Find Instagram accounts similar to another account

To find Instagram accounts similar to one you know, call GET /v1/instagram/similar with its handle or user_id. It returns the accounts Instagram suggests as similar, each with username, display name, avatar URL, verified badge and profile URL. A plain call costs 50 credits: in our test on mrbeast it returned 80 accounts for 50 credits. Add include=profile to also get follower counts and bios, which costs more.

Make the request

The handle is the username without the @: https://www.instagram.com/mrbeast/ has the handle mrbeast. You can send the numeric user_id instead for faster responses.

curl "https://api.insightsocial.app/v1/instagram/similar?handle=mrbeast" \
  -H "x-api-key: $INSIGHTSOCIAL_API_KEY"

To get follower counts and bios in the same call, add include=profile. It fills in the top 20 accounts unless you set limit (1 to 80):

curl "https://api.insightsocial.app/v1/instagram/similar?handle=mrbeast&include=profile&limit=40" \
  -H "x-api-key: $INSIGHTSOCIAL_API_KEY"

What comes back

A real response from 2026-10-14 for a plain call, shortened: one account instead of 80, long URLs cut.

{
  "success": true,
  "endpoint": "/v1/instagram/similar",
  "schema_version": "2",
  "data": {
    "items": [
      {
        "author": {
          "id": "1541770582",
          "username": "ishowspeed",
          "display_name": "IShowSpeed",
          "avatar_url": "https://instagram.fkiv3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t51.2885-19/…",
          "bio": null,
          "verified": true,
          "followers": null,
          "following": null,
          "posts_count": null,
          "private": null,
          "url": "https://www.instagram.com/ishowspeed/"
        }
      }
    ],
    "total": null,
    "truncated": null
  },
  "pagination": { "next_cursor": null, "has_more": false, "page_size": 80 },
  "unavailable": [
    "items[].author.followers",
    "items[].author.following",
    "items[].author.posts_count",
    "items[].author.private"
  ],
  "credits_used": 50
}

What are the limits?

• One fixed list. The endpoint returns a single list and cannot be paged. Our test returned 80 accounts. limit keeps the top N in Instagram's order.
• Mixed kinds of accounts. The list is Instagram's suggestion, not a peer list. For mrbeast it mixed creators (ishowspeed, airrack), brands (feastables, crocs) and fan accounts. 63 of the 80 were verified.
• No counts without include=profile. Followers, following, post counts and bios are null on a plain call. With include=profile, posts_count is filled only where the lookup has an exact total.
• Cost grows with profile details. Each account include=profile fills in can add up to 10 credits. Quote with dry_run=1 first.

What can I build with it?

• Lookalike creator discovery. Start from a creator who worked well for you and get the accounts Instagram places next to them.
• Competitor maps. Run it on your own brand and on competitors to see which accounts Instagram groups together.
• Seed expansion. Run it again on the best results to widen a list, filtering by follower count with include=profile. Each call is charged.

Related

• GET /v1/instagram/similar reference: every parameter and field.
• GET /v1/tiktok/similar: the same question on TikTok.
• GET /v1/instagram/profile: the full profile of one account.
• Instagram endpoints: everything the API covers on Instagram.