Instagram API
Instagram API
Instagram Graph API provides Instagram business account management — post photos/videos, query media insights, reply to comments, Insights analytics. Requires Meta review.
Official Meta platform support
Only business or creator accounts (personal accounts have no API)
Create app at Meta Developer → request instagram_basic + instagram_content_publish permissions → user authorizes Facebook Page linked to Instagram.
Uptime · 30-day window
About this API
Instagram Graph API is Meta (Facebook parent company)'s official IG business API. Same lineage as Facebook Graph API — Instagram business accounts must link to a Facebook Page, all Instagram operations go through Page OAuth authorization. Functionally covers: content publishing (images, videos, Reels, Stories), media list and Insights queries (impressions, engagement, reach), comment and DM replies, audience demographic analysis. Social media management tools (Hootsuite, Buffer, Later) all use this API. Note: review process is strict — applying for instagram_content_publish permission requires demonstrating complete use case; Meta App Review typically takes 2-4 weeks. Personal accounts have no API (Basic Display API was for reading own content; deprecated 2024).
What you can build
- 1Social media management tools posting to Instagram
- 2Brand account Instagram analytics
- 3Customer service replying to Instagram DMs and comments
- 4Content creator data dashboards
Strengths & limitations
Strengths
- Official Meta platform support
- Provides detailed Insights data
- Supports video and Reels posting
Limitations
- Only business or creator accounts (personal accounts have no API)
- Requires Meta App Review (time-consuming)
- Slow feature updates with frequent deprecations
Official quickstart
Read the official quickstart at developers.facebook.com.
Getting started
Create app at Meta Developer → request instagram_basic + instagram_content_publish permissions → user authorizes Facebook Page linked to Instagram.
FAQ
Can I use a personal IG account?+
No. Must convert to business or creator type and link to a Facebook Page.
How long is App Review?+
Simple use cases: 1-2 weeks. Complex use cases (bulk management): 4-6 weeks or repeated rejections.
Technical details
- Auth type
- unknown
- Pricing
- unknown
- Rate limit
- Per-app-user 24h calls = 4800 × Impressions (rolling). Messaging: Conversations 2 calls/sec, Send 100 calls/sec text or 10/sec audio-video, Private Replies 100/sec for Live comments or 750/hour for post/reel. Business Discovery and Hashtag Search use the separate Platform Rate Limits pool
- Free tier quota
- Free — no per-call charges. Access gated by Meta App Review + Business Verification rather than payment. Basic Display API was sunset on 2024-12-04; personal accounts no longer have any official API path
- Protocols
- REST
- SDKs
- python, javascript, go, java, php
- Response time
- 1416 ms
- Last health check
- 6/26/2026, 6:23:40 AM