The Best Instagram Scrapers of 2024

Is it Legal To Scrape Instagram?

Like any other social media platform, Instagram isn’t fond of web scrapers. The platform openly shares its views by filing numerous lawsuits against companies that provide or use web scraping services just to prove the point.

In a nutshell, there’s no regulation prohibiting scraping as an action. But you have to be aware of a few things; otherwise, a lawsuit might come banging at your door. The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that you can scrape data that isn’t behind a login (it’s publicly available), and the content you gather isn’t subject to intellectual property rights.

There also may be some other requirements for working with personal information. If you’re unsure about the legal side of scraping Instagram, better to contact a lawyer since every use case is viewed individually.

How Does Instagram Block Scrapers?

There are two main identifiers that give away your identity: IP address and browser fingerprint.

Instagram can monitor traffic by tracking your IP address. Firstly, there’s a way real people browse the internet; they’re chaotic as opposed to bots that move in a certain pattern. Secondly, Instagram applies connection request limits. And thirdly, IP quality also plays a role here. You won’t be able to access most Instagram pages with datacenter proxies. So, when you exceed the number of requests or your actions seem suspicious, the platform red flags your IP. If you keep doing so, Instagram can block it.

Another common cause that might get you banned is inconsistencies in your browser fingerprint. Instagram uses various tracking methods to identify your device and software characteristics like the browser type and request headers. For example, if your scraper sends a user agent that doesn’t match your operating system, Instagram will see that.

The platform uses pretty aggressive anti-bot mechanisms. So, getting quality Instagram proxies or using a service that handles proxy management and anti-detection techniques when scraping is a must.

What Are the Best Instagram Web Scrapers?

Many services offer tools for scraping Instagram. The one you choose depends on factors like price, difficulty using and setting up, or the size of your project. Usually, they’re divided into three categories: no-code tools, unofficial APIs, or custom-built web scrapers. Let’s delve into each:

No-code scrapers let you collect data by visually clicking on elements or using pre-made templates. While such tools work well with simple tasks, they’re generally slower and inefficient once you scale. Another way to go about scraping Instagram without going further into code is to use pre-collected Instagram datasets.
Web scraping or proxy-based (web unblockers) APIs are remote web scrapers. They let you scrape by making API calls to the provider’s infrastructure with your target website. This type of scraper handles proxy management, anti-detection techniques, and headless browsers. APIs are great performers and highly extensible, so they’re suitable for all types of projects.
Custom-built scrapers are usually built using web scraping libraries. Such tools allow you to control one or more aspects of web scraping – crawling, getting, and cleaning the data. However, this approach will work only if you’re able to manage website blocks and proxies on your own. We build a basic Instagram scraper in our guide on how to scrape Instagram.

The Best Instagram Scrapers in 2024

1. Smartproxy

Great value for money.

9.3/10 ★

Try 100 MB for free.

Geolocation: 195 locations with country-level targeting
Pricing model: based on successful requests
Pricing structure: subscription
Support: 24/7 support via chat or email
Free trial: 14-day money-back option or 7-day trial

Pricing: $50 for 25K requests ($2/1K requests)

Smartproxy offers a specialized Social Media Scraping API that covers the two most popular platforms – Instagram and TikTok. The tool allows you to scrape publicly available Instagram data points like profiles, follower count, usernames, posts, hashtags, and more.

You can integrate the scraper as a proxy server or use one of the two API methods. The synchronous approach lets you get real-time data, whereas the asynchronous method doesn’t require keeping an open connection, so you can retrieve data via webhook later.

Social Media Scraping API allows specifying geolocation, the content language, and comes with an in-built parser. You can scrape either the full HTML or graphQL, and receive structured data in JSON.

Smartproxy offers an API playground for live testing. You can build requests, see their output, and download code snippets. Additionally, the provider includes detailed GitHub code examples and a Postman collection for easier integration.

What’s more, the tool has no concurrency limits, so you can make an unlimited amount of requests. However, the API doesn’t support receiving data in batches.

Read the Smartproxy review for more information and performance tests.

2. Bright Data

Feature-rich Instagram Scrapers.

9.3/10 ★

Add up to $500 to your account and get double the amount.

Geolocation: global with country and city level targeting
Pricing model: based on successful requests
Pricing structure: PAYG, subscription
Support: 24/7 support via chat or email
Free trial: 7-day trial for companies

Pricing:
– Instagram Scraper API: starts from $1 for 1,000 records
– Web Unlocker: starts from $3 for 1,000 results
– Instagram datasets: $0.001/record

Bright Data has a robust web scraping infrastructure, with many tools specifically optimized for Instagram. Among these are its pre-scraped YouTube datasets, dedicated Instagram Scraper APIs, and Web Unlocker. Let’s explore each tool to see how they differ.

Web Unlocker is a general-purpose web scraper that integrates as a proxy server. The tool automatically renders JavaScript. However, it doesn’t have an in-built parser.

If that’s a sticking point, you can go with Bright Data’s Web Scraper API with different endpoints – comments, posts, profiles and reels – for Instagram. These tools offer features similar to the Web Unlocker but you’ll get API-based integration. Additionally, you’ll be able to get structured data.

Alternatively, you can choose a pre-collected dataset for Instagram if you don’t want to maintain your own scraper. You can get data points like followers, profiles, posts, and more. Bright Data offers an entire dataset, or you can customize a subset with different filters.

Bright Data’s service is packed with features that cost a lot, so some might find the service overpriced.

Read the Bright Data review for more information and performance tests.

3. Zyte

Fastest Instagram scraper at a lower price.

8.8/10 ★

Geolocation: 150+ locations
Pricing model: based on optional features
Pricing structure: PAYG, subscription
Support: available via asynchronous contact method
Free trial: trial for $5 available

Pricing: custom

Zyte API is a general-purpose web scraper that is fully capable of handling Instagram.

The tool is bundled with proxy management features like automatic IP rotation, retries, and ban detection. There’s also an option to manually choose from 19 locations.

Enterprise clients can use a TypeScript API using Zyte’s cloud IDE for scripting browser actions like hovering on Instagram elements.

During our tests, Zyte API stood out when targeting Instagram – it was the fastest, with an average response time of 2.63 s.

Zyte doesn’t have a fixed pricing rate. It rather calculates the cost based on factors like the website’s difficulty and the features you select. But it has a dashboard tool where you can estimate the cost by entering the target URL. So, it’s a cost-efficient Instagram scraper unless you need features like JavaScript rendering that will increase the price.

Read the Zyte review for more information and performance tests.

4. Nimbleway

Performant AI-based Instagram scraper.

8.7/10 ★

Geolocation: 150+ countries with state & city targeting
Pricing model: based on successful requests
Pricing structure: PAYG, subscription
Support: live chat on the dashboard, email, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Discord
Free trial: available
Pricing: $3/1K requests

Nimbleway is an emerging provider in the web scraping and proxy industry, with particular strength in social media scraping, including Instagram.

Nimbleway offers a general-purpose scraper with broad location coverage across over 150 countries, and targeting down to the state and city levels. While the provider primarily uses residential proxies, it also provides mobile IPs for challenging targets, making it well-suited for navigating Instagram’s stricter security measures.

Nimbleway’s scraper can easily handle Instagram because it uses AI that’s trained on HTML structures. In our tests, Nimbleway’s Instagram scraper performed well, achieving an almost perfect success rate and the second-fastest response time of 7.01 seconds.

The provider plans to introduce a feature allowing users to create custom schemas through natural language instructions. These schemas will automatically resolve errors and incorporate reusable IDs for improved reliability.

Nimbleway offers both pay-as-you-go and monthly plans.

For more information and performance tests, read our Nimbleway review.

5. ScraperAPI

Affordable Instagram scraper.

Geolocation: 12 locations in US & EU with additional 50+ available upon request
Pricing model: based on successful requests and optional features
Pricing structure: subscription
Support: available via email
Free trial: 1,000 free credits/month or 7-day free trial
Pricing: custom

ScraperAPI offers a general-purpose web scraper. The provider supports targeting for 12 countries, with an option to expand to over 50 upon request.

ScraperAPI supports multiple integration methods, including use as a proxy server, through an SDK, or via two API formats (open connection and asynchronous), making it adaptable to various use cases. Additionally, it offers a free plan with 1,000 API credits per month and allows up to five concurrent connections.

ScraperAPI is affordable and the pricing is based on credits used; however, complex targets consume more credits. For those focusing on simpler scraping tasks, ScraperAPI offers both accessibility and cost-effectiveness.

However, when it comes to Instagram, ScraperAPI’s performance shows room for improvement. Its success rate and response time decrease on sites with strict anti-bot protections like Instagram.

6. Apify

Multiple no-code Instagram scrapers with a point-and-click interface.

Locations: unknown
Pricing model: based on usage
Data parsing: yes
Free trial: a free plan with $5 platform credits is available
Pricing: monthly plans starting from $49 with $49 platform credits and 30 shared datacenter proxies.

Apify’s service comes with several no-code Instagram scrapers. They come as templates (Apify calls them actors) and let you collect specific data points like profiles, hashtags, or posts, You can use a template as-is, modify its code, or request a new one if needed.

It’s possible to integrate the scrapers with cloud services or web apps like Slack, GitHub, Google Drive, and more. Or, you can use webhooks and get notifications whenever the scraper is done with a run. What’s more, you can download your results as HTML, JSON, CSV, Excel, or XML.

Apify’s pricing is plan-based. Each plan comes with a fixed number of datacenter proxies, but residential IPs are available on demand. You can choose a free plan with 20 results and five comments if you need just a few results. Otherwise, you’ll have to commit to a monthly subscription which starts from $45/month.

The provider uses a credit-based pricing system, so it can get pricey to scrape Instagram. That’s because datacenter proxies won’t do, and you’ll have to pay extra for residential IPs.