Finding what actually travels
Play count divided by follower count separates reels that reached beyond an account's audience from reels that only its followers saw. That ratio is the closest public proxy for algorithmic distribution.
Instagram API / Reels
Instagram Reels Scraper — Views, Plays and Video URLs by Username
Every reel on a public account, with the play count that the ordinary feed does not give you — cursor paginated, newest first and returned as JSON.
1 credit per request · request metadata included · errors are never charged
GET /v1/instagram/reels1 creditcurl "https://api.socialscrape.dev/v1/instagram/reels?handle=iamsydneythomas" \
-H "x-api-key: $INSCRAPE_KEY"Parameters
handlestringrequiredInstagram username, without the @next_cursorstringOpaque pagination cursor returned by the previous call
What you get
What the Instagram Reels Scraper returns.
- Play count, like count and comment count per reel
- Video and thumbnail URLs
- Caption and taken_at timestamp
- Duration in seconds
Use cases
Instagram Reels Scraper use cases.
Weekly reel performance tracking
Store each reel shortcode and play count, then compare snapshots to see which videos keep accumulating plays after publication.
Creative benchmarking for an agency
Pull the top reels across a client's competitive set weekly and rank them by play count to brief the next production cycle on formats that are working right now.
FAQ
Instagram Reels Scraper FAQ.
Can I upload a reel through this API?
No. This reads reels that are already public; it does not publish. Uploading goes through Meta's Content Publishing API on an account you own. Most search results for "Instagram Reels API" are about that, which is worth knowing before you evaluate either one.
Is the play count the same as views?
It is the play count Instagram exposes publicly, which counts plays rather than unique viewers. It is directly comparable between reels but not to a private-analytics reach number.
Does it return a transcript?
No. This endpoint returns the public reel metadata and media URLs exposed by the current API contract; it does not transcribe spoken audio.
Does it include reels the account was tagged in?
No. Those come from the Tagged Posts API.
Related endpoints
APIs commonly paired with reels.
Instagram Post Scraper
Paginated Instagram feed posts with likes, comments, captions and media URLs. Cursor-based pagination that does not drop items.
Instagram Comments Scraper
Collect Instagram comments with author handles, like counts and timestamps. Cursor paginated, no login required.
Instagram post by URL
Fetch a single Instagram post or reel from its URL or shortcode: caption, media URLs, engagement counts and author. No login, no oEmbed limits.
Back to the full Instagram API overview, or read the reels endpoint documentation.