X API Pricing — Pay-Per-Call, Cheaper Than the Official Twitter API
TwitterAPI.io is a third-party X (Twitter) API priced per real API call, with no subscription required and no project approval. Bulk endpoints are tiered to reward larger pages — pulling 5,000 follower IDs costs about $0.0225, and tweet search via the advanced-search endpoint runs roughly $0.15 per 1,000 tweets returned.
The official X Developer Platform charges $200–$42,000+/month per tier — but each tier caps at 2 million Post reads per month, with overage billed at $0.005 per Post read, $0.010 per User or DM read, $0.001 per Owned Read, and $0.200 per Post-with-URL read on top of the monthly fee. At 5 million reads/month, X overage alone runs around $15,000 on Basic; the same workload on TwitterAPI.io is roughly $750. Each tier also requires application review. For most builders at production scale, third-party access is one to two orders of magnitude cheaper.
How TwitterAPI.io compares to the official X Developer Platform
| Provider / tier | Floor cost | Setup | Bulk follower fetch | Monthly cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TwitterAPI.iothis site | Free credits on signup | 5 minutes, Google sign-in | 5,000 follower IDs ≈ $0.0225 | No monthly cap — pay only for what you call |
| X Developer Platform — Free | $0/month | Application review | Bulk endpoints not exposed | Hard cap at tier limit; no overage available |
| X Developer Platform — Basic | $200/month | Application review | Tweet search OK; bulk follower endpoints capped | Overage applies above 2M Post reads |
| X Developer Platform — Pro | $5,000/month | Application review | Full search + most bulk endpoints; subject to RL | Overage applies above 2M Post reads |
| X Developer Platform — Enterprise | $42,000+/month | Sales contract | Custom | Custom contract terms |
Official X Developer Platform pricing reflects the February 2026 hybrid model as published by X Corp on docs.x.com; verify the current per-resource rates and 2M Post-reads cap in the Developer Console before purchasing. TwitterAPI.io is not affiliated with X Corp.
What the same workload actually costs each month
Headline subscription fees stop telling the truth the moment a project crosses the 2 million Post-reads/month cap that every X tier shares. From that point the per-resource overage dominates the bill. The table compares the four most common production volumes at the published rates above (X tier overage = $0.005 per Post read on top of the monthly fee, our column = our pay-per-call rate of about $0.15 per 1,000 tweets returned, also published).
| Workload (Post reads / month) | TwitterAPI.io | X Basic — $200/mo + overage | X Pro — $5,000/mo + overage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50,000 | ~$7.50 | $200 (under cap) | $5,000 (under cap) |
| 500,000 | ~$75 | $200 (under cap) | $5,000 (under cap) |
| 5,000,000 | ~$750 | $200 + (3M × $0.005) = $15,200 | $5,000 + (3M × $0.005) = $20,000 |
| 10,000,000 | ~$1,500 | $200 + (8M × $0.005) = $40,200 | $5,000 + (8M × $0.005) = $45,000 |
At 5 million reads per month, TwitterAPI.io is roughly 20× cheaper than X Basic and 27× cheaper than X Pro on raw Post reads alone. The gap widens with scale because every X tier shares the same 2M Post-reads cap; only the monthly floor differs. Workloads that include User reads ($0.010/each) or URL-bearing Post reads ($0.200/each — yes, 40× a plain Post) widen it further.
How the pricing model works
Every endpoint is metered in credits, and credits are USD-denominated at a fixed ratio of 100,000 credits = $1. There are no minimum monthly commitments and no per-seat fees. Two practical numbers anchor the rest of the system:
Tweet search
~$0.15
per 1,000 tweets returned from /twitter/tweet/advanced_search
Bulk follower IDs
~$0.0225
per 5,000 follower IDs from /twitter/user/followers_ids at the max page size
For endpoints that aren't listed above, the live per-endpoint rate sheet is on docs.twitterapi.io. Rates are stable — when we change them, existing accounts are notified before the change takes effect.
Two ways to fund your credit balance
- Manual top-up (default). Buy any USD amount of credits whenever you want. They never expire. Best for unpredictable workloads.
- Auto-recharge subscription — $99/month. An optional monthly credit grant that handles billing in the background. The per-call rate is identical; the only difference is who initiates the top-up.
Cost calculator
Three of the most common workloads, priced for your scale. Sliders use real per-call rates.
Tweet search
Followers (with profile)
Follower IDs only
100,000 credits = $1. Live per-endpoint rates at docs.twitterapi.io.
What to watch out for when comparing
- Sticker prices on the official X Developer Platform are floors, not ceilings. Many real workloads exceed the tier's included quota and pay overage. Compare on workload-adjusted cost, not on the headline monthly fee.
- Every X tier — paid included — caps at 2 million Post reads/month. Free still bites at the ~1,500-posts ceiling, and Basic / Pro / Enterprise all share the 2M cap above which per-resource overage kicks in ($0.005 per Post read, $0.010 per User read, $0.200 per Post-with-URL). The most common migration pattern we see is "hit a tier ceiling unexpectedly; got billed for overage; switched to pay-per-call where the unit price is published up front."
- Approval queues are not pricing, but they are a cost. If your launch deadline is real, three weeks waiting on a developer review can be more expensive than any monthly fee. Third-party access does not have this queue.
- Tiered bulk endpoints reward the maximum page size. Always request 200 per call on /followers and 5,000 on /followers_ids — the per-unit cost drops 2–3× compared to smaller pages.
FAQ
How much does the official X / Twitter API cost?+
X Developer Platform moved to a hybrid pricing model in February 2026. The subscription tiers still exist — Free, Basic ($200/mo), Pro ($5,000/mo), and Enterprise ($42,000+/mo) — but each carries a 2,000,000 Post-reads/month cap as the binding constraint, with usage-based overage billed in USD on top of the monthly fee: roughly $0.005 per Post read, $0.010 per User or DM read, $0.001 per Owned Read, and $0.200 per Post-with-URL read. Project approval is still required for paid tiers and the approval window can stretch from days to weeks. Always re-confirm current rates against the X Developer Console before purchase.
What does TwitterAPI.io cost?+
Per-call credits, USD-denominated (100,000 credits = $1). Bulk endpoints are tiered to reward larger pages: pulling followers via /twitter/user/followers costs 1 credit per follower at the maximum page size of 200, and the IDs-only endpoint /twitter/user/followers_ids costs 0.45 credits per ID at pages of 4,000–5,000 — about $0.0225 for 5,000 follower IDs. Tweet search via /twitter/tweet/advanced_search is metered the same way. Full live rates at docs.twitterapi.io.
Is there a free tier?+
Yes. Signing in with Google grants free starter credits — enough to evaluate every endpoint end-to-end without entering payment details. There is no monthly free quota that resets; the starter credits are a one-time grant intended for evaluation.
Do I have to commit to a monthly subscription?+
No. The default mode is pay-as-you-go on the credits balance you top up manually. There is an optional $99/month auto-recharge subscription if you prefer hands-off billing — it credits your account on a schedule rather than waiting for you to top up. The pay-per-call rate is identical either way.
How do I migrate from the official Twitter API?+
Two changes: swap the base URL from api.twitter.com to api.twitterapi.io, and replace the OAuth bearer token with an X-API-Key header carrying your TwitterAPI.io key. Most users complete the migration of an existing script in under thirty minutes. The advanced-search operator vocabulary is the same vocabulary that powers twitter.com's search box, so existing queries port over verbatim.
Start with free credits, scale as you go
No approval queue, no monthly commitment. Pay only for the calls you actually make.