A Complete Guide To Scrape Instagram Post Data, Photos, Likes & Comments

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This blog describes how to scrape Instagram post data, likes, images, comments, & hashtags using Instagram Scraper in a stepwise manner.

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The official API of Instagram lets you access your posts and comments on the platform. But the Instagram scraping API doesn't permit you to extract the data for other people's posts, comments, and photos in the list format or the posts from a specific format.

To scrape such data, use our Instagram Scraper. It programmatically allows you to export publicly available social media data, like photos, likes, comments, followers, and more from Instagram. To be precise, Instagram scraper extracts:

  • Hashtags
  • Profiles
  • Likes
  • Comments
  • Locations

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Can I scrape Instagram Post Data Legally?

It is legal to extract publicly available data from Instagram. But please remember not to scrape personal data with private information and copyright protection. After extracting the Instagram, check it to see if it has any data related to intellectual properties or violates CCPA or GDPR policies.

Only Want to Scrape Instagram Post Data, Profiles, Comments, or Hashtags?

We have developed dedicated Instagram scrapers for specific use cases. These scrapers will give more accurate results for fewer settings. Here is the list:

Enter the single or multiple Instagram usernames and proceed to scrape the required data.

Where to Search Instagram Data?

A handy way to discover and access Instagram content is through a website or mobile application.

Publically Available Instagram Data Without Login

Our Instagram scraper can't log in to Instagram while scraping data. Therefore, it is a drawback and may not give you the required data.

While using incognito mode in the browser, you can freely access some features, but there are a few features where you need to log in, or the source will block the scraper. Instagram makes changes to its rules often. It may affect the scraping process. Check out the below part to see what you can find without login.

1. Search

You can find hashtags, profiles, and locations on Instagram, and it will reflect the first hundred posts.

Further, you can use an internal API endpoint to generate results in JSON dataset format:

The context query parameter works as a filter with locations, hashtags, and locations. The endpoint can return only a hundred results, which is the only drawback. Enter a more detailed filter to get more results.

2. Posts From Locations/Hashtags/Profiles

When you open any Instagram post with public access, like a hashtag, profile, or location, Instagram will show you an HTML page with a few preloaded posts. Once you scroll down, the platform will keep loading more posts with the help of XHR requests to the GraphQL endpoint. A token protects this endpoint.

Therefore, accessing it may be impossible, and you must scroll the page indefinitely. We'll use headless Chrome based on Puppeteer to automate the infinite scrolling algorithm.

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We couldn't find any limit on how many posts we could load using the infinite scrolling using our tests. The probability of the limit may be one or thousand during the testing, and it may vary.

3. Post Comments

There are publically accessible comments on each Instagram post, and if there are more comments, you can see the load more comments option while checking them.

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Clicking the see more comments button activates the XHR request to the GraphQL endpoint of Instagram. Once again, we can automate the scrolling with the help of the page.click() function of the Puppeteer and then scrape Instagram comments data from the selected webpage.

Available Data After Login

Unfortunately, you have to log in to Instagram to access certain content, for instance:

  • Followers list
  • Following list of the user

Though it may be possible to access the data by automated login to Instagram, it is risky because Instagram may ban that account. Using a fake Instagram account is also possible, but we don't recommend it due to Instagram's terms, conditions, and community guidelines. Our scrapers also don't support this practice.

With time, the popular social media platform restricts data access without login. Therefore, you must test to see what Instagram allows you to extract without login.

Using Instagram Scraper from Real Data API to Extract Instagram Data

The Instagram data scraper of our platform is one among several scrapers of our store. Our scrapers are cloud-based software tools as a part of Instagram scraping services that perform their job by accepting required input and generating expected output. You can run them using API or app scheduler by manual or automatic processes.

We've developed this Instagram scraper in Node js using Real Data API SDK. It takes profile URLs and Instagram queries as input. Then it searches the selected query and extracts posts, page details, comments, and more from the Instagram results and direct links. After scraping the data, the scraper stores it in a customized format that you can export in JSON, Excel, XML, or CSV.

Before scraping Instagram data, please remember that we don't scrape any personal data at scale, adhering to ethical norms, and also don't support it.

How to Use Instagram Scraper?

So you are planning to scrape Instagram post data using our scraper? Here is a step-by-step guide to start scraping the required data.

First Step: Go To Instagram Scraper in Our Store

Head over to the store page, and find Instagram Scraper. Then click the Try Instagram data scraper button.

It will redirect you to the enterprise page, where you can use the scraper according to your requirements. If you don't have an account, please create one using the necessary credentials. You can also contact us for customized Instagram scraping services.

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Second Step: Enter URLs or Search Terms In the Scraper Input

Once you go to the scraper, enter the required details in the input field of the scraper, like search queries, URLs, and more, to scrape the targeted data.

Use the +add button to add multiple links.

Enter the maximum item counts to scrape in the input field for Maximum Items.

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Third Step: Execute the Scraper to Extract Data

After adding input, hit the Start button.

Remember that the scraper will change the status of your task to Running. Please wait for the scraper to complete its scraping process. After completing the scraping, the tool will change the status to Succeeded.

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Fourth Step: Download the Collected Data

After scraping the Instagram data, head to the storage tab to see the output. You'll see the resulting data in multiple usable formats like JSON, HTML, CSV, XML, RSS, Excel, and more.

Click any format, see it in a new tab, preview it, and export it to your device. Then, you can upload the data anywhere or share it where you want. Use the data in other apps, programs, spreadsheets, or projects.

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Conclusion

Using Instagram Scraper, you can scrape Instagram post data, like photos, comments, likes, and more, with the above approach. To learn more, contact Real Data API.
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