Social media

Instagram Reels Transcript Scraper: turn any Reel into text

Add Reel links or whole profiles and get the spoken transcript with timestamps, the 3-second hook, likes and views for each video. Optionally read the on-screen text and compare each video with the author's usual performance to get a viral score. Works for TikTok and YouTube Shorts too, without login or cookies.

★ 5.0 rating · 2 reviews12 users87.3% successful runs (30 days)

Run on Apify — free trial Use via API

What data you get

`transcript`	Full spoken text of the video
`segments`	Transcript lines with timestamps
`hook`	What is said in the first 3 seconds
`onScreenText`	Text shown on screen (optional)
`likes / views`	Engagement numbers of the video
`viralScore`	Performance compared with the author's usual videos
`author`	Account that posted the video
`url`	Link to the video

How it works

Open the scraper on Apify and sign up (free).
Enter routes, dates and options in the form.
Click Start and download results as JSON, CSV or Excel, or call the API.

Pricing

$1.50 per 1,000 rows

Pay per event: a fee per processed video, per 10 seconds of recognised audio and, if enabled, for reading on-screen text. Failed and private videos are free.

Apify gives $5 free credits every month — enough to test this scraper at no cost.

Example tasks

Ready-made inputs. Copy one into the scraper form or send it through the API.

Transcribe Instagram Reels to text with viral score

Two Reels with transcript and comparison to the author's average.

{
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.instagram.com/reel/DckEW9NNVsJ/",
    "https://www.instagram.com/reel/DcfuoMqAoHE/"
  ],
  "compareWithAuthor": true
}

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Get transcripts of a creator's latest Reels

The 20 latest videos from one profile, captions first.

{
  "profiles": [
    "garyvee"
  ],
  "resultsLimitPerProfile": 20,
  "transcriptionMode": "captions-first"
}

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Extract on-screen text from an Instagram Reel

Accurate transcript plus text read from the frames.

{
  "videoUrls": [
    "https://www.instagram.com/reel/DckEW9NNVsJ/"
  ],
  "includeOnScreenText": true,
  "ocrFps": "1",
  "quality": "accurate"
}

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Transcribe short English Reels from a profile

10 videos up to 2 minutes, English recognition.

{
  "profiles": [
    "natgeo"
  ],
  "resultsLimitPerProfile": 10,
  "language": "en",
  "maximumVideoDurationSeconds": 120
}

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Use cases

Content creators: study the hooks and scripts of top-performing Reels in your niche.
Marketing agencies: turn competitor videos into searchable text for creative briefs.
Researchers: analyse what is said in short-form video at scale.
AI builders: feed Reel transcripts into summarisers, RAG pipelines and content tools.

FAQ

Does it work without an Instagram account?

Yes. No login and no cookies are needed; you only need a free Apify account.

Which platforms are supported?

Instagram Reels, TikTok videos and YouTube Shorts.

Can I get the text shown on screen?

Yes. Turn on on-screen text and the scraper reads captions burned into the video at the frame rate you choose.

Is it legal to scrape Instagram Reels?

The scraper only processes publicly available videos. Make sure your use complies with local law, copyright and Instagram's terms, and avoid collecting personal data you don't need.

How do I integrate the transcripts?

Use the Apify API, the Python or JavaScript clients, or connect it to Make, n8n, Zapier or Google Sheets.

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Transcribe your first Reels now

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