What data can I extract from Instagram?
You can extract publicly visible data from Instagram. The specific fields depend on the page type and your parser configuration.
Common data fields
Posts and Reels
- Post captions and text
- Like counts
- Comment counts
- Posted timestamps
- Image and video URLs
- Tagged users
- Location tags
- Hashtags used
- Post type (photo, video, carousel, reel)
Profiles
- Username and display name
- Bio and profile description
- Profile picture URL
- Follower count
- Following count
- Post count
- Verified badge status
- Website link
- Recent posts grid
Comments
- Comment text
- Commenter username
- Like counts on comments
- Reply threads
- Timestamps
- Verified user indicators
Hashtag pages
- Top posts for hashtag
- Recent posts for hashtag
- Total post count
- Related hashtags
- Pagination for more posts
Stories (limited)
- Story availability
- Story count
- Viewer counts (for own stories)
- Story highlights
Important limitations
Instagram restricts access based on:
- Login requirements: Many features require authentication
- Privacy settings: Private accounts are not accessible
- Rate limiting: Instagram actively detects and blocks scraping
- Dynamic content: Heavy use of lazy loading and infinite scroll
- API restrictions: Official API has very limited functionality
Custom extraction
With Parseium, you define exactly which fields to extract. Our AI helps you:
- Identify the right CSS selectors
- Handle Instagram's dynamic loading
- Validate data types and formats
- Handle missing or restricted data
- Extract nested engagement metrics
You're limited to publicly visible data that doesn't require authentication.