X is about to double its API fees
With an upcoming price hike in X's API, indie hackers say that building on top of the social media platform is now "a huge risk" for developers.
The X API is about to get more expensive for indie hackers. A lot more expensive.
Developers on the platform's 'Basic' usage tier will see their monthly bill double from $100 to $200, according to a forum post from the X staff account.
Pro-tier users will continue to pay $5,000 a month, while free users will get limited read access for the first time.
Annual discounts of 25% for Basic and 10% for Pro will soften the blow somewhat for those who can pay for a year-long plan in one go.
Nonetheless, the price hike will be a blow to indie hackers who stuck with the API after X first raised prices last year. Before the introduction of a three-tiered API plan, many makers paid nothing (or next to nothing) to use the service.
It isn't clear when the new pricing will start, but Indiehackers.com has contacted X for comment. The pricing change was first reported by the @xDaily X account after a tip from @justredpillme.
Cracking down on bots
While Elon Musk was buying Twitter back in 2022, he complained the platform was lousy with bots. So much so that he threatened to drop his acquisition of the platform altogether.
Musk eventually caved and bought Twitter (now X) anyway for $44 billion. He introduced changes including paid verification and far costlier API access to better monetize the platform and to crack down on bots.
The move priced out plenty of small bots — both malicious and altruistic. It was also a costly blow to startups using Twitter data in their apps.
Daniel Nguyen, whose KTool app previously sent tweets to Kindle devices via the Twitter API, told Indiehackers.com that X now carried "a huge risk" for makers.
Although platform risk itself is nothing new, other providers have a "clear, stable boundary between their core offerings and what's available for third-party developers," he said.
X doesn't offer that same stability, nor does it seem to invest enough in "building a healthy developer community," he added.
It's not yet clear how far the pricey API plans have gone to fix X's bot problem — or help boost the platform's finances, which still seem to be struggling, despite Musk having gutted the workforce when he first took over.
With many advertisers reluctant to use the platform, as a recent report from the New York Times notes, Nguyen fears API price hikes offer an alternative revenue stream for the firm.
The new API pricing
The X API allows developers to read, analyze and write posts en masse. X data powers numerous SaaS startups, from entertainment projects to marketing agencies.
A free tier currently offers write-only access for up to 1,500 posts per month for a single app.
Under the changes, free users will be able to read up to 50 posts per month, and post 500 times.
X's Basic plan lets users retrieve up to 10K posts per month, shared between up to two apps. It will cost $200 per month, up from $100. An annual plan will cost $1,800 a year.
The Pro plan offers the retrieval of up to a million posts per month across up to three apps. It costs $5,000 per month, or $54,000 annually.
If that's still not enough data, Enterprise access is available at a variable cost, with a minimum spend of $42,000. But, as Mashable reported last week, even Enterprise customers are facing extra fees.
This pricing update does not make sense in regards to getting rid of bots tbh.
They mostly want to keep their data because that's the most valuable asset they have in the age of AI.
And increasing API prices is the best way to slowly kill anybody trying to access their data.
Starting with indie hackers unfortunately, it'll impact myself personally with Snowball.club.
At $500 MRR, 100 of X fees was already a lot - but $200 is starting to heart for real.
Totally get where you’re coming from. The pricing hikes do seem like a heavy hit for indie projects, especially when every dollar counts. It’s frustrating when access becomes a luxury, not a given. Hope Snowball Club can weather it.
Same as @channingallen here, curios, are you planning to pivot?
PS Huge hit. And assume stressful. Rooting for you.
That's a huge hit. Are you planning on a product pivot, or will you just try to soldier on under the additional fees?
It was $44 billion.
Good catch. We've edited the article.
My bad! Thanks for spotting.
If you want to discourage bots why are free tiers weighted towards posts (spam) and not search (insights). I don't get it.
wow
I think this might affect the AI agents for X
WOW! Hearing this news on election day. Amazing!!
Ouch, doubling the API cost is tough on indie devs! Hopefully, X finds a way to balance revenue needs with supporting small creators who bring so much value to the platform.
Can I read other user's timeline with the free plan?
The Internet seems to be becoming more closed, and "connectivity" is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve.
Soo true
Interessante Einsicht! Das wird sicherlich Auswirkungen auf viele Entwickler haben.
While the price hike is concerning, I'm particularly curious about the impact on the developer ecosystem. Has X considered that this might actually be counterproductive? By pricing out smaller developers and indie projects, they could be limiting the very innovation that makes their platform valuable. I'd love to see data on how many developers abandoned ship after the previous price increase - that would be quite telling.
100%. I also think it's such a shame they're no longer a viable tool for people first starting out and those looking to learn new skills. Twitter bots used to be a great way to learn/develop simple coding skills.
Yeah, the platform has turned into a dumpster with its extreme content and a huge amount of bots
I agree
Ads are doing too bad, cannot compete with Meta and others, so now they increase the API price to get another source of revenue? Sounds like a good theory to me, haha.
seems reasonable, bunch of us expected this
IMO charging for an api is fine indie developers would do the same thing
Hopefully this will take down a couple of apps that post shitty questions to get engagement
This is huge. Thanks for the update!
Thanks for the update!
Seems like they are more about getting more money out of every API developer rather than preventing too many bots problem
This API fee hike is a real blow to independent developers. It’s unfortunate to see a platform that could foster innovation making access so costly. Small businesses, often the source of creative solutions, risk being sidelined. Hopefully, X can find a way to balance its financial needs while still supporting its developer community.
I always look forward to your updates! Thanks for spreading the info, I'll have to plan my finances accordingly or use something else. Actually, since I started using EchoAPI, I’ve noticed a significant improvement in my working efficiency .
Quite a shift for indie developers relying on X's API! Doubling the cost will definitely make things tough for those who supported the platform, especially considering that, not so long ago, API access was nearly free. While this price hike might be a step towards monetization and tackling bot issues, it risks alienating smaller developers whose innovations and support could have bolstered X's ecosystem. Disappointing to see such a critical change without a more robust support structure for the developer community.
Shut the fuck up with that ChatGPT reply.
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