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Instagram Profile API

Returns an Instagram account's public profile: bio, exact follower count, following count, lifetime post count, picture URL, verification, and author.ext.public_email from the bio.

GET /v1/instagram/profile

Last updated November 2026Maintained by the SocialCrawl team

Try the Instagram Profile API

See real data before writing a single line

GET/v1/instagram/profile

Instagram username without the @ symbol

2 optional parameters

Set to true to skip the recent-posts read. The profile comes back faster, at the same price, with `author.last_post_at` and `computed.engagement_rate` null.

Optional. When 1, also returns author.ext.contact_email: when the bio lists two or more email addresses, the one the creator gives for contacting them personally, copied verbatim from the bio. Null when there is one address or none, when every address belongs to a manager, agency or brand, or when the choice was not confident. author.ext.public_email is unchanged. No extra credits.

When to use the Instagram Profile API

Use it for a quick snapshot by handle; profile/full adds recent posts and computed metrics, and profile/about adds country, month joined and contact.

From the API reference

Returns public profile information for an Instagram user including the exact integer follower count, following count, bio, profile picture URL, and verification status. author.posts_count is the account's lifetime post count, for accounts of any size, in the same call and for the same 1 credit. In the rare case that count cannot be read in time the leaf is null rather than a wrong number, and a repeat call normally fills it. Age-restricted (18+) profiles are supported. Every link in the bio is listed in author.ext.bio_links ({ title, url, link_type }, the direct address), the Facebook-side id of the account is author.ext.fbid, and author.ext.is_business says whether it is an Instagram business account. author.ext.hd_avatar_url is the full-size profile picture. When the account publishes a contact address in its bio, it is returned as author.ext.public_email; otherwise that leaf is null. Instagram's in-app tap-to-email button is not readable from any public surface, so the bio is the only source for it. To vet a creator by market, call /v1/instagram/profile/about instead: it returns the follower count and the declared country in one call, at the same price, so there is no need to call both.

Searching 69 platforms in parallel

·TikTok logoTikTok·Instagram logoInstagram·YouTube logoYouTube·Facebook logoFacebook·X logoX·LinkedIn logoLinkedIn·Reddit logoReddit·Threads logoThreads·Pinterest logoPinterest·Twitch logoTwitch·Truth Social logoTruth Social·Snapchat logoSnapchat·Kick logoKick·Bluesky logoBluesky·Kwai logoKwai·Rumble logoRumble·Spotify logoSpotify·Apple Music logoApple Music·TikTok Shop logoTikTok Shop·Amazon Shop logoAmazon Shop·Google Shopping logoGoogle Shopping·Trustpilot logoTrustpilot·TripAdvisor logoTripAdvisor·Yelp logoYelp·Linktree logoLinktree·Komi logoKomi·Pillar logoPillar·lnk.bio logolnk.bio·Facebook Ads logoFacebook Ads·Google Ads logoGoogle Ads·LinkedIn Ads logoLinkedIn Ads·Google Search logoGoogle Search·Google News logoGoogle News·Finance logoFinance·Polymarket logoPolymarket·Tavily logoTavily·Hacker News logoHacker News·GitHub logoGitHub·Perplexity logoPerplexity·Naver logoNaver·Utility logoUtility·Universal Search logoUniversal Search
·TikTok logoTikTok·Instagram logoInstagram·YouTube logoYouTube·Facebook logoFacebook·X logoX·LinkedIn logoLinkedIn·Reddit logoReddit·Threads logoThreads·Pinterest logoPinterest·Twitch logoTwitch·Truth Social logoTruth Social·Snapchat logoSnapchat·Kick logoKick·Bluesky logoBluesky·Kwai logoKwai·Rumble logoRumble·Spotify logoSpotify·Apple Music logoApple Music·TikTok Shop logoTikTok Shop·Amazon Shop logoAmazon Shop·Google Shopping logoGoogle Shopping·Trustpilot logoTrustpilot·TripAdvisor logoTripAdvisor·Yelp logoYelp·Linktree logoLinktree·Komi logoKomi·Pillar logoPillar·lnk.bio logolnk.bio·Facebook Ads logoFacebook Ads·Google Ads logoGoogle Ads·LinkedIn Ads logoLinkedIn Ads·Google Search logoGoogle Search·Google News logoGoogle News·Finance logoFinance·Polymarket logoPolymarket·Tavily logoTavily·Hacker News logoHacker News·GitHub logoGitHub·Perplexity logoPerplexity·Naver logoNaver·Utility logoUtility·Universal Search logoUniversal Search
·TikTok logoTikTok·Instagram logoInstagram·YouTube logoYouTube·Facebook logoFacebook·X logoX·LinkedIn logoLinkedIn·Reddit logoReddit·Threads logoThreads·Pinterest logoPinterest·Twitch logoTwitch·Truth Social logoTruth Social·Snapchat logoSnapchat·Kick logoKick·Bluesky logoBluesky·Kwai logoKwai·Rumble logoRumble·Spotify logoSpotify·Apple Music logoApple Music·TikTok Shop logoTikTok Shop·Amazon Shop logoAmazon Shop·Google Shopping logoGoogle Shopping·Trustpilot logoTrustpilot·TripAdvisor logoTripAdvisor·Yelp logoYelp·Linktree logoLinktree·Komi logoKomi·Pillar logoPillar·lnk.bio logolnk.bio·Facebook Ads logoFacebook Ads·Google Ads logoGoogle Ads·LinkedIn Ads logoLinkedIn Ads·Google Search logoGoogle Search·Google News logoGoogle News·Finance logoFinance·Polymarket logoPolymarket·Tavily logoTavily·Hacker News logoHacker News·GitHub logoGitHub·Perplexity logoPerplexity·Naver logoNaver·Utility logoUtility·Universal Search logoUniversal Search
·TikTok logoTikTok·Instagram logoInstagram·YouTube logoYouTube·Facebook logoFacebook·X logoX·LinkedIn logoLinkedIn·Reddit logoReddit·Threads logoThreads·Pinterest logoPinterest·Twitch logoTwitch·Truth Social logoTruth Social·Snapchat logoSnapchat·Kick logoKick·Bluesky logoBluesky·Kwai logoKwai·Rumble logoRumble·Spotify logoSpotify·Apple Music logoApple Music·TikTok Shop logoTikTok Shop·Amazon Shop logoAmazon Shop·Google Shopping logoGoogle Shopping·Trustpilot logoTrustpilot·TripAdvisor logoTripAdvisor·Yelp logoYelp·Linktree logoLinktree·Komi logoKomi·Pillar logoPillar·lnk.bio logolnk.bio·Facebook Ads logoFacebook Ads·Google Ads logoGoogle Ads·LinkedIn Ads logoLinkedIn Ads·Google Search logoGoogle Search·Google News logoGoogle News·Finance logoFinance·Polymarket logoPolymarket·Tavily logoTavily·Hacker News logoHacker News·GitHub logoGitHub·Perplexity logoPerplexity·Naver logoNaver·Utility logoUtility·Universal Search logoUniversal Search
Instagram API

What can you do with the Profile API?

The Profile endpoint gives you structured Instagram data with computed fields in a single request. No scraping infrastructure to build or maintain.

Example Request

# GET /v1/instagram/profile: 1 credit per call. Cache hits are free and failed calls are refunded.
# Check the price first for 0 credits: add dry_run=1 to the query. Nothing is fetched or charged.
# --max-time 28: this endpoint's measured p99 latency x 1.5.
# --retry 3: retries timeouts, 429 and 5xx, honoring Retry-After.
# -o response.json keeps only the final attempt's body.
# One Idempotency-Key per request, reused on every retry, so a retried call is never charged twice.
IDEMPOTENCY_KEY=$(od -An -N16 -tx1 /dev/urandom | tr -d ' \n')
curl -sS --max-time 28 --retry 3 -o response.json \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: $IDEMPOTENCY_KEY" \
  "https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/instagram/profile?handle=instagram&trim=true" && cat response.json
# GET /v1/instagram/profile: 1 credit per call. Cache hits are free and failed calls are refunded.
# Check the price first for 0 credits: add dry_run=1 to the query. Nothing is fetched or charged.
import os
import random
import time
import uuid

import requests

API_KEY = os.environ.get("SOCIALCRAWL_API_KEY", "YOUR_API_KEY")
TIMEOUT_S = 28  # this endpoint's measured p99 latency x 1.5.
MAX_RETRIES = 3
URL = "https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/instagram/profile"


def backoff(attempt):
    # Exponential backoff with jitter: about 1 s, 2 s, then 4 s.
    return 2 ** attempt * (0.5 + random.random() / 2)


def socialcrawl(params):
    # One Idempotency-Key per request, reused on every retry, so a retried call is never charged twice.
    idempotency_key = str(uuid.uuid4())
    for attempt in range(MAX_RETRIES + 1):
        try:
            res = requests.get(
                URL,
                params=params,
                headers={"x-api-key": API_KEY, "Idempotency-Key": idempotency_key},
                timeout=TIMEOUT_S,
            )
            body = res.json()
        except (requests.RequestException, ValueError):
            # A timeout, a dropped connection or a non-JSON gateway page: retry with the same key.
            if attempt == MAX_RETRIES:
                raise
            time.sleep(backoff(attempt))
            continue
        if body["success"]:
            return body
        error = body["error"]
        # Branch on error["type"], never on the message text.
        if error["type"] == "RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND":
            return None  # refunded: nothing to read
        retry_after = res.headers.get("Retry-After")
        # SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE without Retry-After is a withdrawn endpoint: permanent.
        permanent = error["type"] == "SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE" and retry_after is None
        if not error.get("retryable") or permanent or attempt == MAX_RETRIES:
            raise RuntimeError(f"{error['type']}: {error['message']} (request_id {body['request_id']})")
        # Retry-After (seconds) wins; otherwise back off.
        time.sleep(float(retry_after) if retry_after else backoff(attempt))


params = {
    "handle": "instagram",
    "trim": "true",
}
body = socialcrawl(params)
if body is not None:
    print(body["data"])
// GET /v1/instagram/profile: 1 credit per call. Cache hits are free and failed calls are refunded.
// Check the price first for 0 credits: add dry_run=1 to the query. Nothing is fetched or charged.
const API_KEY = process.env.SOCIALCRAWL_API_KEY ?? "YOUR_API_KEY";
const TIMEOUT_MS = 28_000; // this endpoint's measured p99 latency x 1.5.
const MAX_RETRIES = 3;

type Page = { next_cursor: string | null; has_more: boolean };
type SocialCrawlResponse =
  | { success: true; data: any; pagination?: Page; credits_used: number; request_id: string }
  | { success: false; error: { type: string; message: string; retryable: boolean }; request_id: string };

const sleep = (ms: number) => new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, ms));
// Exponential backoff with jitter: about 1 s, 2 s, then 4 s.
const backoffMs = (attempt: number) => 2 ** attempt * 1000 * (0.5 + Math.random() / 2);

async function socialcrawl(url: URL) {
  // One Idempotency-Key per request, reused on every retry, so a retried call is never charged twice.
  const idempotencyKey = crypto.randomUUID();
  for (let attempt = 0; ; attempt++) {
    let res: Response;
    let body: SocialCrawlResponse;
    try {
      res = await fetch(url, {
        headers: {
          "x-api-key": API_KEY,
          "Idempotency-Key": idempotencyKey,
        },
        signal: AbortSignal.timeout(TIMEOUT_MS),
      });
      body = (await res.json()) as SocialCrawlResponse;
    } catch (error) {
      // A timeout, a dropped connection or a non-JSON gateway page: retry with the same key.
      if (attempt >= MAX_RETRIES) throw error;
      await sleep(backoffMs(attempt));
      continue;
    }
    if (body.success) return body;
    // Branch on error.type, never on the message text.
    if (body.error.type === "RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND") return null; // refunded: nothing to read
    const retryAfter = res.headers.get("Retry-After");
    // SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE without Retry-After is a withdrawn endpoint: permanent.
    const permanent = body.error.type === "SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE" && retryAfter === null;
    if (!body.error.retryable || permanent || attempt >= MAX_RETRIES) {
      throw new Error(`${body.error.type}: ${body.error.message} (request_id ${body.request_id})`);
    }
    // Retry-After (seconds) wins; otherwise back off.
    await sleep(retryAfter ? Number(retryAfter) * 1000 : backoffMs(attempt));
  }
}

const url = new URL("https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/instagram/profile");
url.searchParams.set("handle", "instagram");
url.searchParams.set("trim", "true");

const body = await socialcrawl(url);
if (body) console.log(body.data);

Parameters worth sending

  • trim=true Same price, lighter payload: drops the bulky raw fields.

Parameters

ParameterRequiredDescription
handleYesInstagram username without the @ symbol
trimNoSet to true to skip the recent-posts read. The profile comes back faster, at the same price, with `author.last_post_at` and `computed.engagement_rate` null.
contact_emailNoOptional. When 1, also returns author.ext.contact_email: when the bio lists two or more email addresses, the one the creator gives for contacting them personally, copied verbatim from the bio. Null when there is one address or none, when every address belongs to a manager, agency or brand, or when the choice was not confident. author.ext.public_email is unchanged. No extra credits. (1)
Example Response

What does the Instagram Profile API return?

Every response follows one unified schema. Here is a real, unmodified response body, so you can see the exact fields you get back before spending a credit.

Example response
{
  "success": true,
  "platform": "instagram",
  "endpoint": "/v1/instagram/profile",
  "data": {
    "author": {
      "id": "25025320",
      "username": "instagram",
      "display_name": "Instagram",
      "avatar_url": "https://scontent-lga3-2.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-19/550891366_18667771684001321_1383210656577177067_n.jpg?_nc_cat=1&ccb=7-5&_nc_sid=bf7eb4&efg=eyJ2ZW5jb2RlX3RhZyI6InByb2ZpbGVfcGljLnd3dy4xMDgwLkMzIn0%3D&_nc_ohc=_dBpg1akaE4Q7kNvwFYM7uD&_nc_oc=Adon7FyLdWoU4qlxV71upGICROogjL2FcBl8yxsbgAED8LO-iYDUQwdh-6fE2_5ZogQ&_nc_zt=24&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-2.cdninstagram.com&_nc_gid=uZUdmerubWJW2Oihg78ZEA&_nc_ss=78a8c&oh=00_AQMqWYj2lI4SCSE84OaU1qQgetf8XJfEEQiNQv8y9mYjlA&oe=6AC59627",
      "bio": "Discover what's new on Instagram 🔎✨",
      "verified": true,
      "followers": 686584866,
      "following": 305,
      "posts_count": 8612,
      "likes_count": null,
      "url": "http://help.instagram.com",
      "private": false,
      "joined_at": null,
      "last_post_at": "2026-10-01T15:59:45.000Z",
      "ext": {
        "business_category": null
      }
    },
    "computed": {
      "engagement_rate": null,
      "language": "de",
      "content_category": "other",
      "estimated_reach": null
    }
  },
  "credits_used": 1,
  "request_id": "req_example000000",
  "cached": false,
  "credits_remaining": 9999,
  "source": "captured",
  "captured_at": "2026-10-02T15:37:22.521Z",
  "redacted": true
}

Live sample illustrating the unified response shape. Field values reflect the record you query.

API Details

How does the Instagram Profile API work?

Send a GET request with your API key and get back clean, structured JSON in our unified schema. Supported computed fields are populated when the source provides the required inputs.

Method

GET

Response

JSON

Why SocialCrawl

Why use SocialCrawl for Instagram Profile data?

We handle the complexity of Instagram data extraction so you can focus on building. Unified schema, AI enrichment, and zero platform logic in your code.

Developer First

How do you scrape social media data in seconds?

The fastest social media scraping API for developers. Scrape profiles, posts, comments, and analytics from 69 platforms covering 10B+ monthly active users.

One schema, every platform

Query 69 platforms with identical response structures. Write your integration once.

Computed fields, not just scraped

When an endpoint supports these metrics and the source provides the required inputs, the normalized record includes engagement_rate, estimated_reach, content_category, and language. Ready to use.

See your data before you code

Visual Data Explorer. Paste any URL, get rich result cards, sortable tables, CSV export.

import requests

response = requests.get(
    'https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/tiktok/profile',
    params={'handle': 'charlidamelio'},
    headers={'x-api-key': 'sc_YOUR_API_KEY'}
)
data = response.json()
[ .JSON ]
{
  "success": true,
  "platform": "tiktok",
  "data": {
    "author": {
      "username": "charlidamelio",
      "followers": 152400000
    },
    "engagement": {
      "likes": 12400000000,
      "engagement_rate": 0.087
    },
    "metadata": {
      "language": "en",
      "content_category": "lifestyle"
    }
  }
}
+ 69 platforms
FAQ

Have a question? We got answers

Find answers to frequently asked questions about SocialCrawl's API, pricing, and capabilities.

Contact us
How do I get Instagram profile data with an API?
Send a GET request to /v1/instagram/profile with the handle parameter (the username without the @). SocialCrawl returns a JSON object with follower count, following count, post count, bio, profile picture URL, and verification status.
What fields does the Instagram Profile API return?
Each response includes the available profile fields: username, full name, bio, profile picture URL, follower count, following count, post count, verification status, private flag, and external URL. Computed engagement rate and content category appear only when this endpoint supports them and the required source inputs are present.
Can I look up an Instagram account by username alone?
Yes. Pass the handle parameter and SocialCrawl resolves the account straight from the username, no numeric user ID to look up first and no separate ID-resolution step to maintain.
How much does one Instagram profile request cost?
One request costs 1 credit on the standard tier. New accounts get 100 free credits with no card, so you can pull about 100 profiles before deciding whether to top up.
How fast is the Instagram Profile API?
Most responses return within 1–3 seconds. Repeat calls for the same handle hit the profile cache category and come back faster on subsequent requests within the cache window.
Does the Instagram Profile API return the exact follower count?
Yes. GET /v1/instagram/profile returns author.followers as the exact integer follower count, not an abbreviated string such as 4.4M.

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