Is the X API free? No.
The official X API is pay-per-use. You buy credits in the X Developer Console before your first request, and there is no free tier. X adds up to $70 in credits, but only after you pay, and they expire three months after they are granted.
To try X data without paying, use a provider’s signup credit: the chart below shows how far each one goes. Or run an open-source library with your own X accounts.
How far free credit goes.
Credit amounts mean little on their own, because providers charge per request, per tweet or per run. Converted into tweets from search, the gap is wide: 33,320 on cheapxapi, none on the official API until you pay.
Prices and allowances come from each provider’s public pricing page. Full price comparison.
| Provider | Bar | Value |
|---|---|---|
| cheapxapi$1 credit | 33,320 | |
| twitterapis.com$0.50 credit | 12,500 | |
| Sorsa100 requests | 10,000 | |
| twitterapi.ioUp to $1 credit | 6,666 | |
| GetXAPI$0.10 credit | 2,000 | |
| Apify Tweet Scraper V25 demo runs a month | 50 | |
| SocialDataNo free plan | 0 | |
| Official X APICredits only after a purchase | 0 |
X’s free credits start with a payment.
The credits X advertises are rewards for paying, not a free plan. Both are one-time per account, are spent before credits you bought, and expire three months after they are granted.
| Incentive | Credit | Condition |
|---|---|---|
| Add a payment card | $20 | Only after the first purchase of API credits, on an account that has never paid. Prepaid cards don’t qualify, and each card earns it once. |
| Turn on auto-recharge | Up to $50 | Matches the first automatic recharge, once per account. |
What the official API costs after that.
Reads are charged per item returned, so 1,000 tweets cost $5.00. On cheapxapi, which charges per request, the same 1,000 tweets from search take 50 calls and cost $0.03.
| Operation | Price | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Post read | $0.005 | per post returned |
| User read | $0.010 | per user returned |
| Follower or following read | $0.010 | per account returned |
| Create a post | $0.015 | per request |
| Create a post with a link | $0.200 | per request |
Source: X developer documentation, pay-per-usage pricing. Accounts on this plan are capped at 3 million post reads a month.
Free without any API.
Open-source libraries such as Twikit and twscrape sign in to X with ordinary accounts and read the same data the website shows. The code costs nothing. What you supply instead:
- X accounts to sign in with, which X can lock or suspend for automated use.
- Proxies, usually residential, once you go beyond a few hundred requests.
- Upkeep: login flows and internal endpoints change, and the library has to catch up.
It works for a one-off export or a hobby project. For anything that has to keep running, budget for the accounts, the proxies and the time spent keeping logins alive.
Try cheapxapi without paying.
- 1. Sign up with Google or an email address. No card.
- 2. Open the dashboard and copy your API key. New accounts get a $1 promotional credit, subject to automated abuse checks, valid for 60 days.
- 3. Make calls at up to 2 requests per second. Each call is $0.0006; a search call returns up to 20 tweets.
The latest tweets from @NASA, one call:
curl "https://api.cheapxapi.com/twitter/tweet/advanced_search?query=from%3ANASA&queryType=Latest" \
-H "x-api-key: YOUR_KEY"Getting a key step by step: How to get a Twitter API key. Parameters and response fields: Advanced search.
Questions.
Is the Twitter API free?
No. The official X API (formerly the Twitter API) is pay-per-use with no free tier, and you buy credits before the first request. X adds up to $70 in credits after you start paying. Third-party Twitter APIs give small signup credits that need no payment.
Does the X API still have a free tier?
No. X's developer pricing page describes pay-per-usage pricing with no subscriptions and no free plan. Reading data or posting through the official API always draws on credits you have bought or earned by buying.
How many tweets can I get from the X API for free?
None from the official API without a purchase. With a no-card signup credit, the most in our comparison is cheapxapi: its $1 credit covers about 33,320 tweets at 20 tweets per search call.
Can I get a free X API key?
Yes. Creating an X developer account and app is free, and so is the key; it just has no credit until you buy some. A cheapxapi key is also free and comes with a $1 promotional credit, subject to automated abuse checks. The guide How to get a Twitter (X) API key walks through both.