The best Instagram MCP servers in 2026

An Instagram MCP server connects Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor to Instagram: profiles, posts, reels, comments and hashtags, and for some servers publishing and DMs. Meta does not publish one for organic Instagram (its MCP server manages ad accounts), so every option is third party. They split into four kinds: open-source servers on Meta's official API for accounts you manage, login-based servers that use your Instagram password, hosted tools that publish to your own account, and hosted research servers that read public accounts with no login of yours.

The four kinds of Instagram MCP server

Official API servers run on your machine and use Meta's Instagram API with a Meta app and an access token. They manage Instagram Business or Creator accounts you own: posts, comments, insights and, after Meta's App Review, DMs. Looking up other accounts is limited to Business or Creator accounts and hashtags.

Login-based servers sign in to Instagram with your username and password and drive its private API. They can read any public account, but Instagram's terms forbid collecting information this way, and your account can be restricted.

Publishing tools and integration platforms are hosted. They connect your Business or Creator account through Meta's OAuth and post, schedule, reply to comments or run DMs for you. Blotato, Outstand, Inrō, Composio and Zapier are in this group.

Research servers are hosted and read public Instagram data from a data provider, with no Instagram login of yours. HasData, Instapi, Apify's Instagram server and Manifold are in this group.

The servers, compared

Checked October 2026 against each project's README or the vendor's page.

Open-source servers on Meta's official API

These run on your machine and need a Meta app and an access token for an Instagram Business or Creator account.

• mcpware/instagram-mcp (TypeScript, MIT, npx @mcpware/instagram-mcp). A rewrite of jlbadano's server, for Business or Creator accounts linked to a Facebook Page; personal accounts are not supported. Its tools cover profile and account insights, posts and post insights, publishing images, videos, carousels and reels, comments, DMs (which need Meta's Advanced Access), hashtag search, mentions and looking up another business account. Long-lived tokens expire after 60 days.
• jlbadano/ig-mcp (Python, MIT). Profile info, posts and their insights, publishing, your connected Facebook Pages and DMs. Its README says reading and sending DMs requires Advanced Access approval from Meta.
• William-Gao/instagram-mcp (Python, MIT). Uses Meta's Instagram API with Instagram Login, so no Facebook Page is needed for the core tools. More than 25 tools for profile, media, publishing, comments, insights and DMs. Add a Facebook Page token and it can also look up other Business or Creator accounts and search hashtags.
• adelaidasofia/instagram-mcp (Python, FastMCP, MIT). Official Instagram Graph API for Business or Creator accounts linked to a Facebook Page, with accounts, media, publishing, insights, comments, hashtag and account discovery, and DMs that need App Review. Runs many accounts from one server.

Best for: Managing your own Instagram Business or Creator accounts with full control, when you are happy to register a Meta app.

Login-based servers

anand-kamble/mcp-instagram (TypeScript, MIT) logs in with your Instagram username and password. It searches accounts, reads profiles, posts, stories, comments and your home feed, and can like, comment and follow. Its README warns that your account can be restricted or suspended.

A local setup in Claude Desktop is a few lines in claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-instagram": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-instagram"],
      "env": {
        "IG_USERNAME": "your_instagram_username",
        "IG_PASSWORD": "your_instagram_password"
      }
    }
  }
}

Best for: Developers who accept the risk to the account they log in with.

Hosted publishing tools

• Blotato at https://mcp.blotato.com/mcp. Publishing, scheduling, analytics, comments and DMs on Instagram, plus eight other platforms. Starter is $29/mo with 20 social accounts and a 7-day free trial.
• Outstand at https://mcp.outstand.so/mcp. Publishes images, reels, carousels and stories through Meta's Instagram API, reads metrics for posts it published, and replies to comments on them. Needs a Business or Creator account linked to a Facebook Page. $19/mo with 3,000 posts, across 12 platforms.
• Inrō connects Claude or ChatGPT to your Inrō DM automation account through Meta's official API: contacts, campaigns, scenarios, conversations and the performance of your posts, reels and stories. Tools that send messages or start campaigns ask for approval first. Inrō lists Claude as stable and ChatGPT in beta.

Best for: Social media managers who post, schedule and answer DMs from their agent.

Integration platforms

• Composio's Instagram toolkit is hosted and connects your account with OAuth through Composio's managed app. It publishes media, reads post and account insights, manages comments, and lists, sends and marks DMs. Several tools target Business or Creator accounts. The free Hobby plan includes 100,000 tool calls a month, up to 20,000 of them through managed apps.
• Zapier MCP for Instagram for Business publishes photos, carousels and videos as reels. Zapier says these actions work only for an Instagram Business account, not a personal or Creator account.

Best for: Teams that already use Composio or Zapier and want their agent to post through them.

Hosted research servers

These read public Instagram data with no Instagram login of yours.

• HasData at https://mcp.hasdata.com/mcp?apis=instagram, with a HasData API key in a header. Three tools: a public profile, an account's post feed, and the comments on one post. 10 credits a call, with 1,000 free credits a month (100 calls) and paid plans from $59/mo.
• Instapi at https://instapi.co/mcp, with an Instapi API key. Three data tools: search users, hashtags and places, get a profile, and list an account's recent posts, with images and videos described as text. 10 free credits, then $1 per 100 credits, at 1 credit a call.
• Apify's Instagram MCP (by seemuapps) through Apify's hosted gateway. Five tools: profiles, followers, following, active stories and highlights, for public profiles only, with no posts tool. You sign in to Apify or send an Apify token, and it is priced per event, with failed calls not charged.
• Manifold reads public profiles, posts, reels, comments, hashtags and reel transcripts, with no Instagram login, no Meta app and no API keys of your own. It works in Claude on the web, desktop and mobile, ChatGPT, Cursor and Claude Code. The same server also covers SEO, AI answers, Reddit, other social platforms, ad libraries and leads. You pay per call: 500 free credits per workspace to start, then Pro from $20/mo. See the Instagram tools docs.

Honest limits: Manifold does not publish, comment or send DMs. Instagram offers no free-text search across all posts, so its post search works by hashtag.

Best for: Researching competitors, creators and hashtags on accounts you do not own.

Meta's official ads MCP

Meta publishes an ads MCP server at https://mcp.facebook.com/ads, documented at developers.facebook.com. It manages your own Meta ad account: reporting, campaigns, catalogs and tests. Its documentation lists no tools for reading public Instagram profiles or posts, so for content research you need a third-party server.

Is an Instagram MCP server against Instagram's terms?

Instagram's Terms of Use say you can't "access or collect information in unauthorized ways", including collecting information in an automated way without Instagram's express permission. What that means for you depends on the kind of server:

• Login-based servers drive Instagram's private API with your password, which is the case those terms describe. Accounts doing it can be restricted or banned, and anand-kamble's README warns of exactly that.
• Official API servers, publishing tools and integration platforms use Meta's own API through an app or OAuth, within the permissions Meta grants.
• Hosted research servers do not use your Instagram account at all, so nothing runs as you.

How to add an Instagram MCP server to Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor

• Hosted servers give you a URL. In Claude, open Settings → Connectors, choose Add custom connector and paste it. In Cursor, add it under Cursor Settings → MCP. In ChatGPT, add it as an app in developer mode. Then sign in, or send the vendor's API key if it uses one.
• Local servers run on your machine. Add the server's command and its tokens to your client's MCP config, as in the example above, and use a desktop client such as Claude Desktop, Claude Code or Cursor. A local server does not reach Claude on the web or ChatGPT unless you host it behind a public URL yourself.

Step-by-step setup for each client is in the client guides.

Which Instagram MCP server should you use?

You manage Instagram Business or Creator accounts and want full control. Run mcpware/instagram-mcp, William-Gao/instagram-mcp or adelaidasofia/instagram-mcp with your own Meta app.

You want to post and schedule from your agent. Blotato or Outstand, or Composio and Zapier if you already use them.

You run Instagram DMs at scale. Inrō puts your DM automation account in Claude or ChatGPT.

You want public Instagram data on accounts you do not own. HasData or Instapi for a small API, or the Instagram MCP server from Manifold for posts, reels, comments, hashtags and reel transcripts with no login, in any client.

Example prompts

These work with any research server that reads public accounts; reel transcripts need a server that offers them.

Creator research. "Compare these five creators on follower count, post cadence, average engagement and whether they are business accounts. [handles]"

Hashtag monitoring. "Show me the top 20 posts under #veganrecipes from the last month and which accounts posted them."

Comment mining. "Read the comments on our competitor's latest launch post and group them by sentiment, with quotes and links."

Reel transcripts. "Pull the transcripts of these five reels and list the claims they make. [reel URLs]"

Where to go next

For Manifold's Instagram tools and example prompts, see the Instagram MCP server page. For video, our guide to the best YouTube MCP servers compares the options for transcripts, comments and channel data. For the rest of social, see the TikTok MCP server and the best LinkedIn MCP servers.