be reached?

The run does not fail. The actor emits a row with `ok: false` and a generic reason for that account, then carries on with the rest of your list.

### Related Apify actors

- 🔗 [Instagram Following Scraper](https://apify.com/goat255/instagram-following-scraper) - the accounts a profile follows, same clean row format.
- 👤 [Instagram Profile Scraper](https://apify.com/goat255/instagram-profile-scraper) - bios, follower counts, public emails, phone numbers, business info.
- 📝 [Instagram Posts Scraper](https://apify.com/goat255/instagram-posts-scraper) - bulk export posts, captions, likes, comments, media.
- 💬 [Instagram Comments Scraper](https://apify.com/goat255/instagram-comments-scraper) - full comment threads from any post or reel.

### Support

Found a bug or a missing field? Open an issue on the actor page. Reviews are read and replied to.

### Privacy

To improve our actors we collect anonymized usage telemetry (run stats and input patterns). No personal account data is collected.

# Actor input Schema

## `usernames` (type: `array`):

Instagram accounts whose followers you want. Handles, @handles, or profile links all work. Examples: example\_brand, @example\_user, https://www.instagram.com/example\_brand/. The account must be public.

## `maxFollowersPerUser` (type: `integer`):

Cap on followers returned per account. Pagination is walked across multiple pages until this is reached or the account runs out of followers.

## `concurrency` (type: `integer`):

How many accounts to process in parallel.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "usernames": [
    "acmecompany"
  ],
  "maxFollowersPerUser": 1000,
  "concurrency": 3
}
```

# 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 = {
    "usernames": [
        "acmecompany"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("goat255/instagram-followers-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 = { "usernames": ["acmecompany"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("goat255/instagram-followers-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 '{
  "usernames": [
    "acmecompany"
  ]
}' |
apify call goat255/instagram-followers-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=goat255/instagram-followers-scraper",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/BfLxkq0RsjH5B5foN/builds/yvyy0vk3KigY9wyNX/openapi.json