What is the cheapest Twitter/X API for getting tweets?
Last updated September 26, 2026
Ranked by cost per 1,000 tweets: TwitterAPIs.com leads at $0.04, twitterapi.io follows at $0.15, socialdata.tools at $0.20, Apify in a $0.25 to $0.40 band, and the official X API trails at $5 to $10. That order holds for plain reads. It shifts once a job leans on thread expansion, or once monthly volume clears the point where a flat fee divides down.
Every rate here is the pricing TwitterAPIs publishes. The billed rate is $0.0008 per call; $0.04 per 1,000 tweets is derived from it at a full 20-tweet page, which is the default page size rather than a guaranteed yield (source: twitterapis.com/pricing).
The ranking, cheapest first
Five providers, one unit, cost per 1,000 tweets. TwitterAPIs.com comes first at $0.04. twitterapi.io is second at about $0.15, close to four times more. socialdata.tools is third at about $0.20. Apify is fourth in a band of $0.25 to $0.40, wide because it charges for results and compute time rather than a flat read. The official X API finishes last at $5 to $10, two orders of magnitude off the leader, a figure that falls straight out of X's per-resource meter, $0.005 a post read and $0.010 a user read.
Normalise before you rank, and know what to divide by what
A price list is not comparable until every seller is expressed in the same unit. Convert a per-call price by dividing it by the objects one page returns: $0.0008 over about 20 tweets gives $0.04 per 1,000. Convert a per-result price by multiplying straight up to a thousand. Convert a monthly plan by dividing the fee by the allowance it bundles. Sellers that charge for compute time cannot be placed at all without a measured run, which is why their entry is a band rather than a figure.
When volume flips the ranking
A flat monthly fee gets cheaper per post the more you read against it, which is why the old comparison always hunted for a crossover volume. That comparison no longer applies to the official platform: X retired its $200 Basic and $5,000 Pro plans, and self-serve access is now metered per resource, so there is no flat fee left to amortise. Both sides are meters, and the gap between them is the unit price, $0.005 a post against $0.04 per 1,000 tweets here. The only ceiling on the official side is 3 million post reads a month, past which the route is an Enterprise contract with no published price.
When endpoint mix flips the ranking
The $0.04 per 1,000 tweets headline assumes plain reads. Change the mix and the blended rate moves with it. Thread expansion bills $0.004 a call, five times a standard read, so a job that resolves conversations rather than listing posts carries a higher blended cost. Full account history bills $0.0024. Direct message reads and tweet creation bill $0.0016. A job that is nine parts search to one part thread work sits near the headline; a job that is mostly thread work does not. Price the mix you intend to run, not the cheapest line on the card.
What to check before committing to the cheapest line
Three things separate a low price from a low bill. First, whether a floor exists: a fee charged in a month you read nothing turns a cheap rate into an expensive quarter. Second, whether access is gated, because an approval queue in front of a cheap API is a cost measured in days. Third, whether you can measure before paying, which is what the $0.50 starting balance is for, about 625 calls and 12,500 tweets with no card, enough to run the real job small and read the real meter.
Cost per 1,000 tweets, ranked cheapest first
| Rank | Provider | Cost per 1,000 tweets | Billing model | Bill for 1 million tweets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | TwitterAPIs.com | $0.04 | Metered per call, no floor | $40 |
| 2 | twitterapi.io | $0.15 | Metered per call | $150 |
| 3 | socialdata.tools | $0.20 | Metered per call | $200 |
| 4 | Apify | $0.25 to $0.40 | Results plus compute time | $250 to $400 |
| 5 | Official X API | $5 to $10 | Metered per resource returned | $5,000 to $10,000 |
Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API, both v2 and v1.1. A paid basic tier will be available instead.
Questions and answers
- Which Twitter API is cheapest per tweet?
- TwitterAPIs.com at $0.04 per 1,000 tweets, which is $0.00004 each. twitterapi.io is next at about $0.15, socialdata.tools at about $0.20, Apify in a $0.25 to $0.40 band, and the official X API last at $5 to $10.
- Is there still a monthly plan that beats metered pricing?
- Not on the official platform. X retired its $200 Basic and $5,000 Pro plans, so the old crossover sum no longer applies. Self-serve access is metered at $0.005 per post read up to 3 million post reads a month, which is $5 per 1,000 against $0.04 per 1,000 here, at every volume.
- Does the ranking change for thread-heavy jobs?
- Yes. Thread expansion bills $0.004 a call, five times a standard read, so a job that resolves conversations carries a higher blended rate than the $0.04 per 1,000 tweets headline. Price the endpoint mix you intend to run rather than the cheapest row on a table.
- Is the cheapest option also the fastest to start?
- Here it is. There is no application and no review queue, and the first call goes out in under 2 minutes from signup. On the official platform that same step is an approved developer account, measured in hours to days.
- What should I check besides the headline rate?
- Whether a floor is charged in a quiet month, whether access sits behind an approval queue, and whether you can measure a real run before paying. A $0.50 starting balance covers about 625 calls, enough to price your own workload instead of trusting a rate card.
Keep reading
Start with $0.50 in free credits
No credit card. Roughly 12,500 tweets to test every endpoint.