Instagram has no native way to export comments to a spreadsheet. The Instagram Graph API can do it, but only for accounts you own or manage — useless for competitor research or campaign teardowns of other brands' posts.
This guide shows how to export comments from any public Instagram post or Reel into a clean CSV that opens directly in Excel, with one row per comment and 12+ analysis-ready columns.
The columns you'll get
The Clean export (default) has 12 columns optimized for Excel:
- Comment text (Unicode-safe — emoji and CJK render correctly when opened with UTF-8)
- @username
- Full name (the user's display name)
- Comment ID
- Like count
- Reply count (number of nested replies under this comment)
- Timestamp UTC
- Verified status (TRUE / FALSE)
- Profile picture URL
- Author user ID
- @mentions in text (semicolon-separated list)
- Hashtags in text (semicolon-separated list)
The Raw export has 28+ columns including all metadata fields Instagram exposes — useful if you need the underlying user IDs, comment status flags, or media reference.
Step-by-step
1. Find your post URL
Any public Instagram post or Reel URL works:
https://www.instagram.com/p/{shortcode}/https://www.instagram.com/reel/{shortcode}/https://www.instagram.com/tv/{shortcode}/(IGTV)
On mobile, tap the share icon (paper airplane) under the post and choose "Copy link". On desktop, click the timestamp under the post.
2. Open the Instagram exporter
Go to zocialcomment.com/export/instagram. Paste the URL into the form. You can paste up to 50 URLs at once if you want to export multiple posts into one batch.
3. Click "Export Comments"
The tool counts the available comments and shows you a preview. Click "Export 100 Comments" for the free tier or upgrade for unlimited exports.
4. Download the CSV
You'll get a CSV download button when processing finishes. The file is UTF-8 encoded.
Opening the CSV in Excel correctly
Excel sometimes mangles Unicode (emoji, Thai, Arabic) when you double-click a CSV. To open it cleanly:
- Open Excel first (blank workbook)
- Data ribbon → From Text/CSV
- Pick your downloaded file
- In the preview, set File Origin to
65001: Unicode (UTF-8) - Set Delimiter to
Comma - Click Load
This preserves every emoji, accent, and non-Latin character exactly as posted on Instagram.
On Mac Numbers and Google Sheets, just double-click the file — both handle UTF-8 correctly by default.
Useful Excel formulas for comment analysis
Filter to comments with at least 1 like
=FILTER(A2:L1000, E2:E1000>=1) (assuming Like Count is column E)
Count comments per hashtag
In a helper column, split the hashtag column by semicolon, then pivot. Or use =COUNTIF(L2:L1000, "*#yourbrand*") to count comments mentioning a specific tag.
Identify @mention frequency for influencer outreach
Comments often tag people who'd love the product. Extract the @mentions column, split, and rank by frequency:
=COUNTIF(K2:K1000, "*@username*")
Calculate engagement rate per comment
If a comment has 50 likes and 5 replies, its mini-engagement score is high. Add a column:
=E2 + (F2 * 3) (weights replies 3x because writing a reply takes more effort than tapping like)
Sort descending — the top of the list is your "comment-of-the-day" candidates for engagement strategy.
Free tier limits
Instagram's per-export limit is 100 comments on the free tier (lower than other platforms because Instagram's API quota is more expensive — Instagram costs 2 credits per comment in paid plans). For posts with hundreds or thousands of comments, you'll need the Starter plan ($20/month for ~10,000 Instagram comments) or Pro ($99/month for ~75,000).
Each paid comment includes the AI sentiment analysis column on top of the 12 base columns.
What doesn't work
- Stories — Instagram Stories don't have public comments. Story replies are sent as private DMs to the post author, not visible to anyone else. No exporter can access them.
- Private accounts — Only public posts and Reels work. Private accounts are gated.
- Mobile share URLs (instagram.com/share/...) — Resolved automatically to the canonical /p/ or /reel/ URL, so they do work in the exporter.
FAQ
Why is the Instagram free limit 50 instead of 100?
Instagram comments cost 2 credits each (vs 1 for TikTok/YouTube/Reddit) because Instagram's API is more expensive on the backend. The free daily allowance is the same dollar value, just expressed as fewer comments.
Can I export the replies to a comment, not just the top-level comments?
Top-level comments include a "Reply count" column. Reply-to-reply text isn't paginated separately by Instagram, but the count tells you how active the thread is. For full reply trees you need the Graph API with admin access.
How is this different from Apify's Instagram scrapers?
Apify is a developer platform — you configure an actor, run jobs, pay per result. Faster if you're a developer building automation, more work if you just want a CSV. ZocialComment is paste-URL-click-download; Apify is set-up-cron-job.
Are emoji preserved?
Yes — the file is UTF-8 encoded. Open in Excel using "From Text/CSV" with UTF-8 selected (see above) and every emoji renders. Numbers and Google Sheets handle this automatically.
Can I get a JSON instead?
Yes — every export has a JSON download button next to the CSV one. JSON preserves nested user objects and is better if you're piping into a script.
Try it
Paste any public Instagram URL into the Instagram Comment Exporter and have an Excel-ready CSV in under a minute.