An Instagram scraper exports followers, following lists, comments, post metrics or bio emails to a file. The choice comes down to whose data you need. For accounts you can see in your own session, a browser extension such as the Mastros Instagram extension exports followers, following, emails from bios and engagement rate per post, in Chrome, with no login handed to a third party. For large public datasets pulled on a schedule, cloud actors on Apify or Phantombuster do the job at a per-result price. For influencer discovery with contact details, a database product such as Modash is a different category again.
Best tools for Instagram scraper to extract follower data
| Tool | What it exports | Where it runs | Setup | Pricing model |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mastros Instagram extension | Followers, following, bio emails, comments, engagement rate per post on posts and reels exports and per account beside every profile, follower and following row (averaged over the last 12 posts); CSV and XLSX | Chrome on instagram.com | Install, open a profile | Free at launch (details) |
| Instagram Download your information | Your own followers, following and activity as JSON or HTML | Instagram settings | Built in, wait for the email | Free |
| Apify actors (third-party) | Profiles, posts, comments, followers of public accounts | Apify cloud | Apify account, choose an actor | Per result plus platform credit |
| Phantombuster | Followers, following, post likers, commenters | Cloud, uses your session cookie | Account, paste your cookie | Monthly plans by execution time |
| Modash and similar influencer databases | Influencer profiles with contact emails and audience data | Cloud | Subscription | Monthly subscription |
| Manual copy or Google Sheets scripts | Whatever you paste | Your machine | Your time | Free |
Three notes. Instagram's own data download is the only fully official route and it covers only your account. Phantombuster runs in the cloud but needs your session cookie to read anything beyond public data, which is a trust decision to make deliberately. Influencer databases are not scrapers in the strict sense; they are the right buy when the goal is discovery across millions of accounts rather than exporting a list you already have.
How to use an Instagram scraper for marketing research
- Decide the list: your competitor's followers, the commenters on a launch post, the accounts a niche influencer follows, or your own followers for an unfollower check.
- Open that profile or post in Instagram on Chrome.
- Open the Mastros extension, choose followers, following, comments or engagement, and run it. It scrolls the list in your browser and collects what Instagram renders.
- Download CSV or XLSX and work in a spreadsheet: sort by follower count, filter bios for a keyword, or flag accounts with an email.
For research across many accounts you never open, an Apify actor is faster: paste a list of usernames, run, download.
Is it legal to use an Instagram scraper in the United States?
Reading public pages has been litigated in the US and the courts have generally not treated it as a crime, but Instagram's Terms of Use prohibit collecting data with software without permission, and Meta enforces those terms on accounts, not in court. The practical rule: export what you can see, at the pace you could scroll it, from your own session, and never pair the export with tools that follow, like or message for you. Mastros does none of those. The people in the file have privacy rights where they live regardless of where you are; treat bio emails as contact details someone published for business, and stop when they ask you to.
Compare Instagram scraper software for influencer outreach
For outreach the field that matters is the email. Only accounts that put an email in their bio or contact button have one to export, so a followers export of a niche account gives you a list where a fraction of rows carry an email, which is still the cheapest influencer list you can build. See the Instagram email finder for that specific workflow. Influencer databases fill the rest of the table with estimated audience data and emails they have collected, at a subscription price that makes sense from a few dozen outreach messages a month.
Instagram scraper pricing models and subscription plans
Per result (Apify), per minute of cloud execution (Phantombuster), per month by feature (databases), and per month by export volume (browser extensions). The Mastros Instagram extension is free at launch; plan details are on the product page. Whatever you pick, price the job you run, not the headline: a 20,000-follower export is cheap per result and expensive per minute.
Reviews of popular Instagram scrapers for bulk data extraction
Read them on the store or marketplace where the tool lives, not on the vendor's site. Chrome Web Store reviews show the reviewer's date and the extension's update history; Apify shows each actor's user count, rating and maintainer. The Mastros Instagram extension is new and its reviews are just starting; the Telegram, WhatsApp and LinkedIn extensions from the same developer have several years of them on the store.
FAQ
What is an Instagram scraper?
A tool that reads followers, following, comments, post metrics or bio emails from Instagram and saves them to a file.
Can I export another account's followers?
Yes, if the account is public or you follow it and can see the list. The extension exports what your session can see.
Does Instagram notify people when I export a list?
No. Reading a list sends nothing.
Can a scraper get private account data?
No. Private accounts show nothing to non-followers, and nothing changes that.
Does Mastros need my Instagram password?
No. It reads the Instagram tab you already have open in Chrome. Nothing is entered into the extension.
What is the fastest way to export my own followers?
Instagram's own data download for a full official copy, or the extension for a spreadsheet right now.