No. In 2026 the official X API has no free monthly allowance for reading data. You buy credits upfront and every read is billed: $0.005 per post readas of Oct 2026 and $0.010 per user readas of Oct 2026. The only free part is promotional credit that runs out quickly.

If you want X data in your code for free or close to it, use TwittrAPI: you get $0.50 of test credit when you sign up, about 5,000 calls, and after that a call costs from $0.065 per 1,000. You do not need an X developer account.

What happened to the free X API

The old Free plan is gone. On February 6, 2026, X made pay-per-use generally available and replaced the monthly plans with prepaid credits (GIGAZINE). Users of the legacy Free plan got a one-time $10 voucher.

Today the X API pricing page works like this:

  • You sign up at console.x.com, create an app and buy credits.
  • Each request deducts its rate from your balance. Reads are billed per post or user returned, so one request that returns 100 posts costs 100 post reads.
  • Pay-per-use stops at 3 million post reads per monthly billing cycleas of Oct 2026. Above that X sends you to Enterprise.

X's free credit: $20, once

X currently gives $20 credit after saving a first eligible cardas of Oct 2026. Per the free credits page, it expires after 3 months.

At $0.005 per post read, $20 covers 4,000 posts. That is enough to try the API, not to run a project on it. After that you pay $5 per 1,000 posts. X API pricing in 2026 has the full rate list and worked examples.

The "free" options and their catch

Scraping X yourself

Free in money, expensive in time:

  • Logged-out access is mostly closed since mid-2023. snscrape's issue "All Twitter scrapes are failing" has been open since June 30, 2023.
  • Tools that still work, such as twscrape, need logged-in X accounts and switch between them when one hits its limit.
  • X's internal endpoints change without notice, and your scraper breaks until someone fixes it.
  • X's terms forbid scraping without written consent and set damages of $15,000 per 1,000,000 posts above 1,000,000 posts in 24 hours.

How to scrape Twitter (X) data in 2026 covers what still works and the legal picture.

Free tiers of third-party APIs

Third-party APIs read public X data and sell it through their own keys. Most give you something free to start:

ProviderFree to startAfter that, per 1,000 tweets
Official X API$20 credit after saving a first eligible cardas of Oct 2026$5 per 1,000 postsas of Oct 2026
twitterapi.io$1 credit for new accounts, no card requiredas of Oct 2026$0.15 per 1,000 tweetsas of Oct 2026
SocialDataup to 3 requests per minute without chargeas of Oct 2026$0.20 per 1,000 tweets or profilesas of Oct 2026
GetXAPI$0.10 credit for new accounts, no card requiredas of Oct 2026$0.05 per 1,000 tweets at about 20 tweets per callas of Oct 2026
TwittrAPI$0.50 test credit for 7 days$0.00325 to $0.005 at 20 tweets per call

The catch is the same everywhere: free credit is a test, not a plan. twitterapi.io's credit comes after a bot check, is limited to one per person and network, and expires after 31 days. X's needs a saved card. Once it is used up, what matters is the price per 1,000 tweets in the last column, and TwittrAPI has the lowest one in this table.

TwittrAPI and GetXAPI bill per call, the others per tweet. The per-tweet figures for the per-call providers assume about 20 tweets per call; X decides the real page size. The cheapest Twitter API in 2026 explains the units.

Use TwittrAPI to start free, then pay per call

TwittrAPI is a REST API for public X data. You need an API key from us, not an X developer account, an app or an X login.

  • Free to start. New accounts get $0.50 of test credit for 7 days, about 5,000 calls. Test keys can call every read endpoint.
  • Then per call. $0.10 per 1,000 calls on Standard, down to $0.065 on Bulk. One call is one profile, one tweet or one page of search results.
  • No subscription. The prepaid balance does not expire.
  • Failed calls are refunded. Calls that fail with 400, 407, 408, 409 or 5xx are refunded.

Compared with the official API on the same unit: 1,000 profile lookups cost $0.065 to $0.10 with us and $10 at X's user read rate. 1,000 tweets from search or timelines cost $0.00325 to $0.005 with us and $5 at X's post read rate.

Try it: one search request

Create a key on /start and keep it in an environment variable:

export TWITTRAPI_API_KEY="your-key"

Then search X with GET /search. The query uses X's own search operators:

curl -G 'https://api.twittrapi.com/search' \
  -H "X-API-KEY: $TWITTRAPI_API_KEY" \
  --data-urlencode 'searchItem=from:NASA lang:en' \
  --data-urlencode 'category=Latest' \
  --data-urlencode 'format=simple'

The same in Python:

import os
 
import requests
 
r = requests.get(
    "https://api.twittrapi.com/search",
    headers={"X-API-KEY": os.environ["TWITTRAPI_API_KEY"]},
    params={"searchItem": "from:NASA lang:en", "category": "Latest", "format": "simple"},
    timeout=30,
)
r.raise_for_status()
page = r.json()
 
for t in page["data"]:
    if not t.get("unavailable"):
        print(t["createdAt"], t["text"][:100])
 
print("more pages:", page["hasNextPage"])

That request is one billed call, whatever it returns. Follow nextCursor for the next page. Search Twitter/X without a developer account goes through operators, date ranges and pagination, and get tweets from an account with Python downloads a whole timeline.

When to pay for the official API anyway

Use the official X API when you need to post or act on behalf of other users with their authorization, want a direct agreement with X, or need full-archive search. For reading public data from code, a third-party API costs a fraction of it.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Twitter API free?

No. Since February 2026 the official X API is pay-per-use with prepaid credits: $0.005 per post readas of Oct 2026 and $0.010 per user readas of Oct 2026. There is no free monthly tier. X offers $20 in promotional credit after you save a card, which covers about 4,000 post reads.

Is there a free Twitter API alternative?

Not one that stays free. Third-party APIs give sign-up credit: TwittrAPI $0.50, twitterapi.io $1, GetXAPI $0.10. Scraping costs nothing up front but needs X accounts, breaks when X changes and is against X's terms without consent.

What is the cheapest way to get Twitter data after the free credit?

Pay per call. TwittrAPI costs from $0.065 per 1,000 calls, about $0.00325 to $0.005 per 1,000 tweets at 20 tweets per call. The official X API costs $5 per 1,000 posts.

Do I need an X developer account?

For the official API, yes: keys come from console.x.com. Third-party APIs such as TwittrAPI issue their own keys. How to get an X API key without a developer account explains how.

Does the free Twitter API let me post tweets?

The official API bills posts too: $0.015 per post createdas of Oct 2026. Posting on behalf of other users needs the official API. TwittrAPI can post from your own X accounts with their session cookie and a proxy (account actions).

Sources

TwittrAPI is not affiliated with X Corp. It reads only public data.