Yes, you can pull a public reel's view count, share count, like count, comment count and post date through an API. Scavio's Instagram API returns all of them: POST /api/v1/instagram/user/posts lists an account's feed with play_count, like_count, comment_count, share_count, save_count and taken_at on every reel, and /api/v1/instagram/user/reels returns views, likes and comments for a page of reels for 1 credit. It works for any public account, with no Meta app and no Instagram login.
The question comes from a thread in r/InstagramMarketing that Google ranks first among Reddit threads on pulling reel stats from the Instagram API. The poster wanted "View Count, Share Count, Like Count, Comment NO, Post Date" for public reels. It never got a working answer: the one tool suggested in the replies was later reported as no longer working.
What Meta's API gives you
Meta's Instagram API has two routes, and neither reads an arbitrary public reel:
- Your own reels: the media insights endpoint returns views, reach, likes, comments, shares, saves and total interactions for reels on your app user's professional account. Meta notes the data can be delayed up to 48 hours.
- Other professional accounts: business discovery returns like, comment and view counts for other business and creator accounts' media, queried through your own professional account and a Meta app. Its
view_countincludes paid views, and personal accounts are out of reach.
If the reels belong to you or to brands and creators you can query that way, Meta's route is free. For competitors, creators you are vetting or any public account, use an API that reads the public counters.
What one call returns
curl -s https://api.scavio.dev/api/v1/instagram/user/posts \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $SCAVIO_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"username": "mkbhd"}'On October 27, 2026 this returned Marques Brownlee's 12 latest feed items, 8 of them reels, in one call for 2 credits. Here are those 8 reels as captured, with ig_play_count as views:
| Reel | Posted | Views | Likes | Comments | Shares | Saves |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DewWx88x2Ld | Oct 21, 2026 | 5,667,152 | 251,910 | 1,348 | 60,191 | 13,141 |
| DeAYTbQArJe | Oct 2, 2026 | 2,042,123 | 51,686 | 566 | 2,771 | 1,817 |
| DdRy_nDzZNS | Sep 14, 2026 | 2,573,005 | 84,348 | 1,100 | 3,773 | 5,781 |
| DdFHJkpyy58 | Sep 9, 2026 | 31,175,846 | 1,141,620 | 13,691 | 535,913 | 60,956 |
| DcezzvJQRen | Aug 25, 2026 | 6,401,949 | 338,817 | 2,244 | 75,625 | 31,746 |
| Dboa5RQz13D | Aug 4, 2026 | 16,585,851 | 506,588 | 621 | 5,353 | 6,636 |
| DbB0UmmPcPL | Jul 20, 2026 | 2,686,486 | 137,411 | 2,249 | 11,560 | 6,710 |
| DaA4uWcuFvc | Jun 25, 2026 | 2,728,489 | 90,452 | 1,191 | 45,150 | 4,225 |
Shares are the number views hide. "This iPhone Duo animation" (DdFHJkpyy58) was shared 535,913 times, 1.7% of its views, while the Oct 2 reel was shared 2,771 times, 0.14% of its views. If you rank reels by how far they spread rather than how many people scrolled past, you need share_count, and it is the field the poster could not find.
Each item also carries caption.text, video_duration, the author and media URLs, and the post date is taken_at as a Unix timestamp. A page holds about 12 posts; send data.pagination_token back as cursor for the next page.
Three things to know before you store the numbers
- Shares and saves come from the posts endpoint.
/user/reelsis cheaper (typically 1 credit for a page of 7 to 12 reels in our test) and returnsview_count,like_countandcomment_count, but not shares or saves. Use reels for views and posts when you need shares. - Collaboration reels have two play counters. On the collaboration reel Dboa5RQz13D,
play_countwas 33,147,682 andig_play_count16,585,851; the reels endpoint'sview_countmatchedig_play_count. Store one consistently. - The counters are live. DewWx88x2Ld read 5,667,115 views on one call and 5,667,152 a few minutes later. Save the time you read them, and re-read on a schedule if you track growth.
For one reel from a link, /api/v1/instagram/post takes the shortcode or URL and returns the same counters for 2 credits. How to get Instagram profile and reels data walks through the profile, reels, posts and pagination calls, and the best Instagram profile scraper APIs compares this with Apify, Bright Data, HikerAPI and SocialCrawl.
Getting started
- Sign up at dashboard.scavio.dev/sign-up: 50 free credits, no card required.
- Copy your API key from the dashboard.
- Send a POST to
/api/v1/instagram/user/postswith a username.
Try the Instagram API free in the playground, or call it from an agent through the MCP server.
Reference: Instagram API overview · user posts · user reels · post
Frequently asked questions
Does the Instagram Graph API give reel views for other accounts?
Only for business and creator accounts, through business discovery, and its view_count combines paid and organic views. Reach, shares and saves come from the media insights endpoint, which covers your own professional account's media. Personal accounts are not reachable at all.
How do I get the share count of an Instagram reel?
Scavio's /api/v1/instagram/user/posts returns share_count and save_count on every reel in a public account's feed, next to play_count, like_count and comment_count. A page of about 12 posts costs 2 credits.
Are Instagram reel view counts real time?
They are the counters Instagram shows at the moment of the call, so they keep moving. One MKBHD reel read 5,667,115 views on one call and 5,667,152 a few minutes later on October 27, 2026. Store the time you read them with the numbers.
Can I get reel stats for many accounts at once?
Call the reels or posts endpoint once per account, in parallel up to your plan's concurrency. There is no batch input. A page of reels for 1,000 accounts is about 1,000 to 1,100 credits at the rates we were billed, about $2.20 on Scavio's Growth plan billed yearly.