If you’re a marketer, researcher, or business owner who needs to track Instagram follower counts at scale, manually checking each profile isn’t sustainable. With over 2 billion monthly active users, Instagram remains the most tracked social platform for competitive intelligence and influencer marketing campaigns. Whether you’re monitoring competitor growth, vetting influencers for campaigns, or analyzing market trends, you need an automated way to efficiently extract Instagram follower data.
This post covers three practical techniques for automatically extracting Instagram follower counts, ranging from straightforward manual checks to fully automated solutions that utilize APIs and specialized tools.
Why You Need Automated Instagram Follower Extraction
Why automate Instagram follower extraction:
- Competitive Intelligence – Track competitor growth patterns and campaign success
- Influencer Vetting – Quickly compare follower counts across potential partners
- Market Research – Identify industry leaders and emerging voices
- Campaign Tracking – Monitor growth as a KPI with historical data
- Client Reporting – Efficiently pull data for multiple accounts
The key benefit: What takes hours manually can be done in minutes at scale, giving you consistent data for better decision-making.
| Feature | Method 1: Browser Inspection | Method 2: Instagram API | Method 3: Google Sheets Add-On |
| Cost | Free | Free (requires developer account) | Free tier + paid plans |
| Technical Skill | Low–Medium | High (coding required) | None (no-code) |
| Scalability | Very Low (1–5 accounts) | Medium (200 requests/hour) | High (hundreds of accounts) |
| Automation | None | Fully automated | Fully automated + scheduling |
| Setup Time | < 5 minutes | 2–4 hours | < 10 minutes |
| Best For | Learning, occasional checks | Developer tools, owned accounts | Marketers, regular monitoring |
Method 1: Manual Extraction with Browser Inspection
This method works if you only need follower counts occasionally and for a small number of accounts. It’s free and requires no special tools beyond your web browser.
Step 1: Open Instagram in your browser and navigate to the target profile. Make sure you’re logged into your Instagram account, as some data may not be visible to logged-out users.
Step 2: Right-click anywhere on the page and select “Inspect” or “Inspect Element” to open your browser’s developer tools. This works in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge.
Step 3: In the developer tools, click on the “Network” tab. This shows all the data your browser loads when displaying the page.
Step 4: Refresh the page while the Network tab is open. You’ll see dozens of requests load at once. Look for requests that contain “graphql” in the name, as Instagram loads profile data through these API calls.
Step 5: Click one of the GraphQL requests and open the “Response” or “Preview” tab. You’ll see JSON data that includes follower and following counts, along with other profile information.
Limitations: This method isn’t truly automated—you still need to visit each profile individually. It’s useful for learning or occasional checks, but not for regular monitoring or bulk extraction.
Method 2: Using the Instagram Basic Display API
Instagram offers an official API that developers can use to access certain types of Instagram data. However, the current Basic Display API has significant limitations for extracting Instagram followers at scale.
What the API Provides: The Instagram Basic Display API allows you to access data from Instagram accounts that have granted your app permission. This means you can only extract follower counts from accounts you own or accounts that have explicitly authorized your application.
Setting Up API Access: To use the Instagram API, create a Facebook Developer account and register an app. Add the Instagram Basic Display product and configure OAuth settings. Each account owner must log in to Instagram and authorize your app to access their profile data.
Making API Requests: Once you have valid access tokens, you can make HTTP requests to Instagram’s API endpoints. A typical request to get the follower count looks like this:
GET https://graph.instagram.com/me?fields=id,username,followers_count&access_token={your-access-token}
The API returns JSON data containing the follower count along with other basic profile information.
Rate Limits and Restrictions: Instagram imposes strict rate limits on API requests to prevent abuse. The Basic Display API allows 200 requests per hour per access token. For most use cases, this is sufficient, but high-frequency monitoring or tracking many accounts can run into these limits.
Major Limitation: The most significant restriction is that the Instagram Basic Display API only works for accounts that have authorized your app. You cannot use it to extract Instagram followers from competitor accounts, influencers you don’t have relationships with, or any other public profile that hasn’t granted you explicit permission. This makes the official API unsuitable for competitive intelligence, market research, or influencer vetting scenarios.
When to Use This Method: The API approach works best if you’re building a tool for Instagram users to track their own growth, creating a dashboard for social media managers who manage multiple client accounts (with permission), or developing internal tools where you control all the accounts being monitored.
Method 3: Automated Extraction with Google Sheets Add-On
Specialized third-party software offers the most practical answer for the majority of commercial use cases when you need to extract Instagram followers from public profiles that are not under your control. The most approachable of these choices is Google Sheets add-ons, which integrate automation with the well-known spreadsheet interface most marketers are already familiar with.
Smacient Marketing Data Extractor for Google Sheets
The Smacient Marketing Data Extractor is a Google Sheets add-on specifically designed to extract Instagram followers and other social media metrics directly into your spreadsheets. This eliminates the need for coding knowledge or complex software installations.
How It Works: You may use Instagram follower extraction tools right within any Google Sheet after installing the add-on from the Google Workspace Marketplace. Just choose the metrics you want (e.g., follower counts) and enter the Instagram usernames you wish to monitor. The add-on will automatically update your spreadsheet with the most recent information.
Key Features:
- No Coding Required: The add-on provides a simple menu-driven interface within Google Sheets, making it accessible to marketers without technical backgrounds.
- Bulk Extraction: Track multiple Instagram accounts simultaneously by listing usernames in a column and applying the extraction function to them all at once.
- Automatic Updates: Schedule regular data refreshes to keep your follower count data up to date without manual intervention.
- Direct Integration: Since the data lives in Google Sheets, you can immediately create charts, pivot tables, and reports using the familiar spreadsheet tools you already know.
- Historical Tracking: By extracting data regularly into the same sheet, you build a timestamped database of follower growth that reveals trends over time.
- Export Flexibility: Google Sheets data can be easily exported to CSV or Excel, or connected to other tools like Google Data Studio for advanced visualization.
- Step-by-Step Tutorial:
Step 1 – Installation: Open Google Sheets and navigate to Extensions > Add-ons > Get add-ons. Search for “Smacient Marketing Data Extractor” and click Install. Grant the necessary permissions when prompted.
Step 2 – Setup: Create a new Google Sheet or open an existing one. In column A, list the Instagram usernames you want to track (without the @ symbol). For example: “Nike”, “adidas”, “puma”.
Step 3 – Extract Data: Click on Extensions > Smacient Marketing Data Extractor > Extract Instagram Data. Select “Follower Count” from the metrics menu and choose the column containing your usernames.
Step 4 – View Results: The add-on populates adjacent columns with follower counts and other requested metrics. Each row shows the data for the corresponding Instagram account.
Step 5 – Schedule Updates: To track growth over time, set up automatic extraction by clicking Extensions > Smacient Marketing Data Extractor > Schedule Updates. Choose your preferred frequency (daily, weekly, or custom intervals).
Step 6 – Analyze Trends: Create additional columns with dates to track when each extraction occurred. Use Google Sheets’ built-in charting tools to visualize follower growth across multiple accounts over time.
Alternative Tools to Extract Instagram Followers
There are alternative specialized solutions for various use cases, even though the Smacient add-on provides outstanding integration with Google Sheets. See the earlier blog post (Link: How to Scrape Instagram Data to Google Sheets (2026 Guide)).
Browser Extensions: Simple and quick for occasional extraction, but they lack automation and bulk processing capabilities.
Desktop Applications: Offer scheduling and batch processing without keeping your browser open, but require installation and lack collaboration features.
Cloud-Based Platforms: Provide advanced APIs and analytics for enterprise needs, but come with higher costs and complexity.
When to Use Different Tools: A Google Sheets add-on like Smacient offers the ideal balance of capabilities and usability for most marketers and small businesses. Select corporate platforms only if you need to integrate with intricate automation systems or pull data from thousands of accounts every day.
Best Practices for Extracting Instagram Follower Data
Respect Rate Limits – Space out requests to avoid triggering Instagram’s bot detection. Daily or weekly checks are usually sufficient for business intelligence.
Focus on Public Data – Only extract publicly visible metrics. Accessing private account data is unethical and potentially illegal.
Store Historical Data – Track changes over time to reveal growth rates, campaign impact, and competitive trends. Add date columns to build a comprehensive database.
Verify Data Quality – Spot-check automated extraction against manual checks to catch errors when Instagram updates break tools.
Combine Metrics – Follower count alone is incomplete. Also track engagement rates, posting frequency, and content types for a holistic view.
Be Transparent – Clearly document your methodology and data sources in reports and research to build trust and aid interpretation.
Common Challenges and Solutions
Authentication Requirements – Instagram often requires a login for profile data. Solution: Use tools with secure session management that encrypt credentials and handle authentication automatically.
CAPTCHA & Bot Detection – Instagram blocks apparent automated activity. Solution: Choose tools that mimic human behaviour, with natural delays, and that adapt to Instagram’s detection systems.
Data Structure Changes – Instagram updates break scraping tools regularly. Solution: Use actively maintained commercial tools that receive continuous updates.
Bulk Extraction Limits – Extracting hundreds of accounts hits rate limits—solution: Prioritize accounts and stagger extraction. Check critical accounts daily, others weekly or monthly.
Data Organisation – Raw numbers need proper analysis to be useful. Solution: Leverage Google Sheets’ built-in tools—pivot tables, conditional formatting, and charts—to visualize trends and compare accounts.
Legal and Ethical Considerations
Instagram’s terms of service state that automated access is only permitted via official APIs. There is a murky area for scraping tools, and they risk account suspensions. Use with caution.
Data protection: EU accounts may be subject to GDPR. Usually, follower counts are public; nevertheless, if in doubt, seek legal advice.
Commercial Use: It is usually allowed to use extracted public data for analysis or study. There are legal dangers associated with mass republishing or creating goods using scraped material.
Ethics: Monitor only publicly available data. Even when data is publicly accessible, use it responsibly and respect users’ privacy expectations.
In summary, use caution, extract at fair rates, and be ready for any account limitations.
Conclusion
There are several ways to extract Instagram follower counts automatically, each suited to specific use cases and levels of technical comfort. Official APIs let developers create solutions for approved accounts, manual inspection works for sporadic checks and learning, and Google Sheets add-ons like Smacient Marketing Data Extractor offer the most helpful option for marketers who want dependable data without technological complexity.
The secret is to tailor the approach to your unique requirements. A semi-manual method could work if you’re monitoring a few rival accounts every week. The Smacient Google Sheets add-on provides the perfect mix of automation, usability, and analytical capability for continuous monitoring of hundreds of accounts with simple analysis and reporting.
Ready to start tracking Instagram followers automatically? Try the Smacient Marketing Data Extractor and transform your Instagram competitive intelligence with the power of Google Sheets.
Related Blogs:
1. Web Scraping: How to Avoid CAPTCHA and Stay Undetected
2. Best Web Scraping Proxies in 2025
3.10 Best AI Web Scraping Tools in 2025
FAQs
A: Yes, you can use browser inspection tools manually or Google Sheets add-ons like Smacient that don’t require API access or coding.
A: Extracting publicly visible follower counts is generally legal, though it may violate Instagram’s Terms of Service.
A: Daily or weekly extraction is sufficient to track trends without triggering rate limits or bot detection.
A: No, Google Sheets add-ons like Smacient provide user-friendly interfaces without requiring programming knowledge.
