Instagram Follower List Scraper

Extract the complete follower list of any public Instagram profile — with no login, no password, and no session cookies. Hand the actor a username, and it returns a tidy JSON record for every follower, page after page, ready to drop straight into a spreadsheet, CRM, or analytics pipeline.

This actor is purpose-built for one job — followers — so there are no extra toggles to configure and no ambiguity about what you're getting back.

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Why go cookieless?

Most follower scrapers ask you to paste in a session cookie or log in with a real Instagram account. That approach is fragile and risky:

• No account at risk. You never expose your own credentials, so there's nothing to get flagged, restricted, or banned.
• Nothing expires. Session cookies rot within hours or days. This actor doesn't use them, so a saved run configuration keeps working.
• Zero setup. Skip the browser extensions and copy-paste rituals. Type a username and press start.

Everything this actor reads is data any logged-out visitor can already see on the public web.

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Quick start

1. Type in a public Instagram username (the account whose followers you want).
2. Optionally set a result limit — how many follower records to pull.
3. Run it. The actor walks through Instagram's follower pages and writes each account to your dataset.
4. Export the results as JSON, CSV, or Excel from the Apify console, or grab them via the API.

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Input

This actor takes a minimal input because it does exactly one thing.

Field	Type	Required	Default	What it's for
username	String	Yes	—	The public account whose followers to collect
max_items	Integer	No	100	Cap on how many follower records to return

Sample input

{
  "username": "natgeo",
  "max_items": 500
}

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What you get back

Every dataset item is a single follower account. The core fields you'll actually use day to day:

Field	Meaning
username	The follower's Instagram handle
full_name	Display name shown on their profile (can be blank)
pk / id	Instagram's internal numeric account identifier
is_private	true when the follower's own account is locked down
is_verified	true when the account carries a blue check
profile_pic_url	Direct link to their 150×150 avatar
latest_reel_media	Timestamp of their most recent public story, when available
reel	Nested object with story/reel metadata and owner details

Sample output item

{
  "pk": "7170190972",
  "id": "7170190972",
  "username": "cehjeyson",
  "full_name": "Jeyson Ceh Alcocer",
  "profile_pic_url": "https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.2885-19/459215396_515611037714158_5599926235233254176_n.jpg",
  "is_private": true,
  "is_verified": false,
  "latest_reel_media": null,
  "reel": {
    "id": "7170190972",
    "expiring_at": 1773621738,
    "has_pride_media": false,
    "owner": {
      "id": "7170190972",
      "username": "cehjeyson"
    }
  }
}

Fields Instagram doesn't expose for a given account come back as null rather than being dropped, so your schema stays consistent across every row.

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Plans

What you get	Free	Paid
Followers per run	Around 50	Up to your max_items
Pagination cursor returned	—	Included
Resume an interrupted run	—	Supported

Free runs let you validate the output format before committing. When a free run hits its ceiling, you'll see:

🔒 Upgrade your subscription to scrape more followers.

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Picking up where you left off

On paid runs, the final record in the dataset carries a pagination cursor plus a running count:

{
  "cursor": "QVFDZjJmUTdQcGQ4VUluUFZMa3NLZ...",
  "total_scraped": 500
}

To continue a large scrape later, start a new run against the same username and supply that cursor. The actor resumes from that point instead of starting over — handy for accounts with tens or hundreds of thousands of followers.

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FAQ

Do I need an Instagram account or cookie? No. The actor works entirely from publicly visible data, so there's nothing to log into.

Can it scrape a private account's followers? No. If the target profile is private, its follower list isn't publicly visible and can't be collected.

What about the following list? This actor is followers-only by design. If you need who an account follows, that's a separate job.

Will a huge account finish in one run? Very large lists may be split across runs due to Instagram's rate limits. Use the cursor to resume — see above.

What export formats are available? JSON, CSV, Excel, and HTML table via the Apify console, plus programmatic access through the dataset API.

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Limitations to keep in mind

• Public profiles only. Private accounts are off-limits by nature.
• Rate limits happen. On big lists Instagram may throttle requests; failed requests are retried automatically (up to 3 times) before the actor moves on.
• max_items defaults to 100 if you leave it blank.

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Where people use this

• Mapping an audience for research or reporting
• Profiling a creator or influencer's follower base
• Sizing up a competitor's audience
• Assembling outreach and prospecting lists
• Ongoing social-account monitoring

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Responsible use

This actor collects only publicly available information — the same data any signed-out person could view in a browser. You are responsible for using the output in line with applicable laws, privacy regulations, and Instagram's Terms of Service. The developer accepts no liability for how the data is used.

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Ready to build your follower list? Enter a username and run it — no cookies, no login, no fuss.