How to scrape Instagram Comments with R

Comments on a post or reel. This tutorial gets it with a short R program and the Instagram Comments API. Each successful call costs 1 credit; errors and not-found answers are free.

1. Get an API key

Sign in to get a key and 100 free credits, no card. Then put the key in an environment variable so it stays out of your code:

export SCRAPEIO_API_KEY="your_key_here"

2. Set up R

install.packages("httr2")

3. Write the code

Save this as scrape.R. Replace PASTE_URL_HERE with a real url.

library(httr2)

params <- list(url = "PASTE_URL_HERE")

call <- function(params) {
  request("https://scrapeio.com/v2/instagram/post/comments") |>
    req_url_query(!!!params) |>
    req_headers("x-api-key" = Sys.getenv("SCRAPEIO_API_KEY")) |>
    req_perform() |>
    resp_body_json()
}

items <- list()
repeat {
  data <- call(params)$data
  items <- c(items, data$items)
  if (!isTRUE(data$has_more) || is.null(data$cursor) || length(items) >= 100) break
  params$cursor <- data$cursor
}
cat(length(items), "items\n")
str(head(items, 3), max.level = 2)

The loop follows data.cursor until data.has_more is false, and stops at 100 items. Each page is one call, so it costs 1 credit.

4. Run it

Rscript scrape.R

The response has the same envelope on every endpoint: success, cached, credits_used, credits_remaining and data. Shared fields such as handle, followers, plays, likes and created_at have the same names on every platform.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`url` (required)	string	Instagram post or reel URL.
`sort`	recent, popular	recent pages with likes; popular returns the top 15. Default: recent.
`cursor`	string	Cursor from the previous page's data.cursor.

Errors and what you pay

Status	Meaning	Charged
`200`	Success	Yes, unless cached
`400`	A parameter is missing or wrong	No
`401`	The key is missing or invalid	No
`402`	Not enough credits	No
`403`	The account or post is private	No
`404`	Not found on the platform	No
`429`	More than 300 requests a minute	No
`502`	Every source is down; retry shortly	No

Same endpoint in other languages

Python · Node.js · JavaScript · TypeScript · Go · Rust · Java · C# · PHP · Ruby · Kotlin · Swift

Prefer no code?

Connect the MCP server to Claude Code, Cursor or Codex and ask in plain English. The agent uses the instagram_comments tool for you.

100 free credits, no card. Credits never expire.

Get API key