Short answer: scrape the influencer's last 20 to 30 posts and reels with Instagram Scraper, then compare likes, comments and reel plays against their follower count. Use the median, not the average, and look at reel plays as the real measure of reach. Checking one creator costs under 10 cents, and a shortlist of 50 costs a few dollars.
Paying an influencer on follower count alone is how brands end up with a sponsored post that 90,000 followers never see. The numbers that matter, typical likes, comments and views per post, are all public, but reading them off a phone screen for dozens of creators is slow and error-prone. This guide shows how to collect them properly, the formulas to use and the patterns that should make you walk away.
Instagram Scraper is built and maintained by Apify, not by me. With over 400,000 users it is the most used actor on the Apify Store, and it is on my list of the best Apify actors for social media data.
What data can you get about an Instagram influencer?
For public accounts, without logging in:
- Profile: username, full name, bio, website link, follower and following counts, number of posts, verified and business account flags.
- Posts and reels: caption, hashtags, mentions, post type, date, likes, comments, video views and plays for reels, location, tagged users and co-authors.
- Comments: text, author, timestamp and likes, if you want to read what the audience actually says.
- Mentions: public posts where the creator is tagged, which often reveals past brand collaborations.
How do you calculate Instagram engagement rate?
For feed posts, the standard formula is engagement per follower:
post engagement rate = (likes + comments) / followers
For reels, reach matters more than likes, so add a second number:
reel reach ratio = plays / followers
Work these out for each of the last 20 to 30 posts and reels, then take the median of each. The median is the typical post, which is what your sponsored post will most likely look like. An average gets dragged up by one lucky viral reel.
How to read the results: engagement rates in the low single digits are normal on Instagram, and they fall as accounts get bigger, so a 100,000-follower account at 1.5 percent can be perfectly healthy while a 5,000-follower account at 1.5 percent is weak. Compare creators of similar size in the same niche rather than against a universal number. For reels, median plays that are a healthy fraction of the follower count show the audience is real and active.
How do you check an influencer step by step?
- List the profile URLs you want to check, for example
https://www.instagram.com/creatorname/. - Get profile details. In Instagram Scraper, paste the URLs into the direct URLs field and set the content type to details. You get follower counts and bios in one row per creator.
- Get recent content. Run again with the content type set to posts (and a second run for reels if the creator mostly posts reels), with a results limit of 20 to 30 per profile. Use the date filter to skip anything older than about three months.
- Calculate the per-post rates in a spreadsheet and take the median per creator.
- Read the comments on two or three recent posts for any creator you are serious about. Real audiences ask questions and tag friends; bought engagement leaves one-word comments and emoji strings.
What are the warning signs of fake engagement?
- Plays far below followers. A 200,000-follower account whose reels typically get a few thousand plays has an audience that is inactive or not real.
- Likes without comments. Likes are cheap to buy; conversations are not. A very low comment to like ratio across many posts is a red flag.
- Generic comments. "Nice pic", "Amazing", or strings of emojis from accounts with no posts are typical of engagement pods and paid comments.
- Sudden follower jumps with no viral post to explain them. Track follower counts weekly for creators you plan to book.
- Hidden like counts. Some creators hide likes, which the scraper cannot see. For those, rely on comments and reel plays, or ask the creator for a screenshot of their insights.
How much does it cost?
Instagram Scraper charges per result, where a result is one post, reel, comment or profile. At the time of writing it is $2.70 per 1,000 results on the free plan, with lower rates on paid plans.
- Checking one creator (1 profile + 30 posts): 31 results, about 8 cents
- A shortlist of 50 creators: about 1,550 results, roughly $4.20
- Add 50 comments for your top 10: 500 more results, about $1.35
Apify's free plan includes $5 of monthly credit, which covers a full check of a 50-creator shortlist.
How do you find influencers to check in the first place?
Instagram Scraper can search by hashtag and place, which is a reasonable start: scrape recent posts under your niche hashtags and collect the owners. If your audience is also on TikTok, the same method works there, explained in how to find TikTok creators in your niche. To classify hundreds of bios by niche and language automatically, run the list through the Bulk LLM Runner with a prompt per row.
Is it legal to scrape Instagram?
The scraper collects only public data and does not log in, so it cannot see private accounts. Collecting public metrics for vetting is a common, generally lawful practice, but creators' profiles are personal data under GDPR and similar laws: collect what you need to make a booking decision, keep it secure and delete it afterwards. Instagram's terms restrict automated collection, so do not republish creators' content. This article is independent and not affiliated with Instagram or Meta.
Frequently asked questions
For each recent post, add likes and comments and divide by the follower count. Take the median across the last 20 to 30 posts. For reels, also divide plays by followers to see real reach.
Low single digit percentages are normal, and rates fall as accounts grow. Compare creators of similar size in the same niche rather than using one universal benchmark, and weigh reel plays heavily.
Look for reel plays far below the follower count, very few comments relative to likes, generic emoji comments from empty accounts, and follower jumps with no viral post to explain them.
With Instagram Scraper, one profile plus 30 posts is 31 results, about 8 cents at $2.70 per 1,000 results. A shortlist of 50 creators costs around $4.
No. The scraper reads public profiles and posts without logging in and without Instagram's official API, so your own account is never involved.
More social and B2B data tools are on the best Apify actors page, and my own lead generation actors cover niche sources.
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