X tries to win back developers, with a new pricing structure for its X API accesswhich should again make it more accessible to more smaller developers and projects.
Maybe.
The revised pricing for X API access will give developers a more flexible approach to X data, with charges based on actual usage, as opposed to a monthly flat fee. There will also be fewer fare caps and scaled pricing based on access.
As explained by X:
“Our main focus is to enable builders by opening up our developer platform. We will also be rolling out a brand new developer experience with a revamped Dev Console.”
X has created a new interactive dashboard to get a cost estimate for your specific data access through this new program so you can see what it will cost you to use the API.
Selected developers can sign up to participate in the beta program starting today, although X says that “only the best use cases and developers will be selected.” And as a bonus, those who are chosen will receive a reward a $500 voucher to build with the X API.
As noted, X is hoping to win back developers who once relied on the Twitter API to build their apps, with
These seemed primarily intended to prevent AI projects from siphoning off X data, although Musk was also keen to charge for as many elements of the app as possible to increase revenue opportunities.
Although the result has actually been that many previously Twitter-connected apps have simply closed or stopped working. Which, as Twitter also discovered when it got its API access more restrictive for developersultimately had negative consequences for overall platform usage.
As such,
So how does this new pricing model compare?
Well, it depends on the details, and it’s hard to say exactly how much it can save you (or not) without looking at what your project needs.
Although it doesn’t look much cheaper.
For example, the current X Basic API access package, which costs $200 per month, gives developers access to 15,000 messages (read) and 50,000 messages (write).
If we put these usage numbers into this new dashboard, it would cost $575 per month:
So it doesn’t seem that great?
Maybe there’s something I’m missing, and again, different developers and projects will require different levels of access that will ultimately be cheaper through more specific selection. But in any case, it does not seem to be an improvement for the basic package.
Regardless, X’s API access is still much higher overall than under Twitter, so I wouldn’t expect many of the old Twitter apps to make a comeback as a result of this update.
But it could allow third-party platforms to update some of their X features, which in turn will give us more insight into X usage.
I don’t think it will be a significant change, but we’ll see.
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