To scrape phone numbers from Instagram, you point a scraper like SocialScraper at an audience - an account’s followers, a hashtag, or the people who liked a post - switch on phone-number scraping, and export the numbers as a CSV. It takes a few minutes, needs no Instagram login or proxies, and works on any paid plan.
Phone numbers are the higher-touch layer of a lead list. Email gets you into the inbox; a phone number gets you a call, a text, or a WhatsApp message - and it’s one of the strongest signals you can upload to an ad platform. This guide walks through the exact workflow, what to expect, and how to get the most out of every number.
What you need before you start
- A target audience that matches your ideal customer - a competitor’s followers, a niche hashtag, or the likers and commenters on a relevant post.
- A SocialScraper account on a paid plan. Phone-number scraping is included on every paid plan (it isn’t part of the free trial).
- Somewhere to use the numbers - a dialer, an SMS or WhatsApp outreach tool, your CRM, or an ad platform like Meta.
As with email scraping, you don’t need your own Instagram account, a proxy network, or any technical setup.
What to expect from a phone-number scrape
Before you run your first scrape, two things are worth knowing:
1. Phone numbers are rarer than emails - but the right audience changes everything. Fewer people share a phone number than an email address, so from most audiences you’ll get a smaller phone list than an email list. Business-related audiences are the exception: they yield far more phone numbers, and in some cases the phone find rate is very high. Here’s a real example - scraping the accounts ClickFunnels follows returned 317 phone numbers from 1,104 users (roughly 29%), alongside 427 emails:
Think of phone numbers as the high-value layer on top of your emails rather than a replacement for them.
2. Phone numbers cost 10 credits each. Because they’re harder to come by, each phone number uses 10 credits (an email uses 1), and credits are only used when a number is actually found. You’re never charged for duplicates or for profiles that don’t return a number.
The upside: every profile in your export is still useful. Profiles that didn’t return a phone number still come through with their username, bio and profile data - at no credit cost - so nothing you scrape goes to waste.
Step-by-step: scrape phone numbers from Instagram
Step 1 - Choose your audience
Phone-number scraping works with every SocialScraper source, so start with the audience that best matches your customers:
- Followers of a competitor, a complementary brand or an influencer your buyers follow.
- Hashtags your customers post under.
- Post likers and commenters - people who engaged with a specific post are warmer than passive followers.
- A custom list of handles you’ve already collected.
If you’re new to choosing targets, our guide to scraping emails from Instagram followers covers the multi-account strategy that works just as well for phone numbers.
Step 2 - Switch on phone-number scraping
Open the scrape form for your chosen source and turn on the Scrape phone numbers toggle. That’s the only extra step - everything else about the scrape stays the same. The toggle is available on all paid plans; if you’re on the free trial you’ll see it locked with an upgrade prompt.
Step 3 - Start the scrape
Paste the account handle, hashtag or post link and start the run. Your results page shows live progress as the scrape works through the audience - users found, emails found and phone numbers found, updating as it goes. Large audiences can run in the background while you do other things.
Step 4 - Export your phone list
When the run finishes, export the results. You get a dedicated phone-number export alongside the standard export, so your calling or SMS list is ready to import without any cleanup. Each row includes the profile data - username, full name, website, bio, location and follower count - which makes it easy to personalise a call or a message.
Where phone numbers beat emails
Emails are the workhorse of cold outreach, but a phone number opens channels email can’t reach.
| Use case | Why phone numbers work | Typical tools |
|---|---|---|
| Cold calling | A live conversation converts faster than any written channel for higher-ticket offers | Any dialer or your CRM |
| SMS outreach | Open rates far above email; ideal for short, timely offers and follow-ups | SMS platforms |
| The default business channel in many markets; rich, conversational and personal | WhatsApp Business | |
| Custom & lookalike audiences | Phone numbers are a strong match key on Meta, Google and TikTok - upload your list to build a custom audience, then a lookalike | Meta Ads, Google Ads, TikTok Ads |
| Multi-channel sequences | Email first, then a text or call for the prospects who didn’t reply - the combination lifts response rates | Your outreach stack |
💡 Tip: scrape emails and phone numbers from the same audience in one run. You’ll reach most prospects by email, and you’ll have a phone number ready for the highest-value accounts that deserve a call.
How to get more phone numbers
- Scrape several related audiences, not one. Three to five mid-sized accounts in the same niche will almost always produce more numbers - and better-fit leads - than a single giant account.
- Combine and de-duplicate across runs. SocialScraper never charges you twice for the same profile, so scraping overlapping audiences costs nothing extra.
Is it legal to scrape phone numbers from Instagram?
Yes. Collecting publicly available information is legal, and SocialScraper is built to operate strictly within the law.
Everything SocialScraper collects is information people have already made public on Instagram. We never access private accounts or private data, never bypass logins or security measures, and never ask for your Instagram credentials.
Compliance is built into the product, not bolted on:
- Public data only - if it isn’t publicly visible, it isn’t collected.
- GDPR and CCPA compliant - with a simple opt-out process for anyone who wants their information removed.
- Hosted in the EU - your data and your lists are handled to enterprise security standards.
- Zero risk to your own account - you never connect your Instagram account, so there’s no risk of your Instagram account getting suspended.
Bottom line: you can build and use your lists with complete confidence. SocialScraper takes care of the compliance side so you can focus on your outreach.
For the calls and messages themselves, standard outreach practice keeps you on the right side of the rules in every region (for example TCPA in the US and GDPR in the EU): say who you are, respect do-not-call and opt-out requests, and keep messages relevant to the person you’re contacting. Our legal and compliance page covers our approach in full.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a paid plan to scrape phone numbers?
Yes. Phone-number scraping is included on every paid plan, and each number uses 10 credits - charged only when a number is actually found. The free trial covers email scraping so you can test the workflow first.
Can I get emails and phone numbers in the same scrape?
Yes. Turn on the phone-number toggle and the scrape collects both. You’ll get the standard export with emails plus a dedicated phone-number export, so each list is ready for its own channel.
Do I need an Instagram account or proxies?
No. SocialScraper runs in the cloud and reads only public data, so you never connect your own account or set up proxies.
What’s the best way to use Instagram phone numbers?
Use them where a phone beats an email: calling your highest-value prospects, short SMS or WhatsApp follow-ups to people who didn’t answer your email, and building custom and lookalike audiences on Meta, Google or TikTok.
Ready to add phone numbers to your lead lists? Pick any Instagram audience, switch on phone-number scraping, and export a call-ready list in minutes.
