socialapis — Python SDK for Facebook + Instagram public data

The modern alternative to kevinzg/facebook-scraper and arc298/instagram-scraper — real-time Facebook + Instagram data via REST, no OAuth dance, no app review, no scraper maintenance. Powered by hosted infrastructure at socialapis.io.

pip install socialapis-sdk

from socialapis import Facebook, Instagram

fb = Facebook(api_token="...")
page = fb.get_page_info("EngenSA")
print(page.name, page.likes, page.category)

ig = Instagram(api_token="...")
profile = ig.get_profile_details("instagram")
print(profile.username, profile.followers)

Get a free API token → — 200 calls/month, no credit card

One-line migration

If your code currently uses kevinzg/facebook-scraper or arc298/instagram-scraper, the migration is literally one import line:

# Before — kevinzg/facebook-scraper (abandoned since 2022)
from facebook_scraper import get_page_info, get_posts

# After — socialapis (alias preserves the name)
from socialapis import FacebookScraper
fb = FacebookScraper(api_token="...")
fb.get_page_info("EngenSA")
fb.get_page_posts("EngenSA")

# Same for Instagram
from socialapis import InstagramScraper
ig = InstagramScraper(api_token="...")

FacebookScraper and InstagramScraper are exact aliases of Facebook and Instagram — identical behavior, identical type signatures. They exist purely to keep the import line greppable during migration.

Why this exists

kevinzg/facebook-scraper has 9.5k+ GitHub stars and was the default Python library for scraping Facebook for years. It's been abandoned since 2022. arc298/instagram-scraper (8.5k stars) is in similar shape. Every Meta DOM change breaks them; fixes pile up in unmerged PRs; downloads drift to forks that fix one bug and break two.

This SDK is the drop-in successor:

The trade-off: instead of running a scraper yourself, you make a REST call to our hosted API. 200 calls/month free, no credit card. Paid plans start at $4.99/mo for 1,500 calls.

What's covered (v0.1)

Facebook (Facebook / AsyncFacebook)

Pages

• get_page_id(page) — resolve a URL/slug to numeric ID
• get_page_info(page) → PageInfo — page metadata (typed model)
• get_page_posts(page) — recent posts
• get_page_reels(page) — short-form videos
• get_page_videos(page) — long-form videos

Groups

• get_group_id(group)
• get_group_details(group) → GroupInfo (typed model)
• get_group_metadata(group) — lightweight metadata only
• get_group_posts(group)
• get_group_videos(group_id)

Posts

• get_post_id(post) — extract numeric ID from URL
• get_post_details(post) — reactions, media, author
• get_post_details_extended(post) — + views, video URLs, author verification
• get_post_comments(post) — pass include_reply_info="true" for reply cursors
• get_comment_replies(comment_feedback_id, expansion_token)
• get_post_attachments(post_id)
• get_video_post_details(video_id)

Search

• search_pages(query) — supports location_id for geo-filtering
• search_people(query)
• search_locations(query) — returns location IDs for use in other endpoints
• search_posts(query) — supports recency + location filters
• search_videos(query)

Meta Ads Library

• get_ads_countries() — supported countries
• search_ads(query) — by keyword + country + activeStatus
• get_ads_page_details(page_id)
• get_ad_archive_details(ad_archive_id, page_id)
• search_ads_by_keywords(query)

Marketplace

• search_marketplace(query) — supports lat/lng, price, condition filters
• get_listing_details(listing_id)
• get_seller_details(seller_id)
• get_marketplace_categories()
• get_city_coordinates(city) — for lat/lng filtering
• search_vehicles() — bedrooms-style filters; lat/lng required
• search_rentals()

Media

• download_media(url) — resolve to direct downloadable URL

Instagram (Instagram / AsyncInstagram)

Profiles

• get_user_id(profile) — username/URL → numeric user_id
• get_profile_details(username) → ProfileInfo (typed model)
• get_profile_posts(username)
• get_profile_reels(user_id)
• get_profile_highlights(user_id)
• get_highlight_details(highlight_id)

Posts

• get_post_id(post) — extract shortcode from any post URL
• get_post_details(shortcode)

Reels

• get_reels_feed() — trending feed
• get_reels_by_audio(audio_id) — all reels using a specific track

Search + Locations

• search(keyword) — popular results (users / hashtags / places)
• get_location_posts(location_id) — top or recent
• get_nearby_locations(location_id)

Account (Account / AsyncAccount)

Free calls — don't consume credits.

• get_usage() — credit balance, plan, billing period
• get_top_ups() — auto top-up settings + history
• get_limits() — rate limit, concurrent-task cap, allowed packages

Pagination — no limit=N, just cursors

Every endpoint that returns a list lets the API decide page size. To paginate, take the cursor from the response body and pass it back as a kwarg on the next call:

fb = Facebook(api_token="...")

# First page
result = fb.get_page_posts("EngenSA")
posts = result["posts"]
cursor = result.get("next_cursor")  # actual key varies by endpoint — check docs

# Next page
while cursor:
    result = fb.get_page_posts("EngenSA", cursor=cursor)
    posts.extend(result["posts"])
    cursor = result.get("next_cursor")

We deliberately don't impose a uniform limit=N parameter — it would drift from the API's actual semantics. The API's response always tells you whether there's more.

Forward-compat via **kwargs

Every method accepts arbitrary kwargs and forwards them as query params. If the API adds a new filter tomorrow, you can use it today — no SDK release required:

fb.search_ads("fitness", country="US", activeStatus="Active", some_new_filter="x")
# Sends: ?query=fitness&country=US&activeStatus=Active&some_new_filter=x

Error handling

import time
from socialapis import (
    Facebook,
    AuthenticationError,           # 401 — bad token
    InsufficientCreditsError,      # 402 — out of credits
    RateLimitError,                # 429 — slow down
    BadRequestError,               # 4xx — bad input
    APIServerError,                # 5xx — retry safely
    APIConnectionError,            # network — retry with backoff
)

fb = Facebook(api_token="...")
try:
    page = fb.get_page_info("EngenSA")
except RateLimitError as exc:
    time.sleep(exc.retry_after_seconds or 5)
    page = fb.get_page_info("EngenSA")
except InsufficientCreditsError:
    print("Out of credits. Upgrade at https://socialapis.io/pricing")
except AuthenticationError:
    print("Bad token. Get one at https://socialapis.io/auth/signup")

Every typed exception carries .status_code, .request_id, and .body for debugging. The request_id is the same value our backend logs — paste it into a support email and we can find the exact call.

Async

Same method surface; methods are coroutines.

import asyncio
from socialapis import AsyncFacebook

async def main():
    async with AsyncFacebook(api_token="...") as fb:
        pages = await asyncio.gather(*[
            fb.get_page_info(slug)
            for slug in ["EngenSA", "Microsoft", "GitHub"]
        ])
        for page in pages:
            print(page.name, page.followers)

asyncio.run(main())

Pricing

One credit per successful response. Failed calls (4xx caused by bad input) don't consume credits.

Other languages

• JavaScript / TypeScript — coming soon. Notify me →
• PHP — coming soon. Notify me →
• Go — coming soon. Notify me →
• Any language right now: hit the REST API directly with curl / fetch / requests. Docs at docs.socialapis.io.

Support

• Docs: docs.socialapis.io
• Issues: github.com/SocialAPIsHub/socialapis-python/issues
• Email: support@socialapis.io
• Telegram (fastest): t.me/socialapis

License

MIT — see LICENSE.