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X API pricing in 2026: pay-per-use, credits and what is still free

The X API runs on prepaid pay-per-use credits: $0.015 to publish a post, $0.20 if it has a link. Current rates, free credits and what changed, from X's own docs.

The X API costs money from the first request in 2026: you buy prepaid credits and pay per call, $0.015 to publish a post and $0.20 when the post contains a link. That affects developers who build on X and every scheduling tool that publishes to X, since each scheduled post now has a price and many tools pass it on to their users.

What this means for you

Using the X API now works like a prepaid card. You load money, and every post or read takes a little off. A plain post costs one and a half cents. A post with a link costs 20 cents, more than 13 times as much.

If you schedule posts through a tool, the tool pays X. That is why some tools charge extra for X or limit how many X posts you get. If you post only now and then, X's own scheduling doesn't touch the API at all: our guide to scheduling posts on X covers where it lives.

Current X API pricing (checked 2026-11-06)

Every figure below comes from X's own developer docs, read on November 6, 2026. X says prices are subject to change and that the Developer Console always shows the current rates.

WhatPrice or ruleSource
Pricing modelPay-per-use credits, "no subscriptions"Pricing page
Minimum spendNone ("no contracts, subscriptions, or minimum spend")Pricing page
Create a post$0.015 per requestPricing page
Create a post with a URL$0.20 per requestPricing page
Create a summoned reply$0.01 per requestPricing page
Read a post$0.005 per post returnedPricing page
Read a user$0.010 per user returnedPricing page
Owned reads (your own app, your own data)$0.001 per resource (1,000 for $1)Pricing page
Post reads cap3 million per monthly billing cyclePricing page
Free credit for a first card$20, once, after the first credit purchaseFree credits page
Free match on first auto-rechargeEqual to the recharge, up to $50, onceFree credits page
Free credit expiry3 months after they are grantedFree credits page
Smallest auto-recharge$5Free credits page
xAI credits back10% from $200, 15% from $500, 20% from $1,000 of spend per cyclePricing page
Basic and Pro plansNot stated: the current pricing page lists no subscription plans or pricesPricing page
EnterpriseNot stated: custom pricing through a contact formUsage and billing page
Free tierNot stated: the current docs don't mention onePricing page

A few rules change what you actually pay. Reads are deduplicated within a 24-hour UTC day, so fetching the same post twice in a day is billed once, though X calls this a soft guarantee. Failed requests are not billed. Some webhook events are free, such as post.delete and dm.sent. Your balance can go slightly negative, and then every request is blocked until you top up.

What it costs in practice. At the listed rates, 30 plain posts a month cost $0.45 in API fees. The same 30 posts with a link in each cost $6. A tool publishing 1,000 link posts a month for its users pays X $200. The arithmetic is ours, the rates are X's.

What is still free

X's docs leave four things at no charge:

  • The one-time credits: up to $70 for a new paying account. Since October 13, 2026, saving a card on its own no longer earns the $20; you also have to buy credits.
  • Public Utility: a credit program for public-good apps. You request it from a live Exhibit listing, and the X Dev Platform team decides.
  • Failed requests and repeat reads: neither is billed, within the deduplication window above.
  • Months with no usage: X says there are no monthly minimums, so an idle account costs nothing.

Basic and Pro

When pay-per-use launched, X said Basic and Pro "remain available" and existing subscribers could opt in. X's developer agreement for pay-per-use still names "the Pay-Per-Use, Basic, and Pro plans". The pricing page, though, now says there are no subscriptions and shows no plan prices. X's developer forum has announcement posts saying legacy Basic and Pro plans are moving to pay-per-use, but we couldn't open them to check the dates, so we give none here. If you still pay for Basic or Pro, check your Developer Console.

Timeline: how X API pricing got here

Every X change we track, including media limits and the OAuth 2.0 token exchange, is on the X hub.

What it means for the tools you use

The price per post shows up in scheduler pricing. Our data, read from each vendor's own pages, shows three different answers:

  • Metricool charges an X add-on of $10 a month per connected account, and X isn't on its free plan.
  • dlvr.it caps X posts per profile and gives X API pricing as the reason. Extra X posts cost $2.50 per 100 a month.
  • Zernio passes X API usage through to you at X's rates, on top of its per-account price.

None of these is wrong. A tool that shares a lot of links pays X $0.20 each time, and the cost has to land somewhere. Before you pick a tool for X, look at how it charges for X specifically, not only the headline price.

What to do next

  • Business owners: If you post to X a few times a week, schedule inside X and skip the API costs. If you use a tool, check whether X costs extra on your plan.
  • Marketers and agencies: Count how many of your X posts carry a link. At $0.20 each, link posts drive the cost, and some clients may do better with the link in a reply or the bio.
  • Developers: Set a spending limit in the Developer Console before testing, use owned reads where your app reads its own user's data, and cache reads within the UTC day.

Questions people ask

How much does the X API cost?

X charges per request from prepaid credits, with no subscription or minimum spend. Creating a post costs $0.015, a post containing a URL costs $0.20, and reading a post costs $0.005 per post returned. Reading your own data on qualifying endpoints costs $0.001 per resource.

Is the X API free?

Not for new apps. X's current pricing docs list no free tier, and the February 2026 changelog already called it the Legacy Free tier. New pay-per-use accounts can earn up to $70 in one-time free credits, which expire 3 months after they are granted.

How do X API credits work?

You buy credits in the Developer Console and each request is deducted from your balance. You can turn on auto-recharge and set a spending limit per billing cycle. When the balance runs out, requests are blocked until you add credits.

Do I have to pay for the X API to schedule posts on X?

Only if you build your own tool. Scheduling inside X (X Pro, Media Studio or the Ads Composer) doesn't use the developer API. A third-party scheduler pays X per post and may pass that cost on, for example as an X add-on or a cap on X posts.

Sources

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