# Instagram Stories Scraper (`lance_api/instagram-stories-scraper-api`) Actor

Scrape active Instagram Stories from public profiles. Get images, videos, direct media URLs, timestamps, mentions, hashtags, links, music, locations, stickers, and structured Story data via API.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/lance_api/instagram-stories-scraper-api.md
- **Developed by:** [LanceAPI](https://apify.com/lance_api) (community)
- **Features:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 874 total users, 158 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: 5.00 out of 5 stars

## Pricing

from $2.80 / 1,000 profiles

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Instagram Stories Scraper API

Enter an Instagram username, `@username`, or profile URL to collect that public account's currently active Instagram Stories. Get images, videos, direct media URLs, posting and expiration times, mentions, hashtags, links, locations, music, stickers, captions, and other useful Story metadata in structured Dataset rows.

Use the results for competitor and brand monitoring, creator research, active Story archiving, scheduled tracking, AI analysis, and automated workflows. All users can process up to 50 profiles per run, with predictable pricing per processed profile—not per Story returned.

The Actor is focused exclusively on active Instagram Stories. It does not collect Highlights, historical Stories, posts, Reels, comments, transcripts, OCR, translations, or private content.

### Key features

- **Active Instagram Stories extraction** — Collect the Stories currently available from a public profile before they disappear.
- **Direct image and video URLs** — Send Story media to authorized archiving, review, or downstream content workflows.
- **Rich Story metadata** — Capture posting and expiration times, dimensions, duration, audio state, captions, mentions, hashtags, links, locations, music, and stickers.
- **Complete, traceable results** — Receive one row per Story and a clear status row when a profile has no Stories or cannot return Story data.
- **Batch profile processing** — Process up to 50 unique profiles per run for broader monitoring and research.
- **Scheduled Story monitoring** — Run with Apify Schedules and compare `storyId` values to identify newly published Stories.
- **Automation-ready output** — Use clean Dataset rows in APIs, dashboards, AI analysis, and recurring workflows.
- **Predictable per-profile pricing** — Pay once for each processed profile, regardless of whether it returns 0, 1, or 20 Stories.

### Use cases

- **Competitor and brand Story monitoring** — Track active campaigns, links, mentions, and creative assets before they disappear.
- **Influencer and creator research** — Review current Story activity, partnerships, topics, formats, and calls to action.
- **Active Story archiving** — Capture temporary media URLs and metadata for content you are authorized to retain.
- **Scheduled Story monitoring** — Run recurring checks with Apify Schedules and use `storyId` to spot newly published Stories.
- **AI analysis workflows** — Feed structured Story metadata into your own classification, trend, or reporting workflows.
- **API and automation pipelines** — Send consistent Dataset rows to dashboards, alerts, databases, and other connected systems.

### Quick start

Use a username:

```json
{
  "usernames": ["instagram"],
  "includeFullStoryData": false
}
```

Equivalent accepted values include `@instagram` and `https://www.instagram.com/instagram/`. Duplicate representations of the same username are processed once.

### Input

| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---:|---|
| `usernames` | `string[]` | Yes | Instagram usernames, `@usernames`, or profile URLs. All users can process up to 50 profiles per run. |
| `includeFullStoryData` | `boolean` | No | Defaults to `false`. Leave it off for normal Story retrieval; richer details may still be returned when available. Turn it on when mentions, links, stickers, music, dimensions, timing, and similar metadata are required when available. This option currently has no additional charge. |

Clearly malformed usernames, non-Instagram URLs, and post, Reel, or Story URLs are rejected before Story processing.

### Output

Each active Story is a separate Dataset row with its profile context. If a profile returns no Story item, the Actor emits exactly one profile status row. Every accepted unique input therefore remains traceable.

#### Profile and result fields

| Field | Type | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| `input` | `string` | Original supplied value |
| `username` | `string \| null` | Normalized username |
| `userId` | `string \| null` | Instagram profile ID when available |
| `profileUrl` | `string \| null` | Canonical profile URL |
| `status` | `string` | `success`, `no_stories`, `invalid`, `restricted`, or `failed` |
| `reason` | `string \| null` | Stable reason code when applicable |
| `errorMessage` | `string \| null` | Human-readable result explanation |
| `charged` | `boolean` | Whether processing this profile incurred a charge |
| `isPrivate` | `boolean \| null` | Confirmed privacy state when available |
| `isAccessible` | `boolean` | Whether Story data was accessible |
| `activeStoryCount` | `integer` | Total active Stories returned for this profile |
| `requestedAt` | `string` | ISO 8601 processing timestamp |

#### Story fields

| Field | Type | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| `storyId` | `string \| null` | Story identifier |
| `mediaType` | `string \| null` | `image`, `video`, or `unknown` |
| `postedAt` | `string \| null` | Publication time in ISO 8601 UTC |
| `expiresAt` | `string \| null` | Expected expiration time in ISO 8601 UTC |
| `mediaUrl` | `string \| null` | Primary image or video URL |
| `imageUrl` | `string \| null` | Image or video-cover URL |
| `videoUrl` | `string \| null` | Direct video URL |
| `width`, `height` | `number \| null` | Media dimensions in pixels |
| `durationSeconds` | `number \| null` | Video duration |
| `hasAudio` | `boolean \| null` | Reported video audio availability |
| `caption` | `string \| null` | Story caption when available |
| `accessibilityCaption` | `string \| null` | Accessibility description when available |
| `mentions` | `object[]` | Mentioned accounts |
| `hashtags` | `string[]` | Hashtags without `#` |
| `links` | `object[]` | Link stickers |
| `locations` | `object[]` | Location metadata |
| `music` | `object \| null` | Title, artist, and audio ID when available |
| `stickers` | `object[]` | Supported poll, question, quiz, countdown, and slider metadata |

### Output examples

These excerpts use real public Instagram profiles. Temporary CDN URLs are omitted for readability; Dataset rows include the complete `mediaUrl`, `imageUrl`, and `videoUrl` values available at run time.

#### Active Story

The public `natgeo` profile returned one active video Story:

```json
{
  "input": "natgeo",
  "username": "natgeo",
  "userId": "787132",
  "profileUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/natgeo/",
  "status": "success",
  "reason": null,
  "charged": true,
  "isPrivate": false,
  "isAccessible": true,
  "activeStoryCount": 1,
  "storyId": "3981132462985100812",
  "mediaType": "video",
  "postedAt": "2026-09-07T19:03:30.000Z",
  "expiresAt": "2026-09-08T19:03:30.000Z",
  "width": 720,
  "height": 1280,
  "durationSeconds": 60.022,
  "hasAudio": true,
  "caption": null,
  "mentions": [],
  "hashtags": [],
  "locations": [],
  "music": null,
  "stickers": []
}
```

#### No active Stories

The public `instagram` profile returned zero active Stories in this example:

```json
{
  "input": "instagram",
  "username": "instagram",
  "userId": "25025320",
  "profileUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/instagram/",
  "status": "no_stories",
  "reason": "no_active_stories",
  "charged": true,
  "isPrivate": false,
  "isAccessible": true,
  "activeStoryCount": 0,
  "storyId": null,
  "mediaType": null
}
```

Story availability changes continuously, so a later run may return a different count.

### Status and reason

| Status | Meaning | Charged? |
|---|---|---:|
| `success` | Processing completed and at least one active Story was returned | Yes |
| `no_stories` | The profile was processed successfully but has no active Stories | Yes |
| `invalid` | The input was clearly malformed, nonexistent, or deleted before processing | No |
| `restricted` | The profile may be valid, but access is private, login-restricted, challenged, or otherwise restricted | Yes |
| `failed` | Formal processing began but did not complete, or the run budget prevented processing | Yes after processing begins; no for a pre-processing budget block |

Possible `reason` values are:

`no_active_stories`, `invalid_username`, `invalid_profile_url`, `profile_not_found`, `profile_deleted`, `private_profile`, `login_required`, `access_restricted`, `challenge_required`, `temporarily_unavailable`, `rate_limited`, `processing_failed`, and `budget_limit_reached`.

Login restrictions, challenges, temporary blocks, and inconclusive profile responses are not treated as proof that a profile is invalid.

### Pricing

You pay per processed profile, not per Story. Pricing starts from **$2.80 per 1,000 processed profiles**, depending on your Apify plan. An Actor start costs **$0.099**.

#### Billing examples

- 1 processed profile with 0 active Stories → 1 profile-processing charge
- 1 processed profile with 1 active Story → 1 profile-processing charge
- 1 processed profile with 20 active Stories → still 1 profile-processing charge
- Clearly invalid input rejected before processing → no profile-processing charge

Profiles that require processing to determine availability, restrictions, or Story status are charged once. A processing error after formal Story processing begins is also charged once.

See the **Pricing** tab for the current price available for your Apify plan.

### Batch limit

All users can process up to 50 unique valid profiles per run. The limit is applied after duplicate removal. Requests over the limit fail before Story processing and are never silently truncated.

### API usage

Actor ID:

```text
lance_api/instagram-stories-scraper-api
```

#### JavaScript

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });
const run = await client.actor('lance_api/instagram-stories-scraper-api').call({
    usernames: ['instagram'],
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);
```

#### Python

```python
import os
from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient(os.environ["APIFY_TOKEN"])
run = client.actor("lance_api/instagram-stories-scraper-api").call(run_input={
    "usernames": ["instagram"]
})
items = client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).list_items().items
print(items)
```

#### cURL

```bash
curl -X POST \
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/lance_api~instagram-stories-scraper-api/run-sync-get-dataset-items" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"usernames":["instagram"]}'
```

### Scheduled monitoring

Turn the Actor into a recurring Story monitor with Apify Schedules. Run it at the interval that fits your use case, store the Dataset results you are authorized to retain, and compare `storyId` values with previous runs to identify newly published Stories before they expire.

### Media URL notice

`mediaUrl`, `imageUrl`, and `videoUrl` are temporary Instagram CDN URLs and may expire. Download or persist media you are authorized to retain as soon as practical.

### Limitations

- Only currently active Stories are returned.
- Private content is not accessed.
- Highlights, historical Stories, posts, Reels, and comments are not collected.
- Transcription, OCR, and translation are not included.
- Instagram can require login, present a challenge, rate-limit requests, or temporarily restrict access.
- Metadata fields can be null or empty when Instagram does not expose them for a Story.
- Story availability and CDN URLs can change between runs.

### Privacy and responsible use

Use the Actor only for lawful purposes and only process data you are authorized to access. Respect Instagram's terms, privacy rights, intellectual-property rights, and applicable data-protection laws. Do not provide passwords, cookies, login sessions, or access tokens as input.

### FAQ

#### Does an account with no Stories fail?

No. It returns one row with `status: "no_stories"`, `reason: "no_active_stories"`, and `activeStoryCount: 0`.

#### Why is a profile charged if it returns no Story?

The Actor must process the profile to determine its current Story state. The charge covers that profile-processing operation, not the number of Story rows.

#### Can one profile create multiple processing charges?

No. One unique profile entering formal processing creates exactly one profile-processing charge, regardless of Story count.

#### Are invalid profiles charged?

Clearly malformed, nonexistent, or deleted profiles rejected before processing are not charged. Profiles that must be processed to determine availability or restrictions are charged once.

#### Can it access private profiles?

No. A private or restricted profile receives a transparent status row.

#### Are media URLs permanent?

No. They may expire. Persist authorized media promptly if you need it later.

### Support

For support, open an issue on the Actor page or email **lanceapi2026@hotmail.com**. Include the Apify Run ID, public username, and expected versus actual result. Never send passwords, cookies, or API tokens.

# Actor input Schema

## `usernames` (type: `array`):

Enter an Instagram username, @username, or profile URL. All users can process up to 50 profiles per run.

## `includeFullStoryData` (type: `boolean`):

Turn this on when your workflow requires richer Story details such as mentions, links, stickers, music, dimensions, and timing when available. Leave it off for normal Story retrieval; the result may still include richer details when they are available. This option currently has no additional charge.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "usernames": [
    "instagram"
  ],
  "includeFullStoryData": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `dataset` (type: `string`):

One row per active Story, or one status row when a profile returns no Story.

## `runSummary` (type: `string`):

Profile, Story, status, and billing totals for this run.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "usernames": [
        "instagram"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("lance_api/instagram-stories-scraper-api").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "usernames": ["instagram"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("lance_api/instagram-stories-scraper-api").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "usernames": [
    "instagram"
  ]
}' |
apify call lance_api/instagram-stories-scraper-api --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,lance_api/instagram-stories-scraper-api"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/aQMXmlOz6n4Ii1L7q/builds/jQGpAmbbzPO03ZNQI/openapi.json