# Instagram Profile Scraper (`mellow_mint/instagram-profile-scraper`) Actor

Scrape Instagram profile data effortlessly! This scraper extracts usernames, bios, followers, following counts, posts, profile pictures, and more — perfect for influencer research, social media analytics, and marketing insights.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/mellow\_mint/instagram-profile-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [explore data](https://apify.com/mellow_mint) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Social media, Videos
- **Stats:** 3 total users, 2 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$15.00/month + usage

To use this Actor, you pay a monthly rental fee to the developer. The rent is subtracted from your prepaid usage every month. You also pay for the Apify platform usage, which gets cheaper the higher Apify subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#rental-actors

## 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 Profile Scraper

This Apify Actor scrapes Instagram profile information using the Instagram web API. It extracts key profile data including biography, follower counts, following counts, post counts, and more.

### Features

- 🔍 Extract profile information from any public Instagram account
- 📊 Get follower and following counts
- 📝 Retrieve biography and bio links
- 📷 Get post counts and highlight reel counts
- 🏷️ Extract category information
- 🔒 Proxy support for reliable scraping

### Input

The Actor accepts the following input parameters:

```json
{
  "username": "instagram",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

#### Input Parameters

- **username** (required): Instagram username to scrape (without @ symbol)
- **proxyConfiguration** (optional): Proxy configuration for the scraper. Using proxies is highly recommended for Instagram scraping to avoid rate limiting.

### Output

The Actor outputs the following data for each profile:

```json
{
  "username": "instagram",
  "biography": "Profile bio text...",
  "bio_links": ["https://example.com/"],
  "full_name": "Full Name",
  "followers_count": 12345678,
  "following_count": 123,
  "category_name": "Category",
  "highlight_reel_count": 5,
  "post": 1234
}
```

#### Output Fields

- `username`: Instagram username
- `biography`: Profile biography text
- `bio_links`: List of links in the bio
- `full_name`: Full name displayed on the profile
- `followers_count`: Number of followers
- `following_count`: Number of accounts being followed
- `category_name`: Profile category (if available)
- `highlight_reel_count`: Number of story highlights
- `post`: Total number of posts

### Usage

#### On Apify Platform

1. Go to the Actor's page
2. Enter the Instagram username you want to scrape
3. Click "Start"
4. Download the results from the dataset

#### Locally with Apify CLI

```bash
apify run -p
```

### Important Notes

- ⚠️ This Actor uses the Instagram web API which may be subject to rate limiting
- 🔒 Using proxies (Apify Proxy) is highly recommended to avoid being blocked
- 📋 Only public profiles can be scraped
- ⏱️ The Actor includes retry logic and download delays to handle rate limiting

### Requirements

- Python 3.13+
- Scrapy
- Apify SDK for Python

### Deployment

#### Deploy to Apify Platform

##### Option 1: Link Git Repository

1. Go to [Actor creation page](https://console.apify.com/actors/new)
2. Click on **Link Git Repository** button
3. Connect your repository

##### Option 2: Push from Local Machine

1. Log in to Apify CLI:

   ```bash
   apify login
   ```

2. Push the Actor:
   ```bash
   apify push
   ```

### Support

For issues or questions, please open an issue in the repository.

# Actor input Schema

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

Instagram username to scrape (without @ symbol)

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

Specifies proxy servers that will be used by the scraper in order to hide its origin. Using proxies is highly recommended for Instagram scraping.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "username": "instagram",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# 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 = {
    "username": "instagram",
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("mellow_mint/instagram-profile-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 = {
    "username": "instagram",
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("mellow_mint/instagram-profile-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "username": "instagram",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}' |
apify call mellow_mint/instagram-profile-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,mellow_mint/instagram-profile-scraper"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/CkMieEBpF0FHxwdE7/builds/7jDax9Ukr4re6Feng/openapi.json