From Hours to Seconds: How I Automated Instagram Profile Scraping with n8n + APIs

In today’s creator economy, data is power. Knowing what your competitors are posting, how often they’re posting, and what resonates with their audience can give you an edge. But manually gathering that information? Way too slow.

That’s why I built an Instagram Profile Scraper Workflow using n8n + APIs. It’s simple, scalable, and opens up both personal and business opportunities.

Why Scrape Instagram Profiles?

Imagine you’re a content creator. You want to build a content library by pulling posts from your niche competitors. Instead of scrolling endlessly, automation fetches all the details for you.

Or maybe you’re an agency. You could sell competitor analysis reports — a weekly digest of what your client’s competitors are doing on Instagram. Creators would pay $500–$1,000/month for this service without hesitation.

Step 1: The Trigger Form

The workflow starts with a simple form inside n8n.

You input the Instagram username

The form passes that username into the automation

(Optionally, you could add fields like email for further enrichment)

This makes it easy to scrape any public profile instantly.

Step 2: Scraping with an API

To actually pull Instagram data, I used Appify API.

Free credits are available if you’re testing

Paid plans start at around $39/month

All you need is the username → API does the rest

In n8n, this is handled through an HTTP Request node (POST request). It fetches the profile data — followers, bio, engagement details, etc.

Step 3: Saving to Google Sheets

Once the data is scraped, it’s saved directly into Google Sheets.

This means you now have a clean, structured database of profiles you’ve scraped. From there, you can:

Track growth over time 📈

Compare competitors 🥊

Build content inspiration boards 🎥

Step 4: Real-World Example

To test it out, I ran the workflow on one of my own public profiles. Within seconds, the automation pulled:

Username

Follower count

Bio & metadata

All neatly logged in Google Sheets, ready to be analyzed or shared.

Step 5: Business Potential

This isn’t just a neat automation — it’s a service you can sell.

Content creators want competitor breakdowns

Agencies want weekly intelligence reports

Personal brands want to track growth

By offering this as a subscription service, you could easily generate recurring monthly revenue.

The Bigger Picture

At its core, this workflow shows how automation + APIs = leverage.

Instead of hours of manual work, you get instant results. And instead of keeping it to yourself, you can package it as a productized service.

Whether you use it to grow your own brand or build a business serving others, the opportunities are massive.

💡 Scraping Instagram profiles isn’t about spying — it’s about staying informed. With automation, you can make smarter decisions, faster.

👉 I’ll be sharing the full workflow setup inside my Skool community, including screenshots, nodes, and API configurations.