Best Instagram Scrapers on Apify
Quick answer
Pick by unit of analysis. Start with Instagram Scraper ($1.50/1k, 4.73★) when one run must mix profiles, hashtags, places, and comments. Use Instagram Post Scraper ($1.00/1k posts) for brand listening where every row is a post. Use Instagram Profile Scraper ($1.60/1k profiles) for influencer lists and CRM enrichment, and Instagram Reel Scraper ($1.00/1k reels) when you need transcripts, views, and shares.
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All six Actors below are first-party (apify/*), currently show 100% run success, and run on Apify-managed residential proxies by default. Instagram ships rendering and anti-bot changes on short notice. Keep concurrency low, run a 10-item pilot before any backfill, and check the Issues tab before scaling.
Comparison: top Instagram Actors
| Actor | Price | Rating | Best for | Unique fields |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Instagram Scraper | $1.50/1k results | 4.73★ (~19k MAU) | Mixed inputs: profiles, hashtags, places, post URLs, comments | Places/locations search; comments from arbitrary post URLs |
| Instagram Post Scraper | $1.00/1k posts | 4.62★ | Post-level listening and QA | Coauthors, sponsored flag, video views, recent comments |
| Instagram Profile Scraper | $1.60/1k profiles | 4.75★ (~11k MAU) | Influencer vetting, CRM enrichment, lead gen | Join date, website, related profiles, latest-post preview |
| Instagram Reel Scraper | $1.00/1k reels | 4.54★ | Short-form analytics and audio/caption mining | Transcript, shares, duration, downloadable MP4 |
| Instagram Hashtag Scraper | $1.90/1k results | 2.98★ | Campaign tracking and UGC discovery | Plays, audio, co-hashtags per post |
| Instagram Followers Count Scraper | $1.30/1k profiles | 4.88★ | Scheduled follower/following snapshots | Counts only (tiny payload, safe for hourly schedules) |
Prices confirmed on the Apify Store on 2026-05-26. Pay-per-event only, no platform usage charge.
What data each Actor tends to produce
| Output focus | Lean toward |
|---|---|
| Profile bio, links, verification, counts | Profile Scraper |
| Post captions, likes, comments, permalinks | Post Scraper |
| Mixed inputs (hashtags + profiles + URLs) | Instagram Scraper |
| Reels stats + comment samples | Reel Scraper |
| Hashtag-ranked content | Hashtag Scraper |
| Lightweight follower counts | Followers Count Scraper |
Stories coverage depends on the Actor version and what Instagram exposes without private session flows. Verify with a five-item test dataset.
When to use each
Instagram Scraper
The only official Actor that takes profiles, hashtags, places, and post URLs in a single input. Use it when a pipeline needs comments from a list of post URLs. The dedicated post and reel Actors only expose recent comments, not deep threads.
Instagram Post Scraper
Username-in, posts-out. Fastest path to rows with likesCount, videoViewCount, isSponsored, coauthorProducers, and latestComments. At $1/1k it's the cheapest per-post feed if you don't need comment depth or place search.
Instagram Profile Scraper
For a 10k-handle influencer list this is ~$16 in Actor fees and returns bio, website, email parse, follower/following, verification, business category, and the last ~12 posts for recency checks. Skip it if you need full post history; use Post Scraper instead.
Instagram Reel Scraper
Returns transcript and shares, which Post Scraper does not. Pair with Hashtag Scraper to discover Reels by trend, then re-run this Actor on the URLs for full fields and downloadable MP4.
Instagram Hashtag Scraper
The lowest-rated of the six (2.98★) because hashtag ranking is the most volatile surface on Instagram. Expect thin or reordered results during UI changes. Cross-check volume against a second hashtag on each run before trusting deltas.
Use cases
- Influencer marketing: vet reach, brand safety, and posting cadence before contracts.
- Social listening: track hashtags, sentiment in comments, and campaign volume.
- Ecommerce & UGC: harvest public posts that mention products (respect IP and consent norms).
- Research & journalism: sample public discourse tied to events or geographies.
Follower lists: what is realistic
The apify/instagram-followers-count-scraper returns follower/following counts per handle at $1.30/1k, cheap enough to schedule hourly across a roster. A full follower graph (handle-by-handle list of who follows whom) is not a first-party Actor: Instagram gates that behind logged-in pagination with aggressive rate limits, and any community Actor offering it should be checked for maintenance recency and legal review before you use it in production.
Avoiding blocks
Use Apify's residential proxy group (already the default on these Actors), keep resultsLimit per input below 200 for first runs, and stagger schedules so the same profile isn't hit more than once per hour. If a run returns partial data, open the Actor's Issues tab before retrying. Instagram rendering changes usually land as a wave of new issues within a day. See the Reels architecture notes for payload-level detail.
Browse Instagram Actors and sort by recent updates before you rebuild a pipeline around a single tool.
Use Instagram Scraper for mixed inputs and broad projects. Switch to Instagram Post Scraper when every row must represent a post with comments, or Instagram Profile Scraper when you only need bios and follower metrics.
Use Instagram Reel Scraper for targeted Reels analytics, and Instagram Hashtag Scraper when discovery starts from hashtags that surface Reels content. Confirm available fields on the Store page.
Not always for tiny tests, but Instagram frequently challenges datacenter IPs. If you see blocks or thin datasets, enable residential proxies when the Actor supports them and follow its concurrency guidance.
All six first-party Actors are pay-per-event with no platform usage surcharge. As of 2026-05-26: Post Scraper and Reel Scraper $1.00/1k, Followers Count $1.30/1k, Instagram Scraper $1.50/1k, Profile Scraper $1.60/1k, Hashtag Scraper $1.90/1k. Store subscription tiers discount these rates.
Many public fields work without cookies; deeper graph or private data may require sessions the Actor documents, or may be unsupported. Always follow Instagram’s terms and local law.
Some Actors expose Stories metadata when Instagram serves it to logged-out or configured sessions; ephemeral content is inherently flaky, so validate with a pilot run and read the README limitations.
Common mistakes and fixes
Empty dataset or steep drop in items.
Confirm targets are public, lower limits, retry off-peak, and read the Actor Issues tab. Instagram changes break parsers quickly.
Frequent blocks or 401-style errors.
Enable residential proxies when the Actor supports them, reduce concurrency, and avoid hammering the same profile in tight loops.
Stories or DMs missing.
Most Store Actors focus on public surfaces; ephemeral or private data may be unsupported by design.