In response to various requests from developers, X (formerly Twitter) is rolling out a new API access process, which will enable API subscribers to get an extra 10k posts within a certain threshold every month.
As you can see in this example, subscribers will now have the option to pay a one-off fee to access more posts if they need. Which could help those working on research projects and those who need sudden expansions in their access.
As per X:
“You can now purchase a cap increase that will allow you to GET more posts (FKA Tweets) via the X API v2. Please note that Basic and Pro are capped at 10 and 5 Top-Ups per cycle, respectively.”
Yes, they still note “FKA Tweets”. Which makes sense, as that’s what many developers and systems still associate with the app, but it’s another reminder of the hasty re-brand that X implemented last year.
X increased the price of its API access a year ago, which has since priced many third party tools out of the market, due to significantly higher costs of access.
Ostensibly, the higher costs have been designed to limit AI companies from taking X data, and training their models on such (specifically OpenAI). But at the same time, X is looking to generate more revenue any way it can, as many advertisers remain wary of Elon Musk’s project.
The current Basic X API package, priced at $100 per month, gives users read access to 10,000 posts each month, while the Pro package, at $5,000 per month, lets you access a million X posts within the same period.
Compare that to the previous Twitter API pricing, in which its top-level Premium package cost around $2,899 per month for many developers, and you can get a sense of why many have struggled to transition to the new system, and in many cases, have simply abandoned their apps instead.
X has been looking to facilitate more use cases, with variable pricing and packages, with this new option being the latest in the platform’s efforts to maintain connection with critical developer communities.
And it will help, and it’ll be interesting to see whether it also helps X generate more data access revenue, as more platforms look to expand their access.
