Instagram Follower Analyzer

A tiny script that finds who you follow on Instagram that doesn't follow back.

Instagram lets you export your account data as JSON. This is a small Python utility that reads the followers and following files from that export, treats each as a set, and subtracts one from the other to surface the non-reciprocal connections. No API, no scraping, no login — it works entirely from the official data export, so there's zero risk to the account.

How it works

Each export file nests usernames under a string_list_data array. The script pulls those into two sets and takes the difference:

import json

def usernames(path):
    """Pull the username set out of an Instagram JSON export file."""
    with open(path) as f:
        data = json.load(f)
    entries = data if isinstance(data, list) else data["relationships_following"]
    return {e["string_list_data"][0]["value"] for e in entries}

followers = usernames("followers.json")
following = usernames("following.json")

# who you follow that doesn't follow you back
not_following_back = sorted(following - followers)

The whole tool is one set difference — following − followers.

Tech stack

Python — standard library only (json)
Instagram's official JSON data export as the input

Status

Archived — a small, finished utility.