# Instagram Reels Transcript API – Reels & Video to Text, Whisper (`tubetext/instagram-reels-transcript`) Actor
Turn public Instagram Reels into a content research library. Get transcripts, opening lines and optional on-screen text from Reel or profile links. Export to a spreadsheet to compare creators and collect ideas for your next video.
- **URL**: https://apify.com/tubetext/instagram-reels-transcript.md
- **Developed by:** [TubeText Labs](https://apify.com/tubetext) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, Videos, AI
- **Features:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 583 total users, 422 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet
## Pricing
from $4.50 / 1,000 reel transcripts
This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.
Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event
## What's an Apify Actor?
An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.
## How to integrate an Actor?
If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.
For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.
Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).
# README
## Instagram Reels Transcript API – Reels & Video to Text, Whisper
> **TubeText** · Transcripts · Pay per result. No login. Ready for AI agents. [All tools](https://apify.com/tubetext)
**What you get — a real profile-input example**
Compare how creators open their videos, then save useful references for your next brief.
| Field | Existing @natgeo sample |
|---|---|
| Video URL | |
| Opening line | Did you know shoebills attack their own siblings? |
| Transcript excerpt | Did you know shoebills attack their own siblings? Five surprising facts about the shoebill. They practice sibilicide. Shoebills typically lay two to three eggs per clutch… |
| Plays | 415,254 |
*Taken from the existing @natgeo profile-input output example below. The transcript is shortened; plays are the recorded profile-sample count, not a live count.*
### Quick start (no coding)
1. Click **Try for free** at the top of this page. A free Apify account is enough – it includes monthly credit.
2. In **Reel URLs, profile URLs or @usernames**, paste reel links, profile links or just @usernames (like `@natgeo`), one per line.
3. Click **Start**. About 15 reels per minute.
4. When it says **Succeeded**, open the **Output** tab and click **Export** → **Excel** (or CSV). The `transcript` column has the spoken text; `hook` has the first line.
**Cost:** ≈ $0.006 per reel (+$0.002 with on-screen text) – 100 reels ≈ $0.60; a 400-reel profile with on-screen text ≈ $3. Music-only, private and failed reels are free. Tip: set **Max reels per profile** before a big profile run; the free plan's $5 monthly credit covers about 800 reels.
**Common mistakes**
- A profile gives you only 20 reels → raise **Max reels per profile**.
- Hashtag or story links → not supported (you get a free error row). Paste reel links, profile links or @usernames.
- A reel shows no transcript → it's music only, and you're not charged for it.
**Questions or problems?** [Open an issue](https://apify.com/tubetext/instagram-reels-transcript/issues) (we read every one). **Need a custom version?** Ask in an issue or [email us](mailto:tubettext@gmail.com) – we build it as a private Actor on Apify.
### Use from Claude, Cursor or any MCP client
Add `https://mcp.apify.com?tools=tubetext/instagram-reels-transcript` as a remote MCP server and sign in to Apify (Claude: **Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector**). Claude Code:
```bash
claude mcp add --transport http tubetext "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=tubetext/instagram-reels-transcript"
```
Then ask, for example: *"Transcribe the latest 5 reels from @natgeo and summarize each in one line."* or *"Get the transcript and opening hook of this reel: \[link]"*
🆓 **Free to try:** Apify's free plan includes $5 of usage every month, no credit card needed – enough for about 800 reel transcripts with this tool.
### Instagram Reels transcript API: 1–5 reels in, JSON out
Call it from your back end with the Apify API. One request runs the Actor and returns the rows as JSON:
```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/tubetext~instagram-reels-transcript/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"urls":["https://www.instagram.com/reel/DeK0nPogqrS/","https://www.instagram.com/reel/DeNJLoOksoN/"],"includeOnScreenText":true}'
```
- **Big batches:** A few reel links return in seconds. For whole profiles, start the run with `POST /v2/acts/tubetext~instagram-reels-transcript/runs` and a webhook, then fetch the dataset.
- **Monitoring:** Profile monitoring: schedule the run daily with `skipAlreadyScraped: true` (and *Skip music-only reels*, on by default), so each run returns and bills only new talking reels. Add an Apify webhook to get notified when each run finishes.
- **Cost at volume:** 10,000 reels a month ≈ $60 at the free-plan price ($0.006 per reel, +$0.002 with on-screen text). Music-only, private and failed reels are free.
- **Stable output:** field names don't change between runs. Failed or empty items come back as status rows that aren't billed, and every row has `charged: true/false`.
- **Why not the official API:** Instagram's official API only covers accounts you manage and has no transcript field. This works on any public reel or profile, without login.
**Instagram Reels transcript API and reels-to-text tool.** Turn Instagram Reels into clean text, plus the **on-screen text** (captions, titles, stickers) if you want it, for ChatGPT, Claude, RAG pipelines, content repurposing, hook research and competitor monitoring. Paste reel links **or @usernames** – for a profile, its latest public reels are transcribed. Works as an Instagram audio-to-text / speech-to-text tool: every reel's speech is transcribed with Whisper AI.
### Why this one
- 🔤 **On-screen text, not just speech (optional)** – turn on `includeOnScreenText` and an AI vision model reads the captions, titles and stickers shown in the reel, one line each, in order. Adds about 5–10 s per reel; brand logos sometimes appear as a line.
- 👤 **Profiles in, transcripts out** – give `@username` (or a profile link) and set how many reels you want. Newest first, with an optional date filter and "skip pinned".
- 🔁 **Only new reels** – turn on *Only new reels* and schedule the Actor: each run transcribes just what a creator posted since last time.
- 💸 **Pay only for results** – music-only reels, private or deleted reels and failed downloads are **free**.
- 🔇 **No junk transcripts** – Whisper "Thank you" loops, song-only audio and sound-effect clips are detected and not charged. Songs are detected after transcription and returned as free `lyrics` rows, so you only pay for real speech.
- 🎣 **Hook included** – a `hook` field with the opening line (first ~3 seconds), ready for hook and script research.
- 📊 **Reel stats** – creator, caption, hashtags, posting time, plays (profile inputs), likes, comments, duration, follower count.
- 🧠 **AI-ready output** – plain text, timestamped sentences, SRT subtitles, raw segments and optional RAG chunks.
- 🔓 **No login, no cookies** – only public pages are used.
### Monitor creators every day (recipe)
Track what a list of creators says in new reels, and pay only for new talking reels:
1. In **Reel URLs, profile URLs or @usernames**, paste the creators' @usernames, one per line.
2. Set **Max reels per profile** to `8`, and turn on **Only new reels** (`skipAlreadyScraped`). Keep **Skip music-only reels** on (the default).
3. Save it as a task and add a **daily schedule** (Apify Schedules). Add a webhook or an integration if you want the new rows in Slack, Google Sheets or your app.
The first run transcribes up to 8 recent reels per creator. After that, each run only picks up reels posted since the last run, and reels that are only music are skipped for free.
**Monthly cost example:** 20 creators posting about one talking reel a day ≈ 600 reels a month ≈ **$3.60/month** at the free-plan price ($0.006 per reel), plus about $0.96 for the first run (20 × 8 reels). With on-screen text on, it's about $4.80/month.
### Reuse successful results across inputs (optional)
Set `useCache: true` to reuse a complete successful transcript for **24 hours** within your Apify account and this Actor. A Reel first processed through a profile can then be reused through its direct link or a dataset, and vice versa. The first successful run seeds the cache; earlier runs made with caching off are not imported. Caching is **off by default**.
```json
{
"urls": ["https://www.instagram.com/reel/DeK0nPogqrS/"],
"useCache": true,
"forceRefresh": false
}
```
A hit returns `status: "ok"`, `cached: true`, `cachedAt` (the UTC cache creation time), `charged: false` and `billedExtraMinutes: 0`. It does **not** download media, transcribe audio or run OCR again, and does not charge `reel-transcript`, `extra-minute` or `on-screen-text` events. Run-start and platform costs may still apply, including profile listing. A newly processed row with caching enabled has `cached: false`.
The output options (`includeOnScreenText`, timestamps, SRT, segments and `chunkWords`) and `maxMinutesPerReel` must match. Results and metadata are snapshots from `cachedAt`; the current input and available profile-listing fields reflect this run. To request fresh content, turn caching off or set **both** `useCache: true` and `forceRefresh: true` (normal charges apply). Refresh failures leave the previous successful cache record intact but return this run's failure, not the old result. Errors, lyrics, no-speech results and incomplete OCR results are not cached. **Only new reels** / monitoring skips still take priority over reuse.
Storage is a dedicated `tubetext-ig-cache-v1-...` named key-value store in your account, isolated by Actor and explicitly restricted before use. If ownership, private access or storage operations cannot be confirmed, caching is disabled for the run and normal processing and billing apply. You can delete this cache store in Apify Storage. The 24 hours limit reuse, **not physical retention**: named storage remains until deleted. Concurrent runs that both start without a cached result can each process and charge; reuse does not guarantee exactly-once processing or billing across crashes.
#### Large profile lists, partial results and same-run recovery
Reels are processed as profile pages arrive, with a bounded discovery queue. A slow or unavailable profile can still return an error while other profiles deliver results. The requested per-profile limit and filters remain in effect. Input order is not output order.
`listing_partial` is a free diagnostic row: earlier pages were retained, but a later page could not be completed after bounded retries, or required pagination data was missing. It carries `listingComplete: false`, `hasMore` and `stopReason`. It is not a transcript and does not incur a result-event charge. Errors include a sanitized `stage`, `errorCode`, `route`, `attempt` and `retryable`; anonymous unavailability does not establish that an account is deleted. Follower-only content is unavailable through this logged-out Actor.
The run's default key-value store contains `LISTING_STATUS` for each profile and `STOP_MANIFEST` with `reelsNotStarted` and `profilesNotComplete`. Unknown undiscovered reel counts are not zero. Reasons distinguish `end_of_profile`, `limit_reached`, `date_cutoff`, partial pagination, `cost_limit_reached`, `cost_guard_stopped` and `time_limit_reached`. A completed requested limit can still have `hasMore: true`. `discovery_incomplete` is a free summary when some sources remain unlisted or partial. Run-start and platform costs still apply.
Resuming the same run with its existing storage continues saved pages. Delivery recovery distinguishes a saved result that has not entered the append API (`prepared`) from a submission whose outcome is unknown (`submission_unknown`). Only the first can be sent as a free recovered result, with `charged: false`, `billedExtraMinutes: 0`, consistent OCR billing text and `billingRecovery: "delivered_without_recharging"`. Once submission starts, an empty receipt scan does not prove the result is missing, so the Actor does not append it again. A visible receipt resolves it without another charge. Legacy pending entries are treated as uncertain.
If the outcome stays uncertain, the Actor attempts to write a free `delivery_pending` diagnostic and `STOP_MANIFEST.pendingDeliveries`. Each entry's `payloadRecord` and `payloadField` identify where to read its saved body. An unresolved checkpoint is reported with `deliveryComplete: false`; a failed completion save does not leave an in-memory done/seen mark. If a write was stored but its acknowledgment was lost, the completed `PROGRESS` snapshot also retains the last recovery payload under `recoveryState.checkpoint`. If the rollback save cannot be confirmed, the stop manifest includes a payload copy. Storage outages can prevent the diagnostic itself from being saved: inspect the existing `PROGRESS` record and Dataset receipts before proceeding. The payload's original billing intent is not a charge receipt.
For a run that has ended, use **[Resurrect on that same run](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2/actor-run-resurrect-post)** to retain its storage. **[Reboot](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2/actor-run-reboot-post)** applies only while the run is `RUNNING`. Creating a new Run does not automatically inherit the saved outbox. Until receipts are confirmed, read the payload at the indicated record; do not resubmit that reel to the Dataset. This state requires reconciliation and does not establish batch completion.
Startup and recovery share a 10-second I/O budget, with at most 5 seconds per operation and a 10,000-row receipt-scan segment; the run's hard deadline can shorten that budget. An already expired hard deadline permits at most one final second for startup reads and receipt reconciliation, followed by a short, best-effort reporting allowance, with no new result append. Optional status messages cannot block recovery indefinitely. Cache, proxy, seen-store and previous-charge initialization run only after recovery is confirmed and before new work, within the remaining startup budget. Startup read failure preserves the existing `PROGRESS` record. Scan offsets continue on a later same-run recovery, and a completed negative scan only schedules a future fresh scan. Existing Dataset rows and normal charged results are not rewritten. An interruption after delivery but before charging can still leave a free result, so reconcile actual platform events rather than the original row's `charged` intent.
Before starting new video work, the Actor verifies the same run's historical event charges. A failed lookup, missing run, or invalid billing data stops startup with `STOP_MANIFEST.stage: "billing"` and `billingHistory.state: "unconfirmed"`; it is never treated as a confirmed zero balance. Existing progress and any safely recovered free result are kept. The saved billing state distinguishes confirmed zero, confirmed nonzero, and local execution without a platform run ID. Check the run's platform bill and the saved failure reason before using same-run recovery; do not raise the cost limit merely to bypass an unconfirmed lookup.
A new run performs fresh discovery; enable **Only new reels** to skip previously completed eligible reels. Temporary errors, access restrictions and unresolved deliveries are not permanently marked as seen. Successful run status alone does not establish complete discovery or delivery.
### Input example
```json
{
"urls": [
"@natgeo",
"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DeK0nPogqrS/"
],
"maxReelsPerProfile": 20,
"onlyReelsNewerThan": "30 days",
"skipAlreadyScraped": false
}
```
If you leave out `maxReelsPerProfile` (for example when calling the API), **20 reels per profile** are transcribed.
Accepted inputs: reel links (`instagram.com/reel/…`, `/p/…`), share links (`instagram.com/share/…`), profile links (`instagram.com/natgeo`, `…/natgeo/reels/`) and `@usernames`. Mix them freely. Already scraping Instagram with another Actor? Pass its dataset as `datasetId` (with `datasetSortBy` and `maxVideosFromDataset`) and the reels in it are transcribed.
### Output example
Real output (shortened) for `@natgeo` with *Max reels per profile* = 3:
```json
{
"input": "@natgeo",
"shortcode": "DeNJLoOksoN",
"url": "https://www.instagram.com/reel/DeNJLoOksoN/",
"ownerUsername": "natgeo",
"ownerFullName": "National Geographic",
"caption": "The shoebill’s prehistoric appearance makes it unique among living birds…",
"hashtags": [],
"postedAt": "2026-10-07T19:47:57Z",
"durationSeconds": 105.2,
"playCount": 415254,
"likeCount": 42246,
"commentCount": 171,
"profileUsername": "natgeo",
"pinned": false,
"followerCount": 268419899,
"status": "ok",
"language": "en",
"hook": "Did you know shoebills attack their own siblings?",
"transcript": "Did you know shoebills attack their own siblings? Five surprising facts about the shoebill. They practice sibilicide. Shoebills typically lay two to three eggs per clutch…",
"timestampedText": "[00:00] Did you know shoebills attack their own siblings? …",
"wordCount": 254,
"billedExtraMinutes": 0
}
```
`status` is `ok`, `no_speech` (music or sound effects only – free), `skipped` (no audio track, private, deleted or longer than your limit – free), `no_reels` or `error` (free). Profile failures use `status: "error"` with `errorCode: "profile_unavailable_anonymously"` (anonymous access was unavailable, free). Also `no_new_reels` (with "only new reels" on and nothing new since the last run – free), and `lyrics` (the audio is a song, not speech – the song text is returned in a `lyrics` field, free).
`ownerUsername` is the reel's author; on collab reels it can be the co-author, so use `profileUsername` to group by the profile you asked for.
### Pricing
Pay per event:
- **$6.00 per 1,000 reels** (cheaper on higher Apify plans: down to $4.50). Each reel includes its first 3 minutes of audio – almost every reel is shorter.
- **$0.003 per extra started minute** for reels longer than 3 minutes.
- **+$0.002 per reel with on-screen text** when you turn it on, charged only when text is found. This is billed separately from the transcript, so a music-only reel with text on screen costs $0.002 even though its transcript is free.
- Music-only, private, deleted and failed reels are free.
Examples: 1,000 typical reels (under 3 minutes) ≈ **$6.00**, minus the music-only ones. A 400-reel profile with on-screen text on ≈ **$3**.
#### Monitoring recipe: pay only for new talking reels
1. Put your creators in **Reel URLs, profile URLs or @usernames**.
2. Turn on **Only new reels**. Each run then skips reels it already processed.
3. Save the input as a task and add an Apify **Schedule** (for example daily).
Music-only reels are never charged, so a daily run costs only the new reels that actually have speech, typically a few cents per creator.
### Use it from your tools
- **API / Python**: `client.actor("tubetext/instagram-reels-transcript").call(run_input={"urls": ["@natgeo"], "maxReelsPerProfile": 20})`, then read the default dataset.
- **n8n / Make / Zapier**: use the Apify integration, run this Actor and map the `transcript` and `hook` fields.
- **Monitoring**: schedule a run with your creator list and *Only new reels* on, then push new rows to Google Sheets, Notion or Slack.
### Ready-made examples
- [Instagram Reels to Text](https://apify.com/tubetext/instagram-reels-transcript/examples/instagram-reels-to-text)
- [All Reels of an Instagram Profile to Text](https://apify.com/tubetext/instagram-reels-transcript/examples/instagram-profile-reels-transcripts)
- [Instagram Reels Hooks Swipe File](https://apify.com/tubetext/instagram-reels-transcript/examples/instagram-reels-hooks-swipe-file)
- [Instagram Reels On-Screen Text](https://apify.com/tubetext/instagram-reels-transcript/examples/instagram-reels-on-screen-text)
- [Competitor Reels Research](https://apify.com/tubetext/instagram-reels-transcript/examples/instagram-competitor-reels-research)
### TubeText Labs tools
**TubeText Labs** builds 35 pay-per-result Apify Actors for video, social and e-commerce data – no login, JSON/CSV/Excel output, and ready for ChatGPT and Claude (Apify MCP), n8n, Make and Zapier. All tools: [apify.com/tubetext](https://apify.com/tubetext)
**Transcripts**
- [YouTube Transcript Scraper](https://apify.com/tubetext/youtube-transcript-fast) – videos, Shorts, playlists and whole channels to text; Whisper AI when there are no captions
- [TikTok Transcript Scraper](https://apify.com/tubetext/tiktok-transcript) – TikTok captions plus Whisper AI, SRT and timestamps
- [Instagram Reels Transcript](https://apify.com/tubetext/instagram-reels-transcript) *(this tool)* – reel links or @usernames to text with Whisper AI
- [Podcast & Video Transcript](https://apify.com/tubetext/any-video-podcast-transcript) – podcast RSS / Apple Podcasts, X, Facebook, Loom, Twitch and audio files to text
- [Facebook Video Transcript](https://apify.com/tubetext/facebook-video-transcript) – public Facebook videos and Reels to text with Whisper AI
- [X (Twitter) Video Transcript](https://apify.com/tubetext/twitter-x-video-transcript) – X/Twitter video posts to text with Whisper AI
- [Reddit Video Transcript](https://apify.com/tubetext/reddit-video-transcript) – videos in public Reddit posts (v.redd.it) to text with Whisper AI, with SRT and timestamps
- [Bilibili Video Transcript](https://apify.com/tubetext/bilibili-video-transcript) – Bilibili (B站) videos to text with Whisper AI, plus optional English summaries
- [Podcast Transcript](https://apify.com/tubetext/podcast-transcript) – podcast RSS feeds and Apple Podcasts episodes to text with Whisper AI
**Video & ad analysis**
- [Video Breakdown AI](https://apify.com/tubetext/video-breakdown-ai) – hook analysis, shot list, cut pacing, products shown and script of any TikTok, Reel or YouTube video
- [Shot-by-Shot Video Analysis Pro](https://apify.com/tubetext/shot-by-shot-video-analysis) – director-level storyboard of any video: framing, camera move, emotion and why each shot works, plus replay peaks, danmaku and comments tied to shots
- [YouTube & TikTok Comments API](https://apify.com/tubetext/youtube-tiktok-comments-api) – comments with like-weighted sentiment and themes, plus the moments viewers react to on long YouTube and Bilibili videos
- [Video Ad Analyzer](https://apify.com/tubetext/video-ad-analyzer) – competitors' YouTube video ads by brand or domain (Google Ads Transparency), torn down by AI
- [Google Ads Transparency API](https://apify.com/tubetext/google-ads-transparency-video) – any advertiser's YouTube video ads from Google Ads Transparency, with first/last shown dates, days running, views and transcripts
- [Meta Ad Library Scraper](https://apify.com/tubetext/meta-ad-library-videos) – Facebook and Instagram ads by brand or keyword: video URLs, images, ad copy, CTA and landing page
**Social, apps & trends**
- [YouTube Channel Analytics](https://apify.com/tubetext/youtube-channel-analytics) – subscribers, recent video performance, Social Blade grade, ranks and estimated earnings
- [YouTube Shorts Scraper](https://apify.com/tubetext/youtube-shorts-scraper) – every Short of a channel with exact views, likes, comments and publish time, plus transcripts and the opening line
- [Bilibili Scraper](https://apify.com/tubetext/bilibili-scraper) – Bilibili (B站) keyword search, popular board, top-100 ranking, video stats, danmaku text and creator (UP主) followers – no login
- [China Trending Topics](https://apify.com/tubetext/china-trending-topics) – Douyin, Weibo, Baidu, Toutiao and Bilibili hot-search boards in one run, in English – plus an optional AI briefing on why topics trend
- [WeChat Article Scraper](https://apify.com/tubetext/wechat-articles-scraper) – WeChat 公众号 articles by keyword or link: full text, English titles and optional English summaries
- [Google Play Reviews + AI Insights](https://apify.com/tubetext/google-play-reviews-ai) – Android app reviews by star rating, country and language, plus an AI report of complaints and praise
- [Steam Reviews Scraper + AI Insights](https://apify.com/tubetext/steam-reviews-scraper) – Steam game reviews with hours played and votes, review score and current players, plus an AI report of top complaints, praise and feature requests
- [Social Blade Scraper](https://apify.com/tubetext/socialblade-scraper) – Social Blade stats for YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Twitch creators – grade, ranks, 2-week growth, daily history, earnings estimates and top-100 lists
- [Spotify Play Count Scraper](https://apify.com/tubetext/spotify-play-count-scraper) – play counts for every track of an album, artist or playlist (incl. Top 50 charts), plus monthly listeners, followers, world rank and top cities
**E-commerce & travel**
- [TikTok Shop Product Scraper](https://apify.com/tubetext/tiktok-shop-product-scraper) – US TikTok Shop prices, items sold, stock per SKU and shop stats
- [AliExpress Search Scraper](https://apify.com/tubetext/aliexpress-search-scraper) – AliExpress search results by keyword: price, items sold, rating, shipping, badges
- [Google Hotels Scraper](https://apify.com/tubetext/google-hotels-scraper) – hotel prices for any destination and dates, per booking site and as a 90-day price calendar
- [Taobao & Tmall Product Scraper](https://apify.com/tubetext/taobao-tmall-scraper) – Taobao/Tmall products by Chinese or English keyword, category or URL: CNY prices, shops and seller scores
- [Alibaba & Yiwu Supplier Finder by Image](https://apify.com/tubetext/alibaba-yiwu-image-search) – product photo in, similar Alibaba.com and Yiwu wholesale listings out: price, MOQ, supplier, country and rating
- [Amazon Product Search Scraper](https://apify.com/tubetext/amazon-product-search-scraper) – Amazon search results, Best Sellers lists and product pages: price, rating, reviews, monthly sales signal, badges and specs
- [Google Flights Scraper](https://apify.com/tubetext/google-flights-scraper) – flight prices for any route or multi-city trip, a cheapest-day calendar, price insights and booking options per site
- [Agoda & Booking.com Hotel Reviews + AI](https://apify.com/tubetext/agoda-reviews-scraper) – Agoda hotel reviews plus verified Booking.com reviews shown on Agoda, hotel scores and sub-scores, and an AI report of complaints, praise and action items
- [Gas Prices Scraper (US & Canada)](https://apify.com/tubetext/gas-prices-scraper) – live gas station prices by ZIP, city or coordinates – regular, premium, diesel, E85 – with an area summary of the cheapest stations
- [Idealo Price Scraper](https://apify.com/tubetext/idealo-price-scraper) – every shop offer for a product on idealo – price, shipping, delivery, shop rating – in Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Spain and the UK, with a summary per market
**Esports & sports data**
- [Esports Match Timeline](https://apify.com/tubetext/esports-match-timeline) – Valorant and CS2 round-by-round scores, winners and VOD timestamps read from broadcast VODs
**Questions or problems?** [Open an issue](https://apify.com/tubetext/instagram-reels-transcript/issues) (we read every one). **Need a custom version?** Ask in an issue or [email us](mailto:tubettext@gmail.com) – we build it as a private Actor on Apify.
Found it useful? A short review on this page helps others find it.
Built by **TubeText Labs** · Pay per result. No login. Ready for AI agents.
### FAQ
**Is this cheaper than an Instagram scraper's built-in transcription?** Usually by a lot. Popular Instagram reel scrapers on Apify sell transcripts as an add-on at $0.048 per started minute of each reel. Here a reel costs $0.006 including its first 3 minutes ($0.003 per extra minute), so a 1-minute reel is 8× cheaper and a 3-minute reel 24× cheaper. (Apify free-plan prices, checked October 2026; both get cheaper on paid plans.) Already scraping reels with another Actor? Pass that run's dataset as `datasetId` and pay only for the transcripts.
**How many reels can I get from a profile?** Set *Max reels per profile* to any number up to 1,000 (default 20). Large profiles take longer; our production tests went up to 40 reels per profile. Reels are read from the profile's public Reels tab, newest first; pinned reels come first unless you skip them.
**Why did a reel return `no_speech`?** It contains only music or sound effects. These are never charged.
**Why did a reel come back as `lyrics`?** Its audio is a song rather than someone talking. You still get the song text in the `lyrics` field, but the row isn't charged. When it's unclear, the reel is treated as speech.
**Private accounts?** Not supported – only public profiles and reels. Private accounts return an error row for free.
**Which languages?** Whisper detects the spoken language automatically (90+ languages, including Spanish, Japanese and Chinese); the transcript is in the original language.
**How fast is it?** About 15 reels per minute with default settings – 100 reels usually take under 10 minutes, including reading the profiles. Speed varies with Instagram's rate limits.
**Is this legal?** The Actor only reads publicly available pages, without logging in, and does not collect emails, phone numbers or comments. You are responsible for how you use the data (copyright, privacy and Instagram's terms).
**Can I cap what a run costs?** Yes – set *Maximum cost per run* in the run options. The run stops cleanly when the next item would go over it: you are never charged more, and you get a clear "stopped at your limit" status message.
**What happens if a big run hits the time limit?** It stops cleanly shortly before the limit: everything finished so far is delivered, the run ends as succeeded, and the status message says how many items weren't started. Raise the run timeout, or run again with *Only new* turned on to continue where it stopped.
**Am I charged if a reel fails?** No. Private, deleted and failed reels, and music-only reels, come back with a status and are not charged – you only pay for reels that were actually transcribed.
**Cost telemetry:** when a run ends unusually (it cost us more than it earned), the Actor sends us a small anonymous summary via a webhook: run ID, build, duration, memory, amount charged, compute and AI cost, whether the account is on a free or paid plan, and counts of free rows. We use it to keep prices fair. Your inputs, links and results are never sent.
# Actor input Schema
## `urls` (type: `array`):
Provide at least one of: urls / datasetId. Mix freely, one per line: reel links (instagram.com/reel/…, /p/…), share links (instagram.com/share/…), profile links (instagram.com/natgeo or …/natgeo/reels/) or @usernames. For a profile, its latest public reels are transcribed.
## `monitorProfiles` (type: `boolean`):
One-click monitoring: only reels posted since your last run, pinned reels skipped, up to 8 new reels per profile (unless you change 'Max reels per profile'). The status shows a monthly cost estimate. Save the run as a task and add a daily schedule to get new reels every day; profiles with nothing new are free.
## `datasetId` (type: `string`):
A dataset from another Actor run, e.g. an Instagram post, hashtag or profile scraper (pick it, or paste its ID via API). The reel/post links in it are transcribed. Read-only access to this one dataset is requested.
## `datasetSortBy` (type: `string`):
Which reels to take first when the dataset has more than 'Max videos from dataset'.
## `maxVideosFromDataset` (type: `integer`):
How many reel links to take from the dataset (each is billed like a single reel).
## `maxReelsPerProfile` (type: `integer`):
Newest reels first (the profile's Reels tab order). Ignored for direct reel links.
## `onlyReelsNewerThan` (type: `string`):
Optional. A date (2026-09-01) or a relative period (7 days, 2 weeks, 3 months). Applies to profiles.
## `skipAlreadyScraped` (type: `boolean`):
For scheduled monitoring: remembers which reels of each profile were already processed (in a named key-value store 'tubetext-instagram-seen' in your account) and skips them next time.
## `skipPinned` (type: `boolean`):
Pinned reels sit at the top of a profile even when they are old.
## `skipMusicOnlyReels` (type: `boolean`):
For profile links and @usernames: reels whose sound Instagram labels as a licensed song and that contain no speech (only music or song lyrics) get no row of their own, just one free summary row per profile. Someone talking over a song is always kept and transcribed. Direct reel links are always returned in full, and so is every reel when on-screen text is on. Music-only reels are never charged either way. Turn off to get a row (with the lyrics) for every reel.
## `maxMinutesPerReel` (type: `integer`):
Longer videos are skipped (free) to keep costs predictable.
## `useCache` (type: `boolean`):
Reuse complete successful transcripts from this Actor in your account across reel links, profiles and datasets, with the same output options and maximum reel length. Cache hits do not download, transcribe or read on-screen text again and incur no result-event charges; run/platform costs can still apply. Metadata is a snapshot. Only-new profile skipping takes priority. If private cache storage is unavailable, normal processing and billing apply.
## `forceRefresh` (type: `boolean`):
With useCache enabled, bypass existing results and process normally (normal charges apply). A complete successful result replaces the cache; failures leave the previous successful result intact. Has no effect when useCache is off.
## `includeTimestampedText` (type: `boolean`):
Adds a 'timestampedText' field with one \[mm:ss] line per sentence.
## `includeSrt` (type: `boolean`):
Adds an 'srt' field in SubRip (.srt) format.
## `includeOnScreenText` (type: `boolean`):
Also read the text shown in the video (captions, titles, text stickers) with an AI vision model. Works on music-only reels too. Slower; billed as an extra 'on-screen-text' event only for reels where text was found.
## `includeSegments` (type: `boolean`):
Adds a 'segments' array with start, duration and text.
## `chunkWords` (type: `integer`):
Set e.g. 300 to add a 'chunks' array: transcript split into ~N-word blocks with start/end timestamps. 0 = off.
## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):
How many reels to process in parallel.
## Actor input object example
```json
{
"urls": [
"@natgeo"
],
"monitorProfiles": false,
"datasetSortBy": "views",
"maxVideosFromDataset": 50,
"maxReelsPerProfile": 3,
"skipAlreadyScraped": false,
"skipPinned": false,
"skipMusicOnlyReels": true,
"maxMinutesPerReel": 15,
"useCache": false,
"forceRefresh": false,
"includeTimestampedText": true,
"includeSrt": false,
"includeOnScreenText": false,
"includeSegments": false,
"chunkWords": 0,
"maxConcurrency": 8
}
```
# Actor output Schema
## `transcripts` (type: `string`):
No description
# API
You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.
## JavaScript example
```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';
// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
token: '',
});
// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
"urls": [
"@natgeo"
],
"maxReelsPerProfile": 3
};
// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("tubetext/instagram-reels-transcript").call(input);
// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
console.dir(item);
});
// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs
```
## Python example
```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient
# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("")
# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
"urls": ["@natgeo"],
"maxReelsPerProfile": 3,
}
# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("tubetext/instagram-reels-transcript").call(run_input=run_input)
# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
print(item)
# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start
```
## CLI example
```bash
echo '{
"urls": [
"@natgeo"
],
"maxReelsPerProfile": 3
}' |
apify call tubetext/instagram-reels-transcript --silent --output-dataset
```
## MCP server setup
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"apify": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,tubetext/instagram-reels-transcript"
}
}
}
```
The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer ` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).
## OpenAPI specification
Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/RcimXds0kc0aSKE2A/builds/OUojno8sLVcwqhrdo/openapi.json