How to export Instagram comments to a spreadsheet

The comments under a post say what people liked, what confused them and what they want next. That makes them useful research, whether you’re studying a creator you admire, a competitor, or your own account. Instagram shows comments one post at a time and has no export button, so getting them into a spreadsheet takes a little work. This guide covers every way, from free and manual to one click.

Does Instagram let you export comments?

Only your own, and only in a limited way. Instagram’s data download includes the comments you wrote, and Meta’s API lets a professional account read the comments on its own posts. There’s no export for the comments on anyone else’s post.

How do I copy comments from one post by hand?

For a handful of comments on one post, copying is the quickest way and needs nothing installed.

Open the post on instagram.com in a computer browser. The website is easier to copy from than the app.
Scroll the comments and keep loading more, and open the replies under any comment that has them, until everything has loaded.
Select the comments with your mouse and copy them (Ctrl+C, or Cmd+C on a Mac).
Paste into a document or spreadsheet, then tidy it: usernames, times and “Reply” links come along with the text.

It works, but it’s slow past a hundred or so comments, and the result needs cleaning before you can sort or count anything.

How do I download my own Instagram comments?

Request a copy of your information from Accounts Center. It’s free, and it includes every comment you’ve written.

In the Instagram app, go to your profile and tap the menu (three lines) in the top right.
Tap Accounts Center, then Your information and permissions.
Tap Download your information, pick your Instagram account, and choose either all your information or just some types.
Choose HTML to read it or JSON to use it in other software, then request the download. You’ll need your password.
Instagram emails you when the file is ready. Download the zip file and open the comments folder.

Instagram’s own steps are on its help page, Download a copy of your information. The menu names change from time to time; these were checked in October 2026.

This gives you what you said on other people’s posts. It doesn’t give you what people said on yours.

How do I export the comments on my own posts with the API?

If you run a professional (business or creator) account, Meta’s Instagram API can read the comments on your account’s own posts. This is the way tools for brands and agencies work.

Create an app in Meta for Developers and connect your Instagram professional account.
Give the app permission to read comments (instagram_business_manage_comments, or instagram_manage_comments if you sign in through Facebook).
For each post, call its comments endpoint. It returns at most 50 comments per request, newest first, so you page through to get the rest. Replies come separately.
Save the results to a CSV.

The catch: the API only reads comments on posts your own account made. It won’t read a creator’s or a competitor’s comments. Meta’s comment moderation guide also suggests webhooks over repeated requests, to stay under its rate limits.

What about comment-export tools?

There are browser extensions and websites that export comments to CSV or Excel. They come in two kinds:

Tools that use Meta’s API. They ask you to connect your professional account, and like the API, they only reach your own posts.
Tools that read the page. They work on any public post, by loading the comments as you would and saving them. Instagram’s terms say you mustn’t collect information in an automated way without its permission, and it restricts accounts it thinks are doing it. Use them with care, and on an account you’d be sorry to lose, not at all.

Before installing any extension, check what sites it asks to read and who makes it.

Which way should I use?

Way	Free	Whose posts	Many posts at once	What you get	Effort
Copy by hand	Yes	Any public post	No	Messy text	High: load, select, tidy
Download your information	Yes	Comments you wrote	Yes, all of them	HTML or JSON file	A few taps, then wait
Instagram API	Yes	Your own account’s posts	Yes	Clean data, if you can code	Setting up an app
Parsly	Yes	Any public post or profile	Yes, a creator’s posts	A spreadsheet of comments beside each post’s numbers	One click

What you can’t do

Export someone else’s comments with Instagram’s own tools. Neither the data download nor the API does it.
See private accounts’ comments, or comments on posts you can’t see yourself. No honest tool can.
Get deleted or hidden comments. If Instagram doesn’t show a comment, there’s nothing to export.
Republish the comments. They’re other people’s words. Use them to understand an audience; don’t publish names, profile pictures or anything personal from them.

How do I export a whole creator’s comments with Parsly?

Parsly is a free Chrome extension that reads what Instagram shows you and turns it into a spreadsheet, without copying and tidying.

One post:

Open the post on instagram.com, and open Parsly from Chrome’s toolbar. The first time, allow it on Instagram.
Click Collect. Parsly loads the comments as you’d scroll through them, with their replies, likes and dates.
Copy them, or download a CSV.

A creator’s posts:

Open the creator’s profile and click Collect in Parsly. It scrolls the profile like a person would and reads each post with its views, likes, comments and date.
Turn on Comments in Parsly’s options, and it reads the comments on each post as well.
Parsly marks the breakouts, the posts that beat that creator’s usual numbers, so you can read what people said about the posts that took off, against the ones that didn’t.
Download a spreadsheet of every post with its comments.

Parsly only reads public posts you can see yourself, and only once you’ve allowed it on Instagram. It’s a research tool, so the same rule applies as above: read what people asked and reacted to, and keep their personal details to yourself.

What should I look for in the comments?

Once they’re in a spreadsheet, sort and search rather than read top to bottom:

Questions. Filter for “?” and “how”. Repeated questions are ideas for the next post.
What people quote back. The line or moment they mention is usually what made the post work.
Complaints and objections. What put people off, or what they wanted and didn’t get.
Breakouts against the rest. Compare comments on a creator’s best posts with their ordinary ones.

You can also paste the spreadsheet into Claude or ChatGPT and ask it to group the comments by theme.

Questions people ask

Can I export comments from someone else's Instagram post?

Not with anything Instagram gives you. Its data download only holds your own activity, and its API only reads comments on posts your own account made. For other people's posts you need to copy them or use a tool that reads the page.

Where are my own comments in my Instagram data download?

Request your information from Accounts Center in HTML or JSON. The download is a zip file, and your comments are in a comments folder inside it. It's the comments you wrote, not the ones other people left on your posts.

Is it allowed to export Instagram comments?

Instagram's terms don't allow collecting information in an automated way without its permission, and it says it restricts accounts that do. Comments are also other people's words. Use them for your own research, and don't republish names or anything personal.

Do I need a business account to export comments?

For the API, yes: it works with Instagram professional accounts (business or creator), and only on that account's own posts. Many comment-export tools use the API too, which is why they ask you to connect a professional account.

Can I export Instagram comments to Excel?

Yes. Any of these ways can end in a CSV file, which opens in Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers. Parsly downloads a CSV directly.

Sources

Checked against the real sites on 22 October 2026. Platforms change their buttons often; if something has moved, tell us at [email protected].