# How to Vet Instagram Influencers With Data

To vet an Instagram influencer with data, check 4 things from public information: median engagement on their last 20 or so posts, the quality of the comments on those posts, a sample of their followers, and how often they post paid partnerships.

[![apidojo](/blog/authors/apidojo.png)**Apidojo** *15+ years of experience in data retrieval.*](/blog/authors/apidojo/)

**16 October 2026** Published

**3 min** Read

![Cover card reading 'How to Vet Instagram Influencers With Data'](/blog/covers/vet-influencers.png)

**To vet an Instagram influencer with data, check 4 things from public information: median engagement on their last 20 or so posts, the quality of the comments on those posts, a sample of their followers, and how often they post paid partnerships.** Engagement far below similar accounts, generic repeated comments, and a follower sample full of empty private accounts are the warning signs of a bought audience. This guide extends the recurring pattern in [how to monitor Instagram hashtags and mentions](/blog/instagram-scraping/monitor-hashtags/).

Vetting before you pay is cheaper than finding out after a campaign. This guide gives each check, its red flags, and the apidojo actor that collects the data. Finding creators to vet is covered in [how to find Instagram influencers in your niche](/blog/instagram-influencers/find-instagram-influencers/). After signing, [how to track competitors on Instagram](/blog/instagram-scraping/track-competitors/) and [how to analyse Instagram comment sentiment](/blog/instagram-scraping/comment-sentiment/) use the same data to follow results.

## What Should You Check Before Hiring an Influencer?

**Check the account, its engagement, its comments and its audience, in that order.** The table maps each check to its data and red flags.

| Check | Data | Red flags |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Account basics | Followers, following, post count, category | Following almost as many as followers; very few posts |
| Engagement | Median likes and comments over recent posts | Far below similar accounts, or suspiciously uniform |
| Comments | Text of comments on recent posts | Repeated emoji, generic praise, same phrases from many accounts |
| Follower sample | Profiles of a sample of followers | Many private, empty or random-looking accounts |
| Partnerships | Posts marked as paid partnerships | Sponsored posts crowding out normal content |

## How Do You Check Engagement?

**Collect the creator’s last 20 to 30 posts and take the median engagement rate.** apidojo’s [Instagram Scraper](https://apify.com/apidojo/instagram-scraper) returns each post’s `likeCount`, `commentCount`, `isPaidPartnership` and the owner’s `followerCount`, and flags hidden counts with `isLikeAndViewCountsDisabled` (Apify). The method is in [how to calculate Instagram engagement rate](/blog/instagram-analytics/engagement-rate/).

## How Do You Check Comment Quality?

**Collect comments on a handful of recent posts and look at how many are duplicates or emoji-only.** apidojo’s [Instagram Comments Scraper API](https://apify.com/apidojo/instagram-comments-scraper-api) takes post URLs or codes at $0.0075 per post, with the first 15 comments included (Apify). In Python, with comment text in the `message` field as apidojo’s Comments Scraper documents it:

```
from collections import Counter

texts = [c.get("message", "").strip().lower() for c in comments]
counts = Counter(texts)
duplicate_share = sum(n for t, n in counts.items() if n > 1) / max(len(texts), 1)
emoji_only = sum(1 for t in texts if t and not any(ch.isalnum() for ch in t)) / max(len(texts), 1)
print(f"Duplicates: {duplicate_share:.0%}, emoji-only: {emoji_only:.0%}")
```

Some emoji comments are normal; a high share of identical comments across posts isn’t.

## How Do You Check a Creator’s Followers?

**Pull a sample of followers and look at what kind of accounts they are.** apidojo’s [Instagram User Scraper](https://apify.com/apidojo/instagram-user-scraper) returns followers with `username`, `fullName`, `isPrivate` and `isVerified`, at $0.01 per profile plus $0.0005 per follower (Apify).

```
{
  "handles": ["creator"],
  "getFollowers": true,
  "getFollowings": false,
  "maxItems": 500
}
```

A sample of 500 costs about $0.26. Instagram limits verified accounts to their first 50 followers, so this check is weaker for verified creators. Follower exports are covered in [how to scrape Instagram followers and following lists](/blog/instagram-scraping/scrape-followers/).

## What Does Vetting One Influencer Cost?

**A full check costs well under $1: about $0.02 for 30 posts, $0.04 for comments on 5 posts within the included 15 each, and about $0.26 for a 500-follower sample.** Vetting a shortlist of 20 creators this way costs a few dollars.

## The scrapers behind this

-   [Instagram Scraper Posts and reels from profiles, hashtags, locations and audio URLs; 100–200 posts/sec $0.50 / 1K posts](/scrapers/instagram-scraper/)
-   [Instagram Comments Scraper API Comments and replies with user data; 15 comments free per post $0.0075 / post + $0.50 / 1K](/scrapers/instagram-comments-scraper-api/)
-   [Instagram Profile Scraper Profiles, followers, following and public emails; 40 profiles free per search $0.01 / profile + $0.50 / 1K](/scrapers/instagram-user-scraper/)

## Questions people ask

### Can you tell if an influencer bought followers?

Not with certainty, but low engagement, generic comments and an empty follower sample together are strong signs.

### Should you ask for Insights screenshots?

Yes, reach and audience demographics are private, so ask the creator for recent Insights.

### Is high engagement always good?

Not if the comments are generic or repeated; check quality as well as quantity.

### Where do you start?

At [how to find Instagram influencers in your niche](/blog/instagram-influencers/find-instagram-influencers/).

## More on monitoring Instagram with data

-   [How to Monitor Instagram Hashtags and Mentions Monitor Instagram hashtags, brand keywords and tagged posts daily with Python, set useful alerts, and see what monitoring costs.](/blog/instagram-scraping/monitor-hashtags/)
-   [How to Track Competitors on Instagram Track rival Instagram accounts weekly: posting, median engagement, formats, paid partnerships and growth, with Python and costs.](/blog/instagram-scraping/track-competitors/)
-   [How to Analyse Instagram Comment Sentiment Collect Instagram comments, score sentiment with VADER, weight by likes, and find the topics behind positive and negative reactions.](/blog/instagram-scraping/comment-sentiment/)

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