Instagram Posts Scraper for Public Profiles

Collect images, videos, carousels, and optionally Reels from public Instagram profile timelines without providing a login. Submit usernames or profile URLs and receive one structured Dataset row per unique delivered post, with caption, engagement, media, owner, tags, location, and source-profile context.

What this Actor does

The Actor normalizes and deduplicates public profile inputs, paginates their public timelines, and deduplicates media by ID across the run. It can include timeline Reels or restrict results to non-Reel timeline media. A free profile report explains the processing state of every submitted profile.

Use cases

• Archive public content metadata for creator or brand research.
• Monitor posting activity, formats, captions, hashtags, and engagement.
• Build datasets for competitive analysis, reporting, or content discovery.

How to use

1. Open the Actor in Apify Console.
2. Add one or more public Instagram profiles.
3. Set total and per-profile post limits and choose whether to include Reels.
4. Click Start and open the Dataset when the run finishes.

Input

profiles accepts 1–10,000 usernames, @handles, or public profile URLs. resultsLimit defaults to 1,000 and accepts 1–100,000 across the run. maxPostsPerProfile defaults to 100 and accepts 1–10,000 per profile. includeReels defaults to true. Duplicate profiles are skipped.

This exact input produced the complete output below:

{
  "profiles": [
    "nasa"
  ],
  "resultsLimit": 1,
  "maxPostsPerProfile": 1,
  "includeReels": true
}

Output

Every Dataset row represents one unique media ID and can be an image, video, carousel, or reel. Fields include shortcode, canonical URL, caption, hashtags, mentions, timestamp, display/video URLs, dimensions, engagement, audio/partnership/pinned flags, owner, location, coauthors, tagged users, carousel children, source profile, and scrape time. SUMMARY reports run totals and PROFILE_REPORT reports each input's processing status.

This is the complete Dataset item from a real successful run:

{
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "id": "3967213292204992434",
  "shortCode": "DcOX3hWFiey",
  "url": "https://www.instagram.com/p/DcOX3hWFiey/",
  "type": "image",
  "productType": "feed",
  "caption": "With your powers combined…\n\nThis colorful picture of the cosmos is the product of teamwork between our @NASAHubble, @NASAWebb, and @NASAChandraXray telescopes. Scientists brought their data together to get a vibrant look at this star-forming region known as the Tarantula Nebula, located 160,000 light-years from Earth.\n\nChandra’s X-ray data fills in the deep blue parts of the image, showing the gas blown away by the stellar winds created by the nebula’s young stars. Webb’s infrared data shows up as red, displaying the thousands of stars and the dust that gives rise to them. Hubble’s visible data is represented in green, showing warmer gas and other stars.\n\nCredit: NASA\n\n#NASA #Universe #Nebula",
  "hashtags": [
    "NASA",
    "Universe",
    "Nebula"
  ],
  "mentions": [
    "NASAHubble",
    "NASAWebb",
    "NASAChandraXray"
  ],
  "timestamp": "2026-08-19T14:11:47+00:00",
  "displayUrl": "https://instagram.ffru1-4.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t51.82787-15/780550892_18639053554049152_7611034912661011809_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e35_tt6&_nc_cat=1&ig_cache_key=Mzk2NzIxMzI5MjIwNDk5MjQzNA%3D%3D.3-ccb7-5&ccb=7-5&_nc_sid=58cdad&efg=eyJ2ZW5jb2RlX3RhZyI6IkZFRUQueHBpZHMuMTI4MC5zZHIucmVndWxhcl9waG90by5DMyJ9&_nc_ohc=7OKvUFcmaKEQ7kNvwGHVYpH&_nc_oc=AdojlRpczuMO429NuHzOzS_UsbrbyRr82ULZ6rfmTSZAUuhm7HO4IEhOUNGYQoe57_Q&_nc_ad=z-m&_nc_cid=0&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=instagram.ffru1-4.fna&_nc_gid=XhlttZLKHOz3ImbXTCZC0Q&_nc_ss=7a22e&oh=00_AQGu6GiQ7KzOBBBJzuKza6fntuM8z5zEXU-7NXj53Hwglw&oe=6A91ADF6",
  "videoUrl": null,
  "width": 1280,
  "height": 1129,
  "likesCount": 391577,
  "commentsCount": 2685,
  "videoViewsCount": null,
  "videoPlaysCount": null,
  "videoDurationSeconds": null,
  "hasAudio": false,
  "isPaidPartnership": false,
  "isPinned": true,
  "accessibilityCaption": null,
  "owner": {
    "id": "528817151",
    "username": "nasa",
    "fullName": "NASA",
    "isVerified": true,
    "isPrivate": false,
    "profilePicUrl": "https://instagram.ffru1-4.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t51.2885-19/29090066_159271188110124_1152068159029641216_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_s150x150_tt6&efg=eyJ2ZW5jb2RlX3RhZyI6InByb2ZpbGVfcGljLmRqYW5nby4xMDgwLmMyIn0&_nc_ht=instagram.ffru1-4.fna.fbcdn.net&_nc_cat=1&_nc_oc=Q6cZ2gHyq2w7kfZPNLWbHR696Gn9ukaziBiwGBR3E3ttZr6LU9nqOaI5VhzhmF5_ZyD3DhI&_nc_ohc=SCBbWOfqcPsQ7kNvwHq8y8x&_nc_gid=XhlttZLKHOz3ImbXTCZC0Q&edm=AP4sbd4BAAAA&ccb=7-5&oh=00_AQHaVIBB611YuSeUPATMHDPvfJM8ZNwckHN2P4klQwgEZw&oe=6A91B069&_nc_sid=7a9f4b"
  },
  "location": null,
  "coauthors": [],
  "taggedUsers": [],
  "carousel": [],
  "sourceUsername": "nasa",
  "sourceProfileUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/nasa/",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-08-24T07:36:28.568984+00:00"
}

Results can be exported as JSON, JSONL, CSV, Excel, XML, or RSS.

Pricing

The Actor uses tiered pay-per-event pricing. One successfully delivered unique media row maps to one post-result event.

Apify account tier	Price per post	Price per 1,000 posts
Free	$0.001	$1.00
Bronze	$0.0009	$0.90
Silver	$0.0008	$0.80
Gold	$0.00075	$0.75
Platinum	$0.00075	$0.75
Diamond	$0.00075	$0.75

Duplicate media, duplicate or invalid profiles, private or unavailable profiles, failed requests, excluded Reels, and free summary/report records are not charged. resultsLimit caps delivered posts, and Apify's maximum run charge provides an additional spending limit.

API and integrations

Run the Actor from Apify Console, API, CLI, schedules, tasks, or webhooks. Consume posts through the default Dataset API and operational totals through SUMMARY and PROFILE_REPORT. Integrate exports with spreadsheets, databases, dashboards, and automation platforms.

Related Actors

Actor	Best for
Instagram Comments Scraper - No Login	Collecting public conversations from posts returned by this Actor.
Instagram Reels Scraper for Public Profiles	Running a Reel-only collection with Reel-specific audio and media fields.
Instagram Profile Scraper - No Login	Adding biography, follower, verification, and business context to source profiles.

Limits and data quality

The Actor accepts up to 10,000 profiles, 100,000 total posts, and 10,000 posts per profile. Limits are maxima, not guarantees. Only public timeline content exposed during the run is available. Engagement counts are snapshots; media URLs are hosted by Instagram and can expire. Private, deleted, restricted, or unavailable profiles cannot produce public post rows.

Frequently asked questions

Can I exclude Reels?

Yes. Set includeReels to false to keep public images, videos, and carousels from the profile timeline.

Why does a carousel create one charged row?

The carousel has one unique parent media ID. Its child media are contained in the row's carousel array rather than billed as separate posts.

Responsible use

Use public Instagram content only for lawful purposes. Respect Instagram's terms, privacy and data-protection laws, copyright, creator rights, and applicable retention requirements. Media URLs do not transfer ownership or permission to republish content.

Support

Open an issue in the Actor's Issues tab with the run ID, a reproducible public profile, selected limits, and the relevant PROFILE_REPORT status. Never include credentials or tokens.