Instagram Search Scraper

Instagram Search Scraper

Scrape Instagram Search results for users, hashtags, and places, up to a million per run. Every result comes with its ID, name, profile picture, and follower count. No login or API key. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

Instagram's official API needs app registration, OAuth, and rate-limits you. This reads the public search feeds directly, filtered by search type, and returns each match in one fixed schema.

Who uses it	What they scrape Instagram for
Market researchers	Identify trending hashtags and influential accounts in a niche.
Brand managers	Find user-generated content and brand mentions across Instagram.
Lead generation specialists	Build lists of businesses and creators by location or category.
Social media analysts	Track the growth and reach of competitor accounts and campaigns.

What it does

This Actor collects Instagram search results by query and search type, and returns each one as a flat row.

• 👤 User search: find Instagram accounts by username or display name.
• 🏷️ Hashtag search: discover trending and niche hashtags with post counts.
• 📍 Place search: locate businesses, landmarks, and venues by name or address.
• 📊 Bulk queries: run multiple search terms in a single Actor run.
• ⚙️ Flexible limits: set a maximum number of results to collect per run.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with Instagram data

📈 Monitor competitor accounts.

A social media analyst searches for competitor brand names to track their follower counts and profile changes over time.

🏷️ Discover niche hashtags.

A content strategist searches for topic keywords to find the most-used hashtags and their post volumes.

📍 Build a local business list.

A lead generation specialist searches for a city and business type to compile a list of Instagram places with contact details.

👤 Find influencers by name.

A brand manager searches for relevant usernames to identify potential influencer partners and review their follower counts.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
No API registration	Access public Instagram search data without an app or OAuth.
Fixed output schema	Every result is a flat row, ready for analysis.
Multi-type search	Search for users, hashtags, and places in one run.
Scalable collection	Collect up to a million results per run.

How it compares

This Actor focuses on Instagram's search endpoint, while the general Instagram Scraper is built for scraping content from specific URLs.

Feature	ParseForge	Instagram Scraper	Instagram Profile Scraper	Instagram Reel Scraper
Search by keyword query	Yes	Yes	Not listed	Not listed
Search for users	Yes	Yes	Not listed	Not listed
Search for hashtags	Yes	Yes	Not listed	Not listed
Search for places	Yes	Yes	Not listed	Not listed
Scrape posts from a profile URL	Not listed	Yes	Yes	Yes
Download reel videos	Not listed	Yes	Not listed	Yes

Configure the run

Drive the Actor from search queries and search types, alone or together, and filters run as each result is read so only matches reach your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
  "queries": [
    "nike",
    "travel"
  ],
  "searchTypes": [
    "user",
    "hashtag",
    "place"
  ],
  "maxItems": 10
}

A larger pull:

{
  "queries": [
    "nike",
    "travel"
  ],
  "searchTypes": [
    "user",
    "hashtag",
    "place"
  ],
  "maxItems": 200
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.015 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$1.50
1,000 results	$15.00
10,000 results	$150.00

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the Instagram Search Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to Instagram through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/instagram-search-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results for my search query?

Check that your search query is spelled correctly and is not too specific. Instagram's search may not return results for very obscure terms. Try a broader query.

The Actor is running but collecting results very slowly.

Instagram may be rate-limiting the requests. Reduce the maximum number of results or run the Actor with a longer timeout. Using Apify proxies can also help.

Some results seem to be missing data fields.

Instagram does not always expose every data field for every search result. If a profile is private or a place has limited information, some fields may be empty.

I received an error about invalid input.

Ensure you have provided at least one search query in the 'queries' field and that the 'searchTypes' array contains only valid values: 'user', 'hashtag', or 'place'.

Why are the follower counts different from what I see on the app?

Follower counts are cached and may have a slight delay. The scraper returns the count available at the exact moment of the request.

FAQ

Question	Answer
Can I search for multiple queries at once?	Yes, you can provide a list of search queries in the input, and the Actor will run them all in a single run.
What search types are supported?	The Actor supports searching for users, hashtags, and places on Instagram.
Do I need an Instagram login to use this scraper?	No, this Actor scrapes public search data and does not require an Instagram account or login.
How many results can I get per search?	You can set the maximum number of results to collect per run, up to one million.
What data fields are returned for a user search?	A user search returns fields like username, full name, profile picture URL, and follower count.
What data fields are returned for a hashtag search?	A hashtag search returns the hashtag name and the total number of posts using it.
What data fields are returned for a place search?	A place search returns the place name, address, category, and its Instagram ID.
Can I export the scraped data?	Yes, you can export your results in CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML formats.
Is this an official Instagram API?	No, this is an unofficial scraper that reads public Instagram search feeds directly.
Can I schedule this Actor to run automatically?	Yes, you can use Apify's scheduling feature to run this Actor at regular intervals.

Related actors

Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Meta Platforms, Inc. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.