# Is the Instagram API free? No fee, but narrow. > Meta lists no per-call fee for the Instagram API, but it only serves business and creator accounts, and reading others needs App Review. What that means. Canonical: https://apiforagents.dev/guides/is-the-instagram-api-free ยท Updated 2026-10-21 Partly. The official Instagram API has no per-call price in Meta's developer docs, but it only works with business and creator accounts, personal accounts are not supported, and reading accounts you do not own needs App Review. The Basic Display API, the old route for personal accounts, ended on 4 December 2024. - Per-call price: None listed by Meta - Personal accounts: Not supported - Other accounts: App Review needed - Basic Display API: Ended Dec 2024 ## Free or not, by what you need Instagram's side is from Meta for Developers, seen 21 October 2026. | | Official Instagram API | API for Agents | |---|---|---| | Publish and manage your own professional account | Yes | No | | Insights for accounts you manage | Yes | No | | Counts for other business and creator accounts | Business Discovery, after App Review for accounts you do not own | Yes, any public account | | Comments on other accounts' posts | No; comments need the post owner's token | Yes, $0.00045 per record | | Followers lists of other accounts | No; only a follower count | Yes, $0.000675 per record | | Who can get access | Business and creator accounts; App Review for accounts you do not own | Anyone. An agent signs itself up in one call and starts on a $0.10 trial | | Price model | No per-call price listed | Pay as you go, from $0.00045 per record | | Setup | Meta app, Facebook Page link or Instagram Login, App Review | One API key. No Instagram account or app review | ## When the official API is the right tool If you publish posts, reply to comments, read insights or run a messaging inbox for accounts you or your clients own, use Meta's API. It acts with the account owner's permission and it is built for exactly that. If you need public data about accounts that are not yours (creators to vet, competitors to watch, comments to read), the official API stops at counts for professional accounts. That is where a data API fits. ## What you can get here - **[Instagram Profile API](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/instagram/profile-api).** Bio, followers, posts count, engagement rate and category for any public account, ten per call. - **[Instagram Posts API](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/instagram/posts-api).** An account's recent posts or Reels with caption, likes, comments, views and hashtags. - **[Instagram Comments API](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/instagram/comments-api).** Top comments on any public post or Reel by URL, with author, text, likes and date. - **[Instagram Hashtag API](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/instagram/hashtag-api).** Posts tagged with a hashtag, top or newest. - **[Instagram Followers API](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/instagram/followers-api).** The followers or following list of public accounts. > **Not affiliated** API for Agents is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Instagram or Meta. It returns public data only: nothing behind a login. ## Operation pages - [Instagram Profile API](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/instagram/profile-api) - [Instagram Posts API](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/instagram/posts-api) - [Instagram Comments API](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/instagram/comments-api) - [Instagram Hashtag API](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/instagram/hashtag-api) - [Instagram Followers API](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/instagram/followers-api) ## Questions ### Does Meta charge for the Instagram API? Meta's Instagram platform docs list no per-call price, as of October 2026. Check the current Meta Platform Terms for your use. ### Can I use the Instagram API with a personal account? No. Meta's docs say the API cannot access consumer accounts, only business and creator accounts. The Basic Display API for personal accounts ended on 4 December 2024. ### What are the Instagram API rate limits? Meta's overview gives most calls a limit of 4,800 times the account's impressions per 24 hours. Business Discovery and Hashtag Search are subject to Meta's platform rate limits instead. ### What does Instagram data cost here? Priced per record, from $0.00045 per record. Quote any call first with estimateOnly, which is free. ## Sources 1. [Meta for Developers: Instagram API with Facebook Login](https://developers.facebook.com/docs/instagram-platform/instagram-api-with-facebook-login), seen 21 October 2026 2. [Meta for Developers blog: Update on Instagram Basic Display API](https://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/2024/09/04/update-on-instagram-basic-display-api), seen 21 October 2026 3. [Meta for Developers: Instagram Platform overview](https://developers.facebook.com/docs/instagram-platform/overview), seen 21 October 2026 4. [Meta for Developers: Business Discovery](https://developers.facebook.com/docs/instagram-platform/instagram-api-with-facebook-login/business-discovery), seen 21 October 2026 ## Why API for Agents - One key for 26 platforms: social, commerce, jobs, places, search and contacts, with one request shape and one response shape. - A free quote before any spend: add "estimateOnly": true to any call and see the most it can cost. - Pay per record in US dollars. No subscription, nothing expires, top-ups from $5. - $0.10 free to try, no card. An AI agent can sign itself up in one request; a person claims it later. - Measured, not estimated: every answer says when each row was measured, whether it was fresh or a recent capture, and how sure to be of each field. - Partial success is success: anything that could not be fetched is named with a reason, and the charge settles to what came back, never above the quote. - Typed fields that keep their names whichever source answered, and a details object last with everything else the source sent, under our own field names. - Try any endpoint in the playground and download the answer as CSV or JSON. ## Start The playground runs any endpoint by hand: pick a platform and what you want from it, fill a short form named in plain words (or press Use sample input), see the free quote on the Run button, run it, then read the answer as a table or JSON and download it as CSV or JSON. The same call is written out as cURL, Python and Node while you type. Open it at https://apiforagents.dev/dashboard/run (sign in first). Agents register at https://apiforagents.dev/auth.md (one POST, $0.10 free). People: https://apiforagents.dev/docs#start. Prices: https://apiforagents.dev/pricing.md