X (Twitter) API pricing for posting, read Nov 3, 2026

Posting through the X API costs $0.015 per post and $0.200 per post that contains a link, paid from credits you buy ahead in X's Developer Console, with no monthly plan and no subscription (X's pricing page, read Nov 3, 2026). A post a day without links is $0.45 a month; the same post with a link every day is $6.00. New developers get $20 in free X API credits with their first credit purchase. To post without an X developer account, PostWire includes X credits in its paid plans: 30 a month on Starter ($19), where 1 credit is a plain post and 10 is a post with a link.

The link price is the number that moves the bill: since 20 April 2026, X charges a post with a URL about 13 times what it charges a plain post, whether the link is in the post or in a reply you post yourself.

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Updated Nov 3, 2026. Written from PostWire's own code; vendor prices read on Nov 3, 2026. Live networks: TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn (personal profiles), Facebook Pages, Bluesky, Mastodon, Telegram, Discord, and X on paid plans.

Post to X through PostWire's API, step by step

Prompt to copy into Claude or ChatGPT once PostWire is connected: How many X credits would this post use? "The new docs are live: https://example.com/docs"

Pick a paid plan
X is on the paid plans: Starter ($19 a month, 30 X credits), Pro ($29, 150), Agency ($99, 600) and Scale ($299, 2,000). The free plan covers the other networks, without X. See the plans.
Connect your X account
In the dashboard, open Accounts and connect X: you sign in on X's own page and allow PostWire to post. There is no X developer account, app or key to create.
Check what a post will use
GET /api/x/quote?text=…, or the MCP tool get_x_credits with the text, returns the credits that post would use before anything is sent. GET /api/x returns the month's credits, used and left, and today's X posts against the daily limit.

Post with one call

The same call posts to X and to any other connected network:

curl -X POST "https://postwire.io/api/post" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $POSTWIRE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
  "platforms": ["x", "bluesky", "linkedin"],
  "text": "We cut onboarding from 9 steps to 3. Here is what we removed."
}'

From an AI agent, the same through MCP
Add https://postwire.io/api/mcp to Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor and say "post this on X". The agent calls post_to_social; generate_posts writes the X version to fit 280 characters, counting a link as 23 the way X does. Every X tool: X MCP server.
Top up only if you need to
The plan's credits are used first each month and do not roll over. If they run out, the post is refused with nothing sent to X, and you can buy 80 credits for $5 or 340 credits for $20.

Full endpoint reference with curl, Node and Python: X credits in the PostWire API.

Posting to X: the X API directly or through PostWire

What each way needs and what each post costs, read on Nov 3, 2026.

Way to post	What you set up	A plain post	A post with a link	When the money runs out	Other networks in the same call
PostWire	Connect your X account once on X's own page; no X developer account	1 X credit, from the 30 included in Starter	10 X credits	Nothing is sent to X and nothing is charged; the balance never goes below zero	Yes — 9 more networks
X API (pay-per-use)	An X developer account and app, with credits bought ahead in the Developer Console	$0.015	$0.200	Optional auto-recharge and spending limits	X only

Checked on Nov 3, 2026 (2026-11-03) on each vendor's own pricing or docs page, linked in the first column and below. Monthly billing in USD unless noted. "Not listed" means we could not find it on their page, not that it is missing.

Where PostWire is ahead

X credits come with the plan: 30 a month on Starter and 150 on Pro, with no separate X balance to fund.
No X developer account: you connect your X account on X's own page; there is no app, key or Developer Console to manage.
No surprise bill: the credits are taken before X is called, the balance never goes below zero, and a post X rejects gives its credits back, except an image X already billed.
One call reaches X and 9 more networks, each with its own version of the post written by generate_posts.
A daily cap per account (5 X posts a day on Starter, 20 on Pro) stops a runaway loop whatever the balance.

Sources, all read on Nov 3, 2026:

X API — pay-per-usage pricing and credits ("no subscriptions"; Post: Create $0.015 per request, with URL $0.200, summoned $0.010; Posts: Read $0.005 per resource; $20 in free credits with the first purchase; up to 20% back in xAI API credits): docs.x.com/x-api/getting-started/pricing
Upload-Post — X API pricing in 2026 ("no free tier and no monthly plans for new developers"; the URL price applies since 20 April 2026, up from $0.01): www.upload-post.com/x-api-pricing/

The X API rate card for posting (Nov 3, 2026)

What you do	X charges	Billed per
Create a post	$0.015	Request
Post with a URL	$0.200	Request
Reply to a mention	$0.010	Request
Read a post	$0.005	Post returned
Read a user	$0.010	User returned

There are no monthly plans: you buy credits in X's Developer Console, can set a spending limit, and can earn up to 20% back in xAI API credits. Source: X API pricing on docs.x.com, read Nov 3, 2026. The URL rate dates from 20 April 2026, when it rose from $0.01 (Upload-Post's X API pricing page).

What a month of posting costs on the X API

Posting pattern (30 days)	X API bill	On PostWire
One post a day, no links	$0.45 30 × $0.015	30 X credits
One post a day, each with a link	$6.00 30 × $0.20	300 X credits
Five posts a day, no links	$2.25 150 × $0.015	150 X credits
Five posts a day, one with a link	$7.80 120 × $0.015 + 30 × $0.20	420 X credits
Twenty posts a day, half with a link	$64.50 300 × $0.015 + 300 × $0.20	3,300 X credits

X's rates from its pricing page on Nov 3, 2026. On PostWire, 1 X credit is a plain post, 10 a post with a link, and each image or video adds 1.

X credits included in each PostWire plan

Plan	X credits a month	X posts per account
Starter $19/mo, 3 businesses	30 30 plain posts or 3 with a link	5 a day
Pro $29/mo, 10 businesses	150 150 plain posts or 15 with a link	20 a day
Agency $99/mo, 50 businesses	600 600 plain posts or 60 with a link	60 a day
Scale $299/mo, 200 businesses	2,000 2,000 plain posts or 200 with a link	150 a day

Each plan's price also covers every other network: TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook Pages, Bluesky, Mastodon, Telegram and Discord. Starter is $15.20 a month billed yearly. More X credits: 80 credits for $5 or 340 credits for $20.

How to keep the link price down

Post the link less often. One link post costs as much as about 13 plain posts on the X API, and uses 10 credits on PostWire against 1 for a plain post.
A link in your own reply is still a post with a URL. Moving it into a self-reply does not avoid the rate; X bills the request that contains it.
Check before you send. PostWire's quote (GET /api/x/quote or get_x_credits with the text) tells you whether a draft counts as a link post.

Questions people ask

How much does the X API cost to post?

On Nov 3, 2026, X's pricing page lists $0.015 per post created and $0.200 per post that contains a URL, billed per request from credits you buy ahead. There are no monthly plans or subscriptions.

Is the X API free?

No. Since the move to pay-per-use there is no free tier for posting; new developers get $20 in free X API credits when they save a card and make their first credit purchase.

Why does a post with a link cost $0.20?

X raised the price of any post that contains a URL from $0.01 to $0.20 on 20 April 2026. One link or several, the post is billed once at the URL rate.

What happened to the Basic and Pro API plans?

X now sells the API as pay-per-use credits with no subscriptions, per its pricing page read Nov 3, 2026; the monthly tiers are not offered on that page.

Can I post to X through an API without a developer account?

Yes, through PostWire: connect your X account on X's own page and post with POST /api/post or the MCP tool post_to_social. X is on the paid plans, from $19 a month with 30 X credits included.

How many X posts does a PostWire plan include?

Starter includes 30 X credits a month, Pro 150, Agency 600 and Scale 2,000. A plain post uses 1, a post with a link 10, and each image or video adds 1. Unused credits do not roll over; packs add 80 credits for $5 or 340 credits for $20.

Can Claude or ChatGPT post to X?

Yes, with PostWire's MCP server added: the agent drafts the post with generate_posts, which fits it to 280 characters counting a link as 23, and publishes it with post_to_social after you approve the text.

Try it on one business, free.

The free plan is 1 business, 10 posts a month, 5 AI drafts a day (about 20 a month) and 2 networks per post — every network connects free, no card, no time limit. Paid plans start at $19 a month and have a 14-day refund; Pro can be tried free for 7 days and Agency for 14, with a card at checkout and nothing charged that day.

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