Instagram API pricing
Read public Instagram data over a plain REST API: eleven calls that take a username or a post and hand back JSON. Pick up a key and start on the free plan, no card asked for.
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What the Instagram API returns
Our Instagram API is a straightforward way to read public Instagram media and profile data. Eleven calls, each one asking for a username or a post and handing back plain JSON.
Profile details
Everything an account shows about itself: the name, the bio, the picture and the counters.
Posts
What an account has published, with the media and the caption of each post.
Reels
The reels of an account, kept apart from the rest of the posts.
Tagged posts
Posts published by other people in which this account has been tagged.
Stories
Whatever the account has up at the moment, before it expires.
Highlights
The list of collections an account keeps pinned to its profile.
Stories in a highlight
Everything saved inside one collection, opened by that collection.
Comments
What people wrote under a post, with the author of each comment.
Likers
The accounts that put a like on a post.
Followers
Who follows an account, handed back page by page.
Following
Who an account follows itself, also page by page.
Keys
Instagram API for developers
Three steps and you are calling the API. The token is yours to pick up — nobody has to approve anything.
- Create an account in the API console: the free plan asks for no card
- Copy your token from the Integrations settings of the console
- Send the token in the Authorization header of every request
Authorization header
Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN
Reference
Every call the Instagram API takes
All eleven are POST with a JSON body. Nine of them take a username, one takes the id of a highlight, two take the shortcode of a post.
| Call | Takes | What comes back | Pages |
|---|---|---|---|
userInfo |
username |
Public profile information for the account | — |
posts |
username |
Posts of the account in extended form: images, videos and carousels | — |
reels |
username |
Reels the account has published | yes |
taggedPosts |
username |
Posts by other people in which the account is tagged | yes |
stories |
username |
Stories the account has up right now | — |
highlights |
username |
Highlight reels of the account: id, title and cover image | — |
highlightStories |
highlightId |
Every story kept inside one highlight reel | — |
comments |
shortcode |
Comments under the post | yes |
likers |
shortcode |
Accounts that liked the post | — |
followers |
username |
Accounts following the profile | yes |
followings |
username |
Accounts the profile follows | yes |
Example
What a request looks like
Every call has the same shape: the address of the method, your token in a header and one field in the body.
curl -X POST https://scraperapi.to/scrape/instagram-scraper/userInfo \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{"username": "instagram"}'Plans
How much the Instagram API costs
The free plan needs no card. Paid plans differ in how many requests a month you get and how fast you may send them.
| Plan | Requests per month | Requests per second | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | 1,000 | 2 | $0 |
| Pro | 50,000 | 5 | $50 / mo |
| Ultra | 250,000 | 10 | $150 / mo |
| Mega | 1,000,000 | 20 | $250 / mo |
Past a million requests a month, the published plans stop. Ask the API team what a bigger volume would look like.
Difference
This API or the official Graph API
Meta has its own Instagram API. It solves a different job, and the difference is worth knowing before you pick.
| Official Graph API | Our API | |
|---|---|---|
| Whose accounts you can read | Professional accounts only: your own, ones you manage, or ones whose owners signed in to your app | Any account that is public, with nothing asked of its owner |
| What it takes to start | A Meta app that has passed App Review before it may ask app users for the permissions it needs | A token in a header |
| What it is built for | Running a presence: publishing, moderating comments, replying in direct messages, reading insights | Reading public data and nothing else |
There is a third way to work with public Instagram data: if you would rather an AI assistant made the calls than write them yourself, our Instagram MCP server opens its own set of tools to Claude, Cursor, VS Code and ChatGPT.
Access
Get your Instagram API key
The free plan is a thousand requests a month and costs nothing. Take the key and see whether the data fits before you pay for anything.
Get API key