Guide

Instagram API: what it can post and what it needs

The API from Instagram can publish photos, videos, Reels, Stories and carousels to a professional account, but your own app has to ask for permissions and walk a two-step flow to do it. Here is what it can post, what it needs and an easier route.

What the Instagram API can publish

Meta’s content publishing page lists images (JPEG only), videos, Reels, Stories and carousels of up to 10 items. A carousel counts as one post.

It works for professional Instagram accounts. A personal account is not on that list.

What your app has to hold

Which permissions you need depends on how people log in. With Instagram Login the page names instagram_business_basic and instagram_business_content_publish. With Facebook Login it names instagram_basic, instagram_content_publish and pages_read_engagement.

In practice that means registering a developer app of your own and getting those permissions granted before anyone but you can use it.

The two-step flow

You never send a post in one call. First you create a media container with a POST to the account’s media edge, then you publish it with a POST to media_publish, passing the container’s ID.

Videos are processed first, so you check the container’s status_code before publishing. An unpublished container expires after 24 hours.

The limit to plan around

The page states a cap of 100 API-published posts within a 24-hour moving period per account. Scheduling is yours to build: the flow above publishes when you call it.

The easier route: Dripost’s API

Dripost has a REST API, documented as OpenAPI at dripost.com/docs/api. You connect your Instagram professional account in Dripost once, then call Dripost with a key instead of registering and defending your own Instagram app.

The same call can carry YouTube, Facebook Pages, LinkedIn, Threads and X text as well. Dripost keeps each platform’s own rules, and a refusal comes back with that platform’s reason.

Keys start with dp_, are shown once and expire after 30 to 365 days, 90 by default. The Free plan can read and make drafts with one key; Creator and above get the full API.

API pricing, cost and keys on Instagram

API pricing on Instagram is simple: Meta charges nothing to call its publishing API. The API cost on Instagram is the work around it: a Business or Creator account, an app that passes Meta's App Review for each permission, and rate limits that grow with the account's audience.

There is no single API key for Instagram. A Meta app has an app ID and an app secret, and each Instagram account grants an access token when its owner logs in and approves the permissions.

Sources

Questions

Can the API post to a personal Instagram account?

Meta’s publishing page describes professional accounts. Dripost also posts to Instagram professional accounts.

Can the API schedule posts on Instagram?

The publishing flow on Meta’s page creates a container and publishes it when you call media_publish. Scheduling is something your own code or a tool like Dripost adds.

Do I need my own developer app with Dripost?

No. You connect your account in Dripost and use a Dripost API key.

Does Instagram have an API?

Yes. Meta offers an API for Instagram professional accounts, with login, content publishing and insights. It is aimed at apps, and it needs a Meta app and permissions.

Is the API for Instagram free?

Meta does not charge per call. The cost is the work: a Meta app, permissions and, for other people’s accounts, App Review. Pricing, cost and key questions all come down to that setup.

Is there an Instagram public API or a business API?

There is no open public API for anyone’s posts. The Instagram business API, the Graph API, works for professional accounts that grant your app access.

Try it on your own post.

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