# X API Pricing: What It Costs to Post to X

X API pricing is pay-per-use: $0.015 per post, $0.20 per post with a link, $0.005 per post read. What that costs at SaaS and AI-agent scale.

Canonical page: https://www.tryadeli.com/blog/x-api-pricing
Last updated: 2026-09-29

By Mika Reyes, Co-founder, Adeli. Published 2026-09-29.

## The short answer

The X API (formerly the Twitter API) is pay-per-use. X charges $0.015 to create a post, $0.20 if the post contains a link, and $0.005 per post you read. The free tier is gone for new developers, and Basic and Pro are moving to pay-per-use. Those fees apply whether you call X directly or use Adeli, which passes them through at X's rates and handles the X developer app, review, and token refresh.

The X API costs **$0.015 per post you create, $0.20 per post that contains a link, and $0.005 per post you read**. X moved every new developer onto this pay-per-use model on February 6, 2026. There's no monthly subscription and no minimum spend: you buy credits in the X Developer Console and X deducts them per request. The numbers in this post come from X's [pricing docs](https://docs.x.com/x-api/getting-started/pricing) and [changelog](https://docs.x.com/changelog), checked on September 29, 2026. X has changed its pricing several times since 2023, so check those pages before you budget.

## How much does the X API cost?

**Writes are charged per request and reads per resource returned.** Here are the rates that matter if you're building social posting:

| Action | X API price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| **Create a post** | $0.015 per request | `POST /2/tweets`, text or media, no link |
| **Create a post with a link** | $0.20 per request | Any post containing a URL, about 13× a plain post |
| **Create a summoned reply** | $0.010 per request | A reply to a post whose author @mentioned or quoted your account |
| **Delete a post** | $0.010 per request | Billed as "Interaction: Delete" |
| **Read a post** | $0.005 per post returned | Includes reading back a post's metrics |
| **Read a user** | $0.010 per user returned | Profile lookups |
| **Read your own data ("Owned Reads")** | $0.001 per resource | Only when the authenticated user owns the developer app |
| **Post read cap** | 3 million per billing cycle | Above that, X points you to Enterprise |

Source: [X API pricing](https://docs.x.com/x-api/getting-started/pricing) and the [April 16, 2026 changelog entry](https://docs.x.com/changelog), both fetched 2026-09-29.

Four billing rules change the math:

- **The link price is recent.** X raised posts containing a URL from $0.01 to **$0.20, effective April 20, 2026**. The same change set plain posts at $0.015 and removed following, likes, and quote-posts from all self-serve plans.
- **Owned Reads rarely help a SaaS product.** The $0.001 rate only applies when `{id}` matches the authenticated user *and* that user owns the developer app. When your customers connect their accounts to your app, reading their posts costs the full $0.005.
- **Reads are deduplicated per day.** Fetch the same post twice in one UTC day and X usually charges once.
- **Credits can run out mid-day.** If your balance hits zero or goes slightly negative, X blocks requests until you add credits. Auto-recharge helps, but it won't run while the balance is at or below zero.

These per-post fees apply whether you call the X API yourself or go through [Adeli's X API](https://www.tryadeli.com/product/x), which passes them through at X's rates. Adeli handles the X developer app, X's review, and token refresh for you.

## Is the X API free?

**No.** X ended free access for new developers when it launched pay-per-use on February 6, 2026. Two groups still get something for free:

- **Public Utility Apps**, which X says "continue to receive free scaled access."
- **Recently active Legacy Free users**, who moved to pay-per-use with a **one-time $10 voucher**.

Everyone else pays from the first request. X does let you set a spending cap, and since there's no minimum spend, a prototype that posts a few times a day costs cents.

**If a guide describes a free tier with a monthly post allowance, it's out of date.** That tier closed to new sign-ups with the [Feb 6, 2026 changelog entry](https://docs.x.com/changelog).

## What happened to the Basic, Pro, and Enterprise tiers?

**X is folding Basic and Pro into pay-per-use.** Enterprise is still a separate, sales-led plan. X's current pricing page lists only pay-per-use rates and an Enterprise interest form.

| Tier | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|
| **Free** | Replaced by pay-per-use on Feb 6, 2026. Public Utility Apps keep free access. | [X changelog](https://docs.x.com/changelog) |
| **Basic** (was $200/month) | X deprecated Basic and began migrating subscribers to pay-per-use after June 1, 2026 | [X Developers on X](https://x.com/XDevelopers/status/2057572111020134462) |
| **Pro** (was $5,000/month) | X announced on Aug 14, 2026 that Pro subscriptions end at each account's cutover date after Sept 1, 2026, and move to pay-per-use | [X Developers forum](https://devcommunity.x.com/t/important-update-legacy-x-api-pro-plans-are-moving-to-pay-per-use-ppu/273255) |
| **Enterprise** | Custom pricing, custom rate limits, no published price | [X API pricing](https://docs.x.com/x-api/getting-started/pricing) |
| **Pay-per-use** | The default self-serve plan | [X API pricing](https://docs.x.com/x-api/getting-started/pricing) |

**Enterprise has no public price.** The monthly figures quoted around the web come from reports on older contracts, not from X. You'll get a number only after talking to X's sales team.

## What does it cost to post to X at your scale?

**Plain posts are cheap on the X API. Links are where the bill grows.** This table counts post-creation charges only, over a 30-day month:

| Scenario | Posts per month | All plain posts | Half with links | All with links |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Founder posting for one brand** (1 account, 2 posts a day) | 60 | $0.90 | $6.45 | $12 |
| **Scheduling SaaS** (50 customer accounts, 3 posts a day each) | 4,500 | $67.50 | $483.75 | $900 |
| **AI agent product** (500 accounts, 5 posts a day each) | 75,000 | $1,125 | $8,062.50 | $15,000 |

Calculated from X's rates of $0.015 per plain post and $0.20 per post with a link ([X API pricing](https://docs.x.com/x-api/getting-started/pricing), fetched 2026-09-29).

The table leaves out:

- **Analytics reads.** Reading back a post's metrics once a day for its first 7 days costs 7 × $0.005 per post. For the scheduling SaaS, that adds **about $157.50 a month**. For the agent product, it adds **about $2,625**.
- **Engineering time.** Registering an X developer app, building OAuth, refreshing tokens, and keeping a credit balance topped up are all work your team owns.
- **The Enterprise question.** X's terms may push the larger scenarios off self-serve entirely. See the next two sections.

## What are the X API rate limits?

**Posting is capped at 10,000 posts per 24 hours per app and 100 posts per 15 minutes per user.** Rate limits and billing are separate systems: you can stay within the limits and still run up a bill, or hit a limit without spending anything.

| Endpoint | Per app | Per user | What it's for |
|---|---|---|---|
| `POST /2/tweets` | 10,000 / 24 hours | 100 / 15 min | Create a post |
| `DELETE /2/tweets/:id` | — | 50 / 15 min | Delete a post |
| `POST /2/media/upload` | 50,000 / 24 hours | 500 / 15 min | Upload images and video |
| `GET /2/tweets` | 3,500 / 15 min | 5,000 / 15 min | Look up posts by ID |
| `GET /2/users/:id/tweets` | 10,000 / 15 min | 900 / 15 min | A user's timeline |
| `GET /2/tweets/search/recent` | 450 / 15 min | 300 / 15 min | Search the last 7 days |

Source: [X API rate limits](https://docs.x.com/x-api/fundamentals/rate-limits), fetched 2026-09-29. Enterprise customers get custom limits.

**The per-app cap is the one SaaS builders hit.** Every customer who connects an X account to your app shares the same 10,000 posts a day. The agent product above, at 2,500 posts a day, fits. A product with 3,000 accounts posting 5 times a day would need 15,000 and wouldn't.

## What's the catch for SaaS and AI-agent builders?

**Three X rules can cost a growing product more than the per-post price:**

- **Self-serve is meant for limited end users.** X's [Developer Agreement](https://docs.x.com/developer-terms/agreement) describes the pay-per-use, Basic, and Pro plans as built for "hobbyists, commercial prototyping, initial development," and apps with "a limited number of end-users." Beyond that scope, it says you must apply for Enterprise. X doesn't define the number, so a growing SaaS product can't know in advance where that line is.
- **Programmatic replies need a summons.** Since February 23, 2026, self-serve apps can only reply through the API when the original post's author has @mentioned the replying account or quoted one of its posts. An AI agent that replies to trending posts on its own won't work on self-serve. The rule doesn't apply to Enterprise.
- **Links cost more than the post.** At $0.20 a post, a product that shares blog posts, product pages, or tracking links pays 13× the plain rate. After the change, some publishers [stopped including links](https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/22/x-makes-it-more-expensive-to-post-links-through-its-api/) in their automated posts.

## Should I use the X API directly or through a unified API?

**X's per-post fees are the same either way.** Adeli passes them through at X's published rates, so the choice comes down to the work around the fees: the developer app, X's review, tokens, and every other network you need.

| Situation | Better fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| **One brand account, X only** | Direct X API | 60 plain posts a month cost under $1, and one developer app is easy to run |
| **Your own accounts, and a team that wants to own the integration** | Direct X API | You keep full control of the app and pay only X |
| **Customers connect their own X accounts** | Unified API | Adeli holds the X developer app, has passed X's review, and refreshes every account's tokens |
| **X plus Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, or Facebook** | Unified API | One endpoint instead of five integrations to build and maintain |

What [Adeli](https://www.tryadeli.com/pricing) charges, and what it covers:

- **X's fees, passed through.** Adeli passes X's API usage fees through at X's published rates. The scenario table above is what X charges either way.
- **Adeli's own price is per connected account.** One X account is one connected account. The first 3 are free, then $5 each for accounts 4–10, $3 each for 11–50, $2 each for 51–100, and $1 each up to 2,000. Every tier includes scheduling, post analytics, and full API access.
- **No X developer app to own.** Adeli maintains the X developer app, has passed X's review, and refreshes tokens for every connected X account.
- **Other networks in the same request.** Add `"x"` to the platforms array alongside Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook ([how the posting API works](https://www.tryadeli.com/social-media-posting-api)). If a post fails on X, you get a per-platform status and a webhook, and the other networks still go out.

For the scheduling SaaS, **X's fees come to $67.50 to $900 a month either way**, depending on how many posts carry links. Adeli's own price for those 50 accounts is **$155 a month**, with X's fees passed through on top. If you post from a few of your own accounts on X alone, build direct. If your customers connect their own accounts, or you'll add a second network within a year, [see how Adeli handles X](https://www.tryadeli.com/product/x).

## Frequently asked questions

### Is Twitter API pricing the same as X API pricing?

Yes. Twitter renamed itself X, and the Twitter API became the X API. The endpoints still use the old names, like POST /2/tweets, but there is one price list, and it lives in X's developer docs at docs.x.com.

### Does X charge twice if I read the same post twice?

Usually not. X deduplicates billable resources within a 24-hour UTC day, so reading the same post several times in one day counts as one charge. X calls this a soft guarantee: in edge cases such as outages, a repeat read can still be billed.

### How do I stop an X API bill from running away?

Set a spending limit in the X Developer Console. Once you reach it, X blocks API requests until the next billing cycle. If you turn on auto-recharge, X caps it at one top-up per 5 minutes, so a burst of traffic can't stack charges.

### How much does Adeli cost for X?

One X account is one connected account on Adeli. Your first 3 connected accounts are free, then $5 each for accounts 4–10, $3 each for 11–50, $2 each for 51–100, and $1 each up to 2,000. Adeli also passes X's API fees through at X's published rates.

## Related Adeli pages

- [X (Twitter) API for Developers](https://www.tryadeli.com/product/x.md): Publish, schedule, and read analytics for X (Twitter) through one API. Adeli owns the X developer app, token refresh, and review process. Free to start.
- [Adeli Pricing — priced per connected account](https://www.tryadeli.com/pricing.md): Your first 3 connected accounts are free, then $5 each for accounts 4–10, $3 each for 11–50, $2 each for 51–100, and $1 each up to 2,000. Above that, talk to sales.
- [Social Media Posting & Scheduling API](https://www.tryadeli.com/social-media-posting-api.md): Adeli's social media posting and scheduling API publishes to Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and X in one request, now or at a set time. Free to start.
- [All posts on the Adeli blog](https://www.tryadeli.com/blog.md)

## About the author

Mika Reyes is the CEO behind Adeli and a tech and AI content creator. She was previously co-founder and CEO of Parallax, which was acquired by Phantom, and a product lead at LinkedIn. She is a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree.