Instagram User Following

Get the accounts a user follows by username or profile URL. Returns username, full name, user ID, verification status, and profile picture for each account. Supports pagination and an optional keyword search.

Endpoint

GET /v1/instagram/user/following

Price: $0.006 per page Free tier: 50 requests/month

Parameters

Parameter	Required	Description
`username`	One required	Instagram username, with or without leading `@` (max 100 characters). Provide either `username` or `url`.
`url`	One required	Instagram profile URL, e.g. `https://instagram.com/natgeo` (max 500 characters). Provide either `username` or `url`.
`pages`	No	Number of pages to fetch, 1-20 (default: 1). Each page returns up to 50 accounts.
`query`	No	Search the following list by username or name (max 100 characters). Returns up to 50 matches in a single request; `pages` is ignored.

Response Fields

Field	Type	Description
`following`	array	Array of followed-account profiles
`following[].username`	string	Instagram username
`following[].full_name`	string	Display name
`following[].user_id`	string	Instagram user ID
`following[].is_verified`	boolean	Whether the user is verified (blue checkmark)
`following[].is_private`	boolean	Whether the account is private
`following[].profile_pic_url`	string	URL to profile picture
`following[].url`	string	Link to the profile
`username`	string	The requested username
`query`	string	The search keyword (only when `query` was passed)
`pages`	integer	Number of pages fetched
`count`	integer	Total results returned

Example Request

cURL

curl "https://apidirect.io/v1/instagram/user/following?username=natgeo&pages=2" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"

Python

import requests

response = requests.get(
    "https://apidirect.io/v1/instagram/user/following",
    headers={"X-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY"},
    params={
        "username": "natgeo",
        "pages": 2
    }
)
print(response.json())

Example Response

{
  "following": [
    {
      "username": "marcuswestbergphotography",
      "full_name": "Photographer & Storyteller",
      "user_id": "364094780",
      "is_verified": false,
      "is_private": false,
      "profile_pic_url": "https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.2885-19/photo.jpg",
      "url": "https://instagram.com/marcuswestbergphotography"
    }
  ],
  "username": "natgeo",
  "pages": 2,
  "count": 100
}

Notes

Each page returns up to 50 accounts; you are billed per page requested. Instagram serves at most 1,000 accounts per call.
With query, the endpoint returns up to 50 matching accounts in one request and bills one page.
A private account returns 403 with code private_account. A username that does not exist returns 404 with code not_found.