X is trying to win back developers, with a new pricing structure for its X API access, which should make it more accessible for more smaller developers and projects once again.
Maybe.
X’s revised API access pricing will give developers a more flexible approach to X data, with charges based on actual usage, as opposed to a monthly flat fee. There’ll also be fewer rate limits, and scaled pricing, based on access.
As explained by X:
“Our top focus is to enable builders by opening up our developer platform. We will also roll 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’ll cost you to utilize its API.
Selected developers will be able to apply to join the beta program from today, though X says that “only the best use cases and developers will be selected.” And as a bonus, those who are chosen will get a $500 voucher to build with the X API.
As noted, X is hoping to win back developers who had once relied on the Twitter API to build their apps, with X implementing significant pricing hikes on its API access since Elon Musk took over at the app.
Those have seemed primarily aimed at stopping AI projects from siphoning off X data, though Musk has also been keen to charge for as many elements of the app as possible, in order to increase its revenue opportunities.
Though the result has actually been that many formerly Twitter-connected apps have simply shut down or stopped working. Which, as Twitter also found out when it made its API access more restrictive for developers, has ended up having negative impacts for overall platform usage.
As such, X now wants to get more of these developers back in, and it’s hoping that these changes will align with some of the biggest concerns raised by developer partners in recent times.
So how does this new pricing model stack-up?
Well, it depends on the specifics, and it’s hard to say how much, exactly, it might save you (or not) without looking at what your project needs.
Though it doesn’t look a lot cheaper.
For example, the current X Basic API access package, which costs $200 per month, gives developers access to 15k posts (read) and 50k posts (write).
Plugging these usage numbers into this new dashboard, it would cost $575 per month for the same:
So it seems not so great?
Maybe there’s something I’m missing, and again, different developers and projects will require different levels of access that will end up being cheaper through more specific selection. But for the basic package at least, it seems like it’s not an improvement.
Either way, X’s API access is still, overall, much higher than it had been 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 enable third party platforms to update some of their X features, giving us more insight into X usage once again.
I don’t think that it’ll be a significant change, but we’ll see.
