How to scrape Instagram Similar Accounts with Swift

Accounts Instagram suggests as similar to a profile. This tutorial gets it with a short Swift program and the Instagram Similar Accounts 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 Swift

Swift 5.7 or newer (macOS or Linux)

3. Write the code

Save this as main.swift.

import Foundation
#if canImport(FoundationNetworking)
import FoundationNetworking
#endif

var components = URLComponents(string: "https://scrapeio.com/v1/instagram/user/similar")!
components.queryItems = [URLQueryItem(name: "handle", value: "nike")]
var request = URLRequest(url: components.url!)
request.setValue(ProcessInfo.processInfo.environment["SCRAPEIO_API_KEY"], forHTTPHeaderField: "x-api-key")

let done = DispatchSemaphore(value: 0)
URLSession.shared.dataTask(with: request) { data, response, error in
    defer { done.signal() }
    guard let data = data, (response as? HTTPURLResponse)?.statusCode == 200 else {
        print("Request failed:", error?.localizedDescription ?? "HTTP \((response as? HTTPURLResponse)?.statusCode ?? 0)")
        return
    }
    print(String(data: data, encoding: .utf8) ?? "")
}.resume()
done.wait()

4. Run it

swift main.swift

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
`handle` (required)	string	Instagram username, with or without @.

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 · R

Prefer no code?

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

100 free credits, no card. Credits never expire.

Get API key