# Instagram Hashtag Scraper - Posts, Reels & Stats (`mellowed_headpiece/instagram-hashtag-scraper-reliable`) Actor

Scrape Instagram hashtag posts, reels, and stats: captions, likes, comments, views, and media URLs. Get top posts and recent posts for any hashtag — ideal for hashtag research, influencer marketing, social listening, trend tracking, and content analysis. Reliable pagination, no browser automation

- **URL**: https://apify.com/mellowed\_headpiece/instagram-hashtag-scraper-reliable.md
- **Developed by:** [Trevor Smith](https://apify.com/mellowed_headpiece) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, Lead generation, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 0 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.00 / 1,000 results

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 Hashtag Scraper - Top & Recent Posts

Extracts hashtag stats, top posts, and recent posts from Instagram. Fully
cookieless by default; an optional session cookie improves reliability and
unlocks reels.

### Why this exists

The most-used Instagram Hashtag Scraper on Apify (57,685 users) sits at
2.98★ — the worst rating in the platform's top 20 — and its README reuses
generic troubleshooting boilerplate word-for-word across unrelated actors
from the same publisher, a strong signal of a template-cloned, unmaintained
listing rather than an actively fixed one.

### IMPORTANT — read before running

Unlike a documented public API (there is no official one for this), this
actor talks to Instagram's **internal, undocumented** endpoints. That means:

- I could not test this against live Instagram from the build environment
  (no proxy access, Instagram not reachable). The parsing logic is built
  defensively — it searches responses for recognizable media objects rather
  than assuming one fixed JSON path — and is unit-tested against realistic
  sample shapes, but **the first real run against live Instagram is the real
  test**, the same way the SAM.gov actor's first live run was.
- **A residential proxy is required.** Instagram blocks datacenter IPs
  almost immediately. Use Apify's `RESIDENTIAL` proxy group (default in the
  input schema).
- If a run logs `"No recognizable media objects found"` on a hashtag known
  to have posts, that means Instagram changed its response shape — check
  the `_raw` field kept on every dataset item to see the actual response and
  adjust `findMediaLikeObjects` in `src/ig-client.js` accordingly, rather
  than assuming the hashtag is empty.

### Setup

1. In the input, provide one or more hashtags (no `#`).
2. Leave `sessionCookie` blank for cookieless operation (posts/photos only),
   or paste your Instagram `sessionid` cookie for better reliability and to
   include reels.
3. Proxy defaults to Apify's `RESIDENTIAL` group — keep this on.

### Reliability behavior

- Retries 429/5xx with exponential backoff; logs a clear note that repeated
  429s usually mean the proxy IP needs rotating.
- A single hashtag failing (not found, or genuinely blocked) does not stop
  the rest of the batch from processing.
- If *every* hashtag in a run fails, the run fails loudly instead of quietly
  producing an empty dataset — that pattern almost always means a systemic
  problem (blocked proxy, changed endpoint), not coincidence.

### Output

Two record types in one dataset, distinguished by `recordType`:

- `hashtagStats`: `mediaCount` (total public posts using the hashtag)
- `post`: `postSource` (top/recent), caption, like/comment/play counts,
  owner, media URLs, and a direct `postUrl` link.

# Actor input Schema

## `hashtags` (type: `array`):

One or more hashtags to scrape, without the # symbol.

## `maxPostsPerHashtag` (type: `integer`):

Maximum posts to extract per hashtag.

## `instagramUsername` (type: `string`):

Your Instagram login email/username. The Actor will log in automatically — saves you finding cookies.

## `instagramPassword` (type: `string`):

Your Instagram password. Kept secret by Apify. Required alongside username for automatic login.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Optional proxy settings.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "hashtags": [
    "webscraping"
  ],
  "maxPostsPerHashtag": 20,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `hashtag` (type: `string`):

No description

## `shortcode` (type: `string`):

No description

## `imageUrl` (type: `string`):

No description

## `postUrl` (type: `string`):

No description

## `caption` (type: `string`):

No description

## `isReel` (type: `string`):

No description

## `username` (type: `string`):

No description

## `timestamp` (type: `string`):

No description

# 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 = {
    "hashtags": [
        "webscraping"
    ],
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": false
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("mellowed_headpiece/instagram-hashtag-scraper-reliable").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 = {
    "hashtags": ["webscraping"],
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": False },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("mellowed_headpiece/instagram-hashtag-scraper-reliable").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 '{
  "hashtags": [
    "webscraping"
  ],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}' |
apify call mellowed_headpiece/instagram-hashtag-scraper-reliable --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/9gbAhA9Uwe3y8nkci/builds/C4z8dCHoaIioNV08M/openapi.json