X (Twitter) Ditches Fixed Fees for a New Pay-Per-Tweet API Model

X has announced a move away from fixed-fee API plans towards a pay-per-tweet model, with usage-based charges calculated by the number of tweets read, tweets posted and other API actions. The previous pricing saw a Basic API at $100 per month (later $200) and an enterprise plan at $42,000 per month to access full functionality, while a Professional Tier cost $5,000 per month and offered a monthly quota of 1 million tweet reads and 300,000 tweet posts.

The company says this new framework is intended to monetise access more granularly and reduce the rigidity of the old structure. The pay-as-you-go plan remains in closed testing, with a built-in calculator in the new API documentation to help developers estimate costs in advance. Final pricing details have not yet been disclosed, as X plans to evaluate and adjust rates after feedback from test participants.

These changes follow X’s broader API overhaul prompted after Elon Musk’s acquisition of the platform and aim to curb free access and data scraping through the API.