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Send an Instagram URL, get structured JSON back. The Bright Data Instagram Scraper API handles proxies, CAPTCHAs, and parsing so you can focus on your data pipeline.
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How it works

You send one or more Instagram URLs to the Bright Data Instagram Scraper API. Bright Data handles the scraping infrastructure and returns clean, structured JSON. 
Your app  -->  Bright Data API  -->  Structured JSON
           POST /datasets/v3/scrape
           Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN
All requests use a dataset_id to specify the data type (profiles, posts, reels, or comments) and return results in JSON, NDJSON, or CSV.

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What the response looks like

curl -X POST "https://api.brightdata.com/datasets/v3/scrape?dataset_id=gd_l1vikfch901nx3by4&format=json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '[{"url": "https://www.instagram.com/instagram"}]'

{
  "user_name": "instagram",
  "full_name": "Instagram",
  "biography": "Discover what's next. ✨",
  "followers": 676000000,
  "following": 500,
  "posts_count": 7800,
  "is_verified": true,
  "profile_pic_url": "https://..."
}

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Supported data types

Profiles

Follower counts, bios, verification status, profile pictures. Discover profiles by username.

Posts

Captions, likes, comments, hashtags, photos, and videos. Discover posts by profile URL.

Reels

Video URLs, view counts, play counts, thumbnails. Discover reels or collect all reels from a profile.

Comments

Comment text, likes, replies, commenter details for any post or reel.

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Request methods

The Bright Data Instagram Scraper API supports two request methods. Choose based on your volume and latency needs.
MethodEndpointBest for
Synchronous/scrapeReal-time lookups, up to 20 URLs
Asynchronous/triggerBatch jobs, 20+ URLs, production pipelines
Learn more in Understanding sync vs. async requests.

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Capabilities and limits

CapabilityDetail
Output formatsJSON, NDJSON, CSV
Max URLs per sync request20
Max URLs per async request5,000
Data freshnessReal-time (scraped on demand)
Delivery optionsAPI download, Webhook, Amazon S3, Snowflake, Azure, GCS (all options)
PricingPay per successful record (see pricing)

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Common questions

Yes. Each request triggers a live scrape. There is no cached or stale data. Response times vary by endpoint: profiles typically return in 10-30 seconds (sync), while discovery requests may take longer depending on result volume.
URL collection scrapes a specific Instagram page you provide (e.g., a profile URL). Discovery finds Instagram content matching search criteria (e.g., all posts from a profile URL) and scrapes the results. Discovery is only available via async requests.
When scraping using proxies or Web Unlocker, you still need to write and maintain your own parsing logic and update it whenever Instagram changes its page structure. The Instagram Scraper API handles the entire stack: proxy rotation, anti-bot bypassing and parsing. You simply send an Instagram URL and get clean, structured JSON back with no scraping infrastructure or parser maintenance required on your end.

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Next steps

Quickstart

Scrape your first Instagram profile in 5 minutes.

Send your first request

Full code examples in cURL, Python, and Node.js.

API reference

Endpoint specs, parameters, and response schemas.