Let's get the privacy thing out of the way first, because it's the question on everyone's mind: this tool does not bypass anything on Instagram. It cannot follow private accounts on your behalf, it cannot peek at people who rejected your request, and it cannot see Close Friends content unless you're already on that list. What it does do is export the comments from posts your own logged-in browser session can already see — your private account, accounts that accepted you, the closed communities you're a member of. The auth token stays in your browser the entire time. Here's how the Instagram Private Posts exporter works and where it actually fits.

What "private" means here

The word "private" gets thrown around loosely, so it's worth being specific about what is and isn't on the table.

What you can export:

  • Posts on your own private Instagram account.
  • Posts from private accounts that accepted your follow request.
  • Close Friends posts on accounts where you're on the Close Friends list.
  • Posts inside private brand or community accounts you've been added to as a member.

What you cannot export:

  • Posts from private accounts that did not accept (or denied) your follow request.
  • Close Friends content where you aren't on the list.
  • Anything that's been deleted before you ran the export.
  • DMs or Stories — this exporter is scoped to feed posts and Reels comments.

The rule is simple: if you can scroll to the post in your own browser tab while logged into your own account, the extension can capture the comments on it. If you can't see it manually, neither can the tool.

Why a browser extension

Instagram closed off third-party API access to private content years ago, and the official Graph API only exposes content tied to verified Business or Creator accounts that you own and have authorized. There is no API endpoint for reading comments on a friend's private post or a closed community account, and there hasn't been for a long time.

The browser extension sidesteps the API problem by working a different way. It runs inside your own logged-in Instagram session, reads the same data the page already loaded, and ships the structured rows to a CSV, Excel, or JSON file. Your session token doesn't leave the browser. Nothing connects to ExportComments servers with your credentials. The extension is doing what your eyes are doing — just faster and into a spreadsheet.

How to install the extension

Step 1: Install from the Chrome Web Store

Open the ExportComments browser extension page and add it to Chrome (it also works in Edge, Brave, and other Chromium-based browsers). The extension requests access to instagram.com only — that's the page it needs to read.

Step 2: Log into Instagram normally

Open instagram.com in the same browser and log into the account that has access to the post you want to export. If the post is on a private account, log in as the user who follows that account. If it's a Close Friends post, log in as someone on the list. The extension reads from the active session — there's no separate login.

Step 3: Open the post

Navigate to the post you want to export. It can be on your feed, on a profile you're following, or inside a private community account you've been added to. Make sure the comments section is visible — that's the trigger the extension watches for.

Step 4: Click the extension icon and pick a format

Click the ExportComments icon in your browser toolbar. Pick Excel for sortable spreadsheets, CSV for scripts and downstream tools, or JSON if you're piping into a data pipeline. The extension scrolls the comments tray, loads every reply (including the "View N more comments" expansions), and assembles the file locally in your browser.

Step 5: Save and review

The file downloads to your default downloads folder. Open it in Excel, Numbers, Google Sheets, or your notebook. Each row is one comment from the post you were viewing. Repeat for as many posts as you need — there's no per-day cap on extension exports beyond the comment counts in your plan.

What you get in the export

Every row is a single comment. The columns are kept deliberately tight to match what the Instagram interface actually exposes:

  • Author handle — the commenter's @username at the moment of export.
  • Comment text — full text of the comment, including emoji.
  • Like flag — whether the comment received any likes (Instagram's 2024 change capping displayed like counts at 100 applies to public posts and doesn't restrict what you see on private posts you have access to, so the flag stays accurate for the audiences this tool is built for).
  • Timestamp — when the comment was posted, in UTC.

That's it. No invented columns, no scraped "engagement scores," no fake follower counts the page never sent. Just the rows your own browser already had loaded.

Common workflows

  • Own-account backup — periodic archive of the comments on your own private profile, in case you ever lose access, get hacked, or decide to delete the account.
  • Close Friends giveaway picker — export the comments on a Close Friends post, then pick a winner with a random-row formula or feed the file into the giveaway picker.
  • Private community moderation — pull the comment thread on a closed-membership account post to review, audit, or escalate problem behavior with timestamps intact.
  • Brand audit on co-managed accounts — when several people share access to a private brand account, a periodic export gives every stakeholder the same view of what's actually being said in the comments.
  • Migration to a new IG handle — before deleting an old private account or rebranding, archive the comments on your most engaged posts so the conversations and the people who showed up for them aren't lost.

Privacy and safety

The two questions we get most often are worth answering directly.

Will I get banned? The extension reads the page the same way your browser already does — it doesn't make extra API calls, doesn't impersonate a different client, and doesn't hammer Instagram with requests. The behavior looks like a slightly fast scroll. It's the same pattern Instagram already sees from anyone scrolling a busy comment thread. We've seen no enforcement actions tied to extension use across years of operation. That said, Instagram changes its rules occasionally — if you're operating a high-value account, you can run exports during off-hours and stick to one post at a time.

Does ExportComments see my data? No. The extension runs entirely in your browser. Your Instagram session token never leaves the browser process. The exported file is generated locally and saved to your machine — it doesn't pass through ExportComments servers. If you want to verify, the extension package is unpacked code; you can inspect what it does before installing.

Plan limits and API access

Free returns up to 100 comments per export — enough to validate that you've targeted the right post and the columns are what you need. Personal scales to 5,000 comments per export, Premium to 50,000, and Business to 250,000, which covers even the most engaged private posts in one run. Bulk URL upload is also supported on the website-side exporters: paste several URLs and you'll get one file per URL bundled in a single ZIP. The same job is available through the REST API with webhook delivery for public posts; private content stays browser-extension only by design. See the pricing page for the full grid.

FAQ

  • Can the extension follow private accounts for me?
    No. It only reads what your already-logged-in session can see. If you don't follow the account, or if your follow request was denied, the post is invisible to your browser and to the extension.
  • Will it work on Reels and carousel posts?
    Yes. The extension reads the comments tray regardless of post type — Reels, carousels, and single-image posts all behave the same way for comment export.
  • Does it capture replies to comments?
    Yes. The extension expands the "View replies" threads as it scrolls, so nested replies land in the file with the parent comment context intact.
  • What about the 100-like cap Instagram rolled out in 2024?
    That cap applies to displayed like counts on public posts. The like flag in your private-post export tells you whether comments received likes — which is what most workflows actually need — and is unaffected by the public display change.
  • Can I export posts from a Business account I manage?
    Yes, and you have two options. The extension works for any post you can see in your logged-in browser, including the Business accounts you manage. For programmatic access, the official Graph API supports comments on your own Business and Creator content via the public REST API.
  • Does the export include shadow-banned or hidden comments?
    The extension captures whatever your browser session loads. If Instagram has hidden a comment from your view (filtered as spam, hidden by the post owner, or removed by Instagram), it won't appear — same as if you scrolled the thread manually.