Instagram Scraper: Apify vs Python vs Bright Data in 2025

Instagram scraping can be achieved through:

• Instagram scraper APIs provide automated proxy integration and anti-detection features. We benchmarked the top Instagram scraper APIs on 200 pages (e.g., posts, profiles).
• Instagram API allows app developers to access data of users that installed and authorized their app.
• Proxy + Python scraping library requires manual proxy integration and anti-detection measures. Suitable for developers with experience in building custom scrapers.

Top 5 Instagram scraper API providers

The vendors with links are AIMultiple’s sponsors.

Table features explained:

• Specialized API: Instagram-specific scraper API tailored for gathering data exclusively from Instagram. For example, Bright Data offers templates tailored to specific Instagram data points, such as “instagram-comments-collect by URL.”

• General-purpose: Offers a versatile scraper that isn’t specialized for Instagram but can be modified to handle Instagram web scraping tasks.

• Supported page types: Pages where the Instagram scraping tool delivers data in a structured format.

What is the price of Instagram scraper APIs?

Instagram scraper APIs benchmark results

Monthly pricing offerings for these providers can be seen below.

We used Instagram URL destinations for posts and profiles in our tests using dedicated Instagram scraping APIs. We sent each synchronous API request and measured the response times.

Instagram scraping using Instagram API

Meta requires an existing business account to use the Instagram API. 

Follow these steps to set up and generate an access token to request public Instagram data for your market research and competitor analysis.

1.  Navigate to https://developers.facebook.com and create a developer account.
2. Now we need to create an App. Follow https://developers.facebook.com/apps and select “Create App”.
   • Enter an app name and your email
   • When asked on “Use Case”, select “Other”. (We will then request permissions based on the data we need.)
   • Select “Business” for app type
   •  Finish the app setup.
3. Now that we have created our app, we can test it in the Graph API Explorer. ⁴
   • Select the “Meta App” option as the app created. 
   • To test the app, we will use Meta’s initial query. To do this, select “User Token” and press “Generate Access Token.” This will create a short-lived access token to test our app. 
   • After the Access Token is generated, click submit. This will return a response containing the ID and name of the account used during the app creation.

4. You can send an API request to the same endpoint via Python. Below is an example query for ID, name, and profile picture.

5. After you have successfully tested your app, you need to request permissions on the data you would like to retrieve from Instagram. To do this, return to your app dashboard and select “Permissions and Features” under “App Review.” Here, you can find access permissions for different use cases. 

6. To request a feature, first, you must undergo an app review by Meta. You must state the data you need and how it will be used. ⁵

An example of a feature request for IG Hashtags (Assuming you have finished App Review). ⁶

Note: Almost all of the endpoints that allow access to Instagram data require an app review process. This ensures that the products you use and the data you gather comply with Instagram’s terms.

Instagram scraping using proxy and Python scraping library

Another method for scraping Instagram is to create your own data scraper. You can use scraping libraries such as JavaScript, Python, and Ruby to build your code environment.

Some programming languages, such as JavaScript, are challenging to understand if you are unfamiliar with basic programming knowledge or are a less experienced developer. Before deciding on a programming language, you should investigate the community and resources available for that language online.

You can run your Instagram scraper through a proxy service to gather data safely. Proxies enable large-scale data collection and region-specific content access.

What is Instagram scraping?

Instagram scraping is the automated process of collecting publicly accessible data from Instagram, such as posts, captions, comments, profile details, follower counts, or hashtag results, without manually browsing the app or website.

Scraping Instagram without logging in is safer for gathering data from publicly accessible endpoints. Instagram offers various public-facing endpoints, like public profiles and the explore page, that don’t require authentication.

You can also use Instagram’s API endpoints, such as the Instagram Graph API, which offers a legitimate way to access public data. 

Is it legal to scrape Instagram?

This article is for informational purposes and should not be considered legal advice. Instagram data scraping is legal as long as:

• Your data collection activities do not harm the target website, such as using scraped data to duplicate or damage the website’s service and operation.
• You don’t gather personally identifiable data (PII).

There are technical best practices for web scraping that will allow you to collect data from websites in an ethical manner, such as:

• If available, use the website’s APIs rather than an Instagram web scraper.
• Following the scraping guidelines specified in the website’s robot.txt file.

Figure 1: The ‘robots.txt’ file for Instagram

Which Instagram data can you scrape?

There is so much Instagram data available to the public that we will divide it into three categories:

1. Keywords/hashtags: You can extract post and media URLs containing specific keywords or Instagram hashtags.
2. Posts: You can retrieve Instagram post data, including Instagram usernames, permalink, date, likes, comments, and post author ID.
3. Profiles: Using a specific account name or URL, you can obtain all public data in Instagram profiles, such as posts, image URLs, likes, comments, and the number of followers/following.

Scraping Instagram data: use cases & best practices

Instagram is an effective social media platform for businesses to increase their brand awareness, leads, and sales.

1. Marketing

Instagram keyword and topic trendspotting

Instagram scraping allows businesses to target competitive keywords and hashtags in their domain. Using proper hashtags makes brand content visible to a larger audience.

For instance, if a user clicks a hashtag on an Instagram post, Instagram will display all content tagged with that hashtag. When you tag your content with the appropriate hashtag, your chances of appearing on the hashtag page increase.

However, it is tedious to go through each Instagram post on your explore page to find trending hashtags on Instagram. Instagram scraping tools enable businesses to:

• Track the performance of the hashtag marketing campaign
• Find trending hashtags
• Target niche hashtags

Figure 4: Finding relevant hashtags on Instagram with the autocomplete feature

Influencer marketing

Selecting the appropriate influencer for your target audience is essential to the success of your campaign. Instagram scrapers allow brands to find top influencers who mention your hashtag. You can also gather social media hashtags these influencers use, their locations, and information about their follower audience from Instagram profiles using an Instagram scraper.

2. Sales

Lead generation with specific hashtags

Reaching out to people who follow specific hashtags in your domain effectively expands your audience. You can research your competitors’ posts and the hashtags they use to reach a new audience. Instagram scraping enables brands to collect user data by targeting specific keywords or hashtags.

3. Customer success

Instagram scraping allows brands to collect customer review data on Instagram posts. To narrow down your data, you can limit the number of comments and posts using a certain keyword or hashtag. Businesses can also conduct sentiment analysis on collected customer review data. Sentiment analysis allows companies to learn more about how their customers perceive their products or services.

Instagram scrapers used in benchmark

Our benchmark tested the dedicated Instagram scraper API solutions listed below. To learn more, see the benchmark methodology for web scraping APIs.

See which major web infrastructure companies offer specific scrapers for Instagram pages:

External Links

• 1. "Instagram".Bright Data.
• 2. "Instagram".Apify.
• 3. "Instagram".Smartproxy.
• 4. Meta for Business (ehemals Facebook for Business) .
• 5. App Review - Responsible Platform Initiatives - Dokumentation - Meta for Developers.
• 6. IG-Hashtag - Instagram-Plattform - Dokumentation - Meta for Developers.