Pay for the X API

The old fixed monthly tiers are no longer how new developers start. X’s pricing documentation describes pay-per-usage with no subscription: you purchase credits upfront in the Developer Console and each call is priced per resource. As listed on docs.x.com in September 2026, reading a post costs $0.005, reading a user profile $0.010, and reading resources you own (your own likes, mutes, blocks and similar) $0.001. Creating a post costs $0.015, or $0.20 if the post contains a link. Pay-per-use accounts are capped at 3 million post reads per monthly billing cycle; above that X points you to Enterprise.

Two details stop the bill from running away. Resources are deduplicated within a 24-hour UTC day, so fetching the same post twice that day is charged once. And you can set a spending limit per billing cycle: when it is reached, requests are blocked until the next cycle rather than charged. X also gives back part of what you spend as xAI API credits — 10%, 15% or 20% depending on your cumulative spend.

The Basic ($200 a month) and Pro ($5,000 a month) subscriptions still exist for developers who already had them, but they are closed to new signups. Enterprise is a separately negotiated contract with custom pricing. If you are starting today, pay-per-use credits are what you will be buying.

Plan for the balance, not a renewal date. When your credits run out, X says the balance can go slightly negative and then requests are blocked until you add credits — a bot or integration that depends on the API simply stops. The console offers auto-recharge: you choose a threshold and a top-up amount, and X charges your saved card when the balance drops below it (at most once every 5 minutes). With a Mehbit card that only works if the card itself has money on it, so keep the card funded above your recharge amount.

X’s developer agreement says payments are non-refundable except where the agreement or the law says otherwise (consumers in the EU and UK get a 14-day withdrawal right), and that the developer covers taxes, foreign-exchange and foreign-transaction fees. The same agreement includes a US sanctions clause that names Cuba, Iran, the Crimea region of Ukraine, North Korea and Syria. Read it before you build: whether you may use the X API is a matter between you and X, and a working card does not change X’s terms.