Enriching a link a user pasted
Someone drops an Instagram URL into your product. One call turns it into a real preview with caption and media, instead of an unfurl that shows a logo.
Instagram API / Media
Instagram Post API — One Post or Reel by URL or Shortcode
You have a link and you need what is behind it. Paste the URL, get the caption, media, counts and author — without embedding the post or asking the user to authorise anything.
1 credit per request · request metadata included · errors are never charged
GET /v1/instagram/post1 creditcurl "https://api.socialscrape.dev/v1/instagram/post?url=https://www.instagram.com/p/C8QltIdyBGH/" \
-H "x-api-key: $INSCRAPE_KEY"Parameters
urlstringrequiredFull post URL or bare shortcodeinclude_commentsbooleanReturn comments
What you get
What the Instagram post by URL returns.
- Caption text with line breaks and mentions preserved
- Media URLs for every item in a carousel, not just the cover
- Like and comment counts as integers
- Author handle, id and verification flag
- taken_at timestamp and the post type (image, carousel, reel)
Use cases
Instagram post by URL use cases.
Rights and compliance review on UGC
When a post is flagged for review, you need its exact caption and media as they were served, dated. Fetching by shortcode gives you a record you can attach to the case.
Spot-checking one post without paging a profile
The Posts API charges you to walk a feed. If you already know the shortcode, this is one credit instead of pagination you throw away.
FAQ
Instagram post by URL FAQ.
URL or shortcode?
Either. Pass the full permalink and we extract the shortcode, or pass the bare code if you already parsed it.
Does it work for reels?
Yes. Reels are posts with a video payload, and the same endpoint returns them with play counts.
How is this different from oEmbed?
oEmbed returns an embed blob for rendering. This returns the data — caption text, media URLs, counts — as JSON you can store and query.
What if the post was deleted?
404, charged at the post endpoint rate. Check credits_charged for the exact amount.
Related endpoints
APIs commonly paired with media.
Instagram Comments Scraper
Collect Instagram comments with author handles, like counts and timestamps. Cursor paginated, no login required.
Instagram Post Scraper
Paginated Instagram feed posts with likes, comments, captions and media URLs. Cursor-based pagination that does not drop items.
Instagram Reels Scraper
Fetch an account's public reels with play counts, likes, comments and media URLs. Cursor paginated, no Instagram login required.
Back to the full Instagram API overview, or read the media endpoint documentation.