X's pay-per-use API: what it means for scheduled posts in 2026
Since February 2026 X charges apps for every post and read, and a post with a link costs about thirteen times a plain one. What that means for scheduling.
By Indably, . 2 minute read. Read as Markdown
In February 2026 X moved its developer API to pay-per-use: apps buy credit and pay for each post they publish and each post they read. If your scheduling tool posts to X for you, X is now charging the tool for it. Prices below are from X's developer documentation, checked on 19 October 2026, in US dollars.
What X charges apps
| Action | Price per item |
|---|---|
| Publishing a post | $0.015 |
| Publishing a post that contains a link | $0.20 |
| Reading a post (for example to fetch its numbers) | $0.005 |
| Reading a profile | $0.01 |
A post with a link costs about thirteen times a plain one. X introduced the link price in April 2026.
What it means in practice
- Thirty link posts a month cost a tool about $6 in X fees for one account; thirty plain posts cost about $0.45.
- Numbers aren't free either. Fetching a post's views and likes five times over its first month is five reads, about $0.025 per post.
- Detailed numbers only last 30 days. Impressions, link clicks and profile clicks for your own posts are only available for posts made in the last 30 days.
Other changes worth knowing
- Replies are restricted. On X's self-serve plans, an app may only reply to someone else's post if that person mentioned or quoted you first. Replying to your own post, which is how tools add a “first comment”, is still allowed.
- No more likes, follows or quote posts through self-serve access since April 2026.
- Exact repeats are refused. X rejects a post whose text exactly matches one you've already made. If a tool retries after a timeout and gets this answer, the first attempt almost certainly went through.
- Self-serve access is meant for “a limited number of end-users”. Tools serving many businesses may need X's Enterprise plan.
What to ask your scheduling tool
- Does it pass X's costs on, and how?
- Does it warn you before a link post?
- Does it count characters the way X does (every link counts as 23)?
- What does it do when X doesn't answer? A retry after a timeout can mean a duplicate post, and the duplicate costs again.
Indably counts characters the way X does, adds your first comment as a reply to your own post, and never resends a post it can't account for.