An Instagram public data API serves profiles and posts as JSON—without the Graph API’s approval maze for read-only public fields.
Official limits and app review slow down prototypes. Unofficial public endpoints help when you only need what’s visible without logging in.
In this guide, you’ll learn:
Here’s what to know before you build.
Example: Get Public Profile Data
Let’s say you want to pull public info about an Instagram user like nike.
You want some basic information like bio, website, follower count, recent posts, etc.
By the way the documentation for this api is here: Instagram Profile Endpoint
All you need to do is make a GET request to /v1/instagram/profile like so:
import axios from 'axios';
const { data } = await axios.get(
'https://api.scrapecreators.com/v1/instagram/profile',
{
headers: {
'x-api-key': YOUR_API_KEY
}
}
);
console.log(data)
To get an API key, just sign up at app.scrapecreators.com (free trial, no credit card required)
That will return something like this, which has that basic information, and even the users recent posts also:
{
"success": true,
"data": {
"user": {
"biography": "You can’t win. So Win.",
"bio_links": [
{
"title": "",
"lynx_url": "https://l.instagram.com/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fempli.fi%2Fnike&e=AT3cEN7ZOHQuH3UCpnDlP-4kPHTumqr-HbuNdVSrUxzUiitDe9Q2U7R70hH9ejzOxEPBi8ZEOntQtCGGf0hu7XGhUd-Y_d015kwaKbbk6U9EWy65",
"url": "http://empli.fi/nike",
"link_type": "external"
}
],
"biography_with_entities": {
"raw_text": "You can’t win. So Win.",
"entities": []
},
"external_url": "http://empli.fi/nike",
"edge_followed_by": {
"count": 301256796
},
"fbid": "17841400602400210",
"edge_follow": {
"count": 228
},
"full_name": "Nike",
"id": "13460080",
"is_business_account": true,
"business_address_json": {
"city_name": "Beaverton, Oregon",
"city_id": 108410602520455,
"latitude": 45.5076448,
"longitude": -122.8269159,
"street_address": "One Bowerman Dr",
"zip_code": "97005"
},
"category_enum": "SPORTSWEAR_STORE",
"username": "nike",
"edge_felix_video_timeline": {
"count": 28,
"page_info": {
"has_next_page": true,
"end_cursor": "QVFCY2F0R1lxdEFYNUoyd1BOZWxuT2N6Qm1keGoxUmRqRlFseGRONzVVWk1JNUJJbllwaXJUa2JfVDIzYlJMLWU3VjJySzNCdHUyY3dQOTBjYWJTb2QzVw=="
},
"edges": [
{
"node": {
"__typename": "GraphVideo",
"id": "2876175088228270085",
"shortcode": "CfqOgENrIAF",
"is_video": true,
"has_audio": true,
"video_url": "https://scontent-bos5-1.cdninstagram.com/o1/v/t16/f2/m69/AQNBaN0Bbce_UhfOjoqm1d4IFi0II1Z4Q_hn-YLETflvSgFjCyJFETM8ghxgn4YOfIzfcwdrQs257TINnUpS--KY.mp4?stp=dst-mp4&efg=eyJxZV9ncm91cHMiOiJbXCJpZ193ZWJfZGVsaXZlcnlfdnRzX290ZlwiXSIsInZlbmNvZGVfdGFnIjoidnRzX3ZvZF91cmxnZW4uaWd0di5jMi43MjAuYmFzZWxpbmUifQ&_nc_cat=108&vs=608498457649958_322705160&_nc_vs=HBksFQIYOnBhc3N0aHJvdWdoX2V2ZXJzdG9yZS9HSUNXbUFDSHhLRkZwdFVEQUZ2aE9tckJqMXRUYnZWQkFBQUYVAALIAQAVAhg6cGFzc3Rocm91Z2hfZXZlcnN0b3JlL0dBNGthaEVpcU0tcmYtMEJBSkNQREdWcWd4UVhidlZCQUFBRhUCAsgBACgAGAAbAYgHdXNlX29pbAExFQAAJs72j5i9urM%2FFQIoAkMzLBdATgAAAAAAABgSZGFzaF9iYXNlbGluZV8xX3YxEQB17AcA&ccb=9-4&oh=00_AfETgO9057Q0dhxwFg8a4G0OaaYDEZwbDN0OPymAfmV7EQ&oe=6811A581&_nc_sid=8b3546",
"video_view_count": 2318849,
"edge_media_to_caption": {
"edges": [
{
"node": {
"text": "Wild goals. Big ambition. Mind-blowing skill 🤯🤯🤯 \n\nWomen have been elevating the game since day one. And they’ll continue to smash records, set the bar and raise the game for all of football 🥅☄️\n\nNever Settle, Never Done."
}
}
]
},
"edge_media_to_comment": {
"count": 828
},
"comments_disabled": false,
"taken_at_timestamp": 1657087316,
"edge_liked_by": {
"count": 140998
},
"edge_media_preview_like": {
"count": 140998
}
}
}
]
},
"edge_owner_to_timeline_media": {
"count": 1574,
"edges": [
{
"node": {
"__typename": "GraphVideo",
"id": "3617139176446146176",
"shortcode": "DIyqOqjOLaA",
"dimensions": {
"height": 1920,
"width": 1080
},
"is_video": true,
"has_audio": true,
"video_url": "https://scontent-bos5-1.cdninstagram.com/o1/v/t16/f2/m86/AQPzINLg6hL1AD4I9k8RVpBcfyEgRvTrc78_uLQ82p42lg17Aifqq310XdaKzlvBx8dtFW--iUMFwuoi5cMI-8wutvz5KQzKanJ3SJc.mp4?stp=dst-mp4&efg=eyJxZV9ncm91cHMiOiJbXCJpZ193ZWJfZGVsaXZlcnlfdnRzX290ZlwiXSIsInZlbmNvZGVfdGFnIjoidnRzX3ZvZF91cmxnZW4uY2xpcHMuYzIuNzIwLmJhc2VsaW5lIn0&_nc_cat=101&vs=654746210819686_2745054583&_nc_vs=HBksFQIYUmlnX3hwdl9yZWVsc19wZXJtYW5lbnRfc3JfcHJvZC9CQzQzMTM5QjgwRkE3OUVEREUyNDg1NTU2N0ZCOTk5RV92aWRlb19kYXNoaW5pdC5tcDQVAALIAQAVAhg6cGFzc3Rocm91Z2hfZXZlcnN0b3JlL0dKR0lTQjJMYTRGT1hKOERBSzljMWRROXZKNGtia1lMQUFBRhUCAsgBACgAGAAbABUAACa%2BhrWX%2Bo%2FPPxUCKAJDMywXQDYFYEGJN0wYEmRhc2hfYmFzZWxpbmVfMV92MREAdf4HAA%3D%3D&ccb=9-4&oh=00_AfHGn9h3kMViVB_CC-UYLxtYQ9QXmQFs75mjOqdpDBMWSg&oe=68119673&_nc_sid=8b3546",
"video_view_count": 2410802,
"edge_media_to_caption": {
"edges": [
{
"node": {
"text": "BREAKING4: @faithkipyegon vs. the 4-minute mile. \n\nBehind every human breakthrough lies unshakeable perseverance. And it helps to have Faith.\n\nWitness history on June 26th."
}
}
]
},
"edge_media_to_comment": {
"count": 1068
},
"comments_disabled": false,
"taken_at_timestamp": 1745416845,
"edge_liked_by": {
"count": 43352
},
"edge_media_preview_like": {
"count": 72955
},
"location": {
"id": "400898",
"has_public_page": true,
"name": "Stade Charléty",
"slug": "stade-charlety"
}
}
}
]
}
}
},
"status": "ok"
}
If you want to get just the posts of the user, use the /v2/instagram/user/posts endpoint.
And that’s it!
How to Get Started
- Sign up for a Scrape Creators account
- Get your API key
- Start making requests
You can check out the full API docs here.
If you want reliable, no-drama access to public Instagram data, Scrape Creators makes it stupid simple.
Sign up here and get started.
