Instagram has no "export followers" button. The official route — Accounts Center → Download your information — takes 15 to 20 minutes to arrive, hands you a ZIP of JSON, and covers only your own account. If you need somebody else's public follower list, or you need it as a spreadsheet in the next two minutes, that route does not reach.
Gramlens is a Chrome extension that does the reading in the tab you already have open. You stay logged in as yourself, the extension walks the list the same way scrolling it would, and writes the result to a file on your machine.
What ends up in the file
Every export carries five columns for each account:
| Column | Example |
|---|---|
| User ID | 1783442901 |
| Username | natgeo |
| Full Name | National Geographic |
| Profile URL | https://www.instagram.com/natgeo/ |
| Verified | Yes |
Turn on Detailed Mode and each row is enriched with everything the profile makes public: bio, follower count, following count, post count, public email, public phone, website, business flag, private flag, category and city. That is one extra request per profile, so it is slower — but it is the difference between a list of handles and a list you can actually contact.
Files come out as username_followers_4820_2026_09_02.csv. Cells that start with =, +, - or @ are prefixed with an apostrophe, so a bio containing a formula cannot execute when the file opens in Excel.
Three formats, and when each one matters
CSV is the safe default — every CRM, spreadsheet and script reads it.
Excel (XLSX) keeps column types intact, so a user ID stays a string instead of being mangled into scientific notation. Pick it when someone else will open the file by double-clicking.
JSON keeps the structure the flat formats drop — the full bio_links array, the profile picture URL, the street address. Pick it when the file feeds a script rather than a person.
Above 50,000 records the export streams straight to disk, which means CSV and JSON only; XLSX and the column picker work below that line.
How the export runs
- Open the profile on instagram.com. Smart Detect reads the page and preselects the right export type.
- Choose followers or following, and switch on Detailed Mode if you need contacts.
- Start it. The extension requests one page of 50 accounts at a time, with a gap you control — 1 to 60 seconds, 5 by default, jittered by ±30% so the rhythm is not machine-perfect.
- Pick your columns, pick your format, download.
The work happens in the side panel, not a popup, so it survives clicking elsewhere. Long jobs checkpoint as they go: if you close the panel or Chrome throttles the tab, the run resumes from the last committed page instead of starting over.
What it does not do
Worth stating plainly, because most pages in this category will not:
- Private accounts you do not follow are unreadable. No tool can read them. Anything advertising otherwise is either lying or asking for your password.
- It cannot run without you. The extension works through your own logged-in session in an open tab. There is no server-side queue that keeps parsing after you close the laptop.
- It does not hide you. Nothing here is anonymous browsing — you are making the same requests your browser already makes.
- Instagram's own ceilings still apply. Very large accounts take a long time, and the platform can slow you down regardless of how patient your settings are.
Free and paid limits
The Free plan exports 500 records per parse — per run, not per day, and there is no cap on how many runs you do. Detailed Mode enriches 500 records on the same terms. That is enough to test the whole thing on a real account before paying anything.
Plus and Pro remove both ceilings. Media download is free on every plan; the automation features (bulk unfollow, remove followers, commenting) are Pro.
FAQ
Do you need my Instagram password?
No, and you should not give it to anything that asks. Gramlens runs inside your browser and uses the session you are already signed into. There is no login form, no password field, and nothing to store.
Will my account get banned?
Exporting reads data; it does not act on your behalf. The risk comes from speed, which is why the delay slider exists and why the gap is randomized rather than fixed. Leave it at the default and an export looks like a person scrolling. Set it to one second on a 200,000-follower account and you are asking Instagram to notice.
Can I export someone else's followers?
Any public account, yes — the list is public, the export just reads it faster than scrolling does. Private accounts work only if you already follow them, because that is the only case where Instagram sends your browser the list at all.
Where do the exported files go?
Your normal Downloads folder, straight from the browser. Nothing is uploaded, nothing passes through a server of ours, and no copy is kept anywhere but your machine.
How many followers can it handle?
Lists in the hundreds of thousands are the point of the pagination guards, the checkpointing and the streaming export. Past 50,000 records a disclaimer appears, because at that size completeness depends on how the platform behaves during a run that may take hours.
Does it work on Reels, posts and comments too?
Yes — commenters and likers of a post are separate export types with their own columns. Followers and following are the two most asked for, which is why this page is about them.
Is there a free version?
Yes, permanently — 500 records per parse, unlimited parses, no card. The paid plans lift the ceiling; they do not unlock the basic act of exporting.