How the official X API is priced
You pay per resource read and per request written. The rates that matter most (fromdocs.x.com, read 2026-09-27):
| Operation | Price |
|---|---|
| Read a post | $0.005 |
| Read a user profile | $0.010 |
| Read a follower / following | $0.010 |
| Read a like, mute or block | $0.001 |
| Read your own data (“owned reads”) | $0.001 |
| Create a post | $0.015 |
| Create a post containing a URL | $0.200 |
| Like, follow or other user interaction | $0.015 |
Pay-per-use plans are also capped at 3 million post reads per monthly billing cycle, and you need an approved developer account before your first call.
What real jobs cost
Same jobs, priced on the official API and on RelayX (read-only; 100,000 credits = $1):
| Job | Official X API | RelayX |
|---|---|---|
| Pull 100,000 tweets (search or timelines) | 100,000 × $0.005 = $500 | 100,000 × 13 credits = $13 |
| Look up 10,000 user profiles | 10,000 × $0.010 = $100 | 10,000 × 15 credits = $1.50 |
| Export a 50,000-follower list (full profiles) | 50,000 × $0.010 = $500 | 1–3 credits each = $0.50–$1.50 |
| Monitor 20 accounts, ~30 posts/day each, for a month (18,000 posts) | 18,000 × $0.005 = $90 | 18,000 × 13 credits = $2.34 |
| Publish 1,000 posts, each with a link | 1,000 × $0.200 = $200 | Not offered (read-only) |
For reads, that works out to roughly 38× cheaper per tweet and 67× cheaper per profile. For writing — posting, liking, following — you still need the official API.
Ways to keep the bill down
- Only fetch what you use. Narrow searches with operators (
from:,since:,min_faves:,-filter:replies) — see thesearch syntax cheatsheet. - Page lazily. Stop following
next_cursoronce you have enough —pagination guide. - Use IDs when you only need IDs. Follower IDs are far cheaper than full follower profiles.
- Cache profiles. Profiles change slowly; re-reading the same user every run is the most common waste.
Which should you use?
If you need to write — post, reply, like, follow — use the official X API. If you mainlyread public data — search, timelines, profiles, followers — a read API like RelayX costs a small fraction, has no monthly read cap and needs no developer-account approval. Full rates:X/Twitter API pricing. Also comparing providers?RelayX vs twitterapi.io.
FAQ
How much does the X API cost in 2026?
The official X API is pay-per-use: reading a post costs $0.005, reading a user profile or a follower costs $0.010, and creating a post costs $0.015 ($0.200 if it contains a link), per docs.x.com. Post reads are capped at 3 million per monthly billing cycle.
Is the X API free?
X’s pay-per-use pricing page lists no free read allowance — every resource is billed. Third-party APIs such as RelayX offer free trial credits instead.
How much does it cost to get 100,000 tweets?
About $500 through the official X API ($0.005 each) and about $13 through RelayX (13 credits each, 100,000 credits = $1).
Why is posting a link so expensive on the official API?
X prices “Post: Create (with URL)” at $0.200 per request versus $0.015 for a plain post — about 13× more. If you post links at volume, budget for it.