The official Twitter (X) API vs twitr.sh: what each one costs, line by line.

How does the official X API charge?

X moved to pay-per-use pricing with no subscriptions. You buy a prepaid balance in the X Developer Console, and each request deducts from it. You can turn on auto-recharge and set a spending limit per billing cycle. Pay-per-use accounts are capped at 3 million post reads per month, with Enterprise above that. Resources are deduplicated within a 24-hour UTC day, so a post you were already charged for is free to read again until the day rolls over. Reads of your own account's data (your posts, mentions, followers, bookmarks and similar) cost $0.001 each. X also gives back free xAI API usage based on what you spend, up to 20% at $1,000 or more in a billing cycle.

Which operations are cheaper on each?

twitr.sh prices one usage unit at $0.0012, with a $0.0024 minimum per paid call. A read that returns nothing costs $0. Every amount is quoted in the HTTP 402 response before you pay. Mapping X's “user interaction” line to likes, follows and reposts is our reading; X's page doesn't list what it covers.

What does a typical month cost on each?

The pattern is simple. If you read lots of different posts and profiles, or post links, twitr.sh costs less. If you mostly publish plain posts, read likes, or re-read the same data all day, the X API costs less. The full price list is on X API pricing.

How do the payment models differ?

Both charge per use, but money moves differently. On the X API you prepay a balance in the Developer Console, and requests draw it down. Auto-recharge keeps it topped up, and a spending limit caps each billing cycle. X notes that the balance can go slightly negative, which blocks requests until it is covered.

On twitr.sh each call is its own purchase. The 402 response states the price of that exact request, and the wallet signs a payment for that amount only. For per-result reads the wallet authorizes a maximum, and you are charged for the records that actually come back. An empty result costs $0. Calls that create something (monitors, posts, exports, giveaway draws) require an Idempotency-Key, so a network retry replays the first result instead of charging twice. If you want a balance instead, sign in with Google and fund one by card. Calls then draw it down at the same prices, much like X's model, but without a developer account.

How does setup compare?

Step-by-step instructions for the official route are in how to get an X API key.

When should you use the official X API?

Use it when you need access X itself sanctions, with a contract behind it. It also wins when most of your spend is plain posts, like reads, or reads of your own account. Its same-day deduplication helps if your app refreshes the same posts many times a day. And if you will grow past millions of reads a month, X offers an Enterprise path.

When is twitr.sh the better fit?

Use twitr.sh when reads dominate: search, timelines, follower lists, list and community contents. It also wins when you post links, or when the caller is an AI agent with no person to create a developer app. An agent can find the tools through MCP, OpenAPI or llms.txt, read the price from the 402 and pay from its own wallet. Real-time monitors are built in, prepaid by the hour with a hard stop at expiry.

What does a twitr.sh call look like?

# 1) any tool, flat JSON body, no credentials: returns the price
curl -i -X POST https://twitr.sh/api/tools/x_search \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"q":"from:nasa","queryType":"Latest","resultsLimit":20}'
# -> 402  "amount": "0.024000"  (20 results × $0.001200)

# 2) pay from a USDC wallet and retry
npx agentcash fetch https://twitr.sh/api/tools/x_search -m POST \
  -b '{"q":"from:nasa","queryType":"Latest","resultsLimit":20}'

# or from a card-funded balance
curl -X POST https://twitr.sh/api/tools/x_search \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer tw_live_...' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"q":"from:nasa","queryType":"Latest","resultsLimit":20}'

From Claude Code or Cursor, use the x_search MCP tool or install the skills. Every tool and price is on /tools, the flow is in the docs, and other options are on X API alternatives. Want to see the data first? The free shadowban checker and X algorithm checker cost nothing.

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