The X API is billed per action, not per subscription. On the official pricing page, checked 18 October 2026, creating a post costs $0.015 per request, creating a post that contains a URL costs $0.200, reading a Post costs $0.005 per resource, reading a DM event costs $0.010 per resource, and pay-per-use plans are capped at 3 million Post reads per monthly billing cycle.
The link surcharge is the number that changes budgets. A post with a URL costs 13.3 times a post without one, so 10,000 posts a month cost $150 as plain text and $2,000 if every one carries a link. X's changelog dates the model: the 6 February 2026 entry says X "officially launched X API Pay-Per-Use pricing", and the 16 April 2026 entry (effective 20 April) states the $0.015 and $0.20 post prices and the $0.001 owned-read price.
How much does each X API action cost in 2026?
Writes are billed per request and reads per resource returned. The table lists every price shown on the official pricing page, checked 18 October 2026 (X API pricing).
| Action | Price | Billed per |
|---|---|---|
| Post create | $0.015 | request |
| Post create with URL | $0.200 | request |
| Post create, summoned reply | $0.010 | request |
| DM interaction create | $0.015 | request |
| Post read | $0.005 | resource returned |
| User read | $0.010 | resource returned |
| DM event read | $0.010 | resource returned |
| Owned read | $0.001 | resource returned |
| Like read, mute read, block read | $0.001 | resource returned |
"Billed per resource returned" is the line that surprises people. A search that returns 100 Posts costs $0.50, and re-reading 100 DM events costs $1.00, whatever the HTTP request count was. An owned read applies when the user ID in the request matches the authenticated user and that user owns the developer app, which is why reading your own timeline is five times cheaper than reading someone else's.
The $0.010 summoned reply is listed separately from the standard post price. The page does not say what qualifies, so budget ordinary replies at $0.015 unless you have confirmed the summoned rate applies to your calls.
Prices as listed on 18 October 2026. Writes are per request, reads per resource returned.
What do 10,000 posts a month cost with and without links?
The arithmetic uses only the two post prices above. A link in every post multiplies the bill by 13.3, and the cost grows linearly with the share of posts that carry one.
| Link share | Plain posts | Posts with URL | Monthly cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0% | 10,000 | 0 | $150 |
| 10% | 9,000 | 1,000 | $335 |
| 50% | 5,000 | 5,000 | $1,075 |
| 100% | 0 | 10,000 | $2,000 |
Computed from $0.015 per plain post and $0.200 per post with a URL.
Every link you move out of a post costs $0.185 less. Whether a URL in a reply is billed at the URL price is not stated on the pricing page, so measure one call in the Developer Console before you rely on it.
Reads follow the same arithmetic. 100,000 Post reads in a month cost $500. Reading up to the cap of 3 million Post reads costs $15,000, which is the most a pay-per-use account can spend on Post reads in one cycle.
What is the 3 million Post read cap?
The pricing page says: "Pay-per-usage plans are capped at 3 million Post reads per monthly billing cycle." Some third-party pages still say 2 million, a figure an earlier version of the same page carried. The page checked on 18 October 2026 says 3 million. If you need more, the page says to move to an Enterprise plan.
The cap counts Post reads only. It does not count writes, DM events or user lookups, so an account can stay under the cap and still run out of credits. Identical resources requested more than once inside the same 24-hour UTC day are deduplicated for billing. The page calls this a "soft guarantee", so do not build a cost forecast on it.
The cap counts Post reads only, so an account can sit under it and still run out of credits.
What changed when pay-per-use launched on 6 February 2026?
Dates from X's developer changelog.
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| 22 August 2025 | Like and follow write endpoints removed from the Free tier |
| 20 October 2025 | Closed pay-per-use pilot at $0.005 per Post read and $0.01 per content create |
| 6 February 2026 | Pay-per-use launches. Existing subscribers can opt in. Recently active Free users get a one-time $10 voucher |
| 16 April 2026, effective 20 April | Post price set at $0.015, URL posts at $0.20, owned reads at $0.001. Following, likes and quote posts removed from all self-serve tiers |
The changelog says Basic and Pro stayed available at launch. It carries no entry that forces a migration of either tier, so this post does not state a cutover date for them (X developer changelog, checked 18 October 2026). Many guides still list Free, Basic and Pro as the current options.
Which X API actions are gone from self-serve plans?
X's 16 April 2026 changelog entry states: "Following, Likes, and Quote-Posts via the API have been removed from all self-serve tiers." The change took effect on 20 April 2026. A self-serve app that still calls the like or follow write endpoints should expect a rejection, and the only route back is an Enterprise contract. Read endpoints for likes stay priced at $0.001 per resource.
Check the exact error against your own app before you code a branch on it. The live documentation does not publish a reason string for these rejections.
What do the two kinds of 429 mean on the X API?
X's rate limit page documents one 429: the window is exceeded, the body carries code 88, and the three headers x-rate-limit-limit, x-rate-limit-remaining and x-rate-limit-reset tell you when to resume.
In our production traffic in September 2026, a second case surfaced: a 429 whose problem type was https://api.x.com/2/problems/usage-capped. It appeared when credits ran out, a spending limit was reached, or the monthly read cap was hit. Waiting for x-rate-limit-reset does not clear it, because no window is involved. The rate limit page does not use the term "usage-capped", so this part rests on observation, not documentation.
| Signal | Cause | Clears when |
|---|---|---|
| 429, code 88 | 15-minute window exceeded | the reset time in x-rate-limit-reset |
429, usage-capped | credits, spend limit or read cap exhausted | credits are added, the limit is raised, or the next billing cycle starts |
Read the type before you set a retry timer. A client that backs off for 15 minutes on a usage-capped 429 retries into the same wall. For the window-based limits on every other platform, see the rate limits guide.
How does SocialAPI.ai handle X usage caps?
SocialAPI.ai connects X accounts through your own X developer app, so X bills the per-action charges above to your developer account. When your app runs out of credits or hits its spending limit, the API answers 402 platform.twitter.usage_capped instead of a rate-limit error, so you know to add credits rather than wait (errors guide). Platform detail is on the X platform page.
Questions developers ask about X API pricing
- How much does the X API cost in 2026?
- X bills per action. On 18 October 2026 a post costs $0.015, a post containing a URL costs $0.200, a Post read costs $0.005 and a DM event read costs $0.010. There is no minimum spend on pay-per-use, and X states prices are subject to change.
- Why does a post with a link cost $0.20?
- X lists post creation with a URL as a separate price of $0.200 per request, against $0.015 without one. The pricing page gives no rationale. Moving links out of the post is the only lever the page documents, and whether a URL in a reply is billed at the URL price is not stated.
- What is the Post read cap on pay-per-use?
- Pay-per-use plans are capped at 3 million Post reads per monthly billing cycle, according to the pricing page on 18 October 2026. At $0.005 per read that is $15,000. The page says to move to an Enterprise plan if you need more.
- Can I still like or follow through the X API?
- Not on self-serve plans. X's 16 April 2026 changelog entry says following, likes and quote posts via the API were removed from all self-serve tiers, effective 20 April 2026. Reading likes remains available at $0.001 per resource.
- Why does my X API call return 429 after the reset time?
- You may be hitting a usage cap, not a rate window. A 429 with code 88 clears at x-rate-limit-reset. A 429 with problem type usage-capped means credits, a spending limit or the monthly read cap ran out, and waiting does not clear it.
Every X claim above traces to a page on docs.x.com, checked 18 October 2026. The usage-capped 429 is a first-party observation from September 2026 and is labelled as such. X API pricing, X developer changelog, X API rate limits, SocialAPI.ai errors guide